Wi-fi experiences

[Vitamin Sea Addict]

Share with me your real experiences with the different wi-fi packages on the ship. I've read all the descriptions and I know IF we purchase, we will choose one of the top 2 packages. But, I'm not sure if the 3x faster aspect is worth the added cough. My husband is up long before us all and loves to grab coffee and hang out on various areas of the ship. He'd like to expand to be able to do more on his phone/tablet during these times especially. 

Thank you! 

[ATL_Miami_Cruiser]

I've tried them all on several different ships (Vista through Sensation) and all had the same speeds, SLOOOOW. The only time it worked reasonably well is in port while everyone is off the ship or very early in the morning. It's almost worse than dialup speeds.

Social Wi-Fi Plan - Extra Slow

Value Wi-Fi Plan - Very Slow
Premium Wi-Fi Plan - Very Slow

Edited January 5, 2019 by ATL_Miami_Cruiser

[coevan]

Fortunately the newer ships are getting 7-8 Mb, fast enough to stream

 

[Vitamin Sea Addict]

We’ll be on the Vista this next cruise. Is it new enough for the faster speeds?

[ATL_Miami_Cruiser]

2 minutes ago, Erikup said:

We’ll be on the Vista this next cruise. Is it new enough for the faster speeds?

I sailed Vista when it first came to Miami in June 2017 and the speeds were pretty bad. It's hit or miss. The good thing is that if it's not good enough you can get a refund from Guest Services.

Edited January 5, 2019 by ATL_Miami_Cruiser

[IronScott]

I was on Vista last week and got the premium service and it worked pretty well. Not super fast but good enough to read message boards, visit websites, YouTube, social media, etc. It was certainly a lot better than I expected given all the complaints I’d read prior to sailing. 

 

Probably best to properly set your expectations. Don’t expect service like you get at home.

[klfrodo]

If someone is on the Vista, go to www.speedtest.net and give us some real numbers.

Slow, very slow, and supposed to be,, just don't give a quantitative answer

 

Even then, that number will be subjective according to how many people are logged on at the same time. Still be than slow or slower though.

Edited January 5, 2019 by klfrodo

[ZoeyVictoria]

I was on the Conquest two weeks ago and needed the answer to a medical question ASAP, so I signed up for 24 hours of internet (9 hours before we docked).  I never got the answer to my question because I could open absolutely nothing.  264 email messages were apparently waiting for me, but I could see none of them.  I wish I had called to complain and requested a refund.

[Vitamin Sea Addict]

Not gonna lie...feeling confused about which plan to choose. I want hubby to have access he needs to be happy doing his thing while we sleep in but have no idea what to beat advise him to choose. 

[klfrodo]

6 minutes ago, Erikup said:

Not gonna lie...feeling confused about which plan to choose. I want hubby to have access he needs to be happy doing his thing while we sleep in but have no idea what to beat advise him to choose. 

I can’t tell you what the current speeds are.

Last year I purchased the fastest package and never did exceed 1 Mbps download. Ping or latency was anywhere from 100 to 800mS. Never was able to connect to work thru the company VPN.

 

what does all that mumbo jumbo mean?   The fastest service is still a fast dial up.

Your home service is 100 times faster than what you’ll get on the ship.

[Joebucks]

The wifi is really bad. It is best in the middle of the night when less people are using it. Carnival just raised their prices, which should discourage some people from buying it, and that can only help.

 

The real fix is when their new wifi hits the ships.

[Gumbo4Life]

OP - we are in a similar situation and we get one internet package and share it.  I do the same thing, get up early, grab a big cup of coffee and enjoy the quiet of the day before everyone gets up.  In that case I think his internet surfing will be ok, probably the best it will be during the day overall as fewer people will be using it.  We have had both extremes - so slow it was worthless just like the above poster mentioned, to actually pretty good and have successfully done FaceTime video chat - and everything in-between!  We were on the Valor in '17 and the internet was worthless.  On the Breeze last year it was ok.  We will be on the Vista in a month and we are going to get the "premium" plan and share, hoping it will be better than in the past.  We had the "value" plan on the Breeze and it provided acceptable service during certain times of the day.  

 

As always YMMV, but you have the right idea and I hope you all have a fantastic cruise!

 

 

[bchandler02]

15 hours ago, Joebucks said:

The wifi is really bad. It is best in the middle of the night when less people are using it. Carnival just raised their prices, which should discourage some people from buying it, and that can only help.

 

The real fix is when their new wifi hits the ships.

 

Is there a schedule for the "new" wifi? Heading on Vista in about a month and wondering what it'll be like, last ship I was on was Valor in 2017. 

[IronScott]

I doubt there is any new WiFi hitting the Vista anytime soon. I was on Vista last week and my wife and both had premium WiFi and it was sufficient for basic surfing, email, facebook, twitter, YouTube, etc. It is not good enough for video streaming with any consistency. Our itinerary was Honduras, Belize, Cozumel. The internet worked the entire time. Not once did it not work for us. Sometimes it was faster than other times but it always worked.

