KarmaCruisers

With the “plus” package it’s basically a gimme..as tips is $15 a day; so you’re really only paying an extra $35 a day for drinks and “some” form of WiFi… and that “internet manager” (LOL at the title) is 100% correct..pre-covid, no one really bought the WiFi package..post-covid..every.single.person

The “Internet cafe” is no different in network speed, it uses the same pipe. While on ship, like others have said, no way in hell your daughter will be able to work. Best case scenario is in port using her cell phone as a hot spot..but she’ll need a data plan that covers Mexico (I know Verizon offers this)

It’s actually not princess IT; they aren’t involved with ship WiFi at all. This is 100% on the Exec’s at princess and whatever they’ve negotiated with SES.

FWIW; to stream HD content you need 4Mbps. (Doesn’t seem like much; but when you have 56k speeds…haha)

The saddest part of that statement is a billion dollar company OUTSOURCES the creation of a MAIN STAPLE of their product…at least if it were built in-house; it may have been built by someone who ACTUALLY had been on a princess cruise. (Or even a cruise, for that matter)

LOL; as a software engineer I 10000% agree with the app..like how in the HELL did it pass a 3rd party QA lab!? oddly, carnivals app SMASHES the hell out of “medallionClass”

That’s weird AF that the upload is literally 15x faster than the download. (It SHOULD be the other way around?) all these latency numbers are VIOLENT haha. When you get into triple digits…it’s bad.

No; it’s not. But if you ask for a “private table” they give you it. (Ie: a 2-top; or a 4-top)

Also; this was my average speed this week on the Sky

Thanks for this info..this kind of cemented what I thought was happening.. 1. double the demand for usage 2. cruise lines asking for crew traffic to be prioritized over guest traffic 3. QoS to provide priority to VoIP traffic. Hopefully they get mPower setup ASAP!

Since the pandemic; it’s pure FOMO; so literally every single person on the ships are buying the internet package. We’re just off the Sky (thanksgiving cruise also) and the average speed was 128Kbps (year 2000 ISDN speed lol) What you’re not factoring in ALSO, is employees using the same pipe…I actually stayed up all night one night..found the highest speed of the trip around 330am shiptime..5Mbps (DSL from year 2003, haha) This isn’t specific to Princess either..it’s all ships since the debacle of the Diamond Princess (people fear being “trapped” on a cruise ship for extended time without internet) Only Elon can help us all, if the greedy cruise lines will let him help (StarLink) EDIT: to add, if you needed to use the internet package for ACTUAL work (Aka: connecting to a VPN from your laptop) you’d LITERALLY be “dead in the water”.

We were on the ship with you; and I wrote a live TR 😄 Question..I’ve always wondered..I know this was a calm sea cruise..but do you have other experience being in the absolute top+nose of the boat (deck 17 cabin 102 is the highest/most forward cabin)..does it get super “rocky”?? we were on deck 11 rm530 (mid-aft)

My pleasure I just hope someone can “pay it forward” for me; for the regal 😄

Wrap-Up: - The terminal doors do not open until 10am in FLL; so don’t intend to be there any earlier or you’re out waiting in the street. - Boarding process was super smooth (We were “green lane”) We just showed our QR code in the app to two people (only because we picked up our medallions at the port; otherwise it’d of only been one person) We sat in the terminal from 10-10:30 while Suite Guests / Elite’s boarded. Room was ready when we got onboard. - Cozumel (Riviera Maya): Cruise Lines own the port, so the “vendors” inside the port aren’t the usual Mexico-aggro. Taxi drivers adhere to posted prices. Paradise Beach Club; 100% recommend! Ask for a beach spot if you want shade, pool spot if you want sun. - Roatan (Mahogany Bay): CCL(corp) owns the port, so again “vendors” aren’t aggro. To meet independent tours (ie: Daniel Johnson, etc) it seems like a crazy long walk, but don’t give up hope, they’re at the bottom of the hill outside the port gate. - Belize (Belize City): We didn’t get off the ship; but it’s a tender port and the tender ride had to be 20 minutes one-way (we were nowhere near the shore) - Mahahual (Costa Maya): HUGE port, again owned by the cruise lines. You could literally never leave the port area and enjoy your day (pools, etc) We did the Maya Chan beach day; it’s worth doing ONCE, but I wouldn’t do it again. The water is super brown and the beach line is literally covered in garbage (not at Maya Chan of course but ALLL the rest of the shoreline) They don’t have a pool. The only food available is a taco buffet. - Ship Thoughts: Room service is great 🙂 MDR will NOT let men in on formal nights unless they’re in pants (any kind of pants work, even “trainers”)

Just landed at SFO. Will recap this tommorow

Having been on a few Royal class ships as well as almost all the carnival ship classes (not the Dream Class or Excel class); I’d choose Excel, only because it’s “new” and to me, they fixed all the issues I had with carnival (not enough dining choices; which the Excel classes has a LOT of) If it was another class of Carnival ship, I would definitely pick princess; as carnival only has two dining venues (MDR and Lido deck) and even then, limited hours…on princess you have MDR, Lido, Alfredo’s, AND complimentary room service that has ACTUAL food on the menu!

