Internet

[licram]

Does the 9.95$ internet include you tube ?

[paul929207]

yes

[AZjohn]

I hope this question was asking about the speed of WiFi on ship can handle streaming videos. I’m very interested in this as many cruise lines say “streaming” is possible but, the truth is no way. I’m hoping what I read about Princess

ship internet speed I hope is true as we would enjoy watching what we have recorded on DVR (using vpn of course).

[CaribbeanIsland]

It depends. I usually can access it but can't get it to work.

[CineGraphic]

1 hour ago, AZjohn said:

I’m hoping what I read about Princess

ship internet speed I hope is true

 

It all depends on where you're sailing.

[franktown]

In the Caribbean had no problem streaming video's. In fact was as good or better than my home wi-fi. That's the only cruise I  have taken with with new Medallion net.  The old internet used to be terrible.

[donswife]

33 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

 

It all depends on where you're sailing.

Exactly. We had the medallion net on our Panama Canal trip, and DH was very happy with it. 

[jennybenny]

You Tube?! I just hope medallion net gives good speed for emails. I’ve used up 30 minutes to do 5 minutes of stuff in the past. Dining confirmations or bookings on shore, tours on our own, checking into flights, etc. I’ve not tried with Medallion net but previous Wi-Fi has not been good in the past. I’m told Medallion net makes a huge difference, but With everyone getting the BSE, it will be interesting how the Wi-Fi will be with so many users. 

[AZjohn]

1 hour ago, CineGraphic said:

 

It all depends on where you're sailing.

Our first Princess cruise with Medallion net will be (hopefully) Australia/New Zealand. If it sails and we have a vaccine it will be during the NFL playoffs and would enjoy watching the recordings at night

[SinbadThePorter]

Princess uses two different sets of satellites for MedallionNet internet.

 

The far away and slow geosynchronous satellites. These can basically reach everywhere on Earth that a cruise ship can go.

 

The close and fast O3B Medium Earth Orbit satellite network. This is basically only useful between about 45 degrees latitude north and south and drops off pretty quickly as you get closer to 45 degrees. This is because beyond that the O3B satellites are below the horizon.

 

If you are in the O3B zone, then the ship internet is well capable of handling any video streaming that you could want. Outside of that zone the geosynchronous satellites are not much use for anything beyond email and a bit of browsing.

 

If you are streaming I'd highly recommend that you buy the unlimited, untimed package.

[Roberto256]

8 hours ago, jennybenny said:

I’m told Medallion net makes a huge difference, but With everyone getting the BSE, it will be interesting how the Wi-Fi will be with so many users. 

 

With the ships sailing at reduced capacity (and presumably fewer crew) it should be great!

 

The best speed I ever got on a ship was in port during a crew drill.

 

Crew were all at their emergency stations, and pax were all off the ship.

 

My own satellite!

Edited January 27, 2021 by Roberto256

[dides]

9 hours ago, SinbadThePorter said:

Princess uses two different sets of satellites for MedallionNet internet.

 

The far away and slow geosynchronous satellites. These can basically reach everywhere on Earth that a cruise ship can go.

 

The close and fast O3B Medium Earth Orbit satellite network. This is basically only useful between about 45 degrees latitude north and south and drops off pretty quickly as you get closer to 45 degrees. This is because beyond that the O3B satellites are below the horizon.

 

If you are in the O3B zone, then the ship internet is well capable of handling any video streaming that you could want. Outside of that zone the geosynchronous satellites are not much use for anything beyond email and a bit of browsing.

 

If you are streaming I'd highly recommend that you buy the unlimited, untimed package.

 

Yes - Princess states on their website: 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

 

Any cruises in the darker blue area below will get the fastest internet:

 

Edited January 27, 2021 by dides

[Thrak]

We sailed from Barcelona to FLL on Emerald Princess. We supposedly had MedallionNet Internet. We had incredibly bad Internet service for the entire trip.

[Steelers36]

Since it has been a while posting this advice, if you are Elite or Platinum don't pre-order Internet via the Personalizer.  You get the best deal on board Day 1. 

 

Others should use the deal in the Personalizer and pre-book.

 

Of course, if you are using Princess Plus, it doesn't matter.  However, realize if you are Platinum/Elite, that Princess puts too large a value on the Internet portion of the package.  Most of the time, I figure we need spend pretty much $20/pp/day on drinks to justify Plus.

