Only One Internet Plan Now?

[MrsB05]

I just looked at purchasing an internet plan for my April cruise.  Where there used to be two plans (Surf and Surf and Stream) now it seems only the later (and more expensive) plan is available.

 

I checked all my other cruises and it's the same situation.

 

Anyone know anything about this?

[not-enough-cruising]

3 minutes ago, MrsB05 said:

I just looked at purchasing an internet plan for my April cruise.  Where there used to be two plans (Surf and Surf and Stream) now it seems only the later (and more expensive) plan is available.

 

I checked all my other cruises and it's the same situation.

 

Anyone know anything about this?

Since they have installed Starlink access on the ships, they have dropped the "surf" plan.

[MrsB05]

7 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

Since they have installed Starlink access on the ships, they have dropped the "surf" plan.

Thanks.  

[Biker19]

25 minutes ago, MrsB05 said:

Anyone know anything about this?

The Surf option was removed from the planner last November - some ships may still have the option on board.

[Joseph2017China]

it is to cover the cost of the upgraded internet.  No longer is there a cheap option with Starlink.

[grandgeezer]

29 minutes ago, Joseph2017China said:

it is to cover the cost of the upgraded internet.  No longer is there a cheap option with Starlink.

There is a story on msn.com about the new internet that is available on the cruise ships. Elon Musk says the ships pay alone time payment of $5,000 per kit, the $5,000 per ship per month. From what I can find, they charge $20 per device per day, how will they make any money??

 

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

So will the D+ benefit still cover 2 days of this upgraded internet?

[Biker19]

Just now, DragonOfTheSeas said:

So will the D+ benefit still cover 2 days of this upgraded internet?

Yes. 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

3 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Yes. 

Glad the C and A benefit covers the upgraded internet. However, I do not watch videos, etc. 

 

Depending on the length of the cruise I sometimes used my 2-day benefit or DH benefit to buy a plan.  Now that will be more expensive. 

 

We were recently on the Celebrity Beyond and the included Starlink internet [surf] was really not much better than the old internet.  However, those that had the streaming internet felt it was much better. 

[Biker19]

35 minutes ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

Now that will be more expensive. 

You can buy the last three days with your D+ discount for about $6 and then use the other person’s perk on a couple of days earlier in the sailing. 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

54 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

You can buy the last three days with your D+ discount for about $6 and then use the other person’s perk on a couple of days earlier in the sailing. 

That is often what I do.  However, on the Enchantment last time they did not run the usual special for the last three days.  So, I had to pay a little more.  If they charge the stream rate that will raise it even a more.  [I know it is a first world problem] 

 

[Biker19]

10 hours ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

However, on the Enchantment last time they did not run the usual special for the last three days.  So, I had to pay a little more.  If they charge the stream rate that will raise it even a more. 

The math on use of the D+ discount on the remaining days package has been changing even before the elimination of Surf. There was no "special" it was just that the D+ discount happened to be higher than the cost of three days of Surf. About 3 years ago, the price of Surf went up enough that you had to pay $3. Now, the D+ discount is about $5-10 less than three days of whatever the lowest tier is on the ship (mostly Stream).

Edited March 4, 2023 by Biker19

[Rubyfisch]

At least on my current Vision cruise for later in 2023, the current pricing seems to be in between what the old two tier system was - and on my Enchantment cruise last December, the single tier was sold at what they had been selling Surf for.