I didn’t think this about; but I bet I tip MORE than $100 per day on a cruise (I also purchase the “plus” package so the “base” tips are already being paid) since all tips are just added to a pool fleet-wide, then divided up…and I play in the casino a LOT; and tip $5+ for winning hands..20 hands of this in an evening and voila (not even 20; 10 or 15 because like I said, $5 is the minimum) and to be honestly I don’t feel like my “service” is of any higher quality than someone who doesn’t tip..it’s just what I do when I play table games…not to mention the $1 per drink to the cocktail server… tipping is something that is hard-engrained in the US; mostly because of “feeling guilty” (the last part is JHMO)

Holy Jesus we just won the lottery! dude hooked us up FAT! almost top floor in the GUITAR tower and we got right in! and the free WiFi here is straight up 50Mbps!!!

Good morning Fort Lauderdale! got the FACK off of the WiFi and connected to LTE; immediately got 10Mbps download speed, hahahaha We we’re looking and unfortunately there are no UK cruises other than the one we’re taking (and it’s prior run, 12 days earlier which doesn’t work for my wife’s work schedule) So we may be forced to “burn” this offer on another eastern Mexico run during spring break with friends of ours (use both offers to get them a free room; to maximize value) On another note, we may get done dirty at our hotel Layover today… we originally booked hard rock Hollywood for fri/sat nights; with the intention to call late last night and tell them our flight was delayed badly and we wouldn’t get in until 9am and needed to check-in then… Well, we called and they said if you don’t show up by 4am, your reservation gets cancelled; but they changed our reservation for checking in today..so we asked them how early we can check in, and they said “front desk opens at 9am; but no gurantee you’ll get your room before 4pm” (Gee, thanks Automatron!) So we’ll see if we can get a little human thought today..doubtful but I know they’ll say “I’m sorry there are no rooms ready yet”….ohh yeah? You mean the room I had PAID FOR AND RESERVED..someone came in between 4am and 9am, and bought it??? (Which they say is not even available anyway) like I said; we’ll see if the front desk agent uses their brain or just is a robot, programmed for a single task.

Yes, haha. Very “meh”. We’re back in the cabin now; all packed up. Watching Marvel Eternals

Dinner service in the MDR..lobster McNuggets (lol; talking about the size) thank God I ordered a double order meat is medium rare BTW

Lolwut?¿

So we just woke up..3:45pm lol missed deal or no deal..but we assume it’s the same as carnival (and no, it’s purely wasting money..but it’s damn fun lol) Under our door was a return offer for each of us.. Balcony + Princess Plus + $500 freeplay only downer is it ENDS 6/24/23..our UK cruise is 6/25/23..so we’re going to see if we can get on a UK cruise a little earlier; that would save us $4500 (cruise fare) Gotta pack today, ::sad trombone:: gonna get cleaned up and go find something to eat.

Unfortunately I ordered that food and it said “delivered” but never actually was…I watched The King’s Man (prequel to Kingsmen movies) and re-ordered..I’m fuxking starving and now my sleep cycle is absolutely shot to hell; but that doesn’t really matter because our flight home isn’t freakin until 8pm!! (Not by choice, originally it was at 2pm; but they cancelled that flight entirely and only offer 8pm departure from FLL -> SFO) Hopefully at least THIS time my food comes

So back in the room at 3am! If I didn’t say it earlier; They were turning back a ton of guys in the MDR, because they weren’t wearing pants (first time I’ve EVER seen this actually enforced) played in the casino tonight, literally betting only $5 and getting booze with some other fine gents. lost $200 over the course of about 5 hours.. tommorow is a sea day; so we’re going to sleeeeep the faaack in! Deal or No Deal is at 1:30pm; so that’s all we have to wake up for. The funny thing is; in the MDR they said lobster is “tommorow night”..but when I look on the TV; it says Shrimp & Steak..this will be a new thing if they don’t serve lobster on a cruise in the MDR… got room service ordered up and queing up a movie.