Requesting internet reports on Alaska cruises

[mrell345]

Can people who just recently did the Alaska cruises report on the onboard internet experiences for all ships, medallion net or other.  Please indicate ship and whether it was fast or slow, or not working well at all.

Edited June 29, 2019 by mrell345

[bemis12]

Got off of the Coral southbound from Anchorage this month.

 

It has a medallion net, but was almost unusably slow.

[Lindaru]

Ruby last month Medallion Net . . . worked very well for me.  I was able to watch videos and listen to pod-casts with no delays using my Android tablet.  Ironically, parts of the inside passage caused the television to not work.

 

 

[13cheermom]

21 minutes ago, Lindaru said:

Ruby last month Medallion Net . . . worked very well for me.  I was able to watch videos and listen to pod-casts with no delays using my Android tablet.  Ironically, parts of the inside passage caused the television to not work.

 

 

So will be on the Ruby next year, and was wondering if pricing for the package was better onboard or prior to cruising.  We are considering purchasing the 4/person package to share with our adult daughters for this trip.

[Astro Flyer]

12 minutes ago, 13cheermom said:

So will be on the Ruby next year, and was wondering if pricing for the package was better onboard or prior to cruising.  We are considering purchasing the 4/person package to share with our adult daughters for this trip.

 

Pricing for your cruise next year for a MedallionNet unlimited plan for 4 should be available in your Cruise Personalizer under Onboard Reservations.  I didn’t check the plan for 4 on our recent cruise on the Royal (prices appear to be the same on all ships) but the single device plan for 14 days was $120 in advance & $90 onboard for platinum/elite passengers in exchange for our free minutes.

 

Here’s a screenshot of the price for our 7-day cruise next year:

 

Edited June 30, 2019 by Astro Flyer

[hpeabody]

Horrible on the Royal first week of June.  I regret not asking for a refund.

[13cheermom]

35 minutes ago, Astro Flyer said:

 

Pricing for your cruise next year for a MedallionNet unlimited plan for 4 should be available in your Cruise Personalizer under Onboard Reservations.  I didn’t check the plan for 4 on our recent cruise on the Royal (prices appear to be the same on all ships) but the single device plan for 14 days was $120 in advance & $90 onboard for platinum/elite passengers in exchange for our free minutes.

 

Here’s a screenshot of the price for our 7-day cruise next year:

 

So I just went back and checked again and ours still only shows $9.99/day for one, 😂.  The $14.99/day for 4 devices is a much better deal and I would get that now if it were offered. I wonder if it is because they are in a different cabin but right beside ours instead of 4 in one cabin? 

Edited June 30, 2019 by 13cheermom
added info.

[Lindaru]

I purchased for one device pre-cruise for $59.95 for seven days.

 

If I remember, it was $119.95 if I had purchased for two to be used simultaneously.  Hubby brought his lap-top and the plan was to log off and let him log on when I was off, but he never got on it, so I just left mine logged in.

 

[paradiselivin1]

16 hours ago, mrell345 said:

Can people who just recently did the Alaska cruises report on the onboard internet experiences for all ships, medallion net or other.  Please indicate ship and whether it was fast or slow, or not working well at all.

My experience on the Coral in late May was totally different than the earlier poster.  Southbound Coral in late May with Medallion net and had incredibly fast speed with a very few exceptions.  First time I still had minutes left of my free 150 minutes.

[Ereggae]

On 6/30/2019 at 12:25 AM, Lindaru said:

I purchased for one device pre-cruise for $59.95 for seven days.

 

If I remember, it was $119.95 if I had purchased for two to be used simultaneously.  Hubby brought his lap-top and the plan was to log off and let him log on when I was off, but he never got on it, so I just left mine logged in.

 

I did the same thing.  At least it's one less thing to worry about.

 

[Greyhound3]

Just off the Grand and the internet is horrible. I could not connect from my cabin at all, and when I did connect it was like using dial-up.; Had purchased an upgraded plan and had it refunded. 

 

Do not waste your money on this ship's internet.

 

 

Grey

[Glaciers]

We were on the Golden the end of May.  Internet speeds were slow, as they always seem to be.   Internet was down for a day and they gave refunds or additional minutes. Another day it was down for several hours.

[Colo Cruiser]

On 6/29/2019 at 5:32 PM, mrell345 said:

Can people who just recently did the Alaska cruises report on the onboard internet experiences for all ships, medallion net or other.  Please indicate ship and whether it was fast or slow, or not working well at all.

In Alaska internet is bad all the way around. New and Old.

[vicd1969]

Ship internet on Golden Princess was pretty unusable during sea days from 10 AM - 10 PM. It was painful when logging into VPN and also while waiting for network folders to display the list of files. I probably burned about 10% of my 450 minutes just waiting for windows explorer to open.  Did work passably at off-peak times. At the ports I resorted to hot-spotting my phone to my laptop. AT&T has the best coverage of the Alaska destinations, Verizon (which I have) tended to disappear a few miles from the port.  Ship intranet for the free text-messaging to fellow passengers was pretty decent.

Edited July 6, 2019 by vicd1969

[geoherb]

The internet worked well for me on the Island the past couple of weeks except for the first day of my southbound cruise. I just used my free minutes and was able to do a live thread, check my email, check Facebook, and download my hometown newspaper using an average of 15 minutes a day. 

 

The day it did not work well, it signed on but not completely. By the time I was able to sign off, 160 minutes were gone. The internet manager restored them for me. 

[SinbadThePorter]

The satellite system that MedallionNet uses for high speed internet is not designed to work above about 50 degrees of latitude.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O3b_Networks#/media/File:O3b_satellite_constellation.png

 

Beyond that you are stuck on the slower geosynchronous satellites.

[jaycruising]

Just off of the Ruby, internet was okay, we couldn’t stream anything and it was really slow some days and pretty good others. I did love the unlimited package and not having to log on and log off all the time. I also really like the new cruise concierge that comes with Medallion, much more user friendly. We did not have the option in our personalized to purchase the 4 device plan, only the single, so we had to go to the cafe and get that sorted. 

[Ep010835]

1 hour ago, SinbadThePorter said:

The satellite system that MedallionNet uses for high speed internet is not designed to work above about 50 degrees of latitude.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O3b_Networks#/media/File:O3b_satellite_constellation.png

 

Beyond that you are stuck on the slower geosynchronous satellites.

 

Other 3 billion. Fascinating piece of information. Thanks!!

[cattman]

The Royal in May, Southbound - lousy. Just plain lousy. Wait for WiFi and cell service in ports.

[travelpeon]

Is it possible to buy a minute specific or 24 hour pass on Island Princess with MedallionNet?  I don't have a relevant status for internet perk (Ruby).

 

I'm on a southbound sailing and based on reports, access is spotty for scenic cruising days and Skagway.  It'd be nice to not pay for days I can't use or won't as cellular data in port will be sufficient (Verizon or AT&T)