Internet

[papae]

Haven’t cruised in years wondering has internet service gotten any better.

Sailing on the Getway

[Cruise5life]

Not your ship.   Was just on the joy for 15 days.    Paid 425.00 for the best internet they had.     And it was terrible.  Worst I’ve ever had.      I wound up getting a partial refund. But still paid 315.00 for 15 days.   
 

im on RC Wonder OTS andnits the best I’ve ever had. Hands down. And for a fraction of the NCL price.  
 Thanks Elon.  

[fredflint]

yes it seems that NCL has not invested in Internet since they are including it in so many things major profit center it seems.

RCCL has had the best internet for me so far.

[shof515]

NCL is slowly to add startlink internet service like what RCCL has 

 

check out mking live thread, he posted a few speed tests of the getaway wifi service 

[New2cruise2022]

1 hour ago, Cruise5life said:

Not your ship.   Was just on the joy for 15 days.    Paid 425.00 for the best internet they had.     And it was terrible.  Worst I’ve ever had.      I wound up getting a partial refund. But still paid 315.00 for 15 days.   
 

im on RC Wonder OTS andnits the best I’ve ever had. Hands down. And for a fraction of the NCL price.  
 Thanks Elon.  

Not many people thanking Elon these days, unless they are buying a Tesla this week or cruising with Starlink!

[BirdTravels]

5 hours ago, Cruise5life said:

im on RC Wonder OTS andnits the best I’ve ever had. Hands down. And for a fraction of the NCL price.   Thanks Elon.  

Yes, Royal is slowly installing Starlink on all of their ships. NCL will be also. We were on the Wonder last year and the service was worse than NCL. And wifi calling wasn't working on the Wonder, so you could not place calls unless you paid their per-minute charge. 

[Turtles06]

We’re on the Gem now. The internet is horrible. There are days when it’s down for hours on end, or when it’s so slow nothing will load. The internet mgr is unsympathetic. 
 

I’m only able to post right now because we are docked in Puerto Plata and I’m using my $10/day AT&T International Day Pass. 

[mooline]

Anyone have a comment on POA's wifi?

[New2cruise2022]

We were on the Bliss with standard Unlimited Internet. I was able to do video FaceTime calls everyday, and I was able to use all apps and browsers. Occasionally I would have to reconnect to the internet, but it was very good over the 5 days I had it. 

[cruiseny4life]

I was on the Getaway from 12/31 - 1/8 and had good service. We had the unlimited streaming package. We were able to watch Hulu, Netflix, YouTube. I was able to post photos to Cruise Critic easily, and within a short amount of time. I posted a series of photos and it took mere seconds. I was very happy with the internet.

 

My experience was exactly opposite what the cruisers on the 1/8 sailing and the above-referenced mking's sailing. See their "lives" below with information on the internet. Most detailed internet is on @mking8288's review. 

 

My 12/31 sailing live:

 

 

@Laszlo's 1/8 sailing live:

 

 

 

@JIMESOPUS's 1/8 sailing live:

 

 

@mking8288's 1/16 (and current) live:

 

 

[BirdTravels]

55 minutes ago, mooline said:

Anyone have a comment on POA's wifi?

You are in a US port every day for long port calls. You have two overnight port calls in US ports. By the time you leave port, everyone in Florida will be fast asleep (due to 6 hour time difference).
 

I would not spend money for a few hours of internet when you are not in port. 

[New2cruise2022]

Just now, BirdTravels said:

You are in a US port every day for long port calls. You have two overnight port calls in US ports. By the time you leave port, everyone in Florida will be fast asleep (due to 6 hour time difference).
 

I would not spend money for a few hours of internet when you are not in port. 

Pro tip. 👆🏼

[Laszlo]

20 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

I was on the Getaway from 12/31 - 1/8 and had good service. We had the unlimited streaming package. We were able to watch Hulu, Netflix, YouTube. I was able to post photos to Cruise Critic easily, and within a short amount of time. I posted a series of photos and it took mere seconds. I was very happy with the internet.

 

My experience was exactly opposite what the cruisers on the 1/8 sailing and the above-referenced mking's sailing. See their "lives" below with information on the internet. Most detailed internet is on @mking8288's review. 

