Starlink launch WiFi sale

[TowandaUK]

Just noticed in My Cunard that there is a sale on WIFI due to Starlink being launched. Cost works out at $15 per day per device. That is good value compared to buying piecemeal onboard at $24 per day. I had planned to buy 24 hours at a time and spread it out. However I can now get the whole 14 day cruise covered for the equivalent of 8.75 days bought individually. 

[Wonky]

I mentioned this on the QV wifi thread the other day. Which ship are you on and is it the same dates for the sale? Wondering if it’s going to be on QE next month.

[TowandaUK]

We are on Anne for her second cruise next May. T & C says sale subject to change but available now until the end of November. I assume Anne will launch with Starlink. 

[Victoria2]

31 minutes ago, TowandaUK said:

Just noticed in My Cunard that there is a sale on WIFI due to Starlink being launched. Cost works out at $15 per day per device. That is good value compared to buying piecemeal onboard at $24 per day. I had planned to buy 24 hours at a time and spread it out. However I can now get the whole 14 day cruise covered for the equivalent of 8.75 days bought individually. 

It's not a Sale TowandaUK , that's been the going price for our last couple of cruises. Also, one has to bear in mind, if you have any WC internet credit, it can't be used unless the internet is booked onboard.

 

A couple with the Diamond benefit should work out if it's better to buy one Voyage package at the cheaper per day rate [using two devices one at a time], as we did for our first two cruises post Covid, or get savvy and buy into the per day more expensive rate but utilise both Diamond credits which for us, worked out at around $60 cheaper or in laymen's terms, a bottle of wine!

[TowandaUK]

It’s definitely a price reduction for us. Prior to this we would have had to pay £50 more to get WiFi for the whole cruise. It’s only for a limited time and then the cost will increase again, so it feels like a sale. We are first time cruisers with Cunard so have no WC reduction available. 

[Victoria2]

52 minutes ago, TowandaUK said:

It’s definitely a price reduction for us. Prior to this we would have had to pay £50 more to get WiFi for the whole cruise. It’s only for a limited time and then the cost will increase again, so it feels like a sale. We are first time cruisers with Cunard so have no WC reduction available. 

If you are first time cruisers, you won't have had any previous experience of the internet so I assure you, it's been the same price all this year.

That aside, welcome to the world of Cunard. I sincerely hope you have a wonderful first cruise.

[Victoria2]

1 hour ago, Victoria2 said:

It's not a Sale TowandaUK , that's been the going price for our last couple of cruises. Also, one has to bear in mind, if you have any WC internet credit, it can't be used unless the internet is booked onboard.

 

A couple with the Diamond benefit should work out if it's better to buy one Voyage package at the cheaper per day rate [using two devices one at a time], as we did for our first two cruises post Covid, or get savvy and buy into the per day more expensive rate but utilise both Diamond credits which for us, worked out at around $60 cheaper or in laymen's terms, a bottle of wine!

Rubbish maths.

Utilising both credits on a 24hr/per day basis COST us $60, so a saving of $150 on the essential Voyage plan. That's almost three bottles of wine!!🙂

[Pushpit]

I think there are two changes here, and by my maths it looks significantly cheaper at the moment.

 

Previously the per day cost was 

- Premium = $24 per day

- Essential = $18 per day

And if Cunard World Club you would need to wait on board to amortise this against the CWC benefit amount.

 

Evidence: QM2 a few days ago, SOU-HAM:

 

And when I did speedtests on Premium and Essential I got exactly the some ping latency, download and upload speeds on both packages, basically 12 mb/s down.

 

Now (and hurray!) it is cheaper:

- Premium = $20

- Essential = $15

And you get to allocate it in advance.

 

Evidence: My next QM2, SOU-NYC in December, after the dry dock upgrades:

 

Unfortunately the button marked "Use your credits" is greyed out and looking at the HTML source there is a separate piece of coding that is currently truncated, but hopefully that will be enabled really soon.

 

This applies to all my future bookings on all 4 vessels and was not the case a few days ago.

