Internet and cabin phone use in NCL Gem

[dizizit]

Hi,

 

Anyone had experience using both the Wifi and cabin phone on the ship?

 

I'm contemplating which one to use - my cellphone or the ship's phone

 

Which one is better and cheaper?

[Sauer-kraut]

It would be cheaper if you could wait until you got into port.

[mommyto2girls]

All cell phones go through the ships cell tower so the cost is $2.49 a minute. If you use your cabin phone ship to shore is $1.99 per minute. Wi fi connections are slow and you have to buy a package

[jkneern]

We used the cabin phone to call home a couple times and the calls connected quickly and were quite clear. Also bought an Internet package and used my iPad in the cabin. I found the connection on the I pad much quicker than the computers in the Internet cafe.

[cgwaters]

http://www.ncl.com/about/staying-connected-sea-internet-access describes how to use a browser on one's laptop's to access NCL's wifi and to log on to their portal; but then it says to keep that browser open until ready to log off. Is that how the minutes used are determined?

 

Are the same steps required for Android, iOS, etc.?

 

Can one account be used with multiple devices and/or family members' devices?

[bakerintn]

http://www.ncl.com/about/staying-connected-sea-internet-access describes how to use a browser on one's laptop's to access NCL's wifi and to log on to their portal; but then it says to keep that browser open until ready to log off. Is that how the minutes used are determined?

 

Are the same steps required for Android, iOS, etc.?

 

Can one account be used with multiple devices and/or family members' devices?

 

The minutes are calculated from sign in to sign off.

 

You can use different devices to log in with the single account info

[cgwaters]

The minutes are calculated from sign in to sign off.

 

You can use different devices to log in with the single account info

 

Thanks for the information!

 

How does one sign off, especially on a mobile device? Until that time, would I need to keep a browser open on the logon/logoff page? Or would I simply go back to that page when I'm finished and then specifically log off?

 

What happens if I forget to logoff? Does the meter keep running, right through any pre-purchased minutes...and beyond?

[jjikids]

You have to be careful to make sure to log off if you use your tablet in the cabin. One lady couldn't figure out how she used 90 minutes in her room. The Internet Manager was able to see she never logged off. She was lucky. He reset the minutes she had bought.

[Demonyte]

How does one sign off, especially on a mobile device? Until that time, would I need to keep a browser open on the logon/logoff page? Or would I simply go back to that page when I'm finished and then specifically log off?

 

They have a configured internal special fake addess(es) you can go to when you're done to logout. If I remember correctly, one is something like logout.com or logoff.com (I've never used it, there is a box on the page after the login telling how to logout) and another just the ip-address, 1.1.1.1

 

If in doubt, see Internet Manager at Internet Cafe and they should be able to tell you for sure.

[garycarla]

We have used iphone, ipad and pc for onboard internet. They will instruct you how to log off if you ask.

 

You go to logout.com or logoff.com to logout.

 

This is for internet usage, NOT phone calls.

[cgwaters]

Thank you, everyone! I'm sailing on the NCL GEM.

 

Seems like just about everyone who signs up for the wifi service is disappointed with the speed. Not sure whether I will opt for the package or not. Will try a few minutes of pay-as-you-go, first. Of course, the results likely vary depending on the day of the cruise, the time of day, location on the ship, etc.

 

The only non-U.S. location we visit is the Bahamas; I figure there's no free wifi there, so I'm also considering adding an international mobile data package with my cell phone provider ($25 per 100MB).

[Demonyte]

Of course, the results likely vary depending on the day of the cruise, the time of day, location on the ship, etc.

 

Actually if one can at least connect to the WiFi, it doesn't matter how strong the signal is, the speed that one user can get from the satellite is most times lower than the lowest possible speed (by design) with a stable WiFi signal (1 Mbit/s).

 

The day of cruise and time of day cause variation in that the internet works best (fastest data rate, minimal lag) when the ship is docked and there are not that many users onboard. In my experience the peak times are during sea days in the afternoon.

[cgwaters]

Good point; thanks for the clarification. I'll still be curious to see whether we can even connect from (say) our cabin or the lounges.

