Wi-Fi Plans/Usage Questions

[MistyRo76]

I have cruised ALOT over the last two decades, but up until our cruise last April, I’ve never purchased Wi-Fi. One of my favorite aspects of cruising has always been the feeling of being disconnected from life at home! That changed when my hubby and I cruised without our then four year old daughter. That cruise we bought the Social Wi-Fi plan so we could check in with grandma using FB Messenger. This year I am taking a girls cruise and will definitely be purchasing a Wi-Fi package to keep in touch with home. So here are my questions: 

 

1. Can you purchase Wi-Fi by the day once you are on board? I know it’s cheaper per day by buying the package in advance. But we are doing a four day cruise with Key West as our first Port of Call. We will have phone service in Key West, so I could check in from there easily. I would probably only need Wi-Fi for the last two days of the cruise. Was thinking it might be cheaper buying for two days on the ship vs. paying for four days in advance. If this can be done, what are the daily rates for the plans?

2. I would be interested in hearing of people’s experiences with the Premium package specifically with Skype Video calling. I found the Social plan to have spotty outages and it was difficult to get and receive messages. I don’t want to pay more for the higher level plan if the service is just an unreliable.

 

Thanks! 

Misty

[Organized Chaos]

The Social plan cannot be purchased on a 24-hour basis, but the Value and Premium plans can. The Value plan is $16 for 24 hours and the Premium is $25.

 

I've never purchased the Premium plan, but will have it for the first time next month aboard Horizon. How well it works depends on the ship. For instance, the Vista class ships and the Sunrise have the most updated wifi service and, from what I understand, works very good. On other ships, internet isn't as good, but still does good, especially during times when not a lot of people are using wfi. Then there are ships where it's pretty bad. Aboard the Glory in 2018, it was atrocious and practically unusable for anything, even email. I had the Value plan in December aboard the Valor and it did pretty good. So even with the Premium plan, it'll depend on the ship.

[Honolulu Blue]

36 minutes ago, MistyRo76 said:

I have cruised ALOT over the last two decades, but up until our cruise last April, I’ve never purchased Wi-Fi. One of my favorite aspects of cruising has always been the feeling of being disconnected from life at home! That changed when my hubby and I cruised without our then four year old daughter. That cruise we bought the Social Wi-Fi plan so we could check in with grandma using FB Messenger. This year I am taking a girls cruise and will definitely be purchasing a Wi-Fi package to keep in touch with home. So here are my questions: 

 

1. Can you purchase Wi-Fi by the day once you are on board? I know it’s cheaper per day by buying the package in advance. But we are doing a four day cruise with Key West as our first Port of Call. We will have phone service in Key West, so I could check in from there easily. I would probably only need Wi-Fi for the last two days of the cruise. Was thinking it might be cheaper buying for two days on the ship vs. paying for four days in advance. If this can be done, what are the daily rates for the plans?

2. I would be interested in hearing of people’s experiences with the Premium package specifically with Skype Video calling. I found the Social plan to have spotty outages and it was difficult to get and receive messages. I don’t want to pay more for the higher level plan if the service is just an unreliable.

 

Thanks! 

Misty

 

1.  You can purchase WiFi by the day (a full 24 hours) on board.  I think it's a smart move considering your first stop is Key West.  It's $25 per day for the premium plan and $16 for the value plan.  The reason why I listed the premium plan first is...

 

2.  I haven't tried Skype with the premium plan myself, but according to Carnival's Web site, it is supported with that plan.  That means you should be able to get a refund if it doesn't work.  Carnival's WiFi can be spotty at times, but I've found it better more recently and on the newer ships.

 

Have fun on your cruise!