Question about internet service???

[ksmommyof4]

We are going on our first cruise in 2 weeks.It will be just me and my husband and neither of us has a cell phone that works out of the USA to call home to check on our 4 sons.So we just decided to get internet service on board and talk to them that way.My question is does anyone know if you can get on Facebook and use Facebooks chat thing??? Reason is I get alot of crap in my email box and it would just be easier to talk to the boys through Facebook.So they wont have to try and find a message from me in my email.Thanks so much....Hopefully someone can help...

[firefly333]

Hopefully someone knows about facebook in particular.

 

I would also utilize internet cafes in the ports where its only $1 to $6 for an hour, depending on the port. Long distance for about 40 cents from the internet cafes in the ports.

 

Service on the ship will start at 75 cents a minute and if you buy a large enough package you can get it down to about 40 cents a minute... big difference.

 

I have heard people chatting on the computers on the ship ...so it can work

[seashinesunshine]

I am quite sure you can use Facebook. We have never paid for the internet service, but you will find on many ports you can log on to free wireless internet. Not sure where you are going, but we found hot spots in St Kitts, Antigua, St Thomas and others. Just look for people sitting on a bench with thier laptops. You may find bars etc that have it or coffee shops. In the ports we used internet just like you would at home Facebook Chat and all. It may be hard to coordinate chat times with your kids at home, keep time changes in mind.

[tiggerman101]

I would imagine you can use Facebook chat on a Carnival ship. I use Facebook as a way to keep in touch with my partner and my family when I cruise solo. While I have never used the chat feature on a Carnival ship, I did use it on Oasis of the Seas. I would imagine it would work on Carnival as well. When I did it on Oasis it worked fine. There was a little delay, but it really was not a problem.

[Rosefloater]

Or you can set up a new yahoo or gmail account and give that address to your sons and anyone else you need to stay in contact with.

 

For example, I have one that I give to my friends and family, and a few that I use for the internet or to get store emails.

[Captain Carnival]

Can anyone advise what the internet fees are onboard?

[shipty2]

Yes you can use facebook onboard. This is how I communicate with those at home . I get hundreds of emails a day and it would take too long with the slow satellite connection on the ship to load them all to get to the ones I want.

[steveNcindy]

Can anyone advise what the internet fees are onboard?

 

We used facebook on our cruise to communicate home. Didn't use the chat but emailed thru facebook with no problems.

 

Cost when we were onboard was $55 for 100 minutes I believe

[FloridaGators]

The price for internet is 75 cents a minute if you don't buy a "package".

[golfadj]

I buy a package of 250 minutes for $ 100 plus the ripoff 3.95 activation fee.

 

It is rather slow but I need to keep up with business so it is just a cost of doing business when I cruise.

[kruise66]

Even if you bring your own laptop aboard, do you have to pay for wireless service? How do they know when you use it?

[firefly333]

Even if you bring your own laptop aboard, do you have to pay for wireless service? How do they know when you use it?

 

the only way to connect to the satilittle (sp) is thru having a password.

 

No hot spots in the ocean to connect to free.

[viaggi_per_mare]

Even if you bring your own laptop aboard, do you have to pay for wireless service? How do they know when you use it?

 

We used facebook including uploading alot of pictures on the ship internet. The upload on the ship was over 900 kb/sec which is immensely fast to us as the only broadband available to us is hughes.net at home. Because they are a monopoly and we have no broadband/cable TV/roadrunner in New York our upload speeds at home are 16 kb/sec. We were very happy with the speed even though some say it is slow. We always get the 250 minutes for a cruise and prior to our last cruise, that was $100. In May on the Dream, the 250 minute option was $89.00. They also added a 480 minute option for $159. (250 used to be the biggest package) You can buy another package if you find yourself needed more. The did run specials mid week where you got free minutes if you bought an additional package. The also run specials where you sign on between 10am and 12 noon, and get credited back half of the minutes you use. Make sure to logout with their http://Http://1.1.1.1 logout so you don't burn minutes when you turn your computer off.

 

We did find that the connection was the fastest and best when in port or when the ship was not moving. Depending on location of the ship, there are slower times or times when you can get dropped. It is the same price to use one of their computers as your own. We got wiFi even in our aft cabin.

There were a couple of sites also that you could use without using your minutes (like Carnival.com)

We are pretty heavy users with uploads and surfing and the 250 minutes suited us just fine. We found 100 minutes was a bit lacking we we ended up buying more or occurring the .75 cent/minute over charges if we ran out of our package.

[MOMOFTHREE68]

I did a 7 night cruise with my Mom in May, and internet was a life saver. I just wanted to be able to connect with my kids for a few minutes a day, to know about the little things. I set up a gmail account that only my husband, kids and 2 close friends knew about, and also set up Yahoo Instant Messanger. We would set up a time to meet ahead of time each evening. I would write email messages before logging on, then get online and copy and paste any email they sent me into Word and do the opposite with mine. We would then "gab" for a few minutes on instant messanger, before getting offline. I did the 100 minutes for $55.00, and went over by just a few. Honestly before deciding to do this, I was beginning to stress over leaving my kids behind, but once I decided to get interenet, I was able to relax and get excited about my once in a lifetime trip with my Mom.

[DanishDonut]

I would also utilize internet cafes in the ports where its only $1 to $6 for an hour, depending on the port. Long distance for about 40 cents from the internet cafes in the ports.

