Mercruiser

That is very good. Azamara seems to be taking a different approach of not limiting bandwidth to individual users. Many have shown speeds of 90+ Mbps using speedtest.net. This is probably easier to do on their "R" class ships with only 700 passengers. I'm not criticizing Princess' approach. It's just different. Not worse. I'd be perfectly happy with a consistent 2+ Mbps. Where I get nervous is when folks ask if they can stream video. Hundreds of passengers streaming video is the the one sure way to bring Starlink to its knees.

I love Alaska cruises. But I think Alaska cruise ports would be especially problematic for you. During the day, the cruisers outnumber the locals by a great deal, especially in Ketchikan, Skagway, and Icy Strait; less so in Juneau. This causes the cellular internet to slow to a crawl when the ships are in port. If you do try Alaska , you want to be able to switch between the two dominant carriers: AT&T and GCI (roaming partner for T-Mobile), depending on who's got the better bandwidth in your location. Since you already have T-Mobile, I'd probably take an extra cell phone to use as an AT&T hotspot. You also need a plan that allows you to use Canadian service, while enroute to/from Vancouver or Seattle. AT&T's plans generally include Canada data roaming. Med cruises might work better since a) all EU countries allow seamless roaming, b) every bit of land is covered with cell towers, c) it all entirely within the Starlink satellite coverage area. (Anything north of 60 degrees in Alaska will have limited Starlink satellite coverage.)

QM2 Arriving now in Southampton

Whoever is at the helm of QM2 does seem to be having a bit of fun. Maybe it's the coronation after-party on the bridge. 🫅👑😄

The Tres Hombres is a fine looking ship.

QM2 is sailing in circles in the English Channel, waiting for the proper time to head for Southampton. Kind of reminds me of every flight I've been on arriving at Heathrow! 😁

Here are the newly launched polar orbit satellites in their "string-of-pearls" configuration, over Antarctica and northern Russia. Right now, they are at a low altitude of 380 km. Over the next while, they will propel themselves up to an altitude of 590 km and spread out evenly to form a spread-out string of satellites that completely circles the earth. Once these are in their final position, Starlink's polar reliability will improve

I'm very glad to hear that Pursuit is in the 90+ club, along with Onward. Some of the earlier Pursuit reports in this thread were much slower. Perhaps Azamara is making progress on correcting the slow speed problems. I'm booked on the Chilian Fjords cruise next year on Quest. I hope they have Starlink up to speed by then.

In general, Starlink is launching a new group of 50-ish satellites every week or two, for a year-to-date total of 14 launches and 671 satellites. This is an impressive launch rate. The total number of operational satellites is 3988. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Starlink_and_Starshield_launches#Starlink_Launches To discuss the effect of new satellites on cruise itineraries, I'll divide this into three topics. 1) The disparity between Onward (very good 95+ Mbps) and the other Azamara ships (much lower Mbps) will not be solved by more satellites. This is most likely a problem with the networking configuration on ship. The solution will only be found by putting some skilled IT professionals on board to do a root-cause analysis. All Azamara ships should be capable of 95+ Mbps with the existing satellite deployment. 2) The mid-ocean coverage will be improved with new satellites. All of the lunches since June 2021 have been the v1.5 satellites which include "Lasers for inter-satellite communication". These lasers are needed for mid-ocean communication far from a ground station. The v1.0 satellites do not have lasers. 3) Polar latitudes (> 60 degrees north or south in this discussion) are only improved by satellites placed in polar orbits. Polar orbits are the ones with an Orbital Inclination of 97.6 degrees. There are currently 230 satellites in polar orbits out of a total of 3988 operational satellites. The most recent polar launch (last month) was No. 80 (see chart below) with 46 satellites. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Starlink_and_Starshield_launches#Starlink_Launches These 230 polar satellites are not enough to provide consistent coverage. This can be visualized on https://satellitemap.space/# by looking at Fairbanks, AK. There are many times when there are no satellites in range of Fairbanks. Field reports on Youtube by Alaska residents indicate that the service is fast when it works, but will drop out completely for many minutes until another satellite is in range. I don't think polar coverage will ever be as good as the lower latitudes, simply due to the fact that there are relatively few paying customers in polar regions. This will limit the number of polar launches.

Starlink recently launched another 56 satellites 2 days ago. These new satellites are still clustered in the "string of pearls" formation, as shown in the screen capture. I counted 7 of these strings, as I spun the virtual globe on my computer. Apparently, these strings are quite visible in the night sky, if the string goes overhead of your location. Live Starlink Satellite Map

These are very good results for such a northerly location, specially with all the tall mountains that surround Skagway.

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Yes, I could also buy gigabit Internet service. But I'd much rather spend the money on cruises.

Here is a thread I started on the Azamara board. As you can read, Azamara Onward (former Pacific Princess) is getting speeds in excess of 95 Mbps, see posts 36, 37. I mention this to show you what the possible speeds are for Starlink Maritime when the ship is at normal latitudes.

