Carnival - Premium Internet Plan Multiple Device

[TexasJohn82]

Does anyone have any information on the multi device options showing up here?  My cruise is in July, do we know if it will still be around then or is this a trial?  Sorry didn't find anything else on it

[mz-s]

Looks like it's just a limited time trial for May for the time being. Maybe they'll expand it for your cruise if the testing goes well.

 

This is the first I'm hearing of this. Interesting!

[PA Dutchman]

well what will the price be /?, they were looking at a different WiFi system that must have died

[jimbo5544]

1 hour ago, PA Dutchman said:

well what will the price be /?, they were looking at a different WiFi system that must have died

Good question on the price, has to be high.   On those ships it is Starlink.  They can basically dial the speed.

[TexasJohn82]

1 hour ago, PA Dutchman said:

well what will the price be /?, they were looking at a different WiFi system that must have died

They only had the regular premium price in the checkout for 21 a day but my sailing is in July (holding off now on wifi to see if they extend it).  If it is cheaper than buying for 4 people I will do it as we have 7 going so two of these hopefully are cheaper than buying internet for 7

[necjeb]

I purchased this option on March Celebration cruise and it worked well. I believe it was $500 for 7 day cruise and provide premium wifi on 4 devices. I had to use my folio number to sign into the wifi on each of the 4 devices. And if u signed in on a 5th the 1st device u signed in with would fall out. I used this for myself , wife, 2 boys and my mom. It was a better deal than getting individual plans and worked well. 

[mamiamjo]

Just checked our May Celebration booking, It's $75/day for up to 4 devices, compared to $21.25/device for the Premium individual device plan.

[Mike45LC]

I just bought the one device Premium Plan for my wife for our cruise in 10 days.  I plan to log on (which will force her phone off the WiFi) every morning (I am up hours before she is) to check my email, and then once she gets up, I'll stay off-line all day.

[mz-s]

$75/day for wifi is absolutely criminal in my opinion. I cannot fathom even considering paying that much money for internet access on a cruise.

[staceyglow]

1 hour ago, mz-s said:

$75/day for wifi is absolutely criminal in my opinion. I cannot fathom even considering paying that much money for internet access on a cruise.

It's not criminal if people are willing to pay it.

[mz-s]

1 minute ago, staceyglow said:

It's not criminal if people are willing to pay it.

 

People are willing to pay $15/gal for gas after a hurricane because they need it - but that is in fact criminal. I am not equating internet access to fuel, but Carnival evidently thinks internet access is their key to paying off the debt because they are charging ridiculous rates for it. They won't get it out of me, I can say that for sure.

[jerseygirlinAZ]

3 hours ago, mamiamjo said:

Just checked our May Celebration booking, It's $75/day for up to 4 devices, compared to $21.25/device for the Premium individual device plan.

 

My home bill is less than that a month, lol.  

 

I think we'll stick to one device at a time.  Don't want the entire family on their computers in our little cabin during our vacation.  But I totally understand that this is a need for some and that it could work out for them.

[jimbo5544]

13 hours ago, mamiamjo said:

Just checked our May Celebration booking, It's $75/day for up to 4 devices, compared to $21.25/device for the Premium individual device plan.

Thanks

[mfs2k]

13 hours ago, mz-s said:

$75/day for wifi is absolutely criminal in my opinion. I cannot fathom even considering paying that much money for internet access on a cruise.

It's no more criminal that 3% credit card surcharges; $50 checked bag fees; carry on baggage fees; resort fees; facility fees; 18% mandated service charge plus 5% administrative fees; $59.95 per person per day beverage packages; or a $500 upgrade fee for 5 more inches of legroom so someone 6 feet tall can sit on a plane comfortably. 

Edited April 18 by mfs2k

[mz-s]

9 minutes ago, mfs2k said:

It's no more criminal that 3% credit card surcharges; $50 checked bag fees; carry on baggage fees; resort fees; facility fees; 18% mandated service charge plus 5% administrative fees; $59.95 per person per day beverage packages; $500 upgrade fee for 5 more inches of legroom so someone 6 feet tall and sit

 

If there is an airline critic, resort critic, restaurant critic, etc., website I am sure those fees are discussed there. This is cruise critic so we're talking about the racket of shipboard wifi at a time when it has never been faster, cheaper, or more available - or, why cruise lines are ceding the "work from anywhere" demographic to AIs, Hawaii, etc.

