Internet on Enchanted Princess is appalling

[nugent]

Currently on the transatlantic cruise, and the MedallionNet internet is essentially useless.  The ship internet staff blame the satellite provider and claim it will be better once we get to Boston.  They admit the service is problematic, but can do nothing about it.

 

This is very frustrating for those who rely on the "Best internet at sea" to conduct any basic business - I am not talking about phone calls, streaming or downloads, just navigating common websites.

 

I have sacrificed 20 minutes of my life to bring you this message...

[PacnGoNow]

38 minutes ago, nugent said:

Currently on the transatlantic cruise, and the MedallionNet internet is essentially useless.  The ship internet staff blame the satellite provider and claim it will be better once we get to Boston.  They admit the service is problematic, but can do nothing about it.

 

This is very frustrating for those who rely on the "Best internet at sea" to conduct any basic business - I am not talking about phone calls, streaming or downloads, just navigating common websites.

 

I have sacrificed 20 minutes of my life to bring you this message...

Ask them if they are using the High Earth satellites, if he knows?  Been a real issue on TA and Northern Europe for cruise ships due to the bandwidth used for the war in Ukraine.  Wonder if that’s still an issue?  Only another 20 mins of your time?

Have fun!  Hope you have good weather.

 

 

[nugent]

10 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

Ask them if they are using the High Earth satellites, if he knows?  Been a real issue on TA and Northern Europe for cruise ships due to the bandwidth used for the war in Ukraine.  Wonder if that’s still an issue?  Only another 20 mins of your time?

Have fun!  Hope you have good weather.

 

 

Yes, geostationary sats in use.  Ukraine was not mentioned.  If it helps with attaching Putin's heels to a gas station, I'll make the sacrifice!

[billco]

13 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

Ask them if they are using the High Earth satellites, if he knows?  Been a real issue on TA and Northern Europe for cruise ships due to the bandwidth used for the war in Ukraine.  Wonder if that’s still an issue?  Only another 20 mins of your time?

Have fun!  Hope you have good weather.

 

 

We did the 14 day TA from FLL to Copenhagen last April. Prior to the cruise they announced it would be bad and gave us $140 pp refundable credit. We stayed on for the 11 day cruise from Copenhagen to Southampton. The internet was still bad, so I complained to the internet manager. We got $109 pp refundable credit. We sailed on the 14 day Enchanted from Southampton to Norway/Iceland in July. I complained again, but this time only got $20/pp refundable credit. Understandable considering how far North we were.They have a video that describes MedallionNet, which tells me they have a problem they aren't willing to divulge, because it works nothing like they describe it. Though i never saw him Commodore Nick Nash did make periodic announcements.

[PacnGoNow]

5 minutes ago, billco said:

We did the 14 day TA from FLL to Copenhagen last April. Prior to the cruise they announced it would be bad and gave us $140 pp refundable credit. We stayed on for the 11 day cruise from Copenhagen to Southampton. The internet was still bad, so I complained to the internet manager. We got $109 pp refundable credit. We sailed on the 14 day Enchanted from Southampton to Norway/Iceland in July. I complained again, but this time only got $20/pp refundable credit. Understandable considering how far North we were.They have a video that describes MedallionNet, which tells me they have a problem they aren't willing to divulge, because it works nothing like they describe it. Though i never saw him Commodore Nick Nash did make periodic announcements.

Yes, it started in early March. The war started on Feb 24th. It really affected 

TA’s and European cruises, plus Alaska cruises, which all used the High Earth orbit satellites. 

[odyssyus]

This is why....

 

One of several providers, but not much interest in satellite providers to provide service to the empty ocean.  Just because its in space doesn't mean it provides coverage everywhere.

 

Now take that little bit of signal and share among 4k people.

 

Save your money.  Use free wifi in ports.

[odyssyus]

Another provider of satellite internet...

 

[sloopsailor]

Royal Caribbean International is adding Starlink to all of it's ships, including Celebrity and Silversea, for it's internet. Eventually I expect most cruise lines to follow as the coverage will be much wider and faster with Starlink than with traditional satellite systems. 

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2022/08/31/royal-caribbean-starlink-internet-cruises/7950752001/

 

 

Edited September 8, 2022 by sloopsailor

[Steelers36]

18 minutes ago, odyssyus said:

Another provider of satellite internet...

 

Much better than the other one.  

[nugent]

Just now, odyssyus said:

Another provider of satellite internet...

 

 

Thanks for trying, but I attach the relevant map.  There should be plenty of coverage for north-west Europe and the north Atlantic.

SES_NetworkMap_RGB_211123_Rise_BlueVersion.pdf

[odyssyus]

Your contribution only shows demarcs and terrestrial network links.  It does not show 'coverage'.  Most of the bands cover populated areas (because common sense). 

 

Edited September 8, 2022 by odyssyus

[CruisinFinsUp]

We were on Enchanted in March in the Caribbean.   Wifi was good.   So I think the crew are correct that it is an issue with the satellite provider / system.    
 

