Grand Princess Recent Internet Experience

Has anyone recently sailed (Alaska, last couple weeks) and purchased the Unlimited Internet?

Trying to decide if it worth it.

The top package says you can stream, this implies the bandwidth is good. Im assuming this is better/different internet speed that was available in the past when you purchased by the minute.

Does it work any better? Or still just as slow as it has always been? Would appreciate hearing your recent experiences on the Grand Princess.

Thanks!

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I am sailing to Alaska on the Grand a week from Monday, and I have prepaid for the top package specifically because it mentions streaming. I will let you know how it goes.

Good question! I am wondering the same! We are on the Grand in Sept.

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We just got off the Ruby on Saturday to 16th. My DW and I both have 250 minutes of internet time. We spent 30 minutes trying to get online to check our Email. Frustrated we gave up, it kept kicking us off. The manager of the internet cafe was of little help.

For whatever it is worth in Feb/March on cruise to Hawaii it worked fine and internet manager was very helpful with a couple hiccups we had

Is the unlimited package less expensive when purchased online?

We were on the Grand last month. Streaming?? No! I wouldn't count on it. I was interested in the same package but was warned it wasn't worth it. You most likely won't be able to stream anything while onboard ... and if you do, it will probably freeze up on you.

You'll do ok if all that you want to do it check your email or social media accounts.

We were on the Grand last month. Streaming?? No! I wouldn't count on it. I was interested in the same package but was warned it wasn't worth it. You most likely won't be able to stream anything while onboard ... and if you do, it will probably freeze up on you.

 

You'll do ok if all that you want to do it check your email or social media accounts.

So you were warned it wasn’t worth it and you purchased it and this was your experience or you only heard this from someone else? If you purchased it, did you purchase the package that allows streaming?

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Disembarked the Grand 15-June. During my 10 days aboard the speed / reliability seemed consistent with all my other voyages aboard this ship.

The 3 packages being now offered...given they do not disclose any technical data (minutes, sizes, etc) but only general comments like good for "Email" or "Social Media sites"....how does anyone make an informed decision?

We were on the Grand to Hawaii over Christmas and I purchased the top internet package. They do discount if you pre-purchase ahead of time, but they also give you a nice discount if you are Platinum or Elite and convert your free minutes over to the unlimited plan.

The service worked ok on the ship. There are websites that were fast and streamed well (YouTube worked great), but other sites were nearly impossible to use (I don't think Netflix worked at all). Princess appears to be using a proxy setup (located in Miami) with some caching occurring for specific websites.

I will say it was nice to just leave the phone on, was able to message friends and family while in the middle of the Pacific. I will probably purchase it again on my next cruises, but only do it at the lower level since the streaming didn't really work.

We were on the Grand June 5 - 15. I purchased the unlimited internet package and was quite pleased--it is so much faster! Streaming audio worked well, but not too good for video

Have yet to see any satellite connection worth the money. It make work fine at home, but the amount of users aboard ship really bog it down. Put away your devices and enjoy the vacation. Find an internet cafe on shore for free if you have to.

We were on the Grand in May. I'd call the internet connection "okay" for things like email and posting to Cruise Critic. Not for streaming. And we didn't have internet at all in Skagway. I don't remember if it's always that way, but it certainly might be.

OK, I returned home today from ten days on the Grand Princess. I prepaid $140 for the premium unlimited internet package because it was supposed to allow for streaming.

My feelings—not worth it! First of all, I was not able to stream anything or complete a FaceTime call to my kids. Streaming services like Netflix were flat out blocked and you couldn’t even attempt to stream.

On top of streaming sites and apps being blocked, you are limited to only 500MB a day of premium internet service, and when you reach that limit, your unlimited service reverts to the slow level.

On top of that, even before I reached the data cap, the internet was constantly in and out. It would take several minutes to load a page or check for e-mail. Quite often, the pages would time out or the connection would be lost. If I tried to send a photo to my kids using iMessage, it would take 3-5 minutes, but I would still occasionally get a failure message. I found that after 10:00 pm, the internet tended to be unavailable.

It was an extremely frustrating experience, and I would caution anyone considering the purchase. Buyer beware! Spend $140 on a big bag of dirt instead, and you can at least eat the dirt if all else fails.

The obvious question—did I complain? No, I never got to the Internet cafe during the brief time each day when the manager was there. (An hour or two after lunch.) I was too busy doing other things and enjoying the cruise, and this certainly didn’t ruin it for me. However, in my opinion, they have no right charging customers $140 for a premium “unlimited” streaming internet service package if they can’t provide it.

Thank you very much for coming back and sharing your experience! We’re on the Grand in Jan, sounds like we won’t be buying the streaming package after all.

