CaribCruiser54 Posted October 20, 2017 #1 Share Posted October 20, 2017 Have a 10 night cruise booked on Serenade next Spring. Haven't sailed on this ship before and wondering if the internet is as fast as on the larger ships, i.e. Oasis, Anthem. I was on Jewel several years ago and it was painfully slow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biker19 Posted October 20, 2017 #2 Share Posted October 20, 2017 .5 Mbps on Surf and up to about 4 Mbps on Stream. 600+ ms ping (with either tier) is the real performance killer. Does not have the O3B system of Oasis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarea Posted October 20, 2017 #3 Share Posted October 20, 2017 ... I was on Jewel several years ago and it was painfully slow. Serenade uses the same internet service as Jewel did several years ago, but they have supposedly increased the bandwidth, so the download speed should be better, but as mentioned above, the latency (delay) will be the same poor performance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaribCruiser54 Posted October 20, 2017 Author #4 Share Posted October 20, 2017 Serenade uses the same internet service as Jewel did several years ago, but they have supposedly increased the bandwidth, so the download speed should be better, but as mentioned above, the latency (delay) will be the same poor performance. Thank-you both for the feedback. I would only use it for email, return flight checkin and possibly FB, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beachin2 Posted October 20, 2017 #5 Share Posted October 20, 2017 Thank-you both for the feedback. I would only use it for email, return flight checkin and possibly FB, That's all we use it for. On Serenade TA last month even kept a reliable signal while between Greenland and Iceland (checking on our Florida kids: middle of hurricane) which is supposedly a hard place to keep a satellite lock. It is much better than it was even a year or so ago, even worked when we lost TV signal (news was only drivel from CNN, so it was a welcome loss). Never tried streaming anything - but for light use it worked well for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mojomanny Posted October 21, 2017 #6 Share Posted October 21, 2017 I am onboard now. Regular (non-stream) is very slow. Here are my speedtest results: Ping 575 Download .59 Mbps Upload .18 Mbps Slightly faster than old school dialup modems Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarea Posted October 21, 2017 #7 Share Posted October 21, 2017 I am onboard now. Regular (non-stream) is very slow. Here are my speedtest results: Ping 575 Download .59 Mbps Upload .18 Mbps Slightly faster than old school dialup modems Prettry poor. Thanks for the info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ocean Dancer Posted October 21, 2017 #8 Share Posted October 21, 2017 We were on Serenade last Thanksgiving and had surf and stream. We were able to watch some TV on my laptop with our FIOS, even streamed an HBO movie with only minor glitches. This was an 11 night Southern Caribbean cruise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biker19 Posted October 21, 2017 #9 Share Posted October 21, 2017 Here are my speedtest results: Ping 575 Download .59 Mbps Upload .18 Mbps That's the best Surf numbers I've ever seen, especially the ping which I've not seen below 600. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarea Posted October 21, 2017 #10 Share Posted October 21, 2017 That's the best Surf numbers I've ever seen, especially the ping which I've not seen below 600. Are you seeing the decimal points? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biker19 Posted October 21, 2017 #11 Share Posted October 21, 2017 Are you seeing the decimal points? Yes, the .5 Mbps download speed cap for Surf is usually a pretty definite limit so surprised to see anything above it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteelMagnolia9 Posted October 21, 2017 #12 Share Posted October 21, 2017 Thank-you both for the feedback. I would only use it for email, return flight checkin and possibly FB, I just disembarked the Serenade on Saturday and I found the internet very fast with no issues. Yet I did read the posts of others, who stated it was slow. That was not my experience. I'm wondering if cabin location could be a factor? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biker19 Posted October 21, 2017 #13 Share Posted October 21, 2017 I just disembarked the Serenade on Saturday and I found the internet very fast with no issues. Describing internet performance is about as subjective as food. Thankfully for VOOM, we have objective measures such as ping and download speed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ocean Dancer Posted October 21, 2017 #14 Share Posted October 21, 2017 I just disembarked the Serenade on Saturday and I found the internet very fast with no issues. Yet I did read the posts of others, who stated it was slow. That was not my experience. I'm wondering if cabin location could be a factor? Could be, we were forward, closer proximity to the bridge when we streamed FIOS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mojomanny Posted October 21, 2017 #15 Share Posted October 21, 2017 I am forward (7002) ans ahd the SURF package, not the SURF and STREAM package. I was told by their tech support people my performance is good (for this ship) but it about 1/2 of what it would be on other ships because of the technology they have on Serenade. Trying to do any browsing of the news, with photo intensive sites, can be painful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ocean Dancer Posted October 22, 2017 #16 Share Posted October 22, 2017 I am forward (7002) ans ahd the SURF package, not the SURF and STREAM package. I was told by their tech support people my performance is good (for this ship) but it about 1/2 of what it would be on other ships because of the technology they have on Serenade. Trying to do any browsing of the news, with photo intensive sites, can be painful. That's why you need stream also. We were in the cabin above you on deck 8. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biker19 Posted October 22, 2017 #17 Share Posted October 22, 2017 That's why you need stream also.. Stream will not help much on a non O3B ship like Serenade. It's not lack of download speed which kills performance (Stream is almost 10x faster than Surf) it's latency which is the same for both tiers.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaribCruiser54 Posted October 22, 2017 Author #18 Share Posted October 22, 2017 Thanks everyone for your comments. Sounds like ppl have had differing experiences. I'm not sailing Serenade until end of March so I'll decide if it's worth the cost (and possible frustration) closer to my sail date.:-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fivedaytrial Posted October 22, 2017 #19 Share Posted October 22, 2017 Is this something they might address during refurbishment in November? Sent from my SM-G920W8 using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarea Posted October 22, 2017 #20 Share Posted October 22, 2017 Is this something they might address during refurbishment in November? Haven't seen any info from the cruise line on this, but it's possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biker19 Posted October 22, 2017 #21 Share Posted October 22, 2017 Is this something they might address during refurbishment in November? It didn't happen on any other similar vintage ship during their dry docks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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