Avoid NCL if you need access to email or internet!!!!!

[graphicguy]

OP....who knows the reason for your slow speeds.  Could have been you were far from a repeater (my guess).  Could be some obstruction (seen or unseen) that kept you from getting full bandwidth, who knows?

 

I was in the GEM with @mking8288 last year.  I don’t recall any speed issues, but there was a repeater about 10’ from my cabin.

 

Just did a Speedtest now while on the Escape.....getting 18 down and 5 up which I consider really good for any cruise ship!

[cdnsteelman]

9 minutes ago, RedwingHockeyFan said:

But for me, I get tired of all the "Avoid NCL because their internet sucks" or "Avoid NCL because you have to pay service charges on free perks" or "Stay away from NCL because the Epics beds aren't rectangular"..."I'll never choose NCL again because I had a bad steak at Cagney's"....

I completely agree with this sentiment... the upside of this community is when people share their experiences good and bad without the absolutism. I've attuned myself to ignore the "never again" (said it myself once about HAL and it turned out to be a lie LOL) and read through to understand the underlying issue. The fact is satellite internet is what it is on ANY cruise line so saying never again to any cruise line because of poor or non-existent internet is - essentially - saying never again to cruising IMO. 

[newmexicoNita]

1 hour ago, cdnsteelman said:

I completely agree with this sentiment... the upside of this community is when people share their experiences good and bad without the absolutism. I've attuned myself to ignore the "never again" (said it myself once about HAL and it turned out to be a lie LOL) and read through to understand the underlying issue. The fact is satellite internet is what it is on ANY cruise line so saying never again to any cruise line because of poor or non-existent internet is - essentially - saying never again to cruising IMO. 

totally agree and for those who say "never again" on matter what their reason is, they might want to try other lines and see if the concerns either the same or they find a line that has other problems. I think the saying "never say never" needs to be remembered. We said, before our cruise last month it was going to be our last. We were so sure, we didn't purchase a future cruise certificate. Well we hadn't be home a week when we booked another cruise and are paying more because we didn't buy a certificate. 

[cdnsteelman]

12 minutes ago, newmexicoNita said:

totally agree and for those who say "never again" on matter what their reason is, they might want to try other lines and see if the concerns either the same or they find a line that has other problems. I think the saying "never say never" needs to be remembered. We said, before our cruise last month it was going to be our last. We were so sure, we didn't purchase a future cruise certificate. Well we hadn't be home a week when we booked another cruise and are paying more because we didn't buy a certificate. 

Nita if you haven't booked and paid yet I'll transfer one of my certs to your name and you can replace it on your upcoming cruise to save the $$. Let me know. Jeff

[newmexicoNita]

1 minute ago, cdnsteelman said:

Nita if you haven't booked and paid yet I'll transfer one of my certs to your name and you can replace it on your upcoming cruise to save the $$. Let me know. Jeff

Thanks, but we have put our deposit down: damn!!!!!! You are kind to offer or just need to unload yours.  Either way, thanks for the offer. 

[cdnsteelman]

Just now, newmexicoNita said:

Thanks, but we have put our deposit down: damn!!!!!! You are kind to offer or just need to unload yours.  Either way, thanks for the offer. 

No I use mine all the time - I wouldn't have charged you I would have just transferred it to you and when you sailed next you would buy some and transfer one back to me... cashless... clearly you're trustworthy so it wouldn't be an issue. I'm sailing in 8 days and will be buying more... I usually buy them in pairs.

[newmexicoNita]

7 minutes ago, cdnsteelman said:

No I use mine all the time - I wouldn't have charged you I would have just transferred it to you and when you sailed next you would buy some and transfer one back to me... cashless... clearly you're trustworthy so it wouldn't be an issue. I'm sailing in 8 days and will be buying more... I usually buy them in pairs.

we have purchased them in pairs since they were offered that way, but when we cruised in May we decided not to purchase. We still had one left. Then as I said, we decided not to purchase this time. Well, live sometimes doesn't work the way we think it should: sometimes it works better and that is what it did. We decided we still have life left in these old bodies and we are going to enjoy that life. 

[gbcruise]

Guess I should be clear as well. We have not had hi speed internet but we have had internet on each cruise (5 different ships) and we managed to get online and work regarding the businesses we own. Such a blanket statement to scare people off isn't quite fair as many circumstances are in play regarding connection, some can't be controlled. NCL does not have as good as connection as Royal however I see upgrades in the future as technology abounds with the new ships they plan on building. Regarding making a decision to cruise with expecting internet to work is a bad decision anyway. Cruising doesn't seem like the right vacation for someone who has to have it if their business will fail during their travels. 

[adam_s_allen]

39 minutes ago, newmexicoNita said:

totally agree and for those who say "never again" on matter what their reason is, they might want to try other lines and see if the concerns either the same or they find a line that has other problems. I think the saying "never say never" needs to be remembered. We said, before our cruise last month it was going to be our last. We were so sure, we didn't purchase a future cruise certificate. Well we hadn't be home a week when we booked another cruise and are paying more because we didn't buy a certificate. 

I think you can buy cruise next certificates a couple weeks or maybe even a month after your last sailing?

[NightOne]

14 hours ago, dmb0619 said:

I measured download speed and it was often below 500KBS (that is slower than old time AOL dialup speeds. I am not exaggerating.

 

 

Yes...yes you are exaggerating...

 

Dial up speed was 56 kbit/s maximum back in the day with real-world being more like 40 kbit/s so 500 kbit/s would be over 10 times faster than "old time AOL dialup speeds." 

 

:)

 

 

[newmexicoNita]

1 hour ago, adam_s_allen said:

I think you can buy cruise next certificates a couple weeks or maybe even a month after your last sailing?

Think you can as well, but we booked without even thinking about that, like dumb asses. 

[AdoraBelle]

4 hours ago, PTC DAWG said:

Well, did the OP get connected or not?  That was my basis for thinking he would have been entitled to a refund.  

 

No access is different than slow access.  

 

Unless you paid more money for the 'streaming' package, which NCL frequently cannot deliver and probably shouldn't offer on the megaships. 

 

Re: loyalty ... this is a billion-dollar corporation that doesn't need or care about individuals defending them on a message board. It's not your home-town sports rivalry where you need to pick a side. The company doesn't love you back.

 

 

[cdnsteelman]

12 minutes ago, AdoraBelle said:

Unless you paid more money for the 'streaming' package, which NCL frequently cannot deliver and probably shouldn't offer on the megaships. 

The premium internet package allows streaming but offers no addition bandwidth than the standard wifi package - the ONLY difference to the premium "streaming" package is that they don't block the ability to stream. Seriously - don't pay for premium expecting faster service because it is NO FASTER.

[Georgie562]

The internet on NCL is so crappy because they give minutes away as a perk.

They  are already losing money that way so they are not going to improve the speed so that customers could enjoy the faster speed without paying for it.

 

I'm on Royal Princess next month and will have MedallionNet internet which I've heard nothing but good things about. All for a whopping $59.99 for the 7 days.

[Sailing12Away]

I just got off the Jade last week. We had the 250 mins free internet package and barely used 100 of it because we could never connect. On our phones we would go through the proxy site and make sure we were logged in, we could open Facebook and see posts but never any photos, and couldn't post anything at all. When we were still docked in Miami before even leaving I had taken 3 photos of us on our balcony to post and say bon voyage, and they never uploaded until I got back to Miami and off the boat. It was as if the ship was even blocking my regular Verizon data service despite still being in port.

 

Also had tried to go-live for a room tour, talk about a joke, it was just spinning and spinning, and then again, once we were off the ship in Miami it uploaded it no problem on its own. Could not check email or do anything else on our phones, so we just left them in airplane mode with wifi off the entire trip.

 

On my laptop using Chrome, same thing. I was able to log in through the proxy site, but that was it. I couldn't do anything. Even going to the NCL website to look up future cruise options I had to restart my computer 3x because it would hang up and crash - and that site is supposed to be free and not even use your wifi minutes. We were looking for ballpark prices on future cruises to see if it was worth it to book onboard with the cruise next. It was so painful to try pricing them out that I just gave up and put the laptop away. Had wanted to start my trip review while on board so as not to forget stuff, and ended up just writing in a word document to cut/paste later on at home.

 

I was able to connect to my work email for about 5 mins, but couldn't open any attachments so again, not completely helpful. Hubby's AOL email worked for about 5 mins as well, then froze up and crashed.

 

For us, the internet was a useless joke. I took a screenshot of my speed test. After that it wouldn't even let me run a test anymore. Based on our experience I will never pay for the internet service, we wasted more time trying to connect than actually doing anything.

[NormanW]

Try after 2AM. 😉

 

Cheers,

 

Norman

[Loucat]

I have sailed on more than 5 NCL ships; sometimes sailing twice on the same ship.

I do not mind, but I need to have Internet communication on a daily basis. This is my choice and keeps me current with business happenings. It is a routine and I always purchase the package with the most minutes. I use all of them as I spend alot of time on emails.

I do not consider myself lucky but I have never had a serious issue with Internet connections on NCL-there are places that are faster than others but not to the point I would not sail NCL due to the OP's experience.

I would not use such a flaming statement such as the title to this thread to warn others NCL has a major issue with Internet on their ships. Sorry the OP has had this experience but glad to see I am not alone in doing OK with a ship based Internet connection!

 

[AdoraBelle]

9 hours ago, cdnsteelman said:

The premium internet package allows streaming but offers no addition bandwidth than the standard wifi package - the ONLY difference to the premium "streaming" package is that they don't block the ability to stream. Seriously - don't pay for premium expecting faster service because it is NO FASTER.

 

I simply meant it’s frequently impossible to actually “stream” on it. 

 

I know people want to shame or caveat-emptor people out of the internet complaints, but again, don’t sell a product you can’t deliver in a reasonable fashion.

 

(I’ve been on eight -away cruises in the last couple of years and am (sigh) a longtime IT professional. I’m extremely familiar with their systems’ behavior. One early trip on Escape was fine. Another Escape trip had the entire login portal offline for two days. I chatted (politely) with the internet manager, who I recognized from an earlier GA trip. He refunded me those days. Bliss the past  December had many unusable nights. Got a couple of days refunded. I actually wondered if they just had too many megaships in the Caribbean in the winter for how much satellite bandwidth they are able to buy.)

[old nutter]

The main problem with the Internet is that it is that the word covers a system that now has massive differences in both performance and application capability.  It is a bit like referring to a using a vehicle to get somewhere.  If your journey is several thousand miles and you only have a small car it is unrealistic to expect to do it in a couple of hours.  You might be able to do it in a private jet though.  You are travelling in a "vehicle" but that does not mean you will be able to do what you need in the time you have.  Understanding what tools you need to work and how they do your work is vital before you make sweeping comments about their performance.

 

Just one example - A reasonable modern phone photo could take up to 25 seconds to download on a 400 Kilobits per second 400Kbps) link.  Each pixel on the image needs a byte that on average needs about 10 bits to define it for transmission so the speed is now down to 40 Kilobytes per second (40KBps).  Thus a million of those bytes end up taking 25 seconds if all goes well with the link. My home Internet is normally downloading at 300 Mbps so the same photo would take only 3 hundredths of a second.  If my business needs me to move significant amounts of data such as photos to work for me I would clearly be screwed on board any ship.  However, if I am getting text, even long emails will come down and go back in fractions of a second at sea.

 

Different email systems also use different amounts of data.  Web mail systems have to download very much more data to read them on the screen.  Even client-based  email systems can need very different data rates depending on the actual network protocol being used before you can even see the headlines on the mails.

 

The moral of this is that if you need to do something in a certain time, understand your tools.  If this involves modern IT, talk to your IT pro before you even book a trip to see it what you need is realistic.

[Sailing12Away]

1 hour ago, old nutter said:

The moral of this is that if you need to do something in a certain time, understand your tools.  If this involves modern IT, talk to your IT pro before you even book a trip to see it what you need is realistic.

When the cruise company is advertising the ability to be able to stream music and movies, that implies that the speeds are fast enough for more 'basic' and rudimentary tasks such as texting and basic email functions. When it fails to deliver on that expectation, that is where you have the issue that myself and others experienced with the service not meeting it's advertised functions.