So you were warned it wasn’t worth it and you purchased it and this was your experience or you only heard this from someone else? If you purchased it, did you purchase the package that allows streaming?

 

 

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Sorry for the very late reply ... but here goes in case you are still interested. I spoke to the guy working down in the internet cafe and he warned me that it wouldn't be worth my money to purchase the premium service for my device. I guess he was getting all sorts of gruff from passengers that had it demanding their money back. I saw a few for the short time I was in there.

Also, I just went on the Grand again earlier this month ... I didn't bother to ask if there were any improvements made. But, I can pretty much tell you the answer would have been no. I have a lot of free minutes between my DH and myself. We were nearly midship on the Caribe deck and most of the time, I was completely unable to even connect to the internet to check my email and such, much less any social media sites. It was terribly frustrating. I heard if you left your stateroom door open, it would work better. Then, I saw some cabins with a shoe holding their door ajar ... I figured that the internet was what that was all about.

Thanks for the update, Cruise Raider!

We're on the Grand in January, on the Mexican Riviera itinerary.

when we did Alaska on the Grand 2 years ago, the internet was ok (it was the minutes-based plan). Didn't try streaming then.

All I really want to be able to do is check email from time to time.

I'm going to be on the Grand in January. I get 250 minutes but am thinking about buying some for my husband so I don't have to share. :-). Does it matter where on the ship you are? We're going to be in a Vista Suite so I'm wondering if it's worse in the back of the ship. We won't do any streaming, just email and FB to check in with our kids and parents.

Thanks for the update, Cruise Raider!

 

We're on the Grand in January, on the Mexican Riviera itinerary.

when we did Alaska on the Grand 2 years ago, the internet was ok (it was the minutes-based plan). Didn't try streaming then.

 

All I really want to be able to do is check email from time to time.

We sailed on the Grand in August and purchased the ‘Social’ package. I had to upgrade once onboard as I couldn’t retrieve my emails on that particular package. I paid the extra $30 (for the 10 days) and upgraded to the ‘Surf’ option. Didn’t have any problems connecting to apps and the internet. The only thing I was disappointed in was that my photos wouldn’t send via WhatsApp - expected that to work as I wouldn’t call it streaming :(. I really should have asked the IT guy as he was very helpful with my initial problems of retrieving emails ;). Easily printed off our boarding passes too.

We sailed on the Grand in August and purchased the ‘Social’ package. I had to upgrade once onboard as I couldn’t retrieve my emails on that particular package. I paid the extra $30 (for the 10 days) and upgraded to the ‘Surf’ option. Didn’t have any problems connecting to apps and the internet. The only thing I was disappointed in was that my photos wouldn’t send via WhatsApp - expected that to work as I wouldn’t call it streaming :(. I really should have asked the IT guy as he was very helpful with my initial problems of retrieving emails ;). Easily printed off our boarding passes too.

Good info! I've currently pre-purchased the Stream option (highest level). I want to be able to post photos on FB, and maybe use whatsapp or instagram. maybe I'll stick with it. Torn between buying Stream or Surf.

I don't expect to say watch Netflix movies on it, either way. Although it would be nice perhaps.

We were on the Grand to Hawaii over Christmas and I purchased the top internet package. They do discount if you pre-purchase ahead of time, but they also give you a nice discount if you are Platinum or Elite and convert your free minutes over to the unlimited plan.

 

Do you know what that discount amount was?

I am just off the grand and the last sea day I purchased 24 hours of the cheapest internet (social I think) and it was worthless. Couldn’t even get one post on Instagram so I requested it be cancelled and they did so and credited my account.

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Do you know what that discount amount was?

This is what I’m trying to find out as well.

Yes, I've maybe been lucky but I've had no problem with internet on the ships. I always assumed they had access points which is why I asked if it was different in an aft cabin.

I just got off on Sunday.

I had pre-purchased the unlimited "highest" level hoping that it may be quicker than normal and found that the only time it was really reliable was 2-7AM otherwise there were many websites that would never load. I needed it for work purposes and found that the emails did come in regularly but once in a while I could not get an email sent. I found basic internet searches via google were the worst and if the page you wanted to go to had anything interactive, it might not load at all.

It was also a PITA trying to use their intranet while connected and browsing but that could have been due to my using chrome on my phone and not safari.

If it was slow at the highest possible speeds (so they claim) it would have been near impossible to do anything if you had the basic one.

I wonder if some of this is due to how they are directing the traffic in/out their servers because I find it hard to believe that every person who was using the internet at 11AM had the exact same package I did. For my next cruise I'll hope it improves or that I don't have to stay in touch via email