I Can’t Believe P Charges for Internet!

[patrickmoran]

I’m on the Regal now in the Med and the internet is so slow. It’s hard to do anything. It is not a satellite/position issue. I’ve been on 3 post-Covid cruises and the internet was great. Fortunately I’m Elite so $5/day for lousy service isn’t too bad but this is not what I would expect from a “premium”cruise line. 

[fishnchips]

We believe you !

Selling a product that is not up to standard is Mis- selling imo ?

 

[Daniel A]

I was on Regal last January in the Caribbean.  I didn't experience any internet service issues whatsoever - it was consistently fast.

[Steelers36]

3 hours ago, patrickmoran said:

I’m on the Regal now in the Med and the internet is so slow. It’s hard to do anything. It is not a satellite/position issue. I’ve been on 3 post-Covid cruises and the internet was great. Fortunately I’m Elite so $5/day for lousy service isn’t too bad but this is not what I would expect from a “premium”cruise line. 

This seems to be like an infection on more than one PCL ship.  If you get a chance to ask the Internet Mgr or someone else, would love to understand the reason.  I wonder if a satellite is out or something.  Why would multiple ships be suffering internet issues in the Europe sector?  On a Sky TA, Princess was giving money back.

[*Miss G*]

24 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Why would multiple ships be suffering internet issues in the Europe sector?  On a Sky TA, Princess was giving money back.

 

On the Sky TA it was already problematic right from boarding in PEV, so not just restricted to Europe, or even the Atlantic.

[startedwithamouse]

Location, location, location. 

[FlaMariner]

15 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

Location, location, location. 

 

Excuses, excuses, excuses.....

 

The "best internet at sea" did not work when in Port Everglades, Cadiz Spain, Gibraltar or while cruising the Spanish and French coasts and when in the English Channel docking at Southampton. This was  on the Sky TA.   For whatever reason...and not 'being in the middle of the Atlantic" Princess knew this from the start and refunded internet on day 1.

 

 

[startedwithamouse]

22 minutes ago, FlaMariner said:

 

Excuses, excuses, excuses.....

 

The "best internet at sea" did not work when in Port Everglades, Cadiz Spain, Gibraltar or while cruising the Spanish and French coasts and when in the English Channel docking at Southampton. This was  on the Sky TA.   For whatever reason...and not 'being in the middle of the Atlantic" Princess knew this from the start and refunded internet on day 1.

 

 

We were answering the original poster. 😁👍

[Ken the cruiser]

Have you done a speed test yet to see just how slow it is? If so, how slow was it?

[Daniel A]

The problems with Sky was more than internet.  PAX on the TA on Sky were also reporting service disruptions with the medallion app and medallions.  I'm not an IT person but IMHO, the internet failures on Sky were linked to Sky's intranet failures.  🤷‍♂️

 

I'm not sure the Sky problems are connected to Regal's internet.  Maybe the Mediterranean internet satellite service is from a different vendor than the satellite service in the Caribbean.  

[FlaMariner]

13 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

I'm not sure the Sky problems are connected to Regal's internet. 

 

Clueless here as to why....All I know is what I experienced and heard from my fellow passengers on the Sky TA.  I'm sure there is a good excuse somewhere but I do not care why it did not work.....but it did not work, that I know....LOL.  

 

 

[azbirdmom]

Internet on the Regal in February was very good and the Medallion features all worked when onboard.  Something clearly happened in March as the Regal and Sky were leaving for Europe and it sounds like the problems continue.  Yet they are continuing to tout the "best Internet at sea".  Hope they figure it out soon.

[cruzsnooze]

5 hours ago, patrickmoran said:

 this is not what I would expect from a “premium”cruise line. 

Princess is not a premium cruise line it's a mass market cruise line.  There are multiple threads about TransAtlantic and Med cruises have slow and spotty service due to lack of satellite position. I hope they fix the problem because it's supposed to be a better and faster internet when they upgraded to the spotty medallion service.

[tothemall&beyond]

5 hours ago, patrickmoran said:

I’m on the Regal now in the Med and the internet is so slow. It’s hard to do anything. It is not a satellite/position issue. I’ve been on 3 post-Covid cruises and the internet was great. Fortunately I’m Elite so $5/day for lousy service isn’t too bad but this is not what I would expect from a “premium”cruise line. 

I'm Elite, too (since 2014) - and for me, paying anything at all, even if only $5 per day, for something I used to get for free is too much, especially when it doesn't work.

