When will WiFi be free on Celebrity?

[PTC DAWG]

Someone mentioned Makers Mark and the Classic Drink Package....well....is it in there?  🙂

[Baron Barracuda]

19 hours ago, mfs2k said:

For me the value of the first two perks I’d choose for a 7 night cruise (internet and beverage ($350 and $419) is worth a lot more than the tips and obc which cost $210 and $300 to buy. But for someone who doesn’t want a beverage package or internet, they’d value the tips and obc more because that’s like cash to them. 

 

 

Doubt most need internet for 2.  We always take grats or obc as second perc and watch for sale on internet for 1.  Also, not to be nit-picky but $419 bev pkg cost is for 1.

[mfs2k]

50 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

Someone mentioned Makers Mark and the Classic Drink Package....well....is it in there?  🙂

 

Nope.  It's on the Premium list.

Here’s classic and premium whiskey and bourbon from Celebrity website. This is the reason I upgraded to premium

 

 

Edited March 7, 2019 by mfs2k

[mfs2k]

15 minutes ago, Baron Barracuda said:

Doubt most need internet for 2.  We always take grats or obc as second perc and watch for sale on internet for 1.  Also, not to be nit-picky but $419 bev pkg cost is for 1.

 

Right.  my mistake

[mfs2k]

51 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

Someone mentioned Makers Mark and the Classic Drink Package....well....is it in there?  🙂

 

not sure why this posted again...  

 

Edited March 7, 2019 by mfs2k

[Charles4515]

35 minutes ago, mfs2k said:

 

Nope.  It's on the Premium list.

Here’s classic and premium whiskey and bourbon from Celebrity website. This is the reason I upgraded to premium

 

 

 

If I get the package as a perk I wait until I get onboard and see the actual onboard list. Also if you upgrade onboard pick a good lounge and bar server to do the upgrade. In international waters. They get some kind of commission and usually they will be your best friend bar server taking care of you well during the cruise. The second day usually because you have one less day to pay for as I usually don't get a premium drink the first evening. 

Edited March 7, 2019 by Charles4515

[The_Big_M]

23 hours ago, mfs2k said:

Unlike food and beverage, WiFi once installed is a fixed cost to the cruise line regardless how many users are online. 

 

That's not correct.

 

There are two sides to that. One is the bandwidth provisioned has a cost, which has been the main element due to coming over satellite which has limited capacity.

 

The second is whatever capacity is available is insufficient to meet the needs of everyone onboard. When people see something is free, they download whatever they want, often maximising the opportunity. Typically this will involve the more heavy traffic activities such as movie downloads, video streaming and other heavy data downloads. The result is that everyone will get a poorer service than at present, as demand exceeds capacity, e.g. videos buffering, calls dropping out, and web pages being _very_ slow to load.

 

Paying means that only those who get a value greater than the cost will pay and therefore use the service. Making it free means people will use it for whatever they feel like, just because they can, impacting on those who actually did have a reason and desire to use it.

[MizDemeanor]

11 minutes ago, The_Big_M said:

Making it free means people will use it for whatever they feel like, just because they can, impacting on those who actually did have a reason and desire to use it.

 

Like drink packages that's probably not entirely true for the majority. 

 

 

[mfs2k]

28 minutes ago, MizDemeanor said:

 

Like drink packages that's probably not entirely true for the majority. 

 

 

 

46 minutes ago, The_Big_M said:

Making it free means people will use it for whatever they feel like, just because they can, impacting on those who actually did have a reason and desire to use it.

 

Like electricity?

 

Personally I love to turn on all the lights on a ship. I go to the theater at 2am and turn on all the house and stage lights.  Just because I can and it’s free. 

[Denny01]

I agree with the OP about ‘constructive’ debate and since I’m an internet user I think this thread is interesting.....but not enough to step through 8 pages of this - read 1st 2 and now last page! With that said, which means I’m missing lots of the ‘debate’, I’ll add my thoughts:

 

Each of us consider something as essential for a cruise. Essential means what we expect to have for a decent vacation. I must have internet connection for various (personal/business) reasons making it ‘essential’. And I don’t need anyone telling me how I should put away my computer/ipad devices so I can enjoy the vacation......since that’s how they enjoy their’s. Got it. That’s why I don’t use those things in public. 

