Internet Charges and service

[dwelsh]

"6) Internet: We purchased a 500 minute package for $300 and it was impossible to get a workable connection. Over the 14 day cruise, I was only able to download email on my computer twice, wasn’t able to access webmail at all, and could only rarely access more than one or two websites in a row. We complained at the end of the trip, they said that they knew the internet service was awful, and that they were changing systems on the very next cruise, and refunded us $200. I came home to 1,400 messages."

 

In a recent post it was indicated (above) that "they were changing systems."

 

Does any one have experience of the new system?

 

What are the current connection charges?

[Mura]

I don't have the "new" connection times because Insignia was destined to have its upgrade upon our departure from the ship. (Just lucky, I guess.)

 

However, the basic charge is $.95/minute. If you buy a package, it goes down. I usually get a package that ends up at around $.75/minute. If you exceed the time permitted on a package, they continue charging you at that rate so it's not like you have to start all over again from scratch, or that the minute you go over your time you have to pay at the maximum rate.

 

I've never had the experience referred to above. Yes, I've had problems going online when satellite reception was non-existent, but at those times the TV service also was down. (And not just on Oceania.)

 

On the Midnight Sun cruise I anticipated such a problem because of our itinerary, but we really didn't encounter it. (Well, yes, for a few hours on a couple of occasions, but we WERE at the top of the world.)

 

Can it happen? Sure ... but it can happen on other cruises as well. When we did a Southampton-NYC TA on the QE2 in 2004, we didn't have access for most of the trip. We didn't even have it when we were approaching NYC (I'm talking TV since Cunard didn't offer discounted rates so I never tried their internet service) -- when clearly service should have been available. I just assumed they forgot to turn it on ...

 

Look, don't expect the service you have at home. Yes, it's been very slow in the past. I believe the reports that it will improve immediately if it hasn't already.

 

Mura

[dwelsh]

I don't have the "new" connection times because Insignia was destined to have its upgrade upon our departure from the ship. (Just lucky, I guess.)

 

However, the basic charge is $.95/minute. If you buy a package, it goes down. I usually get a package that ends up at around $.75/minute. If you exceed the time permitted on a package, they continue charging you at that rate so it's not like you have to start all over again from scratch, or that the minute you go over your time you have to pay at the maximum rate.

 

I've never had the experience referred to above. Yes, I've had problems going online when satellite reception was non-existent, but at those times the TV service also was down. (And not just on Oceania.)

 

On the Midnight Sun cruise I anticipated such a problem because of our itinerary, but we really didn't encounter it. (Well, yes, for a few hours on a couple of occasions, but we WERE at the top of the world.)

 

Can it happen? Sure ... but it can happen on other cruises as well. When we did a Southampton-NYC TA on the QE2 in 2004, we didn't have access for most of the trip. We didn't even have it when we were approaching NYC (I'm talking TV since Cunard didn't offer discounted rates so I never tried their internet service) -- when clearly service should have been available. I just assumed they forgot to turn it on ...

 

Look, don't expect the service you have at home. Yes, it's been very slow in the past. I believe the reports that it will improve immediately if it hasn't already.

 

Mura

 

Thanks Mura: I am still waiting to hear if there really have been some upgrades made by "O" and how the systems are working now.

On SS in February we had great internet service and I was even able to use Skype in mid Pacific. Hopefully "O" is now "State of the art" in communications for its pax.

[comcox]

"6) Internet: We purchased a 500 minute package for $300 and it was impossible to get a workable connection. Over the 14 day cruise, I was only able to download email on my computer twice, wasn’t able to access webmail at all, and could only rarely access more than one or two websites in a row. We complained at the end of the trip, they said that they knew the internet service was awful, and that they were changing systems on the very next cruise, and refunded us $200. I came home to 1,400 messages."

 

In a recent post it was indicated (above) that "they were changing systems."

 

Does any one have experience of the new system?

 

What are the current connection charges?

 

Which ship were you on? Does anyone know when each of the ship's are being upgraded? We are booked on Regatta for late November.

[pratzert]

I sure hope it's been upgraded on the Insignia.

 

We board in Venice in Two Days.

[dwelsh]

Safe journey and have a wonderful time. Perhaps you will report back to this thread on your return, or, better still, from the ship!!

[pratzert]

Safe journey and have a wonderful time. Perhaps you will report back to this thread on your return, or, better still, from the ship!!

 

Thanks dwelsh,

 

I'll definately give a report.... at least when I return if not sooner.

[CAG]

We just got off Nautica and while the system has been upgraded on her, it is still on the sloooooooow side. It is somewhat better than before and of course it depends upon the whims of the satellite. With the new system, you are no longer given the bonus minutes if you purchase a package in the first 24 hours and if you run out of your minutes you will be charged your minute rate for the completion of that log in and then I believe that it will revert back to the non package rate of $.95 a minute. They tell you something along these lines every time you log in. My biggest complaint is that the charge is excessive for the speed of the connection. I have no problem paying if I get what I feel is a fair rate of service. We purchased 500 minutes for $300 (on board 24 days). To log on and send an email that I had already composed and was sitting in my outbox it took 4 minutes of log in time at $.60 a minute or $2.40 to send one pre composed email.

