Sporadic Internet service on the Riviera

[Ken the cruiser]

We are currently on the Riviera in the Med and the availability of the Internet has been very unreliable since we boarded the first leg of our 4 leg cruise on Oct 14th. Don’t get me wrong we get internet service, but it comes and goes depending on how many people are logged on. For example during the evening hours when everyone is at dinner or at the show or during a port day when everyone is on an excursion, it’s not so bad, maybe. However, after the show or on sea days, it’s hit and miss big time.

 

One of the worst times is before sail away when everyone is back from their excursions and before dinner. It didn’t seem this bad when we were on the Sirena in May going around Cuba or on the Nautica in July when we were on the Nautica in Northern Europe. But on our Riviera cruise, it has been the pits. Could it be the folks that are paying the $10 per day for Wavenet Prime are sucking down the bandwidth at the expense of everyone else that is now getting it free, or is it just that O made a mistake and gave everyone free internet for marketing reasons without having put enough bandwidth in place to offer a quality product on their larger O ships? 

 

When we asked the Internet@Sea rep what’s up as to why the service was so intermittent, he didn’t offer any conclusions that made sense. 

 

Has anyone else been experiencing sporadic Internet service on the O class ships?

[pinotlover]

Always had sporadic intermittent internet service on all O ships. Sometimes, you’ve mentioned some, service is better or worse than other times. Absolutely nothing new. 

 

When we cruised, before my wife’s retirement, and she still had to correspond with the world, she found that getting up around 4:00 am gave her plenty of internet access and speed until around 6:30 when it died again. If you must us the internet, give those hours a try. 

[LHT28]

well  when everyone is trying to Facetime  with the family & upload all their photos of the day  it will slow down the system

On Marina in July  it was a bit slower on sea days but  still workable

when everyone was ashore  it was  just zipping along

except  in the Fjords  it was hit or miss on some occasions

Location also plays  a role in the signal

I do not  cruise for the internet  &  use it maybe 1 hr a day  to check mail  & CC

got to have  my CC hit  😉

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

But, but, but, Wavenet was supposed to resolved that 😱

 

Here is a write-up about it:

 

Oceania Cruises is rolling out its new Wavenet high-speed Internet service fleetwide, at no extra charge for all accomodations categories.

 

With Wavenet, travelers will be able to upload and download large files in a snap, see shows on Netflix, stream their playlist on Spotify and instantly share their cruise memories on Facebook and Instagram. They can even livestream, Facetime and Skype with friends and family back home.

Free and unlimited Wavenet service will be included for all staterooms and suites, on all sailings. A streaming upgrade, Wavenet Prime, is available for $9.99 per day for those who wish to stream movies, music or videos.

Wavenet and Wavenet Prime will be available on all Oceania ships by the end of April (2018).

 

I guess they just forget to mention you have to get up in the wee hours of the morning to tap into this new, great service.

Edited November 10, 2018 by Ken the cruiser

[LHT28]

I do not think  they have successfully blocked  some of those  streaming options

DH  was able to Skype  with his friend  on the July cruise   without the upcharge

I am sure people find  away around it

Just  read  some of the posts  where people are  sending  work projects & teaching classes  while on the cruise 

Just saying

 

 

[Flatbush Flyer]

Besides any possible bandwidth problems, there can be latency issues. 

[Ken the cruiser]

It’s almost midnight and it has taken us four hours to log back on to Cruise Critic and my DW is definitely not a happy camper.

[hillsprint]

We were on Riviera in August and found the Wi-fi connection poor across the ship. Certainly it was the worst I had experienced in the past 7 years of cruising, it was much better on Azamara, Celebrity and NCL. All the cruises were in the Med so they were in similar network conditions. Certainly it is something that O need to improve as more customers now expect a consistent service.

[Misssmb]

Just got off the Marina and it was still horrible. Although if I logged on in the computers in the executive lounge, it worked fine.

[GeezerCouple]

8 minutes ago, Misssmb said:

Just got off the Marina and it was still horrible. Although if I logged on in the computers in the executive lounge, it worked fine.

 

Those computers are probably hard wired.

 

Has anyone noticed if there is a difference in cabins using WiFi or a wired connection?

 

GC

[wr2next]

6 hours ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

Those computers are probably hard wired.

 

Has anyone noticed if there is a difference in cabins using WiFi or a wired connection?

 

GC

We are just off Nautica and the Internet was terrible.  The wireless was bad in certain parts of the ship including my stateroom.    We couldn't wait to get back on our Delta flight home to have good internet service.   It is beyond me how a 767 flying at 35,000 ft going 500mph can have good internet service and a cruise ship going 18 knots at sea level cant figure it out.   We are on Insigna in December and hoping the internet will have been upgraded.

[LHT28]

22 minutes ago, wr2next said:

 It is beyond me how a 767 flying at 35,000 ft going 500mph can have good internet service and a cruise ship going 18 knots at sea level cant figure it out.   We are on Insigna in December and hoping the internet will have been upgraded.

the  aircraft is closer to the satellites  😉

[GeezerCouple]

16 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

the  aircraft is closer to the satellites  😉

 

If we use a short wired connection, would that be "closer"?

Or would it be the same if we put the WiFi laptop *near* the wired port? 

 

Seriously, though... is it any better if we bring a connector so we don't use the WiFi?

(I don't even know if there are wired ports in each cabin/suite... we've been using WiFi for so long!)

 

The "deal" DH and I made when we started traveling, given that he has no interest in retiring, is that I'd rather have his laptop on his laptop on a cruise ship balcony, etc., than at home in his office 

He doesn't usually stay connected long, but he does (er, "used to"?) check email throughout the day when possible.

 

This is sounding like WiFi access is worse than when we were on the Riviera about 3 years ago.  I guess that's possible if many are streaming now...

 

GC

[Paulchili]

15 hours ago, Misssmb said:

Just got off the Marina and it was still horrible. Although if I logged on in the computers in the executive lounge, it worked fine.

What did you expect to do online?

I got off the same Marina cruise and most of the time the internet on my iPad was fine for emails. I was able to follow an airline website looking for availability of a flight for next year and when it became available I booked it without any trouble; I followed sports results for my teams; I occasionally checked CC. I even did some banking and made a few calls on my iPad with WiFi connection. I did not do FaceTime, Facebook (I never do those even at home) or try to download any pictures On a few occasions internet was not available but it would always be a temporary situation.

While obviously the connection was not like at my home, I was able to do the things I wanted and needed without any trouble - just more slowly.

FWIW, several of the buses on shore excursions in Italy & France had very good WiFi - even for downloading pictures 🙂

Edited November 12, 2018 by Paulchili

[Ken the cruiser]

Regarding Wavenet Prime on the O class ships, has anyone purchased it and what was the quality of the service provided during prime time hours as well as after midnight?

[AZjohn]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Regarding Wavenet Prime on the O class ships, has anyone purchased it and what was the quality of the service provided during prime time hours as well as after midnight?

 

Speed was terrible for most everything I needed it for. There is no speed difference between paid and free on O. If your doing simple tasks it's tolerable but any streaming or web sites with average amount of data was impossible.

 

Thinking generation gap has a very large discrepancy regarding speed wanted for internet. Other cruise lines understand this and have invested for high speed internet service on sea. O on the other hand hasn't felt it to be important yet (and I stress yet).

 

Cheers,

John

 

Edited November 12, 2018 by AZjohn