[caribill]

17 hours ago, dides said:

 

Yes - Princess states on their website: 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

 

 

 

My definition of "slightly slower" may be different from theirs.

[Thrak]

9 hours ago, caribill said:

 

My definition of "slightly slower" may be different from theirs.

 

Slightly "slower than molasses in January" as my grandmother used to say.

[Centsless_Cruiser]

22 hours ago, Thrak said:

We sailed from Barcelona to FLL on Emerald Princess. We supposedly had MedallionNet Internet. We had incredibly bad Internet service for the entire trip.

When did you cruise?  Emerald did not have the MedallionNet until sometime mid to late 2019.  When we did Hawaii in Feb 2019 the internet was basically unusable but when we did 28 day Hawaii Tahiti in Feb 2020 it worked perfectly the whole cruise.

 

[jennybenny]

8 minutes ago, Centsless_Cruiser said:

When did you cruise?  Emerald did not have the MedallionNet until sometime mid to late 2019.  When we did Hawaii in Feb 2019 the internet was basically unusable but when we did 28 day Hawaii Tahiti in Feb 2020 it worked perfectly the whole cruise.

 

I sometimes wonder if Cabin type or location makes a difference. For example inside cabin vs balcony, high deck vs low deck, or aft, mid or Forward. 
I wish we knew. I think we’d book based on that if it made a difference. Well, not necessarily but at least we’d know our limitations up front.

[franktown]

6 minutes ago, jennybenny said:

I sometimes wonder if Cabin type or location makes a difference. For example inside cabin vs balcony, high deck vs low deck, or aft, mid or Forward. 
I wish we knew. I think we’d book based on that if it made a difference. Well, not necessarily but at least we’d know our limitations up front.

I can't specifically talk about cabins but in different venues and different decks from the sports deck outside to deck 5 I found no difference.  Never had a dead zone. 

[Ombud]

On 1/27/2021 at 6:37 AM, dides said:

Yes - Princess states on their website: 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

 

Any cruises in the darker blue area below will get the fastest internet:

 

Thank you for the map. So most of Europe is in the slower zone??

[Thrak]

54 minutes ago, Centsless_Cruiser said:

When did you cruise?  Emerald did not have the MedallionNet until sometime mid to late 2019.  When we did Hawaii in Feb 2019 the internet was basically unusable but when we did 28 day Hawaii Tahiti in Feb 2020 it worked perfectly the whole cruise.

 

 

November 2019. Barcelona to FLL.

[jennybenny]

2 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

Slightly "slower than molasses in January" as my grandmother used to say.

That's terrible!! And wouldn't the Barcelona to FLL trip be in the "dark blue" of the map that is supposed to be "good coverage"? I used to try to do some things for work while on vacation and I quickly gave up. My laptop isn't the lightest weight and its one less thing I need to take if I can't use it. After so many cruises where I was unsuccessful I just stopped trying. Keeping up with email for me is the most important thing. Otherwise I end up with hundreds upon my return. The non medallion net always took 30 minutes for 5 minutes of work. 

[Dive Girl]

We ailed on the Crown in December of 2019, Medallion net was lightening fast It was a Southern Caribbean Cruise. Sailing on the Ruby, Mexican Rivera in Feb 2020 it was basically un-usable, no Medallion-net on that ship at that time.

 

I believe it was in August of 2020 that the Emerald got it.

[Thrak]

2 hours ago, Dive Girl said:

I believe it was in August of 2020 that the Emerald got it.

 

It was touted as being MedallionNet in November 2019. There were a lot of unhappy people complaining to the Internet folks. Perhaps Princess lied to us all. Given the state of their IT it wouldn't surprise me.

Edited January 29, 2021 by Thrak

[Centsless_Cruiser]

2 hours ago, Dive Girl said:

We ailed on the Crown in December of 2019, Medallion net was lightening fast It was a Southern Caribbean Cruise. Sailing on the Ruby, Mexican Rivera in Feb 2020 it was basically un-usable, no Medallion-net on that ship at that time.

 

I believe it was in August of 2020 that the Emerald got it.

Nope,

MedallionNet was fully operational on our Feb 2020 28 day cruise and they were almost ready to turn on the Medallion System, we still had a Cruise card but you unlocked your room by tapping an Icon on the wall no more slot in the door.