Internet on Trans-Pacific?

[glutenhab]

On Westerdam 51 day Seattle to Sydney on Oct 2/22 & wondering how the internet connection is while at sea?

Some other questions:

1) Are there room service charges for lunch/dinner etc. (I assume none for breakfast)

2) Can we bring wine/soft drinks aboard on embarkation? (have heard only water now but unsure)

3) Buffet closing times (nothing after 8pm?)

4) Westerdam condition? 

5) Advice/ideas on room VA6091

 

Any other advice is warmly welcomed

[RuthC]

Internet is usually pretty good at sea, although you may find some dead spots in the Pacific when you are some distance from any islands. It happens. 

Some foods have room service charges, but otherwise no, no charges for any room service delivery. A tip is appreciated. 

Any adult can bring aboard a 'reasonable' amount of wine; 'reasonable' has not been defined. There is a corkage fee of $20/bottle, and you can bring the bottle to any public area you please. 

There's a 'late night' buffet about 10:30 (?), or so. Room Service is 24/7. 

[Traveling Dot]

I've been on a few trans Pacific cruises and the internet is sort of hit or miss.  Depends where the satellites are.  I never had a problem, if at first I couldn't get a signal I just waited and tried again later. 

Question 1 - no there is no service charge for room service.  There is some items that have up-charges.

Question 2 - You can bring wine but you will be charged a corkage fee for each bottle.  Cheaper to just get a wine package on board.

Question 3 - The buffet is open for a late night snack around 10 pm or so.  Not sure how long it is open, most likely about an hour or so.

Question 4 & 5 -  Can't help with those. Has been a while since I have been on that ship.

[Hlitner]

Agree with Traveling Dot about the Internet.  We have done a few Pacific crossings and the Internet service was sporadic although that has usually been the case on most HAL itineraries.   A big problem these days (besides satellite coverage) is the available bandwidth aboard.  As more and more folks use the Internet on a regular basis, the bandwidth is split among more users.  HAL (and many other lines) do not want to pay the extra big bucks for more bandwidth so it is what it is.

 

Hank

[glutenhab]

Has Westerdam been updated since 2017?

Anyone know if the Taieri Gorge Railway from Dunedin is still running?

[erewhon]

@glutenhab The Taieri Gorge train has been de-commissioned due to lack of tourists,   there has been no date  set for the restart.

[glutenhab]

On 6/7/2022 at 11:16 PM, erewhon said:

@glutenhab The Taieri Gorge train has been de-commissioned due to lack of tourists,   there has been no date  set for the restart.

😭Unfortunate. Loved this last time we did it. Thanks for the info though.

[Haljo1935]

Hi - hoping @Traveling Dot @Hlitner and anyone else who has done a Trans Pacific will provide feedback/insights for a "crossing newbie."

We are booked Q1 2024 Trans Pacific (Yokohama-> Seattle on Westerdam). This will be our first crossing; although this fall we're doing our first Trans Atlantic (Rome -> FLL), but as of this writing we have no experience on ocean crossings.

So, internet aside, unless there's an update on status of the rumored internet upgrade, any tips, advice or just general info you can provide on doing a Trans Pacific is appreciated. 

Currently, we're in a Portside aft verandah, but there's availability to change if that is a poor choice.

4* who has also sailed Princess and Carnival, so I feel like I've got the cruising part down, lol. Just not the "crossing" part.

Thanks!

A search for Trans Pacific didn't net much, so I'm posting here, but will start a new thread if I should.

[JohnCoffield]

On 6/7/2022 at 4:05 PM, glutenhab said:

On Westerdam 51 day Seattle to Sydney on Oct 2/22 & wondering how the internet connection is while at sea?

Some other questions:

1) Are there room service charges for lunch/dinner etc. (I assume none for breakfast)

2) Can we bring wine/soft drinks aboard on embarkation? (have heard only water now but unsure)

3) Buffet closing times (nothing after 8pm?)

4) Westerdam condition? 

5) Advice/ideas on room VA6091

 

Any other advice is warmly welcomed

We were able to FaceTime our daughter back in the UK whilst in the Southern Ocean between Australia & New Zealand in March when on the Noordam. Very good Wi-Fi throughout our 2 week cruise.

[Hlitner]

Your Pacific crossing is similar to ours in that you will be cruising through the Northern Pacific.  If you followed some of the threads (this year) you would have noticed that we skipped Kushiro and just went directly from Yokohama to Kodiac  This change in itinerary was done because the weather forecast for the waters off Kushiro were so bad that our Captain decided it would not be safe.  As it was, we had nearly a week of awful weather (most of the crossing) with 20-25 foot seas the daily norm.  For folks who are not good sailors, it was a miserable week and for those of us who enjoy the rocking n rolling, it was OK.  I actually spoke to our Captain, one evening at the Ocean Bar, and he said that rough seas are not unusual is those waters.  

 

As to the Internet, HAL is like most cruise lines in that their Internet service is slow, but it does work.  We were always able to access the Internet during the cruise, although did a lot better using land-based cells whenever we were close (or docked) in Japan.  We have T-Mobile, which simply works in over 200 countries (for no additional fees) and it did work throughout Japan.  For others who do not have included Internet in Japan, they might want to consider renting a "pocket wifi" device for the weeks that they are in Japan (you can Google "Japan pocket wifi" and read about rentals.  

 

Hank

[Duquesmom]

On last year’s Tales of the S Pacific an antenna was lost on the ship & we had no internet for 5 days, IIRC.  Sometimes the internet was good & sometimes it was horrible when we had it.

