Mercruiser

Island Princess, offshore of Bergan Norway, 720 am local

This is good news for LHR travellers https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/heathrow-strikes-off-after-security-workers-accept-deal-2023-06-23/

I travel extensively, so I'm used to doing my financial business on the road. Right now I'm on a 60 day trip. I cannot delay until I get home to pay my bills.

That makes sense and explains why they have such good cell service offshore of sparsely populated land.

Also be aware that AARP is very particular about where you buy them. I tried buying some while on a Panama canal cruise. My purchase was refused by AARP because I had a foreign IP address. So then I had the brilliant idea to use my VPN with a USA IP address. Also blocked by AARP - they don't allow purchases through known VPN IP addresses. I was finally able to buy them on the cruise using my cellphone data as a hotspot - it has a USA IP address regardless of your location. Lesson learned - buy these while in the USA or Canada.

Also on Island Princess. This is especially impressive given that Island Princess was at 70 degrees latitude when this post was written. Starlink has very few satellites beyond 60 degrees latitude. We can expect better speeds at latitudes of < 60 degrees. On a related note, I'm NOT using ship internet. I am only using cellular data. Right now, on a sea day, we are 55 miles from the nearest land and I'm getting a very usable cell signal from our balcony. I've been very impressed with the cell service in Norwegian ports. We have been in tiny, remote villages with 50 residents that have very good cellular data throughput. FWIW, I'm using Google Fi Unlimited Plus with 50 GB per month data.

You are right. Sorry about that.

Here is a link that doesn't require an Msn account https://apnews.com/article/attorney-general-garland-trump-classified-documents-indictment-806fff4a1a3909b598b10bf0d9662a1a

Our Tromso boat excursion today:

I was chatting with a fellow while waiting to disembark in Tromso. He says they have not had hot water in his cabin. We got a note in our cabin saying all water would be shut off today for several hours for repairs, so ill speculate this is related to the hot water issue in some cabins. We have had good hot water in our aft balcony the entire trip

I am on Island Princess now. I am very happy with the ship, crew, and food. I am not using ship Internet. I am using cellular data on my phone. The coverage and speeds are very good for such remote places. We are approaching Tromso now. I am using Google Fi. Wife is using Airalo. I don't have internet on sea days, but that doesn't bother me. I watch BBC news if I wanty news fix on sea days.

Brilliant idea!!!!

You make a good point. There is an AP centered in front of the elevator/lift bank on each deck and each bank (A,B,C,D). This may help provide a usable WiFi signal in some cabins.

Thanks for posting this article. Fortunately, my onward flight departs from T4 on a day without a strike. I do like the European way of publicizing strike days ahead of time.

The day I arrived in Southampton on QM2 from NY, there was a rail strike. Glad I had booked a rental car. Yet another reason to avoid aeroplanes and trains. 😏

Yes, 10016 is next to 10018. 10018 has an AP near it's door. It should have better wifi than 10024. However, I cannot account for APs I could not see. It is possible that some of the Queen suites have APs in the cabin, and 10024 is a Q5. I am almost certain that the aft Queen suites (Balmoral, Windsor, etc) have APs within, because there are no APs in the hallway aft of 10129.

Happy to do it. I learn so much on CC from others, so it's nice to have the opportunity to reciprocate.

A very common complaint about QM2 is that the Wi-Fi does not work in many of the cabins. These passengers find themselves having to go to public areas to find good Wi-Fi signals so that they can access the Internet. Because many passengers want to use the ship's Wi-Fi in their cabins, I have provided a list of Wi-Fi Access Point (AP) locations in the hallways of the QM2 passenger cabin decks. I compiled this list on a recent TA crossing by walking the length of all of these decks and writing down the cabin number of the nearest door to each of the APs that are visible in the hallways. If Wi-Fi is important to you, I recommend choosing a cabin that is near a Wi-Fi AP. This spreadsheet should allow you to do that. Here is a link to the spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10F7haTdWZ9CvNOck0ig4TK_DGL4Bwn-H/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=100936022927207792570&rtpof=true&sd=true For those of you who disapprove of Internet access on cruise ships and wish to comment on that, I encourage you to start your own thread on that topic. 🙄 Terminology: In many of the CC threads, people refer to the Wi-Fi devices in the QM2 hallways as "routers". This is technically incorrect, and I don't bother correcting folks in those threads. But for anyone wondering why I refer to these as Access Points, read this: https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/answer/Is-there-a-difference-between-a-wireless-access-point-and-a-wireless-router#:~:text=Routers can serve either wired,capability to a wired network.

I don't know which cruise line you are taking, but with Azamara we did not handle our luggage after the taxi picked us up. Once the taxi got to the port, the luggage was transferred to the shuttle bus by the Azamara people. Once the shuttle bus arrived at the ship, our luggage was brought onto the ship and delivered to our cabin. To reiterate, we didn't touch our luggage after we got into the taxi. Additionally, you should be able to get a Wyndham bellman to take your luggage to the taxi. The area around both the airport and the ship port is a very unattractive industrial area. But you will have no contact with anyone except the taxi driver and the cruise ship employees/agents.

They took us to the port entrance, where Azamara had a shuttle bus waiting. The Azamara people loaded our luggage into the bus and then took us (and other passengers) to the ship. It was not possible for taxis or private vehicles to drive into the port. Taxidatum will know where to go.

Many of us used Taxidatum on our Feb12 Azamara Onward cruise. They worked great for everyone. See our roll call if you want more info. https://taxidatum.com/

Yes, the waiting area has seating. We were in the waiting area from 1:27 pm to 1:35 pm. The rest of the time was standing. AC worked good.

It just so happens I kept notes on the times. No one ever noticed or commented on anyone's boarding time. There were folks in line with all sorts of random boarding times. So fuhgeddaboudit. Arrived Brooklyn cruise terminal 1230pm Long security line but moving. Good ac. 4 out of 6 metal detector staffed 1:00pm through x-ray and in checking queue 28 checkin agents, counter space for 42 1:27pm checked in and in waiting hall. Not very many folks here 1:35pm Walking up to next queue at escalator 1:40 onboard In long queue for lift 1:52 in our cabin 1 hour 17 min total per stopwatch

It does look like a sweet job assignment.

As part of the Carnival brands, some Princess cruisers might be interested to know that are installing Starlink on the QM2 in the middle of the Atlantic. Starlink installation definitely does NOT require a dry dock or even a port stay. See pictures here: