VOOM needed on East Coast Cruise?

[cangreja]

I am hoping someone can help me.  I will be on the Adventure of the Seas departing New Jersey on July 6 visiting Bar Harbor, ME; Halifax, Nova Scotia; and St. John.  I have several people in our group asking if it is necessary to purchase VOOM for the whole trip or if  the ship stays close enough to shore to pick up cell towers.  Mostly, those that I am traveling with are on Sprint, but we have a few on Verizon.

The reason I ask, is that last summer, my family and I took an inexpensive Carnival (never again) cruise to Cuba and I was able to pick up Sprint towers all the way through the keys and could have saved myself the cost of the internet for at least two, and maybe three of our seven days.  Many of the people I am traveling with are very internet and tech savvy, so we know how to connect without going through the ship's cell service, so that isn't a concern.  

So, basically, has anyone done this cruise that can tell me if they tried to pick up Sprint and Verizon towers at sea and if they were successful?  

I don't mind paying for VOOM.  This is my 4th cruise with Royal, so I know the drill and the ups and downs, but it would be nice to be able to spend my dollars in the spa instead of on the internet.

Thank you in advance.  :)

 

[twangster]

Your route will be off the coast far enough so that they are international water every night.  That way they can open the casino and stores as well as other considerations.  You might, standing at the right spot on the ship, reach a cell tower if it is using a lower frequency and is located in just the right spot on land and happen to get some signal.  I wouldn't count on it.

 

You can see the route they'll take, I imagine it will be something like my Snowbird migration cruise last year:

 

 

It's port intensive so do you need internet in your cabin at night?  

Edited May 30, 2019 by twangster

[cangreja]

That helps immensely, thank you.  Yes, unfortunately, several of us need to stay in contact with work, etc during the cruise (my brother in law is  a lawyer, so he has to be reachable at all hours.)  I appreciate your help!

[twangster]

Enjoy your cruise.  I sailed Adventure last year but leaving from Quebec City.  Some ports are the same as yours.

 

You can read about it here:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2596037-adventure-ots-13-night-snowbird-migration-quebec-to-ft-lauderdale-oct-8-2018/

 

[SRF]

We did the NE/Canada cruise on Grandeur several years ago.

 

Fine service in port, no service at sea.

[Big_G]

Good info. Thanks

[nelblu]

Once you leave port, RCL's takes over.  You could get one Voom plan and share it amongst yourselves.  As long as only one phone/tablet/laptop in use at any given time.  Simply use the same password to log onto the network.

[mugtech]

Found free WiFi in every port on our Anthem 9 day including Boston.

[dutchclogs]

17 minutes ago, SRF said:

We did the NE/Canada cruise on Grandeur several years ago.

 

Fine service in port, no service at sea.

 

Has VOOM improved in the last couple of years?

[Clarea]

17 minutes ago, dutchclogs said:

 

Has VOOM improved in the last couple of years?

 

From reports I read here, Grandeur still has the less cabable geosync service.

[dutchclogs]

2 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

From reports I read here, Grandeur still has the less cabable geosync service.

 

Ah well, we got the 4 device package for a good price ($22.99 per day) but it's good to manage expectations!

 

[SRF]

Data rates are OK, but the ping can get to over 600 ms.