Internet prices going up?

[EllieinNJ]

I have heard that prices for internet and other things are going up May 1st.  Can someone tell me how much?  Does it pay to order it now for 2023?  We have a 9 day and a 12 day booked for next May and June.

[superrupe]

From my PVP. 
 

[JT1962]

19 minutes ago, EllieinNJ said:

I have heard that prices for internet and other things are going up May 1st.  Can someone tell me how much?  Does it pay to order it now for 2023?  We have a 9 day and a 12 day booked for next May and June.

Probably not worth pre-paying at this point for internet in 2023, but it is possible (likely?) it will go up again before your cruise.

Edited April 22, 2022 by JT1962

[melz1010]

6 hours ago, JT1962 said:

Probably not worth pre-paying at this point for internet in 2023, but it is possible (likely?) it will go up again before your cruise.

If you want to save the money, purchase it now. That way you don't pay the higher price later. Personally, I plan to go with the premium wifi plan. I used premium on the Vista and it worked great. I had no issues. People complain about the internet but most don't pay for premium. I'm not sure if the level of internet service you get matters, but I didn't have any issues. The premium internet package price will not increase. 

[brownc424]

40 minutes ago, melz1010 said:

If you want to save the money, purchase it now. That way you don't pay the higher price later. Personally, I plan to go with the premium wifi plan. I used premium on the Vista and it worked great. I had no issues. People complain about the internet but most don't pay for premium. I'm not sure if the level of internet service you get matters, but I didn't have any issues. The premium internet package price will not increase. 

On Mardi Gras earlier this month, Premium internet... it was unusable for almost half the cruise. Completely unable to load any website, or even send messages on Facebook Messenger. The rest of the time it varied from painfully slow, to decent.

[BlerkOne]

7 hours ago, superrupe said:

From my PVP. 
 

I'm not sure where this originated, but the Internet pricing is wrong. Current pricing is already over $13.60/day for Premium Internet (now $14.45). If that is what the new pricing will be, I'll cancel my plans for cruises after May 1 and repurchase.

 

I found the Wifi on Mardi Gras to be usable.

[Jeni99]

I went and called as I was charged 7.60 per person per day prebooking for our cruise in November for kids... apparently Freedom, magic and a few other ships have a higher cost. I didnt know that or do I know why lol. but could also explain why you were charged more currently for the premium one. 

[Sea Legs]

How many devices can be used?

 

 

[tallnthensome]

33 minutes ago, Sea Legs said:

How many devices can be used?

 

 

One device per package purchased. That information is on the Carnival website FYI.

[audcc77]

2 hours ago, Sea Legs said:

How many devices can be used?

 

 

One device at a time.  Beware though.  My DH says he doesn’t want the internet but then he’ll steal it from me when he thinks I’m napping.  

[CruisingFromLA]

I was watching a YouTube video on wifi speeds for different lines and now understand why I always get such shitty speeds on Carnival. Note my average upload speeds on my last 3 cruises were 0.10-0.15 Mbps (Radiance, Sunrise and Panorama). What I don't understand is that Carnival charges $14 per day for the premium plan, while Princess has the best speeds and only charges $9.99 per day. The wifi on Carnival is just not worth it.

 

 

 

[jetsfan58]

Hopefully with the increased prices will come enhanced services. They really need an overhaul with regards to onboard communication. 

[BlerkOne]

1 hour ago, jetsfan58 said:

Hopefully with the increased prices will come enhanced services. They really need an overhaul with regards to onboard communication. 

We do NOT need more CD announcements!

[Saint Greg]

10 hours ago, CruisingFromLA said:

I was watching a YouTube video on wifi speeds for different lines and now understand why I always get such shitty speeds on Carnival. Note my average upload speeds on my last 3 cruises were 0.10-0.15 Mbps (Radiance, Sunrise and Panorama). What I don't understand is that Carnival charges $14 per day for the premium plan, while Princess has the best speeds and only charges $9.99 per day. The wifi on Carnival is just not worth it.

