Working remotely while cruising - any ideas??

[karscott]

My husband and I have cruised six times over the last ten years or so. I have recently retired and have all the flexibility I want to be able to travel the world, whereas my husband continues to work. He is able to do so remotely but requires robust wifi because he uses a VPN to access his company's files. I'm not a techie but during our recent Mediterreanean cruise with Princess ("best wifi at sea" 😉), he was frustrated because everything he could typically do in 5 minutes at work was taking an hour or more. We didn't know if it was poor ship wifi, problems with the VPN, or what. I awoke each morning to see him sighing and shaking his head - not enjoyable for either one of us! When we are on land and he works remotely from a hotel or relative's house, there is no problem and he can finish up work early and enjoy the rest of the day. Unfortunately, he works on his own and cannot leave work behind for someone else while we travel.

 

My husband is speaking with his IT contacts to see what might be improved on his end but I thought I'd throw it out here as well... are there cruise lines that have really strong wifi? Areas of the world to visit that would present less of a struggle for working remotely? Do I give up on cruising until he retires? 

 

Any ideas appreciated.

Karen

[Fouremco]

The information in this CC article is a bit dated, but Royal Caribbean continues to be rated highly. https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=3393  Moreover, Royal Caribbean has had a successful trial using Starlink, and will be introducing it fleet wide next year:

 

https://techcrunch.com/2022/08/30/royal-caribbean-will-equip-all-its-cruise-ships-with-starlink-internet/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9jcnVpc2Vwb3J0YWR2aXNvci5jb20v&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAANzviXn0k4GWt3V3FW9hblDFwwsc9TVKKfzMrcnpTQQ9orZ1dybqLXYkTxr88_gfbf5keGd-WoXlRTbysUSVKIT4XZkvcxQAmePV6EJCsUVhdWlzECJiQ9dKL-xMrzR9uwOxn-y-Scw_1FMSMo5SSsrsEe6NfzVWvb3HMEJdbeJ8

 

Even with Starlink, I doubt that your husband will ever get close to land-based wifi, but perhaps a test cruise with Royal Caribbean will give you some idea as to whether you should put off cruising until he retires.

[3Shelaghs]

Opening work files seems risky to me, esp if they are security driven. Our rule of thumb told to us by the bank is never to open your bank account remotely, too many security risks within the server you are attached to. I am assuming same goes with sensitive work files?  Not to mention unsuspecting downloading of virus's to your computer or actual work location. It reminds me of the knock off charging cords for laptops or iPads etc. A group has found a way to implant a chip into these cheap cords, and fill them with viruses, infecting your system. (Note, always buy the same brand accessories, expensive yes)

 

Of course there is probably no way of circumventing any of this stuff, so "tech up with the good equipment" and go forth and report back how "good the wifi is onboard".....LOL

In my experience, ...... use wifi in the wee hours of the morning when everyone is asleep????????

[Fouremco]

18 minutes ago, 3Shelaghs said:

Opening work files seems risky to me, esp if they are security driven. Our rule of thumb told to us by the bank is never to open your bank account remotely, too many security risks within the server you are attached to. I am assuming same goes with sensitive work files?  Not to mention unsuspecting downloading of virus's to your computer or actual work location. It reminds me of the knock off charging cords for laptops or iPads etc. A group has found a way to implant a chip into these cheap cords, and fill them with viruses, infecting your system. (Note, always buy the same brand accessories, expensive yes)

 

Of course there is probably no way of circumventing any of this stuff, so "tech up with the good equipment" and go forth and report back how "good the wifi is onboard".....LOL

In my experience, ...... use wifi in the wee hours of the morning when everyone is asleep????????

Caution is always advisable, and in this case the OP's husband uses a VPN. A virtual private network protects your online activity by creating a secure ‘tunnel’ that sits between your device and the site or service you’re trying to access. Many workers rely on them to access their email and corporate files while they’re outside the office, particularly since the pandemic and the huge increase in people working from home.

