Does included “ Surf Wi-Fi “ work on Equinox ?

[horseymike]

Hi Everyone,

We booked a cruise on the Equinox in November with a package that includes “ Surf Wi-Fi “ .

Has anyone who has recently cruised on the Equinox tell us if the Surf Wi-Fi works properly shipwide ?

Thanks.

[canderson]

You'll have to a) define "properly" and b) what apps you plan to use while aboard.

 

a) If you mean speed, this varies with location on any ship based upon location of access points.  If you're lucky, the signal will be strong enough in your cabin for what it is you want to accomplish.  If not, you'll want to move to a common area where the signal is better.

b) Some apps won't run at all on the 'Surf' package, some work just fine, mostly based upon the bandwidth they require.  No native texting (using your phone #) and no Voice-over-IP.

 

If you get into a ditch with 'surf', you can always pay aboard to upgrade to 'stream'.  Price varies with a number of factors, including your status with Celebrity.

 

Edited August 21, 2022 by canderson
typoz

[markeb]

We were just on Equinox with the premium internet, I guess Stream. The connection could best be described as spotty. As stated, better in common areas, not so great in the cabin. Probably most frustrating was that the Wi-Fi didn’t handoff well as you moved around the ship. I was constantly turning the Wi-Fi off and on (iPad) to refresh the connection. 
 

Probably my only complaint with Equinox. She’s apparently having a mini dry dock and updating the internet is a key part of the update. 

[horseymike]

Markeb do you know when the mini dry dock is scheduled for ?

 

Thanks

[markeb]

27 minutes ago, horseymike said:

Markeb do you know when the mini dry dock is scheduled for ?

 

Thanks

I don’t. The Retreat concierge mentioned it. It would presumably include updates to the Retreat sun deck. The implication was the next year or so. I’m hoping by November 2023!

[Rmyoung]

Just got off today and I wouldn’t expect anything out of the free Wifi. We payed for the upgrade and it didn’t work on my 8th floor room at all. This was my first time on this ship but my fourth celebrity and this ship was the worse on small things. Nightly entertainment was very poor. No real shows very boring after 8pm

[kywildcatfanone]

I would be pretty furious if I paid to upgrade my wifi and it didn't let me stream.  Do you guys complain about that and get your money back?

[Rmyoung]

36 minutes ago, kywildcatfanone said:

I would be pretty furious if I paid to upgrade my wifi and it didn't let me stream.  Do you guys complain about that and get your money back?

I didn’t but I should have. I should have complained that the wifi after upgrade didn’t work in my room. I also attempted to post videos online and it never got close.

[horseymike]

Thanks RM

[Denny01]

When I cruised while working, I had a special email address that I gave my assistant (and family/special friends) who would forward me Important info I’d require while cruising, especially meetings and travel required close to my return.

 

That way, I didnt have to slog through all the non-important stuff and limit what I had to open. But most of my emails I had for work were words-only so most of the time I had good access. No monster attachements.

 

That is a general statement of Wi-Fi work use on Celebrity ships.

 

Den 

[AbbyCruiser45]

I was on Equinox in July with a pretty full ship. I only had the Surf WiFi and I thought it worked just fine. I was able to send and receive emails, text (iPhone iMessage), surf the internet, check Google Maps, read cruise critic, and even post videos and pictures to social media. It was not as fast as my home WiFi or a public coffee shop, but it did just fine. It was the slowest in my room, but I had an inside cabin. 

[horseymike]

Thanks Abby

[DCPIV]

On 8/21/2022 at 5:48 PM, horseymike said:

Hi Everyone,

We booked a cruise on the Equinox in November with a package that includes “ Surf Wi-Fi “ .

Has anyone who has recently cruised on the Equinox tell us if the Surf Wi-Fi works properly shipwide ?

Thanks.

 

Keep in mind that it's satellite internet, so performance will vary due to all sorts of circumstances that typically make no difference when shoreside (not the least of which are cloud cover and weather).  Even at it's best, though, it's not going to be as good as what you get on land.  I've had periods when internet has been spectacular, periods when it was useless, and everything in between.  It tends to be good much more often than not, but you need to be prepared to roll with it.

[OT-Miami]

On 8/22/2022 at 10:39 AM, AbbyCruiser45 said:

I was on Equinox in July with a pretty full ship. I only had the Surf WiFi and I thought it worked just fine. I was able to send and receive emails, text (iPhone iMessage), surf the internet, check Google Maps, read cruise critic, and even post videos and pictures to social media. It was not as fast as my home WiFi or a public coffee shop, but it did just fine. It was the slowest in my room, but I had an inside cabin. 

We will be on the Equinox to the ABC's in October.  I wonder if wi-fi quality fluctuates with the itinerary - Eastern vs Western vs Southern Caribbean.  Where as your sailing?

