WiFi

[janegraybc]

Do you pay for WiFi?

 

 

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[ellieanne]

Yes. But the plans seem to vary ship to ship.

[bUU]

There does seem to be two schemes. On Westerdam, there is a set of unlimited plans that vary by restrictions, similar to Carnival. From what I've read, they have trialed that on some other ships, but I believe that at this point all of those have returned to the per minute plans.

 

This message may have been drafted using voice recognition. Please forgive any typos.

[CruiserBruce]

Technically, the answer is NO. WiFi is free. Accessing the internet is what you are paying for.

 

Why is the difference important? Because there are various things you can do on WiFi...look at menus, your shipboard account, and several other things, without a fee.

 

Go out on the internet to check your e mail, social media or Cruise Critic? You pay for that.

[bUU]

Why is the important? Because there are various things you can do on WiFi...look at menus, your shipboard account, and several other things, without a fee.

Great to know. I assume that this is just by accessing a website rather than via an app. I assume that this includes the daily schedule of events - yes?

[richwmn]

Great to know. I assume that this is just by accessing a website rather than via an app. I assume that this includes the daily schedule of events - yes?

That is correct. Each ship now has an internal website that can be accessed without cost. Daily menus and activities are included, as are links to reserve dining and access paid internet.

[catl331]

Great to know. I assume that this is just by accessing a website rather than via an app. I assume that this includes the daily schedule of events - yes?

Yes, the ship LAN, and yes there is a daily schedule but it sometimes disagrees with the hardcopy which is still delivered the prior evening. You would think that the hardcopy would be less accurate, since it is less easy to update, but that isn't always the case.

 

On the old HAL website there is a page that talks about it, but if that's on the new site I have no idea where. :(

 

https://www.hollandamerica.com/pageByName/Resp.action?requestPage=HAL_Navigator

Edited May 5, 2018 by catl331

[Straitlover]

Just to verify - you can see the MDR dinner menu on the website that morning? Is it posted daily or is the whole week's menus available right away? Would like to decide ahead of time if we want to eat in the MDR each night or not.

[taxmantoo]

Just to verify - you can see the MDR dinner menu on the website that morning? Is it posted daily or is the whole week's menus available right away? Would like to decide ahead of time if we want to eat in the MDR each night or not.

The dinner menu is posted daily, everyday day in the morning.

[CruiserBruce]

I only have looked at the Pinnacle menu, but have looked at our shipboard account, shore excursions, weather, and a couple of other things.

[PoolSlider]

There does seem to be two schemes. On Westerdam, there is a set of unlimited plans that vary by restrictions, similar to Carnival. From what I've read, they have trialed that on some other ships, but I believe that at this point all of those have returned to the per minute plans.

 

This message may have been drafted using voice recognition. Please forgive any typos.

 

I hope they haven't all gone back to minute plans! One of the reasons I rebooked the Zuiderdam was because I didn't have to deal with minute plans. I was on the Zuiderdam post-dry dock in Nov 2017; can anyone confirm they have or haven't gone back to minute plans since then?

[bUU]

when i was last on the zuiderdam in january, 2015, they offered a relatively reasonable charge for unlimited wifi of under $200 for a 12 day panama canal cruise (if i remember correctly.)

no unlimited on the zuiderdam panama canal cruise december 2016. 1000 minutes cost $250. 500 minutes cost $175. 100 minutes cost $55.

ymmv.

[PoolSlider]

ymmv.

 

Those are pre-Nov 2017 dry dock cruises. Hoping my post-dry dock in Nov 2017 experience can be repeated.

 

Thanks

[Friend100]

That is correct. Each ship now has an internal website that can be accessed without cost. Daily menus and activities are included, as are links to reserve dining and access paid internet.

 

... as well as hollandamerica.com, which I think is handy if you want to check the price and itinerary of future cruises before booking onboard.

[bUU]

Those are pre-Nov 2017 dry dock cruises. Hoping my post-dry dock in Nov 2017 experience can be repeated.

Well, what I was pointing out was that they switched to unlimited and then they switched back.

 

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[TAD2005]

Yes, you do have to pay for internet access. The ship's LAN is free. If the internet access were free to all, then every guest would connect all of their devices, phones, tablets, laptops, and leave them connected for the entire cruise. The system would be so overloaded that download speed would be equivalent to the old 9600 baud dial-up speed and no one would be able to access anything.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

We buy some for sea day's

 

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[ellieanne]

Well, what I was pointing out was that they switched to unlimited and then they switched back.

 

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I was on the Zuiderdam over New Year's and there were unlimited plans priced per 24 hours, but with limited access. The cheapest plan $15 was only for social media sites, and they meant it you could only access Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and a few other social media sites. The next plan was for more sites, but no streaming sites, and it was $25/24 hours. And the last plan for all access, including streaming sites was more expensive -- I forget how much, because I wasn't interested in it. We bought 2 24 hour plans over the course of our 11 day cruise, because I had to pay some bills and do some other stuff, but we shared the plan across family members. $25 for 24 hours was insane to us. It was honestly cheaper for us to use the roaming packages from our Australian mobile phone provider, that included unlimited data than it was to use the ship internet plans.

 

I hope they have gone back to the per-minute pricing by the time my cruise comes around.