[wannarun]

Thanks dwelsh,

 

I'll definately give a report.... at least when I return if not sooner.

 

So pratzert - what was your experience on Insignia in Sept? Had the internet been upgraded? I have a world phone and plan on taking it but it is hard to keep up with more than 200 emails in a day from a phone. Thansk for any help you can give....only 16 more days till we leave for Istanbul.

[Paulchili]

We are currently cruising on the Azamara Quest (our first Azamara cruise) and I am here to confirm what I have said on these boards before:

Fast Internet IS possible on the ships. It is almost as fast as my cable at home, though the wi-fi in the room is spotty at times. But in the Internet room it is VERY fast on my iPad.

Are you listening Oceania?

[rubysue]

We had very fast internet service on the QM2 in late June. One of the bartenders in the Golden Lion pub said that they had upgraded the ship's infrastructure to ensure better TV reception for the World Cup games and a nice side effect was improved internet access.

 

Our Internet service was horrible on Oceania (Regatta) in March in the Caribbean and also pretty bad on Disney (Baltic cruise) in June. However, Disney charged much less per minute than Oceania, even with the package deals, so we ended up spending much less on Disney on comparable (12-day) cruises.

 

From what I understand looking at their website, MTN markets several different services, including VSAT and INMARSAT satellite platforms. The INMARSAT data rates are less than five hundred kbps (kilobits per second). The services appear to be Ku-Band (12-18 GHz) and C-Band (4-8 GHz) coverage in various areas. Think of those slow data rates for TV, uplinking credit card charges, getting the daily "paper", etc., and you can see why there's very little left at certain times of the day for laptops, iPads, etc. I didn't see the data rates for VSAT, which I believe are faster. One nice thing - if you can manage to be on board when the vast majority of the passengers are ashore or being entertained at shows, then you can usually get faster internet service at those times.

 

Yes, we know we are on vacation (before the obligatory comments about not worrying about internet access). My DH is self-employed in the tech industry, so he has to stay in touch and I keep track of a few work things, elderly relatives, elderly pets (with cameras at home), and just like to stay informed when I have some free time.

[RJB]

"6) Internet: We purchased a 500 minute package for $300 and it was impossible to get a workable connection. Over the 14 day cruise, I was only able to download email on my computer twice, wasn’t able to access webmail at all, and could only rarely access more than one or two websites in a row. We complained at the end of the trip, they said that they knew the internet service was awful, and that they were changing systems on the very next cruise, and refunded us $200. I came home to 1,400 messages."

 

In a recent post it was indicated (above) that "they were changing systems."

 

Does any one have experience of the new system?

 

What are the current connection charges?

Just came off the Regatta, with the so called new service. It was awful. A rip off !!!! Now you can not send or receive e mail thru the ships system, but have to go to your own IP provider. Still very slow. Our first e mails cost over $20.00. By far the worst part of Oceania. Just about everything else on the ship is great, and then they rip us off with this poor service. :confused:

[PaulMCO]

When you only have a 1/2 inch pipe to carry a load requiring a 1 inch pipe what do you expect.

 

Oceania is not alone. Check out issues with Crystal, RCL, Regent, NCL.. All slow. It is the nature of the beast.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1282376&highlight=internet+service

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1270457&highlight=internet+service

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1277944&highlight=poor+internet

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1280377&highlight=slow+internet

 

Especially now with iPhones, iPads, Kindles etc. all of which would prefer a WiFi connection -- cruise lines are suffering what ATT has been -- too many people grabbing for a piece of the limited bandwidth.

 

For me I prefer using a Blackberry for emails as they have their own pipe on the Cellular at Sea bandwidth.

[LHT28]

Just came off the Regatta, with the so called new service. It was awful. A rip off !!!! Now you can not send or receive e mail thru the ships system, but have to go to your own IP provider. Still very slow. Our first e mails cost over $20.00. By far the worst part of Oceania. Just about everything else on the ship is great, and then they rip us off with this poor service. :confused:

Was that in the computer lab or with your own laptop?

 

It does not seem to be an improvement :eek:

[Paulchili]

When you only have a 1/2 inch pipe to carry a load requiring a 1 inch pipe what do you expect.

 

Oceania is not alone. Check out issues with Crystal, RCL, Regent, NCL.. All slow. It is the nature of the beast.

 

Especially now with iPhones, iPads, Kindles etc. all of which would prefer a WiFi connection -- cruise lines are suffering what ATT has been -- too many people grabbing for a piece of the limited bandwidth.

 

For me I prefer using a Blackberry for emails as they have their own pipe on the Cellular at Sea bandwidth.

 

The entire point of posts #10 & #11 above was that this is not necessarily the case. it IS possible to have good Internet connectability and acceptable speed - just that Oceania is not one of those lines (so far). Let's see what can be done about it.

