Free @ Sea+, plus streaming

[AlexandNessa]

Only regular wifi is in the app as part of the package. Is it possible to buy the normal packge and upgrade the wifi onboard? Trying to avoid a phone call if possible. Thanks

[laudergayle]

Following.  My PCC told me we could upgrade to Streaming on the FAS+ promo…but both DH and me would have to do it. I’m hoping once onboard I can upgrade his only to streaming.

[IAcruising]

On my reservation (at least on the website), I can upgrade to unlimited, or unlimited premium w/ streaming. I can also choose which person to upgrade.

[AlexandNessa]

1 hour ago, IAcruising said:

On my reservation (at least on the website), I can upgrade to unlimited, or unlimited premium w/ streaming. I can also choose which person to upgrade.

I can upgrade the wifi to whatever we'd like, if we're just upgrading wifi.  Are you saying that you're able to upgrade the Free at Sea Plus package from standard wifi to streaming on the website?

[laudergayle]

2 minutes ago, AlexandNessa said:

Are you saying that you're able to upgrade the Free at Sea Plus package from standard wifi to streaming on the website?

I have not found that to not be possible with FAS+.  

Edited October 7, 2023 by laudergayle

[AlexandNessa]

I was hoping to avoid calling but i did and now I'm sorry. I got someone who managed to confuse the living day lights out of me. Instead of quoting me the add on price, she just kept quoting me the new price of my reservation,  but i don't even have my invoice from my TA handy to see if that's the correct total new price. I don't understand why she couldn't just charge me the extra FAS plus + $10pp/pd extra for streaming. She got flustered when i said that makes no sense and i just wound up saying thank you and hanging up. 

[Veronicabeth]

I posed that question to our cruise consultant a few weeks ago.   Yes, you can do the FAS+ with streaming wi-if.  It was $415-$430 per person, I don’t recall the specific number.  I determined we’d just buy the streaming upgrade separately since we didn’t anticipate using all of the other FAS+ options to warrant the additional price.  Also, it did take her a few minutes to find the pricing:  she kept quoting me the FAS+.  When she finally found it, she indicated she hadn’t scrolled over far enough on their price list.  Hope this helps.

Edited October 7, 2023 by Veronicabeth

[zgscl]

Your TA should actually be able to add it for you! I’ve had mixed success with reservations on this. 

[eileeshb]

Best to just do it onboard, the price I'm seeing on the app is buying the streaming plan with no credit from the FAS+ . Depending on the ship it may be worth testing if the unlimited actually allows you access to whatever you were wanting to stream as there have been some comments from recent cruisers that they didn't need to upgrade when it was just for calls via whatsapp or messenger.

 

Also if you don't need streaming on embarkation day wait until the second day to request it and it should be a little cheaper. 

[mking8288]

7 hours ago, eileeshb said:

Best to just do it onboard ... if you don't need streaming on embarkation day wait until the second day to request it and it should be a little cheaper. 

This has been true, wait until it's past midnight or 00:01 to do the onboard WiFi upgrade, and save 1 day's worth of unlimited WiFi charge.   We did that trade-up in April on a 15 nights TA ... but the daily charge was $25 instead of $30 as it's based on 15 days,  When we did that on Day 2, the calculated daily rate became $30 per day, didn't save any money despite trading in our 300 x 2 minutes with the allowance. 

 

More recently, last month on the Escape, the upgrade price for unlimited WiFi remained unchanged, whether it was done at 00:01 after midnight on Day 2 or Day 3.  Reasons to wait until onboard is that we can use non-refundable OBC for the trade-up ($100 allowance for the 150 unused minutes as trade, higher allowance on a longer cruise with 300 airtime minutes.)  

[eileeshb]

4 minutes ago, mking8288 said:

This has been true, wait until it's past midnight or 00:01 to do the onboard WiFi upgrade, and save 1 day's worth of unlimited WiFi charge.   We did that trade-up in April on a 15 nights TA ... but the daily charge was $25 instead of $30 as it's based on 15 days,  When we did that on Day 2, the calculated daily rate became $30 per day, didn't save any money despite trading in our 300 x 2 minutes with the allowance. 

 

More recently, last month on the Escape, the upgrade price for unlimited WiFi remained unchanged, whether it was done at 00:01 after midnight on Day 2 or Day 3.  Reasons to wait until onboard is that we can use non-refundable OBC for the trade-up ($100 allowance for the 150 unused minutes as trade, higher allowance on a longer cruise with 300 airtime minutes.)  

Personally I’m going to wait until I’m on board to see what will be blocked using the regular unlimited wifi anyway, plus the upgrade price on the app and website is out of whack at the moment.

