We are new at this, 2 questions

[longboard55]

how good or bad is the wifi, really need it for work.

 

And we are looking at magic or Fantasy, Magic seems to have a better iterinary, but is it worth it to go on a newer ship

[1025cruise]

Wifi will be slow. Its satellite based, and expensive.

[BullDawg91]

The onboard wifi on the Wonder was fine for Facetime voice and video calls. There was no delay at all.

[BullDawg91]

And each ship has its own charm. I would choose based on the itinerary. I have been on the Dream and the Wonder and preferred the Wonder. Everyone has favorites and they are all varied.

[Ex techie]

I can confirm that on 8/2 FaceTime worked great for me to video chat with a fellow CM on the Wonder for around 10 minutes.

Was around 6pm ship (local) time and no issues with the signal to a CM on the CM Wi-Fi.

 

ex techie

Edited August 27, 2014 by Ex techie

[moki'smommy]

In past years, the wifi was horrible. However, DCL has gone to a new system and in 2014 we were very pleased--good speed, no black outs (even in the middle of the ocean), and a much better pricing structure than previously.

 

Magic is our favorite ship--and yes, we've been on the Fantasy. Our next 3 bookings are on the Magic.

[bsddsc]

for heavens sake, put down the wifi and relax. why spend money on a cruise just to sit around and talk online.

 

The only thing I am looking forward to is the Disney app for keeping track of daily activities. It has so much more than just the Navigator.

[BullDawg91]

We used wifi to stay in touch with parents who had to cancel their cruise with us at last minute due to health problems. I would have much preferred them to be on board than to have been facetiming them.

[dexddd]

Just off the Fantasy and it was pretty slow like I'm used to on all cruise ships. I read in Gambee's review on Dream how fast it was including at Castaway Cay and it was slow wherever we tried it. Pages would load slow or sometimes just die and you'd get the crash screen in Chrome. While in gmail it would give a message that something was wrong then it would work.

 

All plans are now mb based. We had the free 100mb from Concierge level and I was able to do basic checking of email and a couple other sites and had used 40 mb by last day. Gave it to kids to use and the rest was gone within about 45 minutes - they were either on facebook or sending pics.

Edited August 31, 2014 by dexddd

[Modern_Viking]

And we are looking at magic or Fantasy, Magic seems to have a better iterinary, but is it worth it to go on a newer ship

 

The Fantasy has a couple extra entertainment features compared with the Magic.

 

The Magic was recently (a year ago) redecorated inside so has a fairly modern design, in some ways closer to the Fantasy than the Wonder (sister to the Magic).

 

Both ships have their own different restaurant and adult lounge designs. They each have somewhat different main theater shows as well.

 

Some say the larger ships feel more crowded and perhaps noisy at the pools and in the restaurants.

 

Really, it is up to you. (I know I'm not helping.) Some prefer the bigger ships, while some prefer the smaller ones. Some at happy on any ship.

 

If you like the itinerary on the Magic better, that sounds like a reasonable way to make a decision.

[longboard55]

Thanks everyone, we went for the magic. Hope the WiFi is not terrible

[moki'smommy]

May 2014, we bought 1 gig package for $89. My 23 year old is on line all the time. Last day she still had half of the package left and was totally happy with the service. There were a few minutes of "glitch" in the middle of the Atlantic, but it was quickly restored.

 

Is it as fast as in the Apple store? No. But my home set up isn't that fast. Was it much better than before--yes.

[longboard55]

Thanks moki first hand reports really help, technology changes quickly

[flynnsport]

Good feedback on the wifi. Thanks all