Unacceptably slow internet on the Crown Princess

[CineGraphic]

From the screen shot you posted a few hours ago, it doesn't look like things got better as promised. 2.49 certainly isn't the fastest internet at sea.

[loge23]

It's marginally better this afternoon but that's not saying much.

[CineGraphic]

I'd go to guest services and demand a full refund at this point before the lines get too long towards the end of the cruise.

Slow internet is better than none, but this is hardly what they advertise it to be. Cut your losses before it's too late.

[MustangGT]

I agree with my Crown shipmates!  We are on for 28 days and I bought the unlimited for the voyage. My husband is making do with his free minutes. I was happy on the first 12-day voyage- fast connections, able to FaceTime, etc. This second portion has been horrible. I give up on loading Facebook, Instagram and more. 

The Navigators at Ocean Front are unfairly taking the brunt of the complaints but are maintaining a positive attitude. Latest word is that the system will be “upgraded “ and tomorrow it should be lightning fast. Fingers crossed!!

[Corgidawgga]

On 9/30/2019 at 12:43 PM, 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.

Is this a Medallion cruise?  I am boarding in three weeks and trying to decide if it is worth upgrading my elite minutes.  I appreciate your comments.  

[voljeep]

1 minute ago, Corgidawgga said:

I am boarding in three weeks

as important - what is your cruise itinerary ? ( Caribbean, Norway, japan, south America )  it makes a huge difference as to satellite connectivity ... or whatever it is the forum experts state ...

[Corgidawgga]

Just now, voljeep said:

as important - what is your cruise itinerary ? ( Caribbean, Norway, japan, south America )  it makes a huge difference as to satellite connectivity ... or whatever it is the forum experts state ...

 

 

 

FLL to Southern Caribbean.   BCs, Grenada, Dominica, etc.  

 

Should be lotsa satellites.    Any info on the embarkation price for elites?  No info on website.  

 

Thanks, voljeep.

[voljeep]

1 minute ago, Corgidawgga said:

 

 

 

FLL to Southern Caribbean.   BCs, Grenada, Dominica, etc.  

 

Should be lotsa satellites.    Any info on the embarkation price for elites?  No info on website.  

 

Thanks, voljeep.

it's been well documented here ... when people can get internet connections ... that cruisers that get free internet minutes because of their captain circle level 'should' wait until they get on board ... then 'turn in' their minutes for a discount on the unlimited package ...

 

what Ship ,by the way ?

[Corgidawgga]

4 minutes ago, voljeep said:

it's been well documented here ... when people can get internet connections ... that cruisers that get free internet minutes because of their captain circle level 'should' wait until they get on board ... then 'turn in' their minutes for a discount on the unlimited package ...

 

what Ship ,by the way ?

 

 

Crown......one of my faves...’’’

[voljeep]

16 minutes ago, Corgidawgga said:

 

 

Crown......one of my faves...’’’

deleted ... thought better about it on a Friday afternoon ...

Edited October 4, 2019 by voljeep

[geoherb]

3 hours ago, Corgidawgga said:

Is this a Medallion cruise?  I am boarding in three weeks and trying to decide if it is worth upgrading my elite minutes.  I appreciate your comments.  

 

Yes, we have medallions on this cruise and they advertised the MedallionNet as "The Best Wi-Fi at Sea: Fast. Reliable. Unlimited. Affordable. … Access the internet everywhere on board so you can text, post photos, video chat and stream your favorite shows, movies, music and sports with ease."

 

It depends on what you want to do. I'm hoping to be able to report blazing speeds tomorrow morning. We'd love to stream our hockey game tomorrow night after dinner. 

 

On my Island Princess cruises this summer, the free internet minutes were sufficient. I could download my newspaper in under a minute. I wrote the postings for my live thread in Word while offline and then would get online to post. I did the same with email. I'd let Facebook load a few pages and then disconnect to read posts. But if you'll be wanting to stream video, Facetime, or do other such things, you'll want the unlimited. It has worked to have it on one device for us, but we don't use our phones on the ship much.

