Free internet for Platinum cruisers

[Baxter]

Please forgive if this has been answered multiple times...

 

I will be a new platinum cruiser in November, and my husband would like to know if the free internet includes the wireless service (or wired in the lounge) if you bring your own laptop. We'd like to send home those pictures of envy and know you can't do it on their computers.

[JanMD]

You are correct about the free internet with the computers on board. Regarding the laptop for the wireless-people were in the internet cafe but they were actually having alot of problems using the system on the Sapphire Princess in Sept. On the Caribbean Princess- never saw a single person with a laptop with them. Everyone was using the computers that were provided to them.

[DesrtDrmr]

I believe that the wireless internet is NOT included in the Platinum perk.

[LARGIN]

DesrtDrmr is correct..

[hillslife]

I don't believe it is included for free either....plus, it is a real pain to use your own laptop. You have to be very close to the internet cafe to make it work and that means you have to either carry it around with you or go to your cabin to retreive or store it everytime you want to use the web....we find it is much easier to just drop by the internet cafe and use theirs...they seem to have plenty to go around and usually don't have to wait to check our mail and write home!!!

 

Just my 2 cents....

[Franknca]

Have they done anything yet to speed up the internet on board? It is slower than dial up and is very frustrating. If I didn't get it for free, I'd ask for a refund.

Frank-in-CA

[Lynda90]

You have to purchase a card for I believe 30 minute increments that you can refill. Definitely not worth it if you get free intenet service.

[SRQfireman]

as discussed on here numerous times...Platinum gets you free internet at the Internet Cafe....wireless is not included.You can buy wireless packages.They have packaged minutes.The more minutes you buy at one time, the cheaper the per min. rate is.I beleive the cheapest per min. rate you can pay is $.34/min...the advantage to wireless is, you can read your e-mail...go off-line...compose your reply...cut/paste it into your e-mail...come back on line and send it.You can of course upload/download digital pictures...at the Internet Cafe you can't do any of that.

[pamwinn]

I used my laptop on the Caribbean Princess in June and had great success with both connections and speed. Anywhere in the Atrium worked great but I could connect from further away than that. I even used it ouside on the promenade once.

 

It really was convenient and I used it to post my cruise journal here and to keep up with some friends and family who were also cruising on another ship. I would not have been able to do that using the internet cafe.

[chasetf]

Have they done anything yet to speed up the internet on board? It is slower than dial up and is very frustrating. If I didn't get it for free, I'd ask for a refund.

Frank-in-CA

We have had various experiences. Just got off the Grand this month and it was available every day and there were on a couple of machines down at any time. Some had problems logging on, but we were able find a working machine and to get throught every time we wanted to.

 

On the Dawn repositioning Ft Laud to SF, we got so frustrated we reverted to shore internet cafes when we could. Half the time the internet cafe had a sign saying the satellite was not available... and when the cafe was open, nobody could get responses and were totally frustrated.

[Franknca]

We have had various experiences. Just got off the Grand this month and it was available every day and there were on a couple of machines down at any time. Some had problems logging on, but we were able find a working machine and to get throught every time we wanted to.

 

On the Dawn repositioning Ft Laud to SF, we got so frustrated we reverted to shore internet cafes when we could. Half the time the internet cafe had a sign saying the satellite was not available... and when the cafe was open, nobody could get responses and were totally frustrated.

 

You know, I have to wonder how often the "satellite not available" is true or not. They get the TV from the satellite and that's still working, why not the internet? Also, there are always terminals that have bad card readers. I guess it is not high on the list for maintenance.

Frank-in-CA

[chasetf]

You know, I have to wonder how often the "satellite not available" is true or not. They get the TV from the satellite and that's still working, why not the internet? Also, there are always terminals that have bad card readers. I guess it is not high on the list for maintenance.

Frank-in-CA

I have wondered the same thought. Especially on the Dawn cruise... we were in the Caribbean and going through the Panama Canal... so had the best view of the satellite which was almost overhead and in perfect weather. I also wonder what computer hardware / software repair skill levels they have aboard. How tough is it to change out a card reader ????

 

Only other idea is maybe it was a bandwidth issue on the satellite

[helen123]

Is there a printer available in the internet cafe.

We are flying Southwest on our return flight and you are

able to check in and print your boarding pass.

 

Thanks in advance for the info

Helen123

[cruznliz]

Yes there is a printer (for an extra charge). I think it is $1 per page. If I remember correctly with Southwest you have to wait until midnight to print your boarding pass (or first thing the next morning). ;)

 

I've often wondered about the satellite TV v. computer business also. What gets me is that sometimes the computers work perfectly at sea and are down completely while in port. You would think when the ship is holding still the connection would be better! :eek:

[HighFlyer]

It was $0.25/page on the Sun Princess. Not sure if Southwest does this, but with US Airways, I was able to check-in online 24 hrs before the flight, and had the BP's printed out at the check-in counter/kiosk.

[abbydancer2003]

On our recent cruise, printing was 1.00 per page. We talked about using it to check in for our flight, but since we were going to have about 3 hours, we decided it could wait. (I'm elite on UA, so wasn't too worried about the line, etc).