Hubbard Glacier is too far north to have good Starlink speeds. Here is a screen capture from https://satellitemap.space/ showing the Starlink satellites as white dots. The uplink ground stations are the red dots. To make Starlink work, your ship needs to send a signal to the satellite (white dot) and back down to an uplink station (red dot) where it connects to the Internet. The vast majority of Starlink satellites are in an elliptical orbit that provides coverage for the entire earth up to the 60 degree latitudes These are the numerous white dots at the bottom of the screen capture. Anywhere north of 60 degrees will NOT have coverage from these satellites. In 2021, they started to launch some satellites in polar obits. These will provide coverage at the extreem northern and southern latitudes.. These are the four white dots you can see towards the top of this screen capture.

At the risk of overloading you with ideas, here is another favorite outing. It's a 1 hour train ride from Centraal. https://teristravels.wordpress.com/2019/08/03/enkhuizen-zuiderzee-museum/ We visited Enkhuizen in August and had the place practically to our selves. Amsterdam would have been seething with tourists that day.

Here is my wife's blog entry on Haarlem https://teristravels.wordpress.com/2019/08/24/haarlem-and-the-hiding-place/

I lived in the Netherlands for two years. So I know all the best places that don't have the maddening crowds of Amsterdam. The easiest one to visit is Haarlem. It's a 15-minute train ride from Centraal Station. It's very walkable and very Dutch. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haarlem

Here is the view from my room at the DoubleTree: https://photos.app.goo.gl/eK8EKgMQeaku8Cxw5 The cruise terminal is to the right of the rail yard, but was not visible from my room. The trains are electric and do not use horns. You will not hear them at either hotel. Update: I've also added a photo of the Movenpick and the cruise terminal.

Great minds think alike!

The Movenpick is the closest hotel to the cruise terminal. It's literally in the same building complex. I have not stayed there myself, but it is popular with cruise passengers. https://goo.gl/maps/6rwa1wYTHcHhB8ud8 My personal favorite is the DoubleTree Hilton Centraal Station. I've stayed there several times. https://goo.gl/maps/AXCozqkR1NXbFLmr7 Both hotels are within easy walking distance to everything, with the DoubleTree being closer to the tourist sites, and the Movenpick closer to the ship.

Looks like QM2 is underway again, after spending many days in port!

On the other hand, if you want someone to take care of a the details for you, I'd recommend a Tours By Locals private tour, such as this one ($320): https://www.toursbylocals.com/beautiful-lima-highlights-Casa-aliaga-private-tour We used Tours by Locals for our port calls in Ecuador and Panama City. It was nice having a private tour.

We just spent 5 nights in Lima, pre-cruise, in February. Read about it here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2841192-azamara-onward-february-12-2023-lima-to-miami/?do=findComment&comment=64794992 Miraflores and the adjacent Barranco are the two areas you probably want to visit. Here is my suggested itinerary. 1) Firstly, I'd book a day room in Miraflores, to have a place to rest, shower, change clothes, etc. The Ibis Lima Larco Miraflores is in a good location and is only $52 for a day room. You will have use of the room from 10am to at 6pm. On arrival, I'd ask for a later departure. You can book Accor chain day rooms here: https://all.accor.com/ssr/app/accor/hotels/lima-lima-peru/index.en.shtml?dateIn=2023-06-06&nights=1&compositions=2&stayplus=false&snu=false&accessibleRooms=false 2) Pre-book a transfer to your Miraflores day room hotel through Taxidatum. They will meet you just outside baggage claim, with a sign with your name. https://taxidatum.com/taxi-fares-lima-airport-cusco-airport/ Book it as Callao ship terminal to Miraflores. This will cost $20 for a 50-minute taxi ride. Taxis and Ubers are practically free in Lima, compared to the places we live. 3) Install the Uber app on your phone. Uber's are really cheap in Lima ($3 - $6 per ride) and are the way we got around. Hint: If you want AC (or a nicer car) book "Uber Comfort". The regular Ubers are fine, but the Comforts are nicer cars. 4) You can read my posts in the thread at top for ideas. My top two recommendations for you are: a) Barranco food tour (post #369) https://www.exquisitoperu.com/tour/barranco-lima-food-tour/ b) Walk along the Malecon (post #335) Alternatively, if you are into archeology, visit the Larco Musuem. See post #365. Notice I didn't recommend going to the downtown Lima historic district. It's fine, but I think Miraflores & Barranco are much more enjoyable. 5) To get back to the airport, I'd took an Uber Comfort (this is a longer ride, which is why I would splurge (extra $5?) on the Uber Comfort. Safe travels.

See a video replay here. Ship movement starts at 18:00 per the timestamp on the upper right. Switch the playback speed to 2X for the fast version. This is a "live" feed so I think this only works for the next while.