[broberts]

Perhaps the upgrades being made by RCL will result in more useable internet.

 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

Get him an EU SIM card and only do work in port
Cruise during his holidays so he doesn’t need to work 

Cruise without him 😁

Edited October 12, 2022 by Ex-Airbalancer

[DirtyDawg]

6 hours ago, broberts said:

Perhaps the upgrades being made by RCL will result in more useable internet.

 

... by 2032. 🙂

[broberts]

1 hour ago, DirtyDawg said:

... by 2032. 🙂

 

The company has said it will be installed in ships across its 3 brands in 2023. The antennas have been reported on Independence and installation crews on several other ships including Allure. Presumably some time next year one will be able find at least one ship offering the service. 

 

There are a number of open questions. Coverage is one. The satellites are low orbit so they do not have large coverage areas (relatively). Of course the big question for most of us is cost. But one can justify a fairly high premium if it's a business cost.

[DirtyDawg]

19 minutes ago, broberts said:

 

The company has said it will be installed in ships across its 3 brands in 2023. The antennas have been reported on Independence and installation crews on several other ships including Allure. Presumably some time next year one will be able find at least one ship offering the service. 

 

There are a number of open questions. Coverage is one. The satellites are low orbit so they do not have large coverage areas (relatively). Of course the big question for most of us is cost. But one can justify a fairly high premium if it's a business cost.

I'd love to see the explanation on the  expense report for a person, who is supposed to be working remotely at home, for a cruise WiFi charge. 😁

[gnome12]

3 hours ago, DirtyDawg said:

I'd love to see the explanation on the  expense report for a person, who is supposed to be working remotely at home, for a cruise WiFi charge. 😁

In this case he is the boss, so no explanation required. 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

He needs new clients if they cannot  understand that people need down time 

[Magicat]

I am considering working on the ship.  Not because I am indispensable to the companies wellbeing.  Au contraire, I receive a finite amount of vacation time each year.  Would be nice to extend that time by working a few sea days from time to time.  But who am I kidding, I'm not that motivated of an employee to follow through with my plan. LOL

[Ex-Airbalancer]

19 minutes ago, Magicat said:

I am considering working on the ship.  Not because I am indispensable to the companies wellbeing.  Au contraire, I receive a finite amount of vacation time each year.  Would be nice to extend that time by working a few sea days from time to time.  But who am I kidding, I'm not that motivated of an employee to follow through with my plan. LOL

I wasn’t  that motivated also and I was the only employee in my company 🤣

[ALD18]

Alas our needs for internet connectivity are a necessary evil in some cases.  Unfortunately with all the hype about internet connectivity speeds on the ships there is only so much they can accommodate at the end of the day.  Their marketing is no where near reality.  If you take into consideration the ship is utilizing some type of "over the air" technology to get the ship connected to the land based internet those types of connections come usually significantly slower than land based lines.  Add on to that you are probably fighting against MANY other passengers utilizing the bandwidth available and the speeds are going to get clobbered by usage alone.  It may be fine to check email and such, but any type of application that requires that added bandwidth (VPN, access work servers, etc) just are not going to work acceptably.  You may see some better speeds if you can access the ship internet REALLY early or late at night when other passengers are sleeping.  I would be confident using name brand VPN software from anywhere, but if you want the speeds you are probably going to have to wait until you are onshore to get acceptable performance in those cases.  Dependant where you are you may also utilize your cell phone data package via making your cell phone a wifi hotspot.  I have used this before with mixed results, but way better than ship wifi/internet for sure.  Just make sure your cell plan can accommodate your needs and roaming charges.  Hopefully you can find an acceptable solution.

