Internet reliability on Edge Class Ships

[Joe33472]

Just wondering how reliable the Internet is on Edge class ships.  The reason I ask is that I’m planning a transatlantic cruise in April 2024, but the first week of the cruise (probably a 14 day cruise) I will still be working and would need to be able to reply to emails, get some work things done, etc. (nothing bandwidth intensive).   

 

I was thinking I would upgrade to the premium internet and that a quick zoom might be necessary during the two weeks.   I could probably figure out a way to avoid zoom meetings for the first week, but being away from my computer for an entire week would be tough. 

 

I wouldn’t be even asking this question (as I assumed that basic Internet would be a given on a cruise ship), but I just read online a story about two Carnival ships which are completely without Internet.   That would be really bad.   I would just wait until I’m actually not working (early May), but there are very few TA repositioning cruises in May.   Mostly March and April.    

Am I nuts thinking I’m going to be able to work from sea?   

[Fly and Sail]

Ir was horrible in the Caribbean last DEC/JAN. Will see about next week in Italy/Greece.

[SbbquilterUT]

Just off Apex - no problem with e-mail except when we were in areas like fjords.  Did not try to stream anything so can't help there.  There has been discussion about finding a favorable place near router to work.

[Joe33472]

36 minutes ago, Fly and Sail said:

Ir was horrible in the Caribbean last DEC/JAN. Will see about next week in Italy/Greece.

 

This is exactly what I'm afraid of....  I'll get on the ship and have no Internet for 7 days.   You know what, maybe it wouldn't be the worst thing to not respond to emails for a week, but technically, I'm supposed to be working 😁.  I'll have to think about my plan again.  Maybe we'll have to take one a TA in May rather than April.   

 

15 minutes ago, SbbquilterUT said:

Just off Apex - no problem with e-mail except when we were in areas like fjords.  Did not try to stream anything so can't help there.  There has been discussion about finding a favorable place near router to work.

 

I think I read a few posts like that.  I'll have to search again.   The search feature is kind of wonky.  We're hoping to book a sky suite so I was thinking that maybe the internet would be better in the retreat lounge and I could go there daily to answer emails, catch up on work.   I'm seriously going to have to think about this.   There is a MSC TA in May, but even with Yacht Club, I'm not so convinced.  

 

There is also a Disney TA in May, that's perfect for my schedule, but we're two adults with no kids, and not sure about taking a Disney Cruise.  Concierge seems pretty similar to Retreat.  Not sure we want to spend 14 days with the Mouse. 

Edited August 25, 2022 by Joe33472

[MR_T]

We were onboard the Apex last September and the included wifi was terrible, I did upgrade mid cruise and that was better but didn’t seem as good as previous cruises on the s/class ships 🤷🏼‍♂️ But for emails the upgraded option did work ok! 

[jelayne]

We were on the Edge and the Apex with the Premium package and had no problems, we weren’t doing Zoom meetings.  Some spots on the ship were  enter than others.

[Fly and Sail]

12 hours ago, Joe33472 said:

I think I read a few posts like that.  I'll have to search again.   The search feature is kind of wonky.  We're hoping to book a sky suite so I was thinking that maybe the internet would be better in the retreat lounge and I could go there daily to answer emails, catch up on work.   I'm seriously going to have to think about this.   There is a MSC TA in May, but even with Yacht Club, I'm not so convinced. 

 

It's not any better no matter where you are on the ship and in what class of cabin. It mostly depends on how busy the ship is in terms of passenger numbers and the route.

 

When I took both Western and Eastern Caribbean I was in a SS on week 1 and High Speed internet was entirely useless (ship was rather busy, it was the cruise over NYE) and in the following week I stayed in plain AQ and it was a little better due to less passengers on board, yet still impossible to even work on emails or upload pictures on social media. I was livid!

Edited August 26, 2022 by Fly and Sail

[Mrs_Tiki]

Uh oh - I am in the same boat, so to speak, for our upcoming Apex cruise.  Need to be accessible for work.

 

On our November 2021 Apex cruise, the premium internet was great. But we were in a Sky Suite with a router (or whatever the gizmo is called) in the closet, and the ship was at less than 50% capacity.

 

[NutsAboutGolf]

To oversimply it, X is in the bottom half of cruise lines with bad wifi, if you want the best wifi at sea, consider RCL, VV or Princess.

 

It all comes down to congestion, the wifi will be the best between 9pm-7am.  It will be the worst an hour before and after meal time, so on a Seaday lunch which opens at noon, 11am-1pm will most likely be awful.  It's also generally bad 30mins before pulling into port and 30mins before sailaway.

[BOB999]

I just got off the Apex and had no issues, except for maybe 45 minutes in one of the fjords.  I wasn't doing video calls, but was doing everything else work wise (Wifi voice calls, MS Teams, Webex, email, Virtual Desktop stuff, applications, etc).

 

I did an Edge cruise last December in the Caribbean and only had about 1 hour of outage, otherwise worked fine.

 

Both cruises I had the premium package.

[TeeRick]

2 minutes ago, BOB999 said:

I just got off the Apex and had no issues, except for maybe 45 minutes in one of the fjords.  I wasn't doing video calls, but was doing everything else work wise (Wifi voice calls, MS Teams, Webex, email, Virtual Desktop stuff, applications, etc).

 

I did an Edge cruise last December in the Caribbean and only had about 1 hour of outage, otherwise worked fine.

 

Both cruises I had the premium package.

Yes a key factor is the positioning and location of the ship.  We were on EDGE in the Caribbean and had excellent WiFi most days, most of the time.  Also satellite internet speeds will be variable and never as good as cable or fiber optic land-based WiFi.   Maybe Starlink will change the game on RCG ships and cruiselines in the future.

[Nado44]

I did a lot of remote work via premium internet while on the Apex westbound TA this past April. There were almost no issues the first few days even with video calls. Connectivity then became spotty east of Bermuda and on approach to the European mainland, i.e. outages that would last 1-3 hours at times.

 

Hoping SpaceX's Starlink becomes available fleetwide soon. Currently available on RCL's Freedom.

[De Colores]

I am doing Western Caribbean over Christmas on Apex and would like to do a zoom at 6:15 every morning.Do you think with the premium package this would be possible. It is the only reason I would drop the cash for it so basic would be fine if I can’t zoom at that time.

 

Thanks..