 

My 12/31 sailing live:

 

 

@Laszlo's 1/8 sailing live:

 

 

 

@JIMESOPUS's 1/8 sailing live:

 

 

@mking8288's 1/16 (and current) live:

 

 

The internet was OK on the 1-8-2023 GA cruise. My wife did get up a few times at 4am to try and get some work done while the speed was decent. I noticed the Haven Courtyard had the slowest speeds Lol

[New2cruise2022]

Just now, Laszlo said:

The internet was OK on the 1-8-2023 GA cruise. My wife did get up a few times at 4am to try and get some work done while the speed was decent. I noticed the Haven Courtyard had the slowest speeds Lol

I don’t know what is more of a shame: slow speeds in the Haven courtyard, or having to do work when you have access to the Haven courtyard. 😂

[Lick What]

8 hours ago, papae said:

Haven’t cruised in years wondering has internet service gotten any better.

Sailing on the Getway

 

You don't need internet on a cruise.  Unplug and enjoy your vacation.  With the FAS offer you do get 300 minutes free per cabin.  Way more than enough.

[cruiseny4life]

2 minutes ago, Laszlo said:

The internet was OK on the 1-8-2023 GA cruise. My wife did get up a few times at 4am to try and get some work done while the speed was decent. I noticed the Haven Courtyard had the slowest speeds Lol

So interesting! My husband used his computer in the Haven Courtyard two days when he was working. He even did a Zoom call and didn't experience any drops. It's truly crazy to me how different one sailing to the next can be (I know...satellite coverage).

 

1 minute ago, New2cruise2022 said:

I don’t know what is more of a shame: slow speeds in the Haven courtyard, or having to do work when you have access to the Haven courtyard. 😂

It's more sad for the spouse that has to sit in the hot tub wishing his husband would come save him from the people who joined him in the hot tub....but he kept working to supposedly pay the bills. 

[RadioPeri]

Currently on the Getaway. Wifi has been decent (we're unlimited but not streaming). Only issues have been on the balcony occasionally, but we're all the way aft, so I'm making allowances for that. Elsewhere on the ship, things have been pretty good on all our devices. 

One caveat: even audio will not stream on the regular internet package, so download any music or podcasts you'd like to have with you!

[New2cruise2022]

31 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

So interesting! My husband used his computer in the Haven Courtyard two days when he was working. He even did a Zoom call and didn't experience any drops. It's truly crazy to me how different one sailing to the next can be (I know...satellite coverage).

 

It's more sad for the spouse that has to sit in the hot tub wishing his husband would come save him from the people who joined him in the hot tub....but he kept working to supposedly pay the bills. 

It sounds like less of a shame when they are earning money for the next cruise …

[fredflint]

The internet is also dependent on where your cruise is taking place I pretty much just do a Transatlantic so they are usually more of a challenge that a Simple 7 day East or Western Caribbean.

 

The cloud coverage can also make a difference with how much water is in the air.

[New2cruise2022]

1 minute ago, fredflint said:

The internet is also dependent on where your cruise is taking place I pretty much just do a Transatlantic so they are usually more of a challenge that a Simple 7 day East or Western Caribbean.

 

The cloud coverage can also make a difference with how much water is in the air.

Science. 

[BirdTravels]

On 1/31/2023 at 4:00 PM, Lick What said:

 

You don't need internet on a cruise.  Unplug and enjoy your vacation.  With the FAS offer you do get 300 minutes free per cabin.  Way more than enough.

So, the OP is asking if the quality of the internet has improved. Rather than answering, you flame them for asking.... Then, you first respond that internet is not needed. Then,,,, well,,, assert that internet is needed,,, but 300 minutes should be enough. 

 

As a CPA, there is a numerical difference between 0 minutes and 300 minutes. And neither response answers the OP's question. 

Edited February 1, 2023 by BirdTravels

[mking8288]

Just off the GA with the Semi-Live report read by some here, internet speed actually wasn't bad by satellite standards 95% of the time while on 5 Ghz band & much slower if connected to the congested 2.4 Ghz band. 

 

It's also related to your own hardware used to bridge or make the connection to the onboard Cisco servers via the NEC hotspots or routers strategically deployed.  

 

A summary overview of the varied speed of our basic unlimited WiFi attached. Even with 3,900 passengers onboard, it was quite good with my Google Pixel 7 Pro with built-in VPN vs. the top end Samsung Galaxy S22+ which under-performed, similar speed with iPhone SE ... hence the radio transceiver chips used do make a difference. 

 

Starlink is coming soon & GA is supposed to be next for the simple upgrade & should be a world of difference for the better.