 

 

 

 

I definitely had better luck on Panorama than you. I have a screenshot of 15.0up/27.2 down on Panorama. The older Carnival ships usually have worse internet so I wouldn't have high expectations on radiance or sunrise though I did have pretty good speeds...good enough to upload videos in a minute or two for most of my glory cruise last month so maybe there have been some improvements. 

[mz-s]

The speed tests aren't really comparable IMO. Unless you know that everything is the same, it's not a fair test. There are way too many variables. To me the internet isn't worth it but it's for different reasons than speed - I just don't like paying for it, I'd rather spend that money on other things during my cruise and use the internet when in port. Just follow the crew when they get off, often they're headed to the wifi.

[groundloop]

On 4/22/2022 at 3:49 PM, melz1010 said:

.... People complain about the internet but most don't pay for premium....

 

I haven't been on any of the Vista Class or Excel Class ships yet so maybe (hopefully) internet on them is better.  I've been on aech of the earlier classes of ships and paid for the "premium" every single time and it SUCKS.  Early in the morning before many people are up it seems somewhat reasonable, but by 8 or 9 AM it's horrible if you want to do much more than check email.  On our next cruise I'm going to see if I can survive without internet, it's definitely overpriced for what you get.

Edited April 25, 2022 by groundloop

[BlerkOne]

The Internet connection on ships is via satellite and it is shared by all. You want faster speeds? Use it when demand is low. It is also possible for an access point to be overloaded. Soultion? Connect to a different point.

 

The oldest ship (Ecstasy) in the fleet have acceptable speeds all things considered.

 

When poking around, it seems my cabin had an access point 🙂

 

 

[cmp03]

On 4/22/2022 at 4:39 PM, BlerkOne said:

I'm not sure where this originated, but the Internet pricing is wrong. Current pricing is already over $13.60/day for Premium Internet (now $14.45). If that is what the new pricing will be, I'll cancel my plans for cruises after May 1 and repurchase.

 

I found the Wifi on Mardi Gras to be usable.

The internet pricing is different on different ships.  Some (like Horizon) still has the premium for $13.60 but I paid $14.45 per day on a different ship two weeks ago.   The social on Horizon is $7.60 but I paid $6.80 two weeks ago (Paradise).   Makes no sense.  

 

[Jelly_Toast]

The price increase of 21 cruise days of value internet is $17.80.  For two people it's an increase of $35.60.

 

Is it worth the savings to let them have your money for an entire year? That's how you should make your decision. They are essentially paying you this much money for the privilege of holding your money for a year.

[snowdogsmm]

Can you switch devices on one plan?  For example my iPad and iPhone?

 

[CarolSW]

41 minutes ago, snowdogsmm said:

Can you switch devices on one plan?  For example my iPad and iPhone?

 

YES you can use one plan on your iPhone and the same plan on your iPad, just not at the same time. 

[airvet]

I bought the premium plan on the Breeze but it was barely useable until midnight 😄. I'm debating whether to buy it for our Horizon trip coming up.

[n6uqqq]

On 4/24/2022 at 7:08 AM, CruisingFromLA said:

I was watching a YouTube video on wifi speeds for different lines and now understand why I always get such shitty speeds on Carnival. Note my average upload speeds on my last 3 cruises were 0.10-0.15 Mbps (Radiance, Sunrise and Panorama). What I don't understand is that Carnival charges $14 per day for the premium plan, while Princess has the best speeds and only charges $9.99 per day. The wifi on Carnival is just not worth it.

 

 

 

 

I am guessing the main reason for speed differences is Princess cruisers probably tend to be older and not married to their phones and internet so the number of users at any given time would be much less.

[tm_aw_love]

It's a supply and demand issue... too many people sharing the bandwidth means they need to drive up the price to cut down a little on people using it. Bandwidth is limited they need to do something...

[BlerkOne]

24 minutes ago, n6uqqq said:

 

I am guessing the main reason for speed differences is Princess cruisers probably tend to be older and not married to their phones and internet so the number of users at any given time would be much less.

The main difference is Princess has better service which will someday be rolled out to all Carnival brands. No doubt Carnival has more bloggers, vloggers, FB live, etc. users hogging bandwidth and getting worse.