Royal Caribbean switching internet to Elon Musk's Starlink. Will NCL follow?

[fstuff1]

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/30/royal-caribbean-partners-with-spacexs-starlink-for-onboard-internet.html

 

The partnership is an effort to combat historically bad internet connectivity when cruise ships are at sea.

The technology will be deployed across all Royal Caribbean-owned cruises beginning immediately, with installation scheduled to be completed early next year.

 

I don't know if NCL will follow because Royal offers unlimited internet as a perk.

NCL's perk is 150min per person.

What % of pax in a cruise trade that in to buy unlimited?

 

On the other hand, if NCL upgrades to Starlink, then maybe more people will spend the $ to upgrade to unlimited?

 

Edited August 31, 2022 by fstuff1

[jetact]

I would be very happy if they went to starlink as I have it at a vacation house we have and it works fine. I just got off of the Bliss last week and the 150 minute plan sucks, over half of the time it didnt work. They charge you for minutes not used, my guess is when you turn off the wifi it keeps on transmitting until it turns off. I would check my mail and use it for 3 minutes and the meter says 20 minutes less next time I log on. 

[cruiseny4life]

Just now, jetact said:

I would be very happy if they went to starlink as I have it at a vacation house we have and it works fine. I just got off of the Bliss last week and the 150 minute plan sucks, over half of the time it didnt work. They charge you for minutes not used, my guess is when you turn off the wifi it keeps on transmitting until it turns off. I would check my mail and use it for 3 minutes and the meter says 20 minutes less next time I log on. 

You have to actively go to the logoff page in order for the counter to stop. 

[scooter6139]

I think other lines will watch an see how this plays out.  It it works as advertised they might be interested.

[weltek]

I agree with @scooter6139. I know people who have it an it's only marginally improved their connectivity on land, so it's not a guarantee of good connectivity. But the reports have been decent so far, from the few things I've read on the RCI board. Anyone else read more over there and could summarize passenger impressions so far?

[SeaShark]

The real puzzler here is why the OP would even ask if "NCL will follow" simply because Royal Caribbean does something. I don't see anything indicating that NCL modifies their business model to copy/follow what RCCL decides to do.

[graphicguy]

53 minutes ago, weltek said:

I agree with @scooter6139. I know people who have it an it's only marginally improved their connectivity on land, so it's not a guarantee of good connectivity. But the reports have been decent so far, from the few things I've read on the RCI board. Anyone else read more over there and could summarize passenger impressions so far?

True.  Regardless of what they want to call their internet, the gating factors are still….you’re trying to get WiFi service on a big metal tube, that tend to block WiFi signals, while moving through water and mostly unpopulated areas, while trying to keep an antenna focused on a satellite.  

 

The satellite can be sending a signal that’s a bazillion MBPS, but it can’t reasonably penetrate a thick steel tube, particularly while it’s moving.

 

NCL is in competition with Royal.  If anything, NCL, may rename their internet “super duper zoomy fast WiFi” and market it as such.  It would still be confined by the same issues.

Edited August 31, 2022 by graphicguy

[weltek]

@SeaShark I don't have a horse in this race, but I assume Starlink is pimping all the cruise lines pretty hard on this, so it's a fair question if all the lines will follow suit if the demonstration with RC is successful (and since this is a NCL board, the OP's preciseness makes sense).

I also wonder if part of the RC-Starlink agreement was exclusivity for a period. 

[graphicguy]

It’s Elon Musk.  He pimps everything he does as “best and baddest”.  Whether it is or isn’t is irrelevant to him.  Plus, I don’t see him signing any sort of exclusivity for anyone.

[Middleager]

Anything, Starlink or otherwise, to improve the internet on NCL would be welcome.

 

NCL would sure be watching how it is on RC, and if the business model makes sense, they will change.

[GreenFamily]

1 hour ago, weltek said:

I agree with @scooter6139. I know people who have it an it's only marginally improved their connectivity on land, so it's not a guarantee of good connectivity. But the reports have been decent so far, from the few things I've read on the RCI board. Anyone else read more over there and could summarize passenger impressions so far?

To be clear for people who do not know what Starlink is, it uses satellites, not fiber broadband, so it does not improve connectivity on land. The purpose is to provide better internet service to areas that don’t have access, like Ukraine for example.

Edited August 31, 2022 by GreenFamily

[BirdTravels]

2 hours ago, jetact said:

I would be very happy if they went to starlink as I have it at a vacation house we have and it works fine. I just got off of the Bliss last week and the 150 minute plan sucks, over half of the time it didnt work. They charge you for minutes not used, my guess is when you turn off the wifi it keeps on transmitting until it turns off. I would check my mail and use it for 3 minutes and the meter says 20 minutes less next time I log on. 

You don’t “turn offf your Wi-Fi”. You need to logoff the Wi-Fi to stop the timer. 

[BirdTravels]

A challenge is that starlink does not provide global coverage yet. That’s over a year off. And like most satellite providers, you focus your coverage over pace to make money first,,, high population land.
 

Someone mentioned “tracking a sattelite”,,,, starlink uses a phased array antenna that sends/receives from multiple satellites simultaneously versus the old dishes which tracked and peaked on a single bird. And the satellite needs to get to the antennas, not penetrating a metal tube to individual users who are serviced by onboard routers. 

[jetact]

28 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

You don’t “turn offf your Wi-Fi”. You need to logoff the Wi-Fi to stop the timer. 

No I never get wifi as I would never use it as my time away is time away. I tried it finally as it popped up. Oh well, good to know as we go back out in October. 

[fredflint]

I have used  VOOM a few times and it worked pretty well out in the middle of the Atlantic, I remember being mad for a day when they had to  change over the  satellite they were using.  It was a big deal as they had a couple of technicians there to get it done.

 

Hopefully they can get Starlink to work but I am not sure if the way it is designed would work well for a couple of thousand people  using even multiple streams. 03B can hit 10 GB for a  single ship I am not sure if Starlink can do that right now, maybe after they have more satellite up they could combine them together?

[mianmike]

6 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

A challenge is that starlink does not provide global coverage yet. That’s over a year off. And like most satellite providers, you focus your coverage over pace to make money first,,, high population land.
 

Someone mentioned “tracking a sattelite”,,,, starlink uses a phased array antenna that sends/receives from multiple satellites simultaneously versus the old dishes which tracked and peaked on a single bird. And the satellite needs to get to the antennas, not penetrating a metal tube to individual users who are serviced by onboard routers. 

 

Agree with your explanation.  To add:   Starlink will be far superior.  There are over 2000 satellites. These are low earth orbit which means low latency.  Space X is adding more satellites virtually every week.  Service will get better and better.  Here is a live map of the current Starlink satellites in orbit.  You can see adequate coverage for Alaska cruises is still lacking. 

https://satellitemap.space/

  

[GreenFamily]

27 minutes ago, mianmike said:

 

Agree with your explanation.  To add:   Starlink will be far superior.  There are over 2000 satellites. These are low earth orbit which means low latency.  Space X is adding more satellites virtually every week.  Service will get better and better.  Here is a live map of the current Starlink satellites in orbit.  You can see adequate coverage for Alaska cruises is still lacking. 

https://satellitemap.space/

  

That’s so cool!

[mianmike]

3 hours ago, GreenFamily said:

That’s so cool!

Isn't it?  If you grab and spin the earth you can see the lack of Starlink satellites over both poles. 

[Zippeedee]

15 minutes ago, mianmike said:

Isn't it?  If you grab and spin the earth you can see the lack of Starlink satellites over both poles. 

Looks like I’m doomed for Iceland!