[AlexandNessa]

I'm not understanding, i guess. To add streaming to FAS+, it should only be $10 pp/pd. This is the only thing I'm trying to do and NCL seems to want to reprice my reservation for that. 

 

I know how to upgrade wifi on its own, but in true NCL fashion, they don't make including streaming in the FAS+ easy. 

 

I have a message into my TA, but he's away this weekend. 

[laudergayle]

2 minutes ago, AlexandNessa said:

I'm not understanding, i guess. To add streaming to FAS+, it should only be $10 pp/pd. This is the only thing I'm trying to do and NCL seems to want to reprice my reservation for that. 

 

I know how to upgrade wifi on its own, but in true NCL fashion, they don't make including streaming in the FAS+ easy. 

 

I have a message into my TA, but he's away this weekend. 

Are you past final payment?  If not, they are probably just adding the $10 pp pd to your final payment. And, since you don’t have anything to compare against you can’t tell is that’s what’s happening. If you are past final payment then they would be asking you for a credit card # to charge you for it.  You’ll know soon once you talk to your TA.

[MkeCruzn]

8 minutes ago, mking8288 said:

This has been true, wait until it's past midnight or 00:01 to do the onboard WiFi upgrade, and save 1 day's worth of unlimited WiFi charge.   We did that trade-up in April on a 15 nights TA ... but the daily charge was $25 instead of $30 as it's based on 15 days,  When we did that on Day 2, the calculated daily rate became $30 per day, didn't save any money despite trading in our 300 x 2 minutes with the allowance. 

 

More recently, last month on the Escape, the upgrade price for unlimited WiFi remained unchanged, whether it was done at 00:01 after midnight on Day 2 or Day 3.  Reasons to wait until onboard is that we can use non-refundable OBC for the trade-up ($100 allowance for the 150 unused minutes as trade, higher allowance on a longer cruise with 300 airtime minutes.)  

Hey @mking8288, nice to see you here!

Last month on the Star (Iceland to Southampton, 14 days) they offered various upgrades to unlimited or unlimited with streaming. The price kept dropping day by day from $199-ish for the non-streaming package and eventually (after about 5 days) the price dropped to $99 for basic and $199 for streaming. I bought one package and shared it with my wife quite easily, though we could only have one device at a time logged in. She kept watching and the price never went lower, so I think I maximized the number of days vs. the price.

I did lose the remainder of my 300 minute free package, but hey, I guess free is free anyway. I might have spent the 300 minutes a bit faster if I had known the package price would drop.

Another small point: on the last day, you lose the login page on the app, and it's replaced by the "Goodbye for now" screen. That means it's harder (or maybe impossible) to use your remaining free minutes. However, if you're logged in on the unlimited, your package expires at 10 am or 11 am on debarkation day, so you can still use the last bits of time until you connect to a shore-based provider.

 

The ship wi-fi still had serious speed issues, and there were several times that things did not load very fast at all. I don't know if the streaming package is any better on the speed than the non-streaming package.

[MkeCruzn]

9 minutes ago, eileeshb said:

Personally I’m going to wait until I’m on board to see what will be blocked using the regular unlimited wifi anyway, plus the upgrade price on the app and website is out of whack at the moment.

I found that VPN software did not work on the basic package, but I didn't try much streaming or FaceTime.

[AlexandNessa]

4 minutes ago, laudergayle said:

Are you past final payment?  If not, they are probably just adding the $10 pp pd to your final payment. And, since you don’t have anything to compare against you can’t tell is that’s what’s happening. If you are past final payment then they would be asking you for a credit card # to charge you for it.  You’ll know soon once you talk to your TA.

Yes, I'm way past final payment. 

[laudergayle]

1 minute ago, AlexandNessa said:

Yes, I'm way past final payment. 

Lol…the mystery deepens.  Good luck.

[mking8288]

8 minutes ago, MkeCruzn said:

I found that VPN software did not work on the basic package, but I didn't try much streaming or FaceTime.

Hi, John ... read & followed your recent journey on the Star, all is well with both of you - busy lives traveling safely.  Good news being that NCL finally started moving the rollout plans for Starlink, fingers crossed that it will be ready when we embark later next month - you might've learned that it's live on the Epic now, wished we had that back in April as confirmed by CC'er friend that we first met at a M&G several years ago, Dan from Ohio.  Following several ships to stay "updated" on what's happening these days, including the Sun, Star and the Jewel heading west to Asia (late 2024-25 for us ??)  One of these days, we got to catch up onboard again, DW doesn't want to do shorter cruises anymore, LOL. 

 

With the basic unlimited WiFi or free airtime minutes plan, you are 100% correct - have to turn off or disabled VPN, and once done - it's mostly smooth d/l and u/l 

 

Regards & best wishes @mking8288 - Henry (and Susan)