[edrussell]

I work remotely about 60% of the time and require a reliable and low latency connection.  I also require a VPN, the irony is that I AM the requirement, as I run the IT department in our organization.  So I set the standards.  Our vacations vary from land based in all inclusive, to our fifth wheel in campgrounds so I've experienced all sorts of ranges of connections from the very reliable to the very poor.  On our first cruise with RCCL in Jan of this year I really had no idea what to expect and setup my week in such a way that unless it was a serious emergency I would not have to work regularly during the sailing.  Especially since I've read horror stories about connectivity issues.  Turns out my week was relatively calm in terms of being required to be connected.  However I did quite a bit of experimentation and was very surprised.  I tried several different VPN configurations and only had trouble with 1 specific environment and I cannot say I was shocked as this config style is known to have troubles.

 

Now I will say that connectivity varies greatly across sailings and ship to ship.  For instance on Adventure OTS in May on a sailing that was not near capacity the connection was awful almost the entire trip.  Also I would not want to have to rely on the connection for a lot of video calls.  Especially longer ones.  However for a VPN connection to remotely access files in most conditions (now I am once again more referring to RCCL) you will manage OK.

 

 

 

 

 

[LHT28]

6 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

He needs new clients if they cannot  understand that people need down time 

sometimes  it is just the way people are  they  do not know how to take time off  😉

 

[LHT28]

Not sure if true or not but have heard some lines block VPN s

 

 I have not worked from a ship I know people try  with difficulty  & usually have to do it late at night or early in the morning

I would ask on the forum for the cruise line involved 

many workaholics out there

JMO

[Ex-Airbalancer]

3 hours ago, edrussell said:

I work remotely about 60% of the time and require a reliable and low latency connection.  I also require a VPN, the irony is that I AM the requirement, as I run the IT department in our organization.  So I set the standards.  Our vacations vary from land based in all inclusive, to our fifth wheel in campgrounds so I've experienced all sorts of ranges of connections from the very reliable to the very poor.  On our first cruise with RCCL in Jan of this year I really had no idea what to expect and setup my week in such a way that unless it was a serious emergency I would not have to work regularly during the sailing.  Especially since I've read horror stories about connectivity issues.  Turns out my week was relatively calm in terms of being required to be connected.  However I did quite a bit of experimentation and was very surprised.  I tried several different VPN configurations and only had trouble with 1 specific environment and I cannot say I was shocked as this config style is known to have troubles.

 

Now I will say that connectivity varies greatly across sailings and ship to ship.  For instance on Adventure OTS in May on a sailing that was not near capacity the connection was awful almost the entire trip.  Also I would not want to have to rely on the connection for a lot of video calls.  Especially longer ones.  However for a VPN connection to remotely access files in most conditions (now I am once again more referring to RCCL) you will manage OK.

 

 

 

 

 

You should heard people whine on the Voyager of seas as we cross the Arctic Circle 🤣

Cell service was really good in Iceland 

[cdn_tbird]

On 10/12/2022 at 11:28 AM, Fouremco said:

The information in this CC article is a bit dated, but Royal Caribbean continues to be rated highly. https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=3393  Moreover, Royal Caribbean has had a successful trial using Starlink, and will be introducing it fleet wide next year:

 

https://techcrunch.com/2022/08/30/royal-caribbean-will-equip-all-its-cruise-ships-with-starlink-internet/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9jcnVpc2Vwb3J0YWR2aXNvci5jb20v&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAANzviXn0k4GWt3V3FW9hblDFwwsc9TVKKfzMrcnpTQQ9orZ1dybqLXYkTxr88_gfbf5keGd-WoXlRTbysUSVKIT4XZkvcxQAmePV6EJCsUVhdWlzECJiQ9dKL-xMrzR9uwOxn-y-Scw_1FMSMo5SSsrsEe6NfzVWvb3HMEJdbeJ8

 

Even with Starlink, I doubt that your husband will ever get close to land-based wifi, but perhaps a test cruise with Royal Caribbean will give you some idea as to whether you should put off cruising until he retires.

While the POCs were successful, there will definitely be some growing pains with Starlink. Hopefully they will eventually work out the kinks and we'll have a workable internet connection. Would love to be able to work remotely while taking a Mediterranean, Middle East, or Asia cruise.

 

Excursions during the morning/early afternoon, work late afternoon evening. Win Win Win. 😁