[TowandaUK]

21 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

If you are first time cruisers, you won't have had any previous experience of the internet so I assure you, it's been the same price all this year.

That aside, welcome to the world of Cunard. I sincerely hope you have a wonderful first cruise.

I might not know what Cunard was charging on past cruises, but I know what it was quoting me yesterday was more than it is quoting me today. Didn’t plan to get shouted down when I posted. My only concern was to alert folks who may also benefit from this price reduction. 

[Victoria2]

2 minutes ago, TowandaUK said:

I might not know what Cunard was charging on past cruises, but I know what it was quoting me yesterday was more than it is quoting me today. Didn’t plan to get shouted down when I posted. My only concern was to alert folks who may also benefit from this price reduction. 

Don't know who is shouting but it isn't me.

 

You mentioned a Sale, I said the price has been the same all year. Where's the shouting there!!

[Pushpit]

8 minutes ago, TowandaUK said:

I might not know what Cunard was charging on past cruises, but I know what it was quoting me yesterday was more than it is quoting me today. Didn’t plan to get shouted down when I posted. My only concern was to alert folks who may also benefit from this price reduction. 

My reading of this change is as above, but the critical change - at least for CWC members - is that to get the new low price, you need to allocate it before travel (and pay any excess), since in the small print on the second screenshot it seems to be the current/old prices on board. Separately there is a suggestion that there is an onboard promotion at the lower prices, which makes sense if you didn't have the option to do it in advance given the recent installations.

 

Whereas: previously if CWC you had no choice but to buy on board, with the onboard price being the same as the advance price. You could only get the CWC subsidy that way.

 

So both changes need to be read together to benefit, and yes I do see this as a price reduction that wasn't available previously.

Edited September 22, 2023 by Pushpit

[TowandaUK]

I don’t plan on entering into an argument so will leave it there. 

[Victoria2]

7 minutes ago, Pushpit said:

My reading of this change is as above, but the critical change - at least for CWC members - is that to get the new low price, you need to allocate it before travel (and pay any excess), since in the small print on the second screenshot it seems to be the current/old prices on board. Separately there is a suggestion that there is an onboard promotion at the lower prices, which makes sense if you didn't have the option to do it in advance given the recent installations.

 

Whereas: previously if CWC you had no choice but to buy on board. You could only get the CWC subsidy that way. So both changes need to be read together to benefit.

I have our invoice and the price is still the same. Looking at all my bookings, I see no mention of a drop in price if booked prior to boarding. Please can you tell me where i's find the information on My Cunard. Thanks

 

Plus, if purchasing on a daily basis, how does one purchase in advance?

Edited September 22, 2023 by Victoria2

[TowandaUK]

When I log into My Cunard it is the first thing that comes up. 

[Pushpit]

24 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

I have our invoice and the price is still the same. Looking at all my bookings, I see no mention of a drop in price if booked prior to boarding. Please can you tell me where i's find the information on My Cunard. Thanks

 

Plus, if purchasing on a daily basis, how does one purchase in advance?

A few days ago, the daily rates were as shown above, premium at $24 per day whole voyage, or $36 per day piecemeal. Today you can have a rate per voyage that works out at $20 per day. Maybe you have a different screen to me, but today if I go to my.cunard.com under Internet, I have the option of $20 a day PLUS the CWC amortisation, plus the "Use your credits" button shown in the screen shot. At least for me, I did not have the option of paying $20 per day with CWC until today.

 

So for me this looks (a) new (b) cheaper by my maths and (c) a different process than before. For (c) because the new process appears to be done in advance via "Use your credits", the previous onboard daily process would now be more expensive.

 

So to answer your question about a daily basis, currently $36 or $24 per day (see first screenshot), that stays $36 or $24 per day (second shot, small print in the box) onboard, or you can make it $20 if done in advance for the whole voyage. Usual thing about OBC trade off would also apply here I guess.

 

What is interesting is that @TowandaUK who I guess is not CWC yet, can go ahead right now and get a rate that I can't get as CWC. Their red box shows as being live now, mine is greyed out. Hopefully that changes real soon!