 

If you expect anything similar to what you get at home or with your 4G phone you will be sorely disappointed. If you temper your expectations and realize you’re in the middle of a sea you’ll be pleased with what you get.

 

Just my opinion since I seem to be the only one happy with the service.

 

[Saint Greg]

On 1/4/2019 at 7:00 PM, ATL_Miami_Cruiser said:

I sailed Vista when it first came to Miami in June 2017 and the speeds were pretty bad. It's hit or miss. The good thing is that if it's not good enough you can get a refund from Guest Services.

 

That was before the upgrade 

[Saint Greg]

1 hour ago, bchandler02 said:

 

Is there a schedule for the "new" wifi? Heading on Vista in about a month and wondering what it'll be like, last ship I was on was Valor in 2017. 

 

Vista and Horizon were the first to get it.

[bbtbear]

There are some improvements coming, but I don't know when. I asked John Heald today for details and he didn't have any, but suggested I watch his Facebook page for info. Here's exactly what he said: "Hello, I will have news on which ships will have this upgrade in the days ahead so please stay tuned and I will let you know as soon as I can."

https://cruiseradio.net/carnival-cruise-line-signs-internet-boosting-contract/?fbclid=IwAR3lTkpjTT3VekFFXXBKt5kgd9-vsSbkDOr9W1qFlu4gG140jX65emuPeJA 

Edited January 6, 2019 by bbtbear

[coevan]

1 hour ago, IronScott said:

realize you’re in the middle of a sea you’ll be pleased with what you get.

 

 

 

Satellite internet now delivers 35 Mb if you choose to spend the money. The new system they talked about has 7 Mb which is plenty for streaming.

[bakersdozen12]

I purchase the WiFi when I cruise, and I get the Premium package so that I can upload pictures to social media. I’ve tried to do so with the Social plan, but it never works. Maybe because I am talking about lots of pictures at one time. It’s definitely worth it to me to get the highest priced internet. I can tell you, too, that their upgraded internet (which we had on the Horizon) is so much faster than their regular internet. I can’t wait until all ships get upgraded. But until then, I will continue to get the Premium package regardless. 

[NHNEV2003]

Sailed on the Conquest at the beginning of December.

 

I purchased the most expensive plan--was hit or miss depending on the time of day, location, etc.

 

Girlfriend purchased the mid-tier plan---pretty much the same.

[seventhwardhustler]

On 1/5/2019 at 6:19 AM, ZoeyVictoria said:

I was on the Conquest two weeks ago and needed the answer to a medical question ASAP, so I signed up for 24 hours of internet (9 hours before we docked).  I never got the answer to my question because I could open absolutely nothing.  264 email messages were apparently waiting for me, but I could see none of them.  I wish I had called to complain and requested a refund.

the only time you can reasonably use the internet is super early morning and early evenings. i get up to run nearing sunrise and, once i'm finished, i do my surfing when everyone else is still asleep. it's also decent early evening on port days before everyone gets back on. forget about it once everyone is up and on the ship.

[familycruise41]

I was on Vista last week and had the Value plan. It was totally sufficient for my needs. Was it as fast as when I'm at home? No, but I was able to surf the web and visit social media sites like FB with no problem. I uploaded 10 pics at a time quickly as well. I was unable to watch any videos, whether on FB or elsewhere, but for regular reading/browsing/uploading it was fine. I was able to upload a few short videos as well to our iPhone sharing thing that family gets to see. They viewed the videos just fine; I just couldn't watch any of theirs at sea. Email and texting -- no problem either. Basically if you are ok with no video, value level is sufficient in my opinion.

[bchandler02]

9 hours ago, familycruise41 said:

I was on Vista last week and had the Value plan. It was totally sufficient for my needs. Was it as fast as when I'm at home? No, but I was able to surf the web and visit social media sites like FB with no problem. I uploaded 10 pics at a time quickly as well. I was unable to watch any videos, whether on FB or elsewhere, but for regular reading/browsing/uploading it was fine. I was able to upload a few short videos as well to our iPhone sharing thing that family gets to see. They viewed the videos just fine; I just couldn't watch any of theirs at sea. Email and texting -- no problem either. Basically if you are ok with no video, value level is sufficient in my opinion.

 

Thanks! Good to hear some recent feedback from the Vista. On Valor in 2017 it was pretty useless. Now I just need to decide which package I want. 

[Vitamin Sea Addict]

Does anyone know what news sites are available to access the mid-priced plan? It says "popular".....

[audcc77]

I was on Fascination a few weeks ago. I bought the value plan. It was $70 I think. 

 

It was slower than dial up.  I told guest services that it worked about 20 to 30 percent of the time and I’d need at least half my money back.  It was the worst connection I’ve had ever.  Guy at guest services didn’t bat an eye. That’s probably because he’d been hearing it all cruise. 

 

It’s almost like carnival tries to sell this crappy internet on purpose knowing it doesn’t work.  It’s not fair to charge the same for internet on the Horizon as they do on Fascination.  There’s simply no comparison.