 

With that said, I expect to pay for that service. It isn’t a universally essential item, even in 2019. Just like drinks, if you want them, pay for them. Because as has, I’m sure said a thousand times, it costs the Line to provide and when there is no charge for it by the user, it is being paid for by all. 

 

Recently did an All Inclusive cruise on Crystal. Loved it. No charge for drinks, specialty coffees, Internet, gratuities. Great. And it wasn’t that expensive for this 1 week cruise out of New Orleans down to Mexico area. So I get on line and look at other Crystal Cruises because, for me, it wasn’t that much more expensive than a 1 week Celebrity Carribean cruise. Guess what. This Crystal cruise was basically a cruise set a a price to get many of us who cruise on the mainline cruise lines such as Celebrity to give Crystal a go. Loved it. Then I looked at a comparable Celebrity and Crystal cruise in NE/Canada.....guess what. The price was, shall I say, a bit different. It would have cost me close to two plus standard Celebrity cruises to make that Crystal cruise. For me.....forget it. 

 

I’ll pay for what I use, and sure, there are more than a few Celebrity venues I don’t use. I step into the gym and get all excited about using it and then find myself sitting on the balcony and enjoying the view too much, and paying the extra for it. Now they can save lots of money by not running those Bingo games that give out those very expensive prizes in my opinon!!!

 

So no, I don’t think Celebrity, along with Princess-Carnival-RCL-HAL-etc, etc, etc will do that either. When people compare the cruise cost, the ‘freebees’ get lost in the mix, so no Line wants to add the cost of ‘free’ internet to everyone’s baseline cost and it shows a higher cost of an ‘equal’ cruise on some other standard Line. If you have to use a spreadsheet to compare the actual costs to take into account the real differences between Lines and what goodies you get on one and not the other, you have lost pretty much everyone, no matter what your TA tells you.

 

By the way, I Love Spreadsheets!!

 

Den

 

Den

[The_Big_M]

11 hours ago, MizDemeanor said:

 

Like drink packages that's probably not entirely true for the majority. 

 

 

Drink packages aren't free. You think if they were people wouldn't just grab a drink?

 

[The_Big_M]

10 hours ago, mfs2k said:

 

 

Like electricity?

 

Personally I love to turn on all the lights on a ship. I go to the theater at 2am and turn on all the house and stage lights.  Just because I can and it’s free. 

 

Making a ridiculous argument says more about the quality of your arguments than anything else.

[mfs2k]

22 minutes ago, The_Big_M said:

 

Making a ridiculous argument says more about the quality of your arguments than anything else.

 

I agree Wifi usage is lower when guests are charged extra for it because many guests don't want to pay extra.

 

My point from the beginning (see my first post) is Wifi , at some point in the future, will or should be treated as a utility (an operating expense) like electricity or water.  IMO,  Guests won't/shouldn't have itemized charges for WiFi. 

 

If that occurs, (and it's occurred on other cruise lines) usage will stabilize based on the amount of bandwidth allocated to each guest device and the cruise line will be able to obtain bandwidth capacity to meet that anticipated demand.   I don't argue that It is possible they a Celebrity M, S or Edge class ship don't currently have that necessary bandwidth capacity because it's not possible based on current satellite technology. I'm not a satellite expert.

 

My point which you find ridiculous is:  Once WiFi usage is stabilized and everyone has it included in their fare, guests won't go out of their way to use it more than they ordinarily would, just because they're not charged for it.  But the key part of this sentence is "once Wifi usage is stabilized and everyone has it included in their fare."  I think electrical or water use on a ship is pretty consistent and predictable because passengers aren't charged additionally for it.  They know the demands on the generators and the desalinators and it probably doesn't fluctuate much.

 

Years ago, there probably weren't generators or desalinators available to provide enough electricity or water for today's megaships of 5,000 passengers.  Technology got better with time.  Same with Wifi. 

 

 

 

 

 

When/if that happens, , and no one that I know of uses more electricity or water than they need to , just because they're not charged for it.  They might use less of it if they ARE charged extra for it in a hotel or on a ship, but they don't go out of their way to use more than they need. 

[bEwAbG]

All fine and good but this was not your original argument.  The thread starts with a demand that WiFi be considered as essential as a utility in 2019 and anyone who disagreed with that was like an ostrich with their head stuck in the sand.  There are still many areas of this country where there is zero cellphone access just a few miles off the interstate, let alone high speed internet. 