 

On the cruise (Sapphire to Mexico), the internet cafe had the no satallite message posted much of the first part of the cruise. I had my laptop and we bought 90 minutes of wireless, which we ended up using late in the week. (I do some part time consulting and my husband is being laid off in a couple of months, so we needed to check in a couple of times. He did get an interview request, so it was a good thing.) We were unable to get it to work until Wednesday, and while slow, it wasn't horrible. On the other hand, on Tuesday night, when we were purchasing it, somebody next to me was complaining about the speed.

 

 

abby

[Strawberry]

FYI -- :) Southwest recently changed their procedures so that you can now check in on-line 24 hours in advance. I was so happy when they did this because we usually fly them from coast to coast and when we had to stay up until midnight to check in we would only get a few hours of sleep before we had to get up and get ready to go to the airport.

[Pam in CA]

You know, I have to wonder how often the "satellite not available" is true or not. They get the TV from the satellite and that's still working, why not the internet? Also, there are always terminals that have bad card readers. I guess it is not high on the list for maintenance.

Frank-in-CA

Different satellites. The internet communication satellites also depend on how far you are from shore. You can expect the internet to be unavailable when crossing the Atlantic or Pacific, for instance.

[fsalzer]

Different satellites. The internet communication satellites also depend on how far you are from shore. You can expect the internet to be unavailable when crossing the Atlantic or Pacific, for instance.

We recently completed a transatlantic cruise on Star Princess (Copenhagen to FLL via England, Iceland, Newfoundland and others) and the Internet was virtually always up when using Wi-Fi which was available only in the atrium.

 

I had a problem connecting initially because my computer's internal Wi-Fi was mostly incompatible with the ship's. However, it works well at home, airports and hotels. I bought a Wi-Fi card (D-Link AirPlus G, $54 onboard) and all was well. Speed was relatively slow but much faster than dial-up. Time was $0.35/min in 30 minute blocks.

 

Fred

[cactusrose]

We have had various experiences. Just got off the Grand this month and it was available every day and there were on a couple of machines down at any time. Some had problems logging on, but we were able find a working machine and to get throught every time we wanted to.

 

On the Dawn repositioning Ft Laud to SF, we got so frustrated we reverted to shore internet cafes when we could. Half the time the internet cafe had a sign saying the satellite was not available... and when the cafe was open, nobody could get responses and were totally frustrated.

 

chasetf, we were on that FLL to SF repositioning curise also. The internet cafe was the pits, but those that used their own laptop and wireless had no problem. It will cost you $10.5 for 30 minutes, but if you compose your emails off line and just connect to send them, your 30 minutes will go a long way. Even though I get free internet, I'm thinking of supplementing it with 30 minutes of wireless on my next cruise.

 

fsalzer, we were also on the Star transatlantic Copenhagen to Fort Lauderdale. What a small worlld it is. Boy that was an interesting crossing. Especially the New York to FLL part.

[chasetf]

chasetf, we were on that FLL to SF repositioning curise also. The internet cafe was the pits, but those that used their own laptop and wireless had no problem.

Internet cafe has a "no satellite available" sign, but the wireless still works. Makes you wonder... where the problem is... I doubt it is the satellite access as the sign suggests.

 

We also get the free internet, so I expect not to have to pay because they have a problem. I also bought a $400 12" 2 lb laptop for digital picture download / backup that I do not worry about getting stolen / broken. (That way I can leave the big laptop home) It is a basic machine and does not have wireless ....quess I could get a card.

 

Being retired, I do not have to worry about staying in contact with the office. On the Grand, where we did have good availability, we were depending on access nightly because my wife's mother had problems after we left and was in the hospital. Her brother had control of things, but it was reassuring to get nightly medical updates of her positive progress. This is the only time we have really needed / depended on the Princess internet.

[Franknca]

Different satellites. The internet communication satellites also depend on how far you are from shore. You can expect the internet to be unavailable when crossing the Atlantic or Pacific, for instance.

 

Huh? How does the distance from the shore make any difference? One is still 22,300 miles from the satellite in a geosynchronous orbit above them. These are not cell phone signals that need a land based tower.

 

Frank-in-CA

[phaelon56]

Is there a printer available in the internet cafe.

We are flying Southwest on our return flight and you are

able to check in and print your boarding pass.

 

Yes there's a printer but if your air carrier uses the Adobe Acrobat pdf file format for printing boarding passes (JetBlue uses this common file format and most other airlines do also)... you are SOL!! (stunningly out of luck ;-)

 

I spent $2.00 in Internet connection time to get to the print screen and ended up receiving a message saying the system could not print that file format for "security reasons". It's rather ironic because the actual reason so many places use the pdf format is because it's more secure than other printable document formats!!!

 

Good news though.... go to passenger services when you're ready to do your online check-in and print your boarding passes. Explain that you can't print them in the Internet cafe because of the file type. Leave the folks at the desk your log-in info (itinerary number etc.) and they'll go somewhere in a back office and print them up for you. You'll have to leave the info and come back a bit later to pick them up but they will do this if you ask nicely.