Unacceptably slow internet on the Crown Princess

[geoherb]

I'm currently on the Crown's transatlantic cruise from Southampton to Fort Lauderdale (September 22-October 8). The internet speed started slowly and has gotten horribly worse. The first day, I decided that we did not have enough free minutes to do everything we planned to do--read our hometown paper, check our emails, check Facebook, and keep a live thread. So I purchased unlimited internet for one device. It's gotten to the point where that is almost useless as well. Sometimes my emails won't load. Sometimes Facebook stops after loading a few posts. Our hometown newspaper won't download at all because it's too large. I'm about to give up attaching photos to my live thread because it's taking too long.

 

On the first day, the speed was around 2 Mbps. It went up to 7.21 Mbps on our second day, but has degraded down to less than 1 Mbps. Today at the Internet Café, it was 0.52 Mbps. One of the MedallionNet folks had suggested I try to download my paper on a computer connected to the internet by a cable rather than through Wi-Fi. It's not living up to the promise of "The Best Wi-Fi at Sea." There's no way I could Facetime with anyone or stream a video. https://www.princess.com/ships-and-experience/ocean-medallion/medallionnet/

 

The internet manager has promised that we'll have fast speeds after October 4. That means suffering through four more days of unacceptable internet. I feel like asking for a refund.

[TM]

We were on the Crown for a British Isles cruise in mid-August.  The internet speed was advertised as lightening fast - just like at home.  Well I guess whoever has this at home must still have dial-up because it certainly was not fast.  But then I look back 20 years and we had no ship internet at all so I'm reasonably happy with what we get.  But then again I'm not trying to connect to social media or do any real downloads, I just want to check e-mails.

[Ken the cruiser]

We were on the Crown going around the UK and the internet speeds in our mini-suite and out on our balcony were very acceptable. What was supposed to happen on Oct 4th to increase the speed? A weak satellite link could be causing your issue? 

[geoherb]

Here's a screen shot of a speed test I just performed. Adding two photos to a post on my live thread now takes 15 minutes--when they work at all. When I was on the Island Princess this summer in Alaska (which is farther north than any of our ports), I was able to use just my 300 free internet minutes for two weeks of cruising--doing the same types of things I'm doing now. I had more than 50 minutes left at the end of the cruises.

[WatchHill]

I've been on many Princess ships and none of their internet connectivity is worth the cost. I realize their band width is self-limiting, but in all seriousness, don't market a product that's so inferior. Last year we were on the CB for 14 nights in Norway, and had relatively good access - probably picking up a land side connection. Maybe that's shy I love river cruises through the heart of Europe, free internet  and it connects to the towers along the riverside.

On a princess cruise from Hawaii to Tahiti, I had fair luck even getting a connection [got knocked off far too often], in the middle of the night. A recent cruise on Celebrity Edge had to have one of the best and fastest thus far. Not sure if the ship's internet "specialists" are worth talking to. A friend who teaches Cisco and a network engineer was discussing ship internet with the so called internet cafe manager. He walked away and mumbled something to the effect that he terminated people with greater skill/knowledge. 

When I've posted updates to friends while I'm on a cruise, I write the doc in word, then attach that to my email - even then it's slow. Working with pictures and waiting and waiting and waiting and hoping isn't my idea of a vacation. Heck, Princess should comp you a few drinks for the frustration.

We're sailing on the Crown in mid-November, can't wait to log on and send - might be able to get in a load of laundry - wash & dry, while it attempts to upload.

Darcy

[geoherb]

6 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We were on the Crown going around the UK and the internet speeds in our mini-suite and out on our balcony were very acceptable. What was supposed to happen on Oct 4th to increase the speed? A weak satellite link could be causing your issue? 

 

The internet manager gave me a vague answer about losing the satellite connection and something about a battery. He did not really explain what's going to happen later to speed things up.

[geoherb]

5 minutes ago, WatchHill said:

When I've posted updates to friends while I'm on a cruise, I write the doc in word, then attach that to my email - even then it's slow. Working with pictures and waiting and waiting and waiting and hoping isn't my idea of a vacation. Heck, Princess should comp you a few drinks for the frustration.

We're sailing on the Crown in mid-November, can't wait to log on and send - might be able to get in a load of laundry - wash & dry, while it attempts to upload.

 

 

I usually write my live threads in Word when I'm just using my free internet minutes. The only reason I bought an unlimited internet package the first day is that I could tell that our 500 combined minutes were not going to be sufficient. Now it's turning out that the unlimited is not sufficient because it's so slow that files cannot be downloaded before pages time out.

