Internet Purchase

[CruisinNana]

When we were on the Prinsendam in July, they changed from minutes to daily packages between legs of the cruise, in Amsterdam. So a drydock is not necessary for the conversion. This particular cruise went north, so lost ALL internet connection for days. The ship provided a 20% discount on packages, and those who bought minutes (like us on the first leg) were credited back 20% plus given the daily package for the rest of the cruise gratis.

I guess there is still hope for the Koningsdam next month! I surely do appreciate an unlimited package. Takes all the stress of a slow Internet off.....

[Hlitner]

I guess there is still hope for the Koningsdam next month! I surely do appreciate an unlimited package. Takes all the stress of a slow Internet off.....

 

Not so sure. The problem is that HAL's internet service is awful and the line still does not pay for adequate bandwidth. This means (in simple terms) that the more folks who use the Internet the slower the service. With Unlimited daily pricing, many more cruisers will use the Internet all the time. So although we lose the stress of paying by the minute we have the additional stress of waiting 15 minutes for a single page to load on our device....or to have it simply "time out."

 

For HAL, moving to a daily charge will end a major problem for the Internet manager. Hang around that manager on many cruises and you will see (and hear) a parade of cruisers complaining that they used lots of minutes for nothing (things timed out). The Internet Managers will generally give those folks some free minutes to make them happy, but it takes a lot of his/her time just dealing with those complaints. And then there are all the problems that occur because many HAL cruisers forget (or never knew) that they need to logoff the internet. These folks soon find that they have used many extra minutes without having a clue why! The Internet Managers usually just roll their eyes and give them more minutes.

 

Hank

[Haboob]

How bizarre that such a new ship is using a really obsolete internet pricing structure.

 

Add this to your calculus...

 

Unlimited-minute internet-at-sea takes much more robust satellite uplinks, and became

feasible with the launch of the O3b satellite constellation. They fly 10 steerable dishes

that let them re-sell the exact same bandwidth to 10 different ships ...cheaply.

 

The catch is you can only see the O3b's from Seattle / Southampton and south. So

where you plan to sail a ship now makes a big difference.

[worldspan]

Anybody aware if the Nieuw Statendam will be having a more advanced or faster WIFI than the existing ships ? My last HAL cruise which was on Eurodam I had to leave my stateroom door open in order for the WIFI to work!

[Haboob]

Anybody aware if the Nieuw Statendam will be having a more advanced or faster WIFI than the existing ships ? My last HAL cruise which was on Eurodam I had to leave my stateroom door open in order for the WIFI to work!

 

Cabins are metal boxes.

 

Mostly likely there was an "access point" (WiFi antenna thingy) in your cabin,

and it was busted. Yell at Maintenance.

 

More exotically, there was a non-metalic panel in your corridor wall or cabin

door designed to let the WiFi signal in from the corridor (like your open cabin

door) and some other metal object was blocking it. Snipe hunt time.

[catl331]

My last HAL cruise which was on Eurodam I had to leave my stateroom door open in order for the WIFI to work!

Signal strength depends on how close you are to one of the hallway access point antennas. We have had two cabins with an antenna right in the cabin, but most do not have them.

 

This is what they look like:

 

Edited October 2, 2018 by catl331

[dianelevene]

Any idea what the internet packages are like on the Nieuw Amsterdam? We're taking a cruise on this ship in December and I would like to have internet connection if it won't cost a fortune.