Also don't forget that if there is reduced bandwidth, passengers are behind ship operations & hotel operations for internet usage.   Not much left I guess.  

[vjmatty]

1 hour ago, odyssyus said:

This is why....

 

One of several providers, but not much interest in satellite providers to provide service to the empty ocean.  Just because its in space doesn't mean it provides coverage everywhere.

 

Now take that little bit of signal and share among 4k people.

 

Save your money.  Use free wifi in ports.

 

Then it should be called "Best Internet In Port", rather than "Best Internet At Sea"

[PacnGoNow]

1 hour ago, sloopsailor said:

Royal Caribbean International is adding Starlink to all of it's ships, including Celebrity and Silversea, for it's internet. Eventually I expect most cruise lines to follow as the coverage will be much wider and faster with Starlink than with traditional satellite systems. 

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2022/08/31/royal-caribbean-starlink-internet-cruises/7950752001/

 

 

It will be, except out in the open ocean. That, they have to work on for Starlink satellites. 
Maybe by next year.

 

[Rick&Jeannie]

The issue with internet on transatlantic sailings or farther north itineraries has nothing to do with the Ukraine situation.  It was bad for a TA in Nov 2021 and in Aug 2021 in Alaska.   This is all about the current provider.  There was a lot of hype back in 2020 when Princess first started touting their relationship with SES Networks and their "Best WiFi at Sea" campaign (which ironically, they are still posting on the website!) 

 

Either one of two things happened:

 

1) SES was not able to deliver the promised bandwidth

 

or

 

2) Princess is no longer associated with SES (for whatever reason) and is now scrambling to get bandwidth however they can, from whoever.

 

Transatlantics have always been somewhat problematic but it used to be better!

[villauk]

Enchanted WiFi was appalling on the last cruise too (Southampton, Oslo, Denmark), nothing to do with it being a transatlantic problem. Many, many pax were at GS complaining. We were refunded in OBC because of the lack of service.

[Steelers36]

50 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

The issue with internet on transatlantic sailings or farther north itineraries has nothing to do with the Ukraine situation.  It was bad for a TA in Nov 2021 and in Aug 2021 in Alaska.   This is all about the current provider.  There was a lot of hype back in 2020 when Princess first started touting their relationship with SES Networks and their "Best WiFi at Sea" campaign (which ironically, they are still posting on the website!) 

 

Either one of two things happened:

 

1) SES was not able to deliver the promised bandwidth

 

or

 

2) Princess is no longer associated with SES (for whatever reason) and is now scrambling to get bandwidth however they can, from whoever.

 

Transatlantics have always been somewhat problematic but it used to be better!

I don't think this explains why I read complaints from folks on ships in the Mediterranean.

[Guest ldtr]

I found Internet to be bad on Princess ships to be bad even off the coast near San Francisco.  Do not need to be in open water or up north for Princess Internet to be very bad.

 

Off the coast near Seattle I measures throughput at 17.6 kbs.  Princess back memories of the old dial up modem days (back when programs were designed to be functional with such limited data speeds)

 

Normally you would expect a latency issue with satellite slowing down responses, but not such limited bandwidth.  

 

 

[Rick&Jeannie]

17 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

I don't think this explains why I read complaints from folks on ships in the Mediterranean.

Unless SES (if they are still using them) just has not built out their coverage map. But you're probably right. 

[Bobbiegentry]

We’ll done mods!

[Bobbiegentry]

1 hour ago, PacnGoNow said:

It will be, except out in the open ocean. That, they have to work on for Starlink satellites. 
Maybe by next year.

 

I had hoped that PCL would have led the way on this rather than being skunked by RCCL. 

[DrSea]

3 hours ago, sloopsailor said:

Royal Caribbean International is adding Starlink to all of it's ships, including Celebrity and Silversea, for it's internet. Eventually I expect most cruise lines to follow as the coverage will be much wider and faster with Starlink than with traditional satellite systems. 

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2022/08/31/royal-caribbean-starlink-internet-cruises/7950752001/

 

 

so ugly. 

[DrSea]

27 minutes ago, Bobbiegentry said:

I had hoped that PCL would have led the way on this rather than being skunked by RCCL. 

It doesn't surprise me. CCL has a lot of debt.

[sloopsailor]

19 minutes ago, DrSea said:

so ugly. 

 

This is a test installation. It's only at the rear of the ship. When it gets fully implemented, it might not look anything like that. Best to wait and see the final installation before passing judgment. It may be better - or it may be worse. 

 

No matter what a business does to improve a product, there will be people who will complain about what they had to do to make that improvement. 

Edited September 8, 2022 by sloopsailor

[PacnGoNow]

23 minutes ago, DrSea said:

It doesn't surprise me. CCL has a lot of debt.

They all do after the pandemic. RCCL has a debt of 28 billion.

Off subject..sorry this is about the internet.