 

Princess should not promise what it cannot deliver. I understand that problems happen from time to time. On my Alaskan cruises, there was one morning when the ship lost the satellite connection. I was counted as being logged in but could not do anything, including logging out. The internet manager restored my lost minutes. 

 

On the Regal a few years ago in the Caribbean, DH was able to attend a online seminar with streaming video. That's the type of connection Princess is promising to deliver.

Edited September 30, 2019 by geoherb

[voljeep]

19 minutes ago, geoherb said:

On the Regal a few years ago in the Caribbean, DH was able to attend a online seminar with streaming video. That's the type of connection Princess is promising to deliver.

Coming soon to:  Sky Princess® (Oct 12, 2019), Grand Princess® (Feb 21, 2020), Diamond Princess® (Mar 15, 2020), Majestic Princess® (Apr 18, 2020), Star Princess® (Jun 12, 2020), Enchanted Princess® (Jun 15, 2020), and Sapphire Princess® (Jul 27, 2020)

Note that ships sailing in northern regions such as Alaska & Northern Europe may experience internet speeds that are slightly slower than when sailing in southern regions. MedallionNet ship implementation schedule is subject to change.

[hpeabody]

I too am on the same cruise and agree it is terrible.  I just do not get all the raves people have made about Medallion Net internet on Princess ships.  Today it just completely stopped and all I got was server not found as well as the notice in the task bar "no internet access"  I checked and I WAS signed in and connected to Medallion Net, but no functioning internet.  Saw the same internet manager.  He had NO answer at all.  I was told to disconnect and try again.  It actually came up (very slow) while I was there.  Dial up was not as bad as this is.  I am very frustrated with it.

[Cruise Raider]

Are you saying that was your experience with the Medallion Net?  Yikes!!  

We are cruising on the Grand soon and I know their internet is downright awful ... most times I couldn't even log on.  Our neighbors are going with us and she was considering getting the unlimited package.   I told her how bad it is and she is freaking out ... hahaha!!  I'm actually a little relieved that she won't be bringing that dang phone to the dinner every night.  

Anyway, we bought the unlimited package on the Royal earlier this year and the internet was amazing!!  I like to watch the evening news on my iPad so as not to disturb my DH while he is trying to sleep ... streamed it without any issue every night.  

[hpeabody]

6 minutes ago, voljeep said:

Coming soon to:  Sky Princess® (Oct 12, 2019), Grand Princess® (Feb 21, 2020), Diamond Princess® (Mar 15, 2020), Majestic Princess® (Apr 18, 2020), Star Princess® (Jun 12, 2020), Enchanted Princess® (Jun 15, 2020), and Sapphire Princess® (Jul 27, 2020)

Note that ships sailing in northern regions such as Alaska & Northern Europe may experience internet speeds that are slightly slower than when sailing in southern regions. MedallionNet ship implementation schedule is subject to change.

 

The Medallion Net on the Royal re-positioning cruise around South America was absolutely horrible.

Edited September 30, 2019 by hpeabody

[hpeabody]

2 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

Are you saying that was your experience with the Medallion Net?  Yikes!!  

We are cruising on the Grand soon and I know their internet is downright awful ... most times I couldn't even log on.  Our neighbors are going with us and she was considering getting the unlimited package.   I told her how bad it is and she is freaking out ... hahaha!!  I'm actually a little relieved that she won't be bringing that dang phone to the dinner every night.  

Anyway, we bought the unlimited package on the Royal earlier this year and the internet was amazing!!  I like to watch the evening news on my iPad so as not to disturb my DH while he is trying to sleep ... streamed it without any issue every night.  

 

What kind of evening news are you able to get on a cruise.  I am always blocked from US news.

[voljeep]

just a wild-a** guess .. but wonder if Cat 4 Hurricane Lorenzo is having ANY thing to do with this satellite connection

on the Crown ... after all, the Crown did have to skip a port and all ...

[CineGraphic]

I’m pretty sure it’s due to the ships position.
The internet manager is assuming it will get better when you are closer to the Bahamas and the Caribbean because there are a lot more satellites covering that region.

[dides]

1 hour ago, geoherb said:

Princess should not promise what it cannot deliver. I understand that problems happen from time to time. On my Alaskan cruises, there was one morning when the ship lost the satellite connection. I was counted as being logged in but could not do anything, including logging out. The internet manager restored my lost minutes. 

 

On the Regal a few years ago in the Caribbean, DH was able to attend a online seminar with streaming video. That's the type of connection Princess is promising to deliver.

