Internet on Wind Star in Costa Rica (Wind Star)

[Mateo&Kali]

Greetings,

 

I know the last thing I want to do is connect with the Internet but my wife and I have an online school program that completes the week we will be in Costa Rica before leaving on the Wind Star cruise December 5.

 

I believe the Internet in San Juan will be acceptable as we are staying the Mariott near the airport. My question is how is the Internet reliability on the Wind Star? We might have one or two days of needing Internet connectivity from the ship during the Costa Rica cruise.

 

Thanks for any feedback.

[6rugrats]

It's very slow and expensive. You will be offered a package where you can purchase minutes.

 

From their webpage:

Windstar Cruises offers full internet capabilities, depending on course and position of the ship, as well as wireless Internet service on all three ships. Wi-Fi access is possible in most public areas, staterooms and suites

 

These were the prices the last time I checked (probably has changed by now):

 

White 30-Minute Card: $22.50 or $.75 per minute; Silver 100-Minute Card: $55 or $.55 per minute; Gold 250-Minute Card: $100 or $.40 per minute.

[spots25]

just back from rome-nice windsurf. internet not great. not able to connect for 1 1/2 days. very slow. dial up.

[Mateo&Kali]

Thank you for the replies and information on Internet connectivity as well as the prices for onboard Wind Star Internet use.

 

Cheers!

 

 

[hifred]

Yes I need the internet also it is a must for my job which I am required to check in daily.

[Drummond Creek]

Is using a black berry an option for internet? We appear to stick pretty close to the coast so if there is cell phone reception, blackberries will work.

[6rugrats]

Is using a black berry an option for internet? We appear to stick pretty close to the coast so if there is cell phone reception, blackberries will work.

 

Yes, a Blackberry can be used.

[Drummond Creek]

I can survive just with a black berry for a week. find the internet quicker on the bb then trying to get it from the ship's satellite connection.

[SailorJM]

I have heard you need to be careful if using an iPod out of US. Story in major newspaper here (San Diego) a month or so ago about a couple who had iPods with them while vacationing/cruising in Central or South America and never turned them on. Just had them with, in case. When they got home, they had $800 fee each on phone bill cuz apparently, iPods are never really "off." They had a big battle with AT&T and Apple over that.

[Mands&Ian]

I have heard you need to be careful if using an iPod out of US. Story in major newspaper here (San Diego) a month or so ago about a couple who had iPods with them while vacationing/cruising in Central or South America and never turned them on. Just had them with, in case. When they got home, they had $800 fee each on phone bill cuz apparently, iPods are never really "off." They had a big battle with AT&T and Apple over that.

 

That would be an iPhone, rather than an iPod, surely?

 

I can't imagine they'll get far with AT&T or Apple though. The iPhone has an Airplane mode to prevent avoid this;

 

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1644

 

Airplane Mode

Turn on airplane mode to disable the wireless features of iPhone on a plane.

 

Tap Settings and turn airplane mode on.

When airplane mode is on, appears in the status bar at the top of the screen, and no cell phone, radio, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth signals are emitted from iPhone. When airplane mode is on, you can still do things like:

 

If they didn't know that one wonders how they dealt with the iPhones on the flight to/from the cruise to ensure they weren't in breach of airline regulations?

 

Mands

 

Mands

[SailorJM]

Yeah..blond moment!!!! arrgghhh. Definitely meant iPhone. Came to me in middle of the night that I actually said iPod. Geesh.

[screen-gem]

One previous poster advised to beware of excessive internet charges incurred with an iPhone. The same is true with any internet-connected device (Blackberrys, Droids, etc). International roaming data charges are outrageous. With iPhone, be sure to turn OFF the Data Roaming feature.

 

In principal, it is possible to use cellphones for voice calls when in port or near to the coast. But the coast of Costa Rica is not that well covered by cell towers. And some of the small villages the WindStar stops at have minimal coverage. However, the Windstar has an on-board cellular microcell. While at sea (and sometimes while in port), the microcell is activated and your cellphone may connect to it instead of to a land-based cell tower. Beware that you will pay outrageous charges for use of this captive cell site. You may think that you have an international roaming package from your home carrier (AT&T for one sells such packages), but if your cellphone connects to the on-board cellsite, you will pay through the nose.

 

Incidentally, if you have an iPhone and intend to use its GPS to keep track of your travels while at sea, be advised that the on-board microcell will fool the GPS. The iPhone's A-GPS (Assisted GPS) algorithm sees the cellular signal from the microcell, and concludes that you are still at Caldera.

 

You're best advised to turn OFF cellphones, iPhones, Crackberries, and all other such devices and just enjoy the cruise :-)

 

(the above is based on my experience on Windstar March'09. YMMV.)

[kimiata]

Thanks for the timely advice, screen-gem. We are leaving next week for Costa Rica. I just got an iPhone and was trying to figure out what to do with it.

[screen-gem]

@kimiata,

I took my iPhone 3G with me but never made any phone calls with it. Too pricey! Suggest you get the "Trails" GPS application (I think it's 1.99 at the iTunes Store). I used it to record the day excursions we took. When I got home, I was able to plot where we had been (hiking in the rain forest, boating on the Tempisque River), and then geo-tag all our photos. Click the 'Map' link on this web page and you can see where we took some of our 100's of pictures:

http://*******.com/yawb7do

 

I used the iPhone to occasionally check my mail and surf the web from various WiFi hot spots, including one in a little restaurant in Grenada (the lunch stop on the Nicaragua Masada tour). I was amazed to find free WiFi in a such an isolated place.

 

We loved the Windstar CR trip. I'm sure you will too.

 

--replace the string of asterisks with tiny followed by url

[chicagogal]

Is using a black berry an option for internet? We appear to stick pretty close to the coast so if there is cell phone reception, blackberries will work.

 

Absolutely an option and the best option IMO. MUCH less expensive than the Windstar internet. I get an ATT international data add on package just before we leave on each cruise and I cancel when we get home. You don't have to be close to shore either. The ship has a wifi system you can connect to (just more expensive than connecting to a shore-based signal for phone calls)

[kimiata]

I just got off the phone with AT&T, where they told me that they did NOT have an international data package available for Costa Rica, and that the charge would be $20 per MB on my iPhone. Yikes.

 

(Nice pictures, screen-gem!)