 

firefly333 has an excellent suggestion which I hope fellow cruisers will seriously consider.

 

$0.75 per minute may not sound expensive, which is partially true. If you only need to check one e-mail account, read 2-3 or e-mails (no replies) you can accomplish that within 7-10 minutes which is still just under $8.

 

We just returned from a wonderful Carnival Victory. During the cruise I was tempted to use the ship's internet but I knew it was slow and very expensive. Every port we visited had an internet cafe or internet kiosk near the port. The cheapest was St. Lucia where I was able to surf 60 minutes for $3 compared to $45 on the cruise ship. Let's not forget I was using high speed broadband internet vs slower satellite which is about DSL-speeds.

[viaggi_per_mare]

firefly333 has an excellent suggestion which I hope fellow cruisers will seriously consider.

 

$0.75 per minute may not sound expensive, which is partially true. If you only need to check one e-mail account, read 2-3 or e-mails (no replies) you can accomplish that within 7-10 minutes which is still just under $8.

 

We just returned from a wonderful Carnival Victory. During the cruise I was tempted to use the ship's internet but I knew it was slow and very expensive. Every port we visited had an internet cafe or internet kiosk near the port. The cheapest was St. Lucia where I was able to surf 60 minutes for $3 compared to $45 on the cruise ship. Let's not forget I was using high speed broadband internet vs slower satellite which is about DSL-speeds.

 

As someone forced into DSL in New York because we have no Broadband available and forced to use hughes.net as our only provider (they have a monopoly in upstate NY.) The ship is at least 20 times faster than DSL. We are extremely restricted to speed as there is no competition. Our AOL dial up is faster that the DSL you get in rural areas. $2000 a year for hughes.net. I will gladly pay those prices on the ship, we are able to do more than we can do at home.

....it is hard to use internet in poor countries with little resources that is better than what you can get in the USA. We appreciate the technology on the ship that is far superior and much cheaper that what we have in upstate NY.

[firefly333]

As someone forced into DSL in New York because we have no Broadband available and forced to use hughes.net as our only provider (they have a monopoly in upstate NY.) The ship is at least 20 times faster than DSL. We are extremely restricted to speed as there is no competition. Our AOL dial up is faster that the DSL you get in rural areas. $2000 a year for hughes.net. I will gladly pay those prices on the ship, we are able to do more than we can do at home.

....it is hard to use internet in poor countries with little resources that is better than what you can get in the USA. We appreciate the technology on the ship that is far superior and much cheaper that what we have in upstate NY.

 

Why is it hard to use?? A few keys were in spanish, but I figured them out.

 

At $1 an hour to tops $6 an hour in St. Thomas (highest I encountered) and the service was decent to very good, depending on the country

[viaggi_per_mare]

Why is it hard to use?? A few keys were in spanish, but I figured them out.

 

At $1 an hour to tops $6 an hour in St. Thomas (highest I encountered) and the service was decent to very good, depending on the country

 

It is hard to see the internet supplied to all of the USA except for us. My nephew was stationed in Afghanistan and the middle of the desert, and was shocked that the worst internet there was better than what we get in NY....I guess we are jealous:rolleyes: Anyway, we like the convience and since we are used to paying outrageous prices for nothing, the ship with wiFi in our cabin the is better than anything we have in rural America, is impressive.

[centurycruiser]

Another option, if you care to talk to the kids is to open a Skype account. I've seen people on board ship using that to talk.

 

I've seen some "poor country" internet in the Caribbean and the service is great! Much, much faster than the ship. I am surprised anyone thinks that service is fast. Typical cost in port is around $2 per hour but as someone pointed out, it is also possible to find "free" wifi. If you use your own laptop or netbook shouldn't have to deal with "spanish" keys.

[okwriter]

It is hard to see the internet supplied to all of the USA except for us.

 

I live THREE miles south of a city of 50,000 people.

We can't get cable or DSL.

So we are stuck with WildBlue (basically the same as what you have).

It reeks but that's one of the sacrifices of living "in the boonies."

Well, that and not being able to get pizza delivery. :rolleyes:

 

[Zack Adams]

Another cool service to use is Posterous http://posterous.com/ when traveling.

 

You simply setup what accounts you want to post to, such as twitter, facebook and flickr.

 

Then you can send 1 email and it goes out to all the places you setup :)

 

Really a cool way to post when your data is limited.

 

Skype will not work on the ships (some it does and some it don't) but with a wifi hotspot in port and some Skype credit, you can call landlines back home for really cheap! I actually dropped my international calling plan to contact family in Europe and replaced it with Skype.

 

Just some thoughts!

[Zack Adams]

Another option, if you care to talk to the kids is to open a Skype account. I've seen people on board ship using that to talk.

 

I've seen some "poor country" internet in the Caribbean and the service is great! Much, much faster than the ship. I am surprised anyone thinks that service is fast. Typical cost in port is around $2 per hour but as someone pointed out, it is also possible to find "free" wifi. If you use your own laptop or netbook shouldn't have to deal with "spanish" keys.

 

Don't forget that some of those 'free wifi' signals are actually scams in the hope that you log in to transfer some financial data that they can capture.

 

I'd be careful logging into accounts on 'free wifi' , but if it is just to check on CNN or Google something then I would worry too much.

 

Not trying to rain on anyone's parade, but just be careful...