NCL satellite WiFi price droppped on upgrade, free/250 min to unlimited

[mking8288]

Good news, sort of but bad if oversold.  Just noticed on upcoming Bliss 7 days sailing (April 2020) that NCL is now offering a much more reasonable price.  See screenshot - already booked, should see this offer:

from 250 minutes/1 GB Add-ons, upgrade pre-cruise only, at a smaller fraction or $50 to unlimited non-streaming package (7 days) or unlimited streaming/VPN satellite WiFi for $85 ... one device at a time, can be shared among different activated devices using the same log-in. 

 

Priced at $30 per day ($29.99) x 7 days = $210 if purchased onboard / reduced rate with pre-cruise purchase.

Prior upgrade price for  7 days = $210 minus $125 trade-up / upgrade credit = difference of $85 for unlimited / $120 for streaming package.  It's a "saving" of $35 ... but, you cannot do this - AFAIK - offset or apply other non-refundable OBC against the purchase. 

 

Potential downside, since the satellite bandwidth is limited & shared, like those "broadband" cable connections - nodes can become overloaded & over subscribed and if NCL oversold, WiFi will get even slower & sluggish, making those links worst and streaming just about impossible.  Nevertheless, it is good for those who "must" and/or "need" internet access while away & onboard the ship, for whatever reasons, including work/self-employed and for school/educational reasons.

 

Per day prices hasn't changed over the last 3 years, while other cruiselines continued to improve their speed & pricing bundle, let's see if NCL will move further toward user-friendly & price competitve options. 

 

Happy surfing while cruising ... we will continue to stay mainly with our Google Fi at 4G/LTE speed in ports and while within range of land towers with cellular signals @ $10 per 1GB data used, limited use of satellite WiFi while at sea. 

 

 

unless signed into your "MyNCL" account

[motherland15]

My cruise in Dec. 2020 is still showing $85 (non-streaming) and $120 (streaming) for the wifi. 😞

[poffles]

Mine not reduced either so must be specific to certain sailings. 👎

 

Oh and my sailing is Bliss March 2020.

 

Edited February 28, 2020 by poffles

[JamieLogical]

Both of my March Bliss sailings are still showing $84.93/$119.93.

[mickismith]

Thanks for posting this.  I actually came here to check for this, because I went to pay for the upgrade and was confused at the pricing now for each person ($50) but wasn't sure if it could still be used on multiple devices (one at a time).  Good news!  

[mking8288]

Just to be sure & reaffirm, logged into the 2nd. linked reservations (these aren't ours) booked on the Bliss for early April 2020, sailing out of NY.  The offer is there, valid & can be added and proceed to checkout page for payment.  

 

 

[Mike_DeA]

Looking at a recent Bliss Freestyle Daily, it says the Unlimited Internet is $24.99/ Premium is $29.99.  Old price was $29.99/34.99.  So maybe it's a test, but the pre-cruise prices showing on the OP's account (and on mine as well for 3/29/20 Bliss sailing) are not really discounted when you take into account the $125 credit for the 250 minute trade up credit.

 

https://www.beyondships2.com/norwegian-bliss-daily-programs.html

 

 

I usually wait until day 2 (anytime starting after midnight of day 1) to upgrade and save one day's charge. I'll likely do the same this trip and the price should be $25 (rounded) for Unlimited ($24.99 x 6 days = $150 less the $125 trade up credit for the Free at Sea 250 minute plan), and $55 ($29.99 x 6 days = $180 less $125 trade up credit).

[bsb0301]

I am looking to use my carriers (AT&T) wifi calling capabilities, not an app, do I need unlimited or the premium to do this?  

[Stlcardsfan79]

For our cruise on the Breakaway 1/31/21 it shows I can upgrade to unlimited for $50. 

[mking8288]

11 hours ago, bsb0301 said:

I am looking to use my carriers (AT&T) wifi calling capabilities, not an app, do I need unlimited or the premium to do this?  

 

Carrier-supported WiFi calling using one of the enabled smartphone/iPhone will (likely) need to use the premium unlimited satellite data plan, as it is otherwise not supported (blocked) by NCL's onboard servers/hardware. 

 

Was "not" this way in the past, changed since, for your (in)convenience ... Used to do Google Hangouts/Duo (G Suite) audio calling just fine with the basic satellite WiFi (250 minutes) plans - not anymore. 

 

Needs the premium streaming option working to do WiFi calling on the cellular number.  No luck using Google Voice number on another global smartphone that was great doing WiFi calling.  Luckily, Skype worked as well as 2 other VoIP Apps.  You should be able to do WhatsApp, WeChat, Facetime or FB Messenger calling, as those on social media plan reported success.  

 

As always, YMMV.  

 

 

[kevink1955]

23 hours ago, bsb0301 said:

I am looking to use my carriers (AT&T) wifi calling capabilities, not an app, do I need unlimited or the premium to do this?  

Forget it, the latency is way to long to conduct any kind of real time voice conversation if you connect at all.  When Facebook pages take 1 to 2 min to load there is no chance of WiFi calling working

 

At 3 am you may be able to connect but the latency will still effect call quality badly