 

So overall, with the known limitations, do you think it's worthwhile to enroll in a pre-pay package?

[garycarla]

... I figure there's no free wifi there, so I'm also considering adding an international mobile data package with my cell phone provider ($25 per 100MB).

 

Be very, very careful with this. It is okay, but the MB can add up fast. Be POSITIVE you turn of DATA ROAMING when done using it. There are way too many apps that will go looking for a signal and do things without you knowing it.

 

If you download and then read your email, it works way better than email that you have to log into, etc. Only exception is if somebody sends you some large file that you do not want to download.

[Demonyte]

Good point; thanks for the clarification. I'll still be curious to see whether we can even connect from (say) our cabin or the lounges.

 

So overall, with the known limitations, do you think it's worthwhile to enroll in a pre-pay package?

 

On most NCL ships they have expanded the WiFi coverage so that the wireless internet should work on most cabins - the public areas have been covered pretty much since the beginning.

 

Also if you have your own ethernet cable and will be using a laptop, you can connect through the network port by the electrical outlet in the cabin. Network cable can also be borrowed from the Internet Cafe onboard. I always carry one with me when traveling, there are still surprisingly large number of hotels that have only wired internet access with lousy and broken cables, also it works as a backup if the WiFi doesn't work for some reason.

 

We always go through at least one $100 package per cruise because of our small business - lately we have learned to relax and disconnect a bit more but on our first cruises we spend several hundreds of dollars for internet (at that time we had only a part-time employee so we had to handle customer service by email even from vacation).

 

So one could say that I've used the ships internet quite much - it's slow so best value is to use the connection when there are less other users but we've always have managed to do what we've needed to and with a bit of planning one can use the time efficiently too.

[cgwaters]

Be very, very careful with this. It is okay, but the MB can add up fast. Be POSITIVE you turn of DATA ROAMING when done using it. There are way too many apps that will go looking for a signal and do things without you knowing it.

 

If you download and then read your email, it works way better than email that you have to log into, etc. Only exception is if somebody sends you some large file that you do not want to download.

 

Thanks. I added the package on a recent trip to Canada. I was very careful to keep mobile data turned off except when I wanted to retrieve/send mail, check Google+ or Facebook, or look something up. Over three days, I ended up using approximately 90MB of data.

[cgwaters]

On most NCL ships they have expanded the WiFi coverage so that the wireless internet should work on most cabins - the public areas have been covered pretty much since the beginning.

 

Also if you have your own ethernet cable and will be using a laptop, you can connect through the network port by the electrical outlet in the cabin. Network cable can also be borrowed from the Internet Cafe onboard. I always carry one with me when traveling, there are still surprisingly large number of hotels that have only wired internet access with lousy and broken cables, also it works as a backup if the WiFi doesn't work for some reason.

 

We always go through at least one $100 package per cruise because of our small business - lately we have learned to relax and disconnect a bit more but on our first cruises we spend several hundreds of dollars for internet (at that time we had only a part-time employee so we had to handle customer service by email even from vacation).

 

So one could say that I've used the ships internet quite much - it's slow so best value is to use the connection when there are less other users but we've always have managed to do what we've needed to and with a bit of planning one can use the time efficiently too.

 

Thanks for the information. For the first time in many years, I wasn't planning to take my laptop on a vacation; just my smartphone and a mini-tablet--neither of which have an Ethernet port. The primary reason was that it's my understanding that the in-room safe is large-enough to store a mini-tablet but not a laptop. Is that not the case? Or do you feel that's not a concern, regardless?

[Demonyte]

We always have one or two laptops with us on our travels and we have never felt the need to use the small safes to anything more than storing our hard-to-replace-items like keys, passports, money and credit cards - computers are backed up to the cloud so they can be quite easily replaced. Then again we don't usually stay in shady places, areas, countries, etc.

 

On the ship we just make sure that nothing too valuable is directly visible from the hallway when the steward keeps the cabin door propped open while cleaning - the risk of someone daring to come in and dig through the cabin while searching something to steal is very, very small in my opinion but even with steward in cabin for someone malicious quickly stepping in, taking something in plain sight and stepping back out is much easier.