Edited September 22, 2023 by Pushpit

[Victoria2]

Right,

Sorted.

 

I now have the same info on my My Cunard [took its time to appear].  Looking at the info, this stands out

 

 

^ Guests will pay a lower per person per day price of US$15/US$20 for Essential / Premium plans for the duration of their voyage. Daily prices remain unchanged. 

and as I pay per day, the rate is still the same as it was for our two previous cruises this year.

[Victoria2]

40 minutes ago, TowandaUK said:

I don’t plan on entering into an argument so will leave it there. 

 I apologise if I came across as shouting, I wasn't but there you go.

 

There is a price reduction, but only on the whole voyage plans. The daily rates haven't changed so we are both right. Let's call it a partial Sale.🙂

[TowandaUK]

11 minutes ago, Pushpit said:

What is interesting is that @TowandaUK who I guess is not CWC yet, can go ahead right now and get a rate that I can't get as CWC. Their red box shows as being live now, mine is greyed out. Hopefully that changes real soon!

Thank you Pushpit for the clarification. As you surmise this is my first time on Cunard (although not my first cruise) so am not yet got CWC benefits. Hopefully anyone who already has the option of buying at a cheaper rate can now do so.  Fingers crossed that it will be available to all soon. 

[TowandaUK]

2 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

 I apologise if I came across as shouting, I wasn't but there you go.

 

There is a price reduction, but only on the whole voyage plans. The daily rates haven't changed so we are both right. Let's call it a partial Sale.🙂

Thank you. 

[Victoria2]

T&C on the drop in price.

Interesting!!!!

 

 

^ Guests will pay a lower per person per day price of US$15/US$20 for Essential / Premium plans for the duration of their voyage. Daily prices remain unchanged. This lower price is subject to change and valid on new Wi-Fi package purchases made from 18 September 2023 to 30 November 2023 either onboard or on My Cunard. CWC loyalty credits remain unaffected and will be redeemable along with this offer. If you are sailing later than 30 November 23 you will need to purchase your Wi-Fi package online between 18 September & 30 November 2023 to secure this offer price, with the exception of Cunard World Club members who can only purchase on board during the promotional period.

* Please note, while Starlink can offer up to 200mbps, this is dependent on satellite availability. Therefore, there may be areas in which this service is not available. We are continuing to investigate options and opportunities to improve connectivity as they arise.

** Cunard World Club members are required to purchase their desired Wi-Fi plan on board during their voyage in order to redeem their loyalty benefit of internet credit. Unfortunately, we cannot support pre-booking a Wi-Fi plan with loyalty benefits at this time.

 

[Wonky]

Bizarrely just checked a couple of cruises I’ve got coming up on QE and it’s $14.25 per day!?!?!

[Pushpit]

My QE trip next year is $20 or $15, with no $14.25 option. Maybe there is some local taxation issues involved here.

 

[Wonky]

19 minutes ago, Pushpit said:

My QE trip next year is $20 or $15, with no $14.25 option. Maybe there is some local taxation issues involved here.

 

Think I’ve worked it out, it says there are discounts for voyages of 16 days or more.

[Underwatr]

My cellular plan gives me free data (sluggish, but free) outside the US so on my upcoming 12-night Caribbean trip it's still cheaper to pay $24 per day day for the six sea days than to pay the $15 per day for the whole cruise price including port days when I have connectivity anyway. In the past I've had service from the islands during the overnight transits between ports so there's been no need to pay either by the minute or by the day once among the islands.

Edited September 22, 2023 by Underwatr

[BeachTunes]

I for one benefited from this sale. I originally rebooked a premium internet plan for our 7-night Queen Elizabeth sailing for $168 USD. When I spotted the sale on My Cunard yesterday, I canceled the original plan and rebooked fo $140. Not a huge amount of savings, but it will at least will cover one cocktail in the Commodore Club not included in our drinks package! 😉 

Edited September 22, 2023 by BeachTunes