[tothemall&beyond]

2 hours ago, Daniel A said:

I was on Regal last January in the Caribbean.  I didn't experience any internet service issues whatsoever - it was consistently fast.

In January, the ships were sailing at only at 30-35% capacity. In March, they opened up to 75% (or greater) capacity. That's a lot more people pulling bandwidth and slowing speeds. I know because I sailed on the Regal in December and then again in March. Personally observed the difference.

[tothemall&beyond]

23 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

Internet on the Regal in February was very good and the Medallion features all worked when onboard.  Something clearly happened in March as the Regal and Sky were leaving for Europe and it sounds like the problems continue.  Yet they are continuing to tout the "best Internet at sea".  Hope they figure it out soon.

What "happened" between February and March is the increase in passenger capacity. In February, the ships were sailing at only at 30-35% capacity, maybe 50% on a few sailings. In March, they opened up to 75% (or greater) capacity. That's a lot more people pulling bandwidth and slowing speeds. I know personally because I sailed on the Regal in December at 30% and then again on Regal in March - on the last cruise before the TA - at 75%. Personally observed the difference.

[atexsix]

2 minutes ago, tothemall&beyond said:

In January, the ships were sailing at only at 30-35% capacity. In March, they opened up to 75% (or greater) capacity. That's a lot more people pulling bandwidth and slowing speeds. I know because I sailed on the Regal in December and then again in March. Personally observed the difference.

This.  So I'm glad they still charge.  HAL offered everybody free WiFi during a promotion during last fall's restart and it was a nightmare with so many people competing for it.  And that's sad really, just what are people doing?  LoL.  They're supposed to be on vacation.  Outside of checking email twice a day (to keep in touch with the pet sitter) I have no use for it. 

[Cuedon]

People are on board for different reasons; I work remotely from onboard because it actually makes more economic sense for me to be on board than on land... It's not really a vacation. 

[Daniel A]

54 minutes ago, atexsix said:

This.  So I'm glad they still charge.  HAL offered everybody free WiFi during a promotion during last fall's restart and it was a nightmare with so many people competing for it.  And that's sad really, just what are people doing?  LoL.  They're supposed to be on vacation.  Outside of checking email twice a day (to keep in touch with the pet sitter) I have no use for it. 

When I was on Regal, I had to keep checking for when a Covid test would open up at a pharmacy for another trip we had planned for 11 days after we would disembark Regal.  Those appointment slots filled up very fast in January.  Without the internet, we would really have been scrambling!

[Steelers36]

2 hours ago, atexsix said:

This.  So I'm glad they still charge.  HAL offered everybody free WiFi during a promotion during last fall's restart and it was a nightmare with so many people competing for it.  And that's sad really, just what are people doing?  LoL.  They're supposed to be on vacation.  Outside of checking email twice a day (to keep in touch with the pet sitter) I have no use for it. 

We have been on full ships pre-Covid with MedallionNet and not had "old speed" slow internet.  One ship with issue - look at the ship.  Two or more with same problem - look to the provider or satellites is my theory.

[Daniel A]

5 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

We have been on full ships pre-Covid with MedallionNet and not had "old speed" slow internet.  One ship with issue - look at the ship.  Two or more with same problem - look to the provider or satellites is my theory.

That still wouldn't explain the intra net issues on Sky however.

 

Or, am I wrong on that??  (Not an IT guy 😟)

Edited April 17, 2022 by Daniel A

[Astro Flyer]

This was the speed along the California coast between LA & SF on Discovery…does anyone know the speed on Regal?

 

[MISTER 67]

5 hours ago, Daniel A said:

I was on Regal last January in the Caribbean.  I didn't experience any internet service issues whatsoever - it was consistently fast.

Same with us on cruises on the Caribbean Princess in November and December, I couldn't believe how fast it was.

On both cruises the ship was at about at 55% of capacity. 

Edited April 17, 2022 by MISTER 67

[franktown]

19 minutes ago, Astro Flyer said:

This was the speed along the California coast between LA & SF on Discovery…does anyone know the speed on Regal?

 

That's terrible.

[Steelers36]

22 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

That still wouldn't explain the intra net issues on Sky however.

 

Or, am I wrong on that??  (Not an IT guy 😟)

No, but could have been MC App issues or with servers.  I think MC App on board functions work locally and don't need to reach out over WWW to remote servers, so some sort of on-board glitch(es) going on I would say.  Seems odd the Internet Mgr not knowing the root cause.