[RJB]

Was that in the computer lab or with your own laptop?

 

It does not seem to be an improvement :eek:

The computer lab. They told us a laptop would even be slower. This problem is something Oceania should take care of. I guess when it is a profit center for them it's ok to take advantage of their customers. :mad:

[Mura]

This happened several years ago and I don't know if the policies are the same today BUT ...

 

My gizmo that I use to transfer photos to my laptop wasn't working so I went up to the lab to see if they had something I could use.

 

They did, but the charge was $25. I think it would have cost more to transfer the photos using their gizmo than it would have cost to have them make up a CD-Rom for me!

 

I refused, went back to my cabin and managed to get MY gizmo working!

 

I wouldn't have minded paying $5-10 to use their gizmo, but $25????

 

The attendant in the internet lab was suitably embarrassed to tell me the cost.

 

Mura

[JimandStan]

This happened several years ago and I don't know if the policies are the same today BUT ...

 

My gizmo that I use to transfer photos to my laptop wasn't working so I went up to the lab to see if they had something I could use.

 

They did, but the charge was $25. I think it would have cost more to transfer the photos using their gizmo than it would have cost to have them make up a CD-Rom for me!

 

I refused, went back to my cabin and managed to get MY gizmo working!

 

I wouldn't have minded paying $5-10 to use their gizmo, but $25????

 

The attendant in the internet lab was suitably embarrassed to tell me the cost.

 

Mura

 

And if your "Gizmo" hadn't been working because of a virus that you had picked up along the way and your transfer had contaminated thousands of dollars worth of software on the ship, would you have stumped up for the repair?

The cost of providing a service sometimes has to reflect behind the scenes expenses such as security, insurance and redundancy.

[Mura]

Good point, Jim, except that I wasn't using my gizmo in the lab ... just my media card from my camera. (If I was having trouble with my gizmo on my laptop, I wasn't going to try using it in Oceania's computers either.) The point was to use THEIR gizmo.

 

But of course, if you bring in your own equipment to the lab there could be the kind of problem you mention. However, it does seem to me that the lab people haven't objected to that ... I've brought in my own CD-Rom (or in the distant past, floppies) and no objection was made. The point you made never occurred to me, I have to admit!

 

Mura

[divenski]

The entire point of posts #10 & #11 above was that this is not necessarily the case. it IS possible to have good Internet connect ability and acceptable speed - just that Oceania is not one of those lines (so far). Let's see what can be done about it.

 

Agreed. Just got back from a cruise from Athens to Istanbul on Seabourn Odyssey, which is a year old ship. The wireless was a little spotty from the room, but once a link was established, the speed was decent. Skype worked OK and so did a VPN connection back to a Calif server.

 

Also, the max rate per min was 40 cents, and you could buy 1 hr for $10, so not too pricey.

 

However, 3 years ago on Regent Voyager, prices were higher and the speed lower. Maybe newer ships are the way to go.

 

$300 for 500 min seems high, and esp if it doesn't work well. When on vacation, I don't want to spend a lot of time on a computer, but I certainly don't want to be "forced" to spend a lot of time due to a bad connection.

[OzAbroad]

Oceania is a great cruise line but the truth is its greatest weakness is internet. I have not long left Nautica and its still simply awful. You can surf the net OK but sending an email is virtually unworkable at the cost. Of course on a port intensive cruise you can just go ashore and use an internet cafe, or rely on Blackberry.

[travel grammy]

I found the internet connection aboard Regatta much more reliable and faster last month than the one on Insignia last October. While it was a bit slow, it was faster than the previous cruise. I bought a package @ 70 cents a minute. They are extremely helpful in the computer room.

[comcox]

Not looking forward to my first cruise on Oceania after hearing of all the internet problems. We've sailed with Azamara twice and found their interest reliable, with a fairly good speed, and significantly cheaper than Oceania. I was on HAL earlier this year and their service was much slower and not always available, but at least their packages only cost about 24 cents a minute. I emailed Oceania about a week ago asking about their service and have not as yet heard back. I would think they would at least lower the cost given the quality. We are booked for two long cruises with them and having internet access is very important to us so I'm quite concerned.

[LHT28]

Not looking forward to my first cruise on Oceania after hearing of all the internet problems.

 

Location and timing

I found that if I was up on deck 9 or the library I did not have too many problems then of course there is the location ...if you are in the fjords of Norway there is no connection so did not bother trying.

 

Hopefully your cruise is about more than the internet ... you will get to enjoy the ports & the ship

 

If all else fails there are usually internet location in port for a small fee

 

Enjoy the cruise

Lyn

[lyndenfa]

for me, the internet is a form of relaxation when i am back in my cabin and just wanting to catch up (actually with CC as well as research and email). I hope the new Marina will surprise us all. Does anyone else look at internet as a form of relaxation? sort of like reading, I suppose. So, I will keep my fingers crossed that "things are up to speed" whatever that may mean.

Lynne