[Thrak]

We have a TA from Barcelona to Florida in November. Emerald will have Medallion Net access and I believe we should be in the proper latitudes for the lower satellite constellation. We just plan to use our Elite minutes for that cruise. Even with the super slow and crummy Internet on most Princess ships we haven't used all of our minutes on our last few cruises. If we did have fast Internet and always on capability it would encourage more Internet use but I don't know if that is really a good thing. It's nice being out of touch. I do end up missing being able to just ask my phone a question but it really isn't that much of a "hardship".

[caribill]

7 hours ago, geoherb said:

 

Yes, we have medallions on this cruise and they advertised the MedallionNet as "The Best Wi-Fi at Sea: Fast. Reliable. Unlimited. Affordable. … Access the internet everywhere on board so you can text, post photos, video chat and stream your favorite shows, movies, music and sports with ease."

 

 

 

Aren't you glad you have "The Best Wi-Fi at Sea?"

 

Imagine how bad it would be if it was not the best.

[geoherb]

Finally! Some time during the night, the internet manager's promise of a faster connection came true. I'm now able to stream videos and read my newspapers. I will have quite a backlog of them to go through over the next few days. As with a lot of newspapers, though, they've reduced the amount of content, so it shouldn't take too long per issue. I will read primarily about our local elections, the obituaries, and the comics. 

 

 

[teachkeegan]

Also sailing on the Crown Princess right now.  I feel ripped off for buying the unlimited package,  because I  can't really do much. We've been sailing at 30° N for days.  Very limited service.  I wish I'd stuck with the free minutes and not gotten my hopes up. 

[Roberto256]

3 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Aren't you glad you have "The Best Wi-Fi at Sea?"

 

I think that is very cleverly phrased, and could certainy be true.

 

However, most folks are interested more in the internet speed, than the wifi speed!

 

 

Edited October 5, 2019 by Roberto256

[geoherb]

I spoke to the internet manager this morning. He's given us a credit against the total we paid for the days that the internet was not working well. I'm happy.

[geoherb]

1 hour ago, teachkeegan said:

Also sailing on the Crown Princess right now.  I feel ripped off for buying the unlimited package,  because I  can't really do much. We've been sailing at 30° N for days.  Very limited service.  I wish I'd stuck with the free minutes and not gotten my hopes up. 

 

See my above post about getting credit for the bad days. The reason we purchased the unlimited option was that there wasn't any way I could do the things I wanted to at the speeds we were getting. It would take me 10 minutes to post to my live thread if I had a few photos attached. 

[BSocial]

56 minutes ago, geoherb said:

I spoke to the internet manager this morning. He's given us a credit against the total we paid for the days that the internet was not working well. I'm happy.

 

Glad to hear this.  Sounds like a fair resolution!  

 

Thanks for sharing your cruise with us on the other thread.

[voljeep]

pretty soon look for Princess to put in much stronger disclaimer about internet service and connections ... then strictly limit any adjustments based on connectivity or lack thereof ...

 

maybe even going to a tiered level again - even with the 'unlimited'

 

j/s

[Micahs Grandad]

Would be nice if they gave out more info about how lousy internet service will actually be during the crossing. We have done the same crossing with their older system and would appear speeds were much faster than.

 

I wonder why that should be?

[geoherb]

45 minutes ago, Micahs Grandad said:

Would be nice if they gave out more info about how lousy internet service will actually be during the crossing. We have done the same crossing with their older system and would appear speeds were much faster than.

 

I wonder why that should be?

 

Our connection was fine last year on the Royal's crossing. My connection was fine this summer on the Island Princess in Alaska, which spent time much farther north than we were in Southampton. I don't think they knew ahead of time that the speed would be so slow after we left Southampton on this cruise.

Edited October 5, 2019 by geoherb

[voljeep]

hurricane Lorenzo ....

[Micahs Grandad]

12 minutes ago, geoherb said:

 

Our connection was fine last year on the Royal's crossing. My connection was fine this summer on the Island Princess in Alaska, which spent time much farther north than we were in Southampton. I don't think they knew ahead of time that the speed would be so slow after we left Southampton on this cruise.

I would think that after this much time they would know where internet speeds would be good and where they would be terrible. They do sail these waters very often.

[Kingofcool1947]

On the Crown now.   Internet is slow as molasses.  A real rip off if you have to pay for it.   Beware.

Edited October 5, 2019 by Kingofcool1947