internet deals on the ship?

[OntarioTraveller]

We are sailing on the Freedom in 2 weeks and will need to keep in touch with our teens back home.

I read that the smallest internet plan is $55 for 100 minutes in the ships internet cafe.

Some have suggested that there may be deals offered onboard for extra minutes or such. Any smaller plans (this is an 8 day cruise) as not sure we will need 100 minutes, maybe 60? Anyone have any experience with this?

We know we could look around the ports for cheaper internet cafes but are not sure we want to spend port time doing that.

Any insight would be appreciated!

[*Mach*]

You're only other option beyond the $55 and $100 plans would be ala carte time at $.75/minute.

You can use Carnival's Funville forum 'Currently on board' to leave messages for your family and it's free to access from a laptop, WIFI enabled mobile device or the internet café. Here's a link:

http://www.carnival.com/Funville/forums/20274.aspx

Anyone is free to read there but to post you have to have an account, which is also free.

:)

[Julitta]

I checked in three times with pay per minute and it cost around $10 for the whole trip. I really just logged in, read and replied to a couple of emails and logged off. There is a setup charge the first time you log on. The internet is slow but it's way faster than I expected, much faster than old school dial up.

 

On our sailing there was an internet happy hour special on the second last day, half price time usage between 4 and 6 pm.

[SteelerCruiser]

I know when we sailed on the freedom in Nov they would run a Happy Hour special type deal. This made it like 2 for 1 to where every 2 minutes you used they would only charge you for 1 minute.

[Nannydd12]

If you sign up for the internet on the day you sail you can get 10 extra minutes free. Have a great cruise.

[OntarioTraveller]

Julitta,

When you pay by the minute do they charge for the hook up time?

To only use $10 for three uses seems pretty cheap. Any hints to keep the costs down.

Do they advertise the free or 2 for 1 minute deal on the daily program?

Thanks!

[mjl1960]

Your best bet is to write your emails before you log on to the internet, then log on and hit send/receive, then to get right back off. Doing this you should get away pretty cheap. Just don't stay online to write responses, etc, go off line and do that, then sign back in and send your emails. Key is to just be online to send/receive.

[ohitssunshine]

I just got off the Inspiration and paid $16 for 30 minutes and got 5 minutes free for signing up on embarkation day. I also had to pay $3.95 set up. The second or third day there was a special if you used the internet between 4 and 6 for at least 5 minutes you got 5 free. I did both so ended up with 40 minutes for almost $20.

[Heirloom]

There ARE better offers than 100 minutes.......if you have a need for a better deal!!

 

On Pride in early January (which makes me believe it's on other ships as well), was tempted by:

 

250 minutes for $ 100. And to get you started, on day 2, they offered an ADDDITIONAL 20 minutes as a bonus for signing up.

 

We decided that we were foolish to have brought the laptop at all....so we didn't do ANY online stuff the whole week !

 

But still think that 270 total minutes for a hundred bucks is a great deal !

[Justsyd]

You can use Carnival's Funville forum 'Currently on board' to leave messages for your family and it's free to access from a laptop, WIFI enabled mobile device or the internet café. Here's a link:

 

http://www.carnival.com/Funville/forums/20274.aspx

 

Anyone is free to read there but to post you have to have an account, which is also free.

 

:)

 

Thanks for the info - I did not know this. I assume the internet cafe can show you how to do this, and you said that this is free? Really?

[big_duck]

Your best bet is to write your emails before you log on to the internet, then log on and hit send/receive, then to get right back off. Doing this you should get away pretty cheap. Just don't stay online to write responses, etc, go off line and do that, then sign back in and send your emails. Key is to just be online to send/receive.

 

This is a great tip, but it will not work on the Internet cafe workstations.

[Julitta]

Julitta,

When you pay by the minute do they charge for the hook up time?

To only use $10 for three uses seems pretty cheap. Any hints to keep the costs down.

Do they advertise the free or 2 for 1 minute deal on the daily program?

Thanks!

 

The set up fee is $3.95 as mentioned, one time. The clock starts when you log in, then it navigates you to a Carnival website... the pages load in a matter of several seconds, not minutes as I had imagined. What I did was INTERRUPTED the Carnival page from loading and instead loaded my email. I read and type fast and only read my Mom's emails who was looking after my house and pets so I only used 3-5 minutes per session. I paid right around $10 all told.

 

The happy hour special/s will be advertised in the Fun Times. It was on the back page with the medical centre info and stuff.