[Haljo1935]

@Hlitner  We selected one of usual favorite large ba!conies on deck 4 portside, but your comment about the waves reminded me that I've read many people find they aren't able to make much use of their balconies. So I'm thinking maybe I should move to an Ocean view while there's still availability.

Thoughts?

[Heartgrove]

You will find that internet service will vary by day and even by the hour. Sometimes it is the internet traffic that the ship needs to conduct that slows the passengers usage as it gets throttled. On our Transatlantic last year the coverage was hit or miss after leaving Funchal for two days - but was excellent on the third day further along in the Atlantic!

[Hlitner]

1 hour ago, Haljo1935 said:

@Hlitner  We selected one of usual favorite large ba!conies on deck 4 portside, but your comment about the waves reminded me that I've read many people find they aren't able to make much use of their balconies. So I'm thinking maybe I should move to an Ocean view while there's still availability.

Thoughts?

We always opt for a balcony cabin or small suite.   But I do not think we ever opened our balcony door during that Transpacific phase of our cruise.  We do some cruisers that would suggest just doing an inside cabin on a crossing :). 

 

Hank

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

On the off hours it might be easier.

[POA1]

As for the Internet, HAL is adding Starlink to all the ships in the flee the fleet. I don't know what the schedule is, but see if the Westerdam had a short two week dry dock recently. We're on the Nieuw Statendamin December a few weeks after a short wet dock and I'm hoping for some sweet transmit & recv speeds.

[BermudaBound2014]

18 minutes ago, POA1 said:

As for the Internet, HAL is adding Starlink to all the ships in the flee the fleet. I don't know what the schedule is, but see if the Westerdam had a short two week dry dock recently. We're on the Nieuw Statendamin December a few weeks after a short wet dock and I'm hoping for some sweet transmit & recv speeds.

 

This^^

 

Koningsdam already has Starlink. That should be a game changer for trans-pacific cruising.

 

There must be a schedule for starlink installation somewhere. Other lines have installed starlink without going into drydock, so I don't believe drydock is necessary. If your ship has starlink, the answers will be different.

[Haljo1935]

Yes I've read they were all being converted to Starlink, but don't know the schedule for that and none of the ships I've been on recently have it, so checking for updates from recent passengers.

[crystalspin]

1 hour ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

Koningsdam already has Starlink. That should be a game changer for trans-pacific cruising.

I don't know anything about Starlink and its abilities. (I know, Google is my friend!) But here is my question: We were on K'dam the first two weeks of this year. In our favorite spot, the Crows Nest, devices would drop the wifi, -- needed to walk at least to the stairwell to pick it back up -- sometimes we would just go to the Dutch Cafe where the signal was the strongest (across from Front Desk). 

 

Will Starlink help the LAN/signal throughout the ship, or only the quality of service when there is a connection? I don't know if that makes any sense... 

[POA1]

29 minutes ago, crystalspin said:

Will Starlink help the LAN/signal throughout the ship, or only the quality of service when there is a connection? I don't know if that makes any sense... 

The device to WLAN connections are a function of access point placement. Starlink won't change that unless they add or move APs.  I use an app to find access points and signal strength. (Sometimes it's better near the door of the room. Other times it's better deeper in the room. If I'm lucky, it's good at the desk.)

 

Starlink will improve the ship to the internet speed and vice versa. The rest will depend on user load and the proximity of the access point to you.

[BermudaBound2014]

@crystalspin What he said lol

 

It was a foreign language to me, but I tend to trust people with a good sense of humor :).

 

FWIW, the review from the gentleman from the UK who showed photos of the Starlink apparatus onboard said that the internet connection was very solid everywhere on the ship and he did the 18 night Hawaii trip right after drydock.

[RuthC]

Heading from North America to Asia you will be sailing against the Japan Current. Expect strong waves and a lot of bouncing around. 
If it doesn't happen, you won't be disappointed. 

[crystalspin]

2 minutes ago, POA1 said:

The device to WLAN connections are a function of access point placement. Starlink won't change that unless they add or move APs.  ...Starlink will improve the ship to the internet speed and vice versa. The rest will depend on user load and the proximity of the access point to you.

Thanks! That's what I kinda thought but didn't have the words to say! Maybe they will have tweaked the APs by next February, and maybe I will find that app, too.

[lissie]

On 6/8/2022 at 1:46 PM, erewhon said:

@glutenhab The Taieri Gorge train has been de-commissioned due to lack of tourists,   there has been no date  set for the restart.

NZ reopened last year - no shortage of tourists now ! Tairei Gorge info here Schedule | Taieri Gorge Train Tour (taierigorgeshoreexcursion.com) 

[lissie]

15 minutes ago, POA1 said:

The device to WLAN connections are a function of access point placement. Starlink won't change that unless they add or move APs.  I use an app to find access points and signal strength. (Sometimes it's better near the door of the room. Other times it's better deeper in the room. If I'm lucky, it's good at the desk.)

 

Starlink will improve the ship to the internet speed and vice versa. The rest will depend on user load and the proximity of the access point to you.

After the flooding disasters in NZ last summer both major telecomms companies are advertising that they are going to be using starlink to provide 100% coverage for mobiles on land. That may well help with connectivity off shore but near to NZ too. 

 

I still think there will be plenty of dead spots in the Pacific - there is an awful lot of water and very  little land in most of it. No money to be made having a satellite which can't connect to anyone on land.