 

Until last year, my mother in Texas was using satellite internet because it was the only option for her.  Verizon finally built a tower in her part of the county so she can get reliable cell coverage for data now (but only through Verizon or one of the prepaid services that uses Verizon network).  This was just within the last 12 months, years after those in less rural areas had the same ability.  To use my T-mobile plan, I have to stand on her front porch, and even then it is still very spotty.  Until last year, I had zero service at her house. 

 

The point being that continuous high speed internet is still in its build-out phase and is hardly an essential for life everywhere.

Edited March 8, 2019 by bEwAbG

[cgolf1]

25 minutes ago, mfs2k said:

 

I agree Wifi usage is lower when guests are charged extra for it because many guests don't want to pay extra.

 

My point from the beginning (see my first post) is Wifi , at some point in the future, will or should be treated as a utility (an operating expense) like electricity or water.  IMO,  Guests won't/shouldn't have itemized charges for WiFi. 

 

If that occurs, (and it's occurred on other cruise lines) usage will stabilize based on the amount of bandwidth allocated to each guest device and the cruise line will be able to obtain bandwidth capacity to meet that anticipated demand.   I don't argue that It is possible they a Celebrity M, S or Edge class ship don't currently have that necessary bandwidth capacity because it's not possible based on current satellite technology. I'm not a satellite expert.

 

My point which you find ridiculous is:  Once WiFi usage is stabilized and everyone has it included in their fare, guests won't go out of their way to use it more than they ordinarily would, just because they're not charged for it.  But the key part of this sentence is "once Wifi usage is stabilized and everyone has it included in their fare."  I think electrical or water use on a ship is pretty consistent and predictable because passengers aren't charged additionally for it.  They know the demands on the generators and the desalinators and it probably doesn't fluctuate much.

 

Years ago, there probably weren't generators or desalinators available to provide enough electricity or water for today's megaships of 5,000 passengers.  Technology got better with time.  Same with Wifi. 

 

 

 

 

 

When/if that happens, , and no one that I know of uses more electricity or water than they need to , just because they're not charged for it.  They might use less of it if they ARE charged extra for it in a hotel or on a ship, but they don't go out of their way to use more than they need. 

 

I am trying to agree with you, but I really can't lol. Common day usage of internet is streaming of some kind, music or videos. I know at one point my work tried to ban the streaming of music, because it used too much bandwith, but finally gave up and was able to upgrade. So I think ships would see pretty high bandwith demands if it were made free.

 

17 minutes ago, bEwAbG said:

All fine and good but this was not your original argument.  The thread starts with a demand that WiFi be considered as essential as a utility in 2019 and anyone who disagreed with that was like an ostrich with their head stuck in the sand.  There are still many areas of this country where there is zero cellphone access just a few miles off the interstate, let alone high speed internet. 

 

Until last year, my mother in Texas was using satellite internet because it was the only option for her.  Verizon finally built a tower in her part of the county so she can get reliable cell coverage for data (but only through Verizon or one of the prepaid services that uses Verizon network).  This was just within the last 12 months, years after those in less rural areas had the same ability.  To use my T-mobile plan, I have to stand on her front porch, and even then it is still very spotty.  Until last year, I had zero service at her house. 

 

The point being that continuous high speed internet is still in its build-out phase and is hardly an essential for life everywhere.

 

My parents live in a location like this, and there internet is probably in the 4-10 Mbps, and it is super frustrating that they have no other options!

[mfs2k]

18 minutes ago, bEwAbG said:

All fine and good but this was not your original argument.  The thread starts with a demand that WiFi be considered as essential as a utility in 2019

 

Not true. The title of this thread is "When will WiFi be free on Celebrity" and in the original thread there were no demands. 

 

I said: 

Most hotels started treating WiFi as a necessary utility and included it in their room rates.  The exceptions are still the big convention hotels and those catering to mostly business clientele because guests submit wifi charges to their company for reimbursement and nobody makes a fuss. I predict this will all change soon. 

 

Maybe Celebrity will be a leader in making the change. 

 

So please don't misquote me for your argument.  There is no demand.  I may be opinionated, but I'm not demanding anything. 