 

For those that it works fine with, great, congrats to you. But that fact that it seems to be nearly a 50% success rate is concerning for those who truly need access. If they posted anticipated connection speeds similar to how your local cable/internet providers do, that may better help people guide what they realistically can/cannot do on board. However, I doubt they would ever meet those speeds and then there would be 500 complaints a day about that. They just can't win I guess.

[old nutter]

1 hour ago, Sailing12Away said:

When the cruise company is advertising the ability to be able to stream music and movies, that implies that the speeds are fast enough for more 'basic' and rudimentary tasks such as texting and basic email functions. When it fails to deliver on that expectation, that is where you have the issue that myself and others experienced with the service not meeting it's advertised functions.

 

For those that it works fine with, great, congrats to you. But that fact that it seems to be nearly a 50% success rate is concerning for those who truly need access. If they posted anticipated connection speeds similar to how your local cable/internet providers do, that may better help people guide what they realistically can/cannot do on board. However, I doubt they would ever meet those speeds and then there would be 500 complaints a day about that. They just can't win I guess.

You are absolutely correct about the assumption that texting and basic email functions should be available.  However, the tech industry seems to make the most of the general increases in speed of the net to make their products look and behave better when we are on either cable or in reach of a radio mast.  Some email systems show attachments like graphic images and photos inside the email rather than as separate downloads. That can up the load/speed requirement by several orders.   The result can be disastrous if you are on a thin link.  These issues can make email reception far from "basic".

 

By the way, music and low-res video from the likes as YouTube are extremely compressed and we accept that the movies will splutter at times.  However we have been conditioned by the likes of modern broadband and the likes of 4G mobile data to expect high speed data to be the norm when we use the Internet. 

 

When I began using the net in anger less than 25 years ago, we were talking about high-speed being 64 Kbps and were amazed how fast that was, and if our computers had over 10Gb hard discs, they were considered huge!  That  shows just how far the industry has come on land.  Unfortunately, that other 70% of this earth of ours and 20-30 miles of the horizon is a very different matter.

[Barb Nahoumi]

My husband gets the unlimited internet, after we use up our 250 free minutes.  We were able to connect with our email without any problems on the Dawn last October.  Hope to be able to do the same on our next Gem cruise, because if we don"t, they'll be thousands of messages waiting when we get home.  Thank goodness for the delete button.

[zqvol]

On 3/7/2019 at 10:28 PM, dmb0619 said:

I don't like flaming companies online with complaints (even the best businesses will disappoint at times). But, I cant let others experience the damage that I experienced by not being able to connect to my work email (or the internet generally) for the duration of a voyage.

 

Let me be clear -- do NOT book on NCL if you need access to Internet. My family and I traveled in December on the NCL Gem. Because of work, I needed to connect to email and figured I would have no issues since they advertised services that included "streaming" packages where you could access You Tube and other heavy bandwith sites. I figured access to work internet shouldn't be a problem -- boy was I wrong. Despite paying close to $400, most days I couldn't even load gmail.com without a timeout. I measured download speed and it was often below 500KBS (that is slower than old time AOL dialup speeds. I am not exaggerating.

 

I spoke with the internet manager onboard on multiple occasions and he acknowledged ridiculously slow speeds (and that the ability to "stream" was laughable), but also indicated he couldn't do anything, including refund my money. I wanted to give NCL the benefit of the doubt and lodged a complaint with their customer service after returning home. Their response was underwhelming (basically that the service depends on satellite and can't be as fast as land service -- no kidding...). They also refused to even refund my money. Note that I wasn't looking for blazing speeds, all I wanted to do was access gmail!

 

Perhaps I just had bad luck, and others had better experiences. I actually had hoped that someone would have just admitted it was an anomaly so that I could feel safe booking another cruise on NCL. But given their response, I can't afford to take the chance on NCL again -- I will have to limit myself to RCL (which has awesome internet -- in fact much faster than I would ever need). 

 

Sorry about the issues. Maybe it was because it was the Gem. On Getaway I get close to 4 MB download speed without the streaming package.