 

Where is the ship now? Is it in the Limited Coverage area? (which they admit will be patchy)

 

 

 

 

Edited September 30, 2019 by dides

[mek]

We were on Grand Princess two weeks ago in Alaska and the internet was BAD!  I've never experienced anything as terrible on sea or land.  Two years ago I was in the middle of nowhere in Africa and was still  able to a get a good connection and I've been to Alaska four times previously without having problems like this.

Edited September 30, 2019 by mek

[Stagger]

15 minutes ago, dides said:

 

Where is the ship now? Is it in the Limited Coverage area? (which they admit will be patchy)

 

 

 

 

That video is one of the best description of how things work I've seen so far.  Thanks for pointing us to it.

[geoherb]

I have no idea what the video shows. I can't see it because watching a video is impossible right now. 

 

Right now we are near Madeira, off the coast of Africa. We had a medical evacuation via boat tonight to Madeira. We were on the Caribbean Princess around the British Isles two years ago. The internet worked fine for me on it. I was on Alaska earlier this year on the Island Princess. The internet worked fine for me except for one morning. I'm used to slow speeds, but never anything this despicably slow. On the Royal's transatlantic last year, which went from Southampton to New York via Rotterdam, Hamburg, Vigo, and Ponta Delgada, the internet worked fine. We have been sailing in the same basic area of the world and yet the internet has not functioned adequately. I think it's the ship and not the satellites that's the problem. The storm should not be affecting the internet because the internet started with problems immediately after we left Southampton and has gotten worse.

[geoherb]

4 hours ago, hpeabody said:

 

What kind of evening news are you able to get on a cruise.  I am always blocked from US news.

 

The televisions have BBC News, Fox New, CNBC, MSNBC, and BBC HD as live options. That's one of the reasons I like to read my local newspaper--to find out the news that doesn't make these networks.

Edited September 30, 2019 by geoherb

[Haboob]

5 hours ago, geoherb said:

I'm currently on the Crown's transatlantic cruise from Southampton to Fort Lauderdale (September 22-October 8). The internet speed started slowly and has gotten horribly worse. The first day, I decided that we did not have enough free minutes to do everything we planned to do--read our hometown paper, check our emails, check Facebook, and keep a live thread. So I purchased unlimited internet for one device. It's gotten to the point where that is almost useless as well. Sometimes my emails won't load. Sometimes Facebook stops after loading a few posts. Our hometown newspaper won't download at all because it's too large. I'm about to give up attaching photos to my live thread because it's taking too long.

 

On the first day, the speed was around 2 Mbps. It went up to 7.21 Mbps on our second day, but has degraded down to less than 1 Mbps. Today at the Internet Café, it was 0.52 Mbps. One of the MedallionNet folks had suggested I try to download my paper on a computer connected to the internet by a cable rather than through Wi-Fi. It's not living up to the promise of "The Best Wi-Fi at Sea." There's no way I could Facetime with anyone or stream a video. https://www.princess.com/ships-and-experience/ocean-medallion/medallionnet/

 

The internet manager has promised that we'll have fast speeds after October 4. That means suffering through four more days of unacceptable internet. I feel like asking for a refund.

 

No great surprise here.

 

North of 48º latitude (Southampton-ish), satellite uplink bandwidth is up to 10x more expensive, so the money we pay for internet packages simply does not buy as much of it.  The problem isn't aboard the ship so a cable rather than a WiFi link will not help (except for helping him by getting you to go away).

 

What the internet manager is implicitly admitting is that the ship is now too far north to use the low-cost satellites in Medium Earth Orbit over the Equator, but after the 4th you'll be far enough south again to switch back to those "good" satellites.

[neverbeenhere]

Internet is slow. In June of 1996, I used Altavista to search for the Princess Cruise Schedule, some guy named Jeeves brought the schedule to our stateroom on our cruise last month. 

[Cruise Raider]

4 hours ago, hpeabody said:

 

What kind of evening news are you able to get on a cruise.  I am always blocked from US news.

 

Blocked?  I get it based on what I subscribe to at home ... you name it, if it is within my channels that I pay for at home,  I was able to get it.  

[CruiseVA]

Have you asked the Internet Princess peeps onboard what is going on?

Edited October 1, 2019 by CruiseVA

[billco]

By the time you get to Fort Lauderdale I am sure the Internet will be fine.

[geoherb]

4 hours ago, CruiseVA said:

Have you asked the Internet Princess peeps onboard what is going on?

 

Yes, but he gave me a vague answer about losing the satellite connection and something about a battery.