 

[MizDemeanor]

1 hour ago, The_Big_M said:

Drink packages aren't free. You think if they were people wouldn't just grab a drink?

 

 

My comment was about drinking up to and over the value of a drink package. Some who have even a modest package of internet minutes included as a perk do not use it in entirety. 

 

It was not a comment about free items. 

[SLTraveler]

On 3/5/2019 at 10:42 AM, WandHinTX said:

 

Here is a screen shot of the available cellular service from AT&T available to purchase for cruises. I called Celebrity support within the last 2 weeks for clarification, it is confirmed that this allows the user to access the ships cell reception at the agreed to pricing. We'll probably pick up the $50 package just to be able to touch base if we need to, maybe send some pictures back home of the sights. 17 minutes of talk time pays for the package, plus texts/pictures (which would probably be around $1 per message without the package)

 

 

 

 

 

A word of caution for iPhone users. iMessage uses data so it is not considered a text message. You will have to turn off iMessage and send regular texts. And you will not receive iMessages from other iPhone users. They have to send you regular text messages. I spoke to AT&T about this yesterday at length and the gentleman said I would be in for a HUGE surprise if I leave iMessage on. He said the data charges are outrageous if you accidentally leave something on that uses data, so I'm considering getting the $100 package as a precaution. Their $10 per day International package would work, except when you are on or near the ship. I was pretty frustrated when I got off the phone. 😞  

[mfs2k]

 

1 hour ago, SLTraveler said:

A word of caution for iPhone users. iMessage uses data so it is not considered a text message. You will have to turn off iMessage and send regular texts. And you will not receive iMessages from other iPhone users. They have to send you regular text messages. I spoke to AT&T about this yesterday at length and the gentleman said I would be in for a HUGE surprise if I leave iMessage on. He said the data charges are outrageous if you accidentally leave something on that uses data, so I'm considering getting the $100 package as a precaution. Their $10 per day International package would work, except when you are on or near the ship. I was pretty frustrated when I got off the phone. 😞  

 

I don't understand.  I turned off "Cellular Data" (Verizon) on my iphone XR and am still sending imessages.  I know they are messages because they are blue and not green.  Are you sure? Test it yourself. 

Edited March 8, 2019 by mfs2k

[Charles4515]

 
 
I don't understand.  I turned off "Cellular Data" (Verizon) on my iphone XR and am still sending imessages.  I know they are messages because they are blue and not green.  Are you sure? Test it yourself. 

Are you sure you are not connected to the internet on WiFi?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Hlitner]

There is little incentive for cruise lines to offer free Internet.  Cruise lines are simply for profit businesses and Internet Service is a major profit center.   The only way this policy is going to change is if its forced by competitors.  

 

Hank

[bEwAbG]

1 hour ago, mfs2k said:

So please don't misquote me for your argument.  There is no demand [that WiFi be considered as essential as a utility in 2019].

 

Hrmm...

On 3/4/2019 at 12:29 PM, mfs2k said:

In 2019, Wifi  or cell service is a basic utility for most of us. Wifi is like electricity;  heat; air conditioning, or water. 

 

Curious...

On 3/4/2019 at 12:29 PM, mfs2k said:

In 2019, Wifi is an essential utility.

 

etc., etc., etc.

[SLTraveler]

I want to preface this by saying I am not the most tech savvy person. The AT&T guy advised me to turn off iMessage and just use SMS. Since most of my family uses iPhone, he said if they send me an iMessage, while mine is off, I will not receive it. They will have to send me SMS messages. From what I understand, I will still have to leave Cellular Data on to connect to the Cellular At Sea network for Talk and Text. I will have to turn off any apps, etc. so I will not incur big roaming charges. If my understanding is incorrect, please feel free to point me in the right direction. I do plan to play with it this weekend, though. 

[mfs2k]

1 minute ago, bEwAbG said:

 

Hrmm...

 

Curious...

 

etc., etc., etc.

Where are the DEMANDS you say I made?  Those are opinions.

 

Give it a rest.  

[bEwAbG]

You are certainly demanding that people accept that WiFi is a basic utility.  Whether you use the word "demand" or not does not change that.  Your initial argument relies on accepting that as a basic fact.  It is a flawed argument from the outset because your basic fact is not true.