[DCPIV]

5 minutes ago, OT-Miami said:

We will be on the Equinox to the ABC's in October.  I wonder if wi-fi quality fluctuates with the itinerary - Eastern vs Western vs Southern Caribbean.  Where as your sailing?

 

I've noticed no difference based simply on where you are on Earth.  We've been all around the Gulf (and further down to Roatan), the Caribbean, and from Bordeaux to Reykjavik within the last year.

[AbbyCruiser45]

1 hour ago, OT-Miami said:

We will be on the Equinox to the ABC's in October.  I wonder if wi-fi quality fluctuates with the itinerary - Eastern vs Western vs Southern Caribbean.  Where as your sailing?

It was an Eastern Caribbean route. I don't think I noticed day-to-day changes. 

[Bgwest]

Remember to always turn automatic updates OFF as soon as you board. If not, this can be responsible for spotty performance as your device is using up bandwidth trying to download potentially very large updates to one of your apps. 

Turn auto updates back ON when you arrive back at home port so you can catch up with whatever you may have missed. 

[canderson]

42 minutes ago, Bgwest said:

Remember to always turn automatic updates OFF as soon as you board. If not, this can be responsible for spotty performance as your device is using up bandwidth trying to download potentially very large updates to one of your apps. 

Turn auto updates back ON when you arrive back at home port so you can catch up with whatever you may have missed. 

Amen to that!  With the 'unlimited' surf and stream packages, it's still a problem, but the horror in prior times was that an uninterruptable update would be chewing up your minutes as well as your bandwidth!

 

Moreover, there's nothing worse than having an update that insists on installing itself when you call up the app to do something meaningful and you're on a time budget.

 

I often wonder how much of the ship's bandwidth is accidentally absorbed with things like Windows updates.

 

[NutsAboutGolf]

3 hours ago, DCPIV said:

 

Keep in mind that it's satellite internet, so performance will vary due to all sorts of circumstances that typically make no difference when shoreside (not the least of which are cloud cover and weather).  Even at it's best, though, it's not going to be as good as what you get on land.  I've had periods when internet has been spectacular, periods when it was useless, and everything in between.  It tends to be good much more often than not, but you need to be prepared to roll with it.

 

Virgin, Princess and even RCL's newer ships have great Satellite wifi

[NutsAboutGolf]

On 8/21/2022 at 9:12 PM, Rmyoung said:

Just got off today and I wouldn’t expect anything out of the free Wifi. We payed for the upgrade and it didn’t work on my 8th floor room at all. This was my first time on this ship but my fourth celebrity and this ship was the worse on small things. Nightly entertainment was very poor. No real shows very boring after 8pm

 

With the show's, unfortunately they have the exact same shows on different ships.  Typically all but one or two shows are musicals, one of which they'll call a broadway show which isn't like one you see in broadway.  The shows themselves are well done but often just get boring especially if you've been listening to music all day on a seaday.  I'd prefer an option of a nightly comedian.

[NutsAboutGolf]

Been on the 'Nox in Oct '21, Apr '22 and May '22.  The biggest factor on the wifi speed is congestion/time of day.  Before 7am and after 9pm, it's as good as it gets.  The worst times are usually an hour before and an hour after the restaurants open for meals and also when pulling into and out of ports.

[Floridastorm]

Is "Surf" Wi Fi free or does it have to be paid for? I've never had the need to use the internet or my cell phone on a cruise. However, if it's included in the standard ticket then I'll bring my laptop. 🤔

[canderson]

Just now, Floridastorm said:

Is "Surf" Wi Fi free or does it have to be paid for? I've never had the need to use the internet or my cell phone on a cruise. However, if it's included in the standard ticket then I'll bring my laptop. 🤔

Depends upon what you book.  If, when booking, you have a choice between "Sail Only" and "Always Included" fare, you'll get the WiFi as part of "Always Included", but not "Sail Only".  If you book any sort of a suite, these are presently always sold as "Always Included".  Others are a bit of a crap shoot on what will appear for a given itinerary.

 

[Floridastorm]

3 minutes ago, canderson said:

Depends upon what you book.  If, when booking, you have a choice between "Sail Only" and "Always Included" fare, you'll get the WiFi as part of "Always Included", but not "Sail Only".  If you book any sort of a suite, these are presently always sold as "Always Included".  Others are a bit of a crap shoot on what will appear for a given itinerary.

 

Thank you. I'll check how I booked to determine. 

[canderson]

2 minutes ago, Floridastorm said:

Thank you. I'll check how I booked to determine. 

It may be buried in a series of lines of cryptic text in your invoice from Celebrity.  Something like (but different from) this:

 

YVZ5-INTERNETCHG1

YVZ6-INTERNETSAV1

 

The offsetting pairs show that you're billed for internet service to enable it, then credited for it to bring the bill back to $0.