Free at sea wifi upgrade - cheaper before cruise?

[erdoran]

I have a 14 day cruise on Bliss coming up in three weeks and am trying to figure out if I save anything by buying it before sailing or it’s the same price aboard.  I think it’s $224.95 to upgrade from my 250 free minutes, and it’s stated as an upgrade.  Anyone know what’s the going rate without the free minutes credit? Plus I have my platinum minutes, I guess those don’t count towards the upgrade?  Do I have the option to sail, use my free minutes, and then pay for fewer upgrade days?  What’s my cheapest option?  TIA

[mking8288]

Going rate (non-discounted) onboard prices for satellite WiFi on NCL - subject to change w/o advance notice ... - is $30 a day ($29.99 rounded up) for unlimited or $35 a day for unlimited with streaming/VPN unblocked for most /shorter cruises.  For 14 days, I believe it is still (currently) lowered at $25 a day for unlimited or $30 for ulimited w streaming.  

 

If you upgrade/buy onboard (from our Escape sailing this January ... 14 days) you can purchase fewer days by starting no later than day 4 - without additional discount but still credited with $125 for the 250 minutes.  Some reported success getting a smaller, additional trade-up credit for those 30 or 60 P/+ free minutes (or, use it on additional devices at the same time ... )

 

It seemed the offer to upgrade really isn't discounted further - unless prices are going up January 1, 2020 (quite possible, never know ... given NCL trending lately)

 

Do you need/wish to be using WiFi on those busy port days ?  We managed with our 300+ minutes by "metering" our usage, as we have inexpensive 4G/LTE coverage at all those Caribbean ports when airtime/minutes was needed - our extra "roaming" data charges (Google Fi with T-Mo & AT&T partner carriers) added up to no more than $25 USD (very cheap at $10 per 1GB actually used)

 

Friends were on the Bliss for Thanksgiving, their impression on WiFi at sea was "okay" - used their free minutes, WiFi & VoIP calling were fine and working.  It's your money/OBC to spend against. 

[jjjct]

On our recent cruise we had the 250 minute each booking perk and our 30 minute Platinum perk. Our cruise included South Pacific Islands to Australia to New Zealand.  We have Comcast and could never sign in on the ship, used many options and never worked. Asked the Internet Manager and he tried to help but he didn't help. I think it all depends on where you travel, what your service is. We were also able to get wifi from our t-mobile phone service in ports that allowed us to get our emails and text our family and friends for $5 a day. Phone calls were high though. So if you have gotten the 250 free wifi as a perk, don't expect to get much if you are Comcast. if you are in international waters.