[mfs2k]

Just now, mz-s said:

 

If there is an airline critic, resort critic, restaurant critic, etc., website I am sure those fees are discussed there. This is cruise critic so we're talking about the racket of shipboard wifi at a time when it has never been faster, cheaper, or more available - or, why cruise lines are ceding the "work from anywhere" demographic to AIs, Hawaii, etc.

The answer is simple.  And the answer pertains to cruise lines as well as other businesses in the hospitality industry.  Cruise lines want to "catch" buyers by offering low advertised rates for the cabin, then want to build revenue and profit by upselling and adding on additional charges for internet, beverages, gratuities, port fees, premium restaurants; art sales; etc..  As long as guests pay for these services, the cruise lines will continue to charge for them.

 

In my opinion, these charges will go away when more cruise lines start treating internet like other utilities such as water and electricity, and offer it for free.  Imagine if Royal Caribbean; Celebrity, or Princess started advertising and promoting Free high speed Internet to all, to attract more passengers.  If the trend caught on, Carnival would have to eventually include internet in the basic cabin cost.  But personally i dont think there's enough competitive pressure for this to happen.

 

This is, by the way, what happened in American hotels 10-15 years ago. Many hotels started advertising free internet, and the ones which charged $9.95 to $14.95 per day eventally caved to social media and TripAdvisor pressure and switched to free internet.  The complaints were too much.  Now you see it with "Resort" or "Facility" fees.  This too will go away eventually and hotels and resorts will be forced to raise their advertised rates to keep the revenue growing.

[mz-s]

1 minute ago, mfs2k said:

The answer is simple.  And the answer pertains to cruise lines as well as other businesses in the hospitality industry.  Cruise lines want to "catch" buyers by offering low advertised rates for the cabin, then want to build revenue and profit by upselling and adding on additional charges for internet, beverages, gratuities, port fees, premium restaurants; art sales; etc..  As long as guests pay for these services, the cruise lines will continue to charge for them.

 

In my opinion, these charges will go away when more cruise lines start treating internet like other utilities such as water and electricity, and offer it for free.  Imagine if Royal Caribbean; Celebrity, or Princess started advertising and promoting Free high speed Internet to all, to attract more passengers.  If the trend caught on, Carnival would have to eventually include internet in the basic cabin cost.  But personally i dont think there's enough competitive pressure for this to happen.

 

This is, by the way, what happened in American hotels 10-15 years ago. Many hotels started advertising free internet, and the ones which charged $9.95 to $14.95 per day eventally caved to social media and TripAdvisor pressure and switched to free internet.  The complaints were too much.  Now you see it with "Resort" or "Facility" fees.  This too will go away eventually and hotels and resorts will be forced to raise their advertised rates to keep the revenue growing.

 

 

So far only Virgin Voyages includes wifi in their base fare. While they are getting good reviews they're not a big enough player to really shake up the industry. The rest of the cabal is careful not to really step on each other's toes too much. They tend to cut from the experience rather than add to it.

 

 

[Noledad77]

20 hours ago, TexasJohn82 said:

Does anyone have any information on the multi device options showing up here?  My cruise is in July, do we know if it will still be around then or is this a trial?  Sorry didn't find anything else on it

One of the cruising channels I'm subbed to on YT said Carnival is rolling it out on limited ships (multi-device wi-fi), in the hopes of having it on all of their ships eventually. Sounds like the one you're on is part of the pilot program. $75/day for up to 4 devices.

[BrentD]

If you're technologically handy, bringing along a travel router is a much more economical option for your cabin. Only one "device" is logged in, but all your devices can access that "device".  I've got my armor on for all the swords and daggers coming my way for suggesting it. 😏 (I'm also not your IT guy to help you figure it out)

Edited April 22 by BrentD

[BlerkOne]

1 hour ago, BrentD said:

If you're technologically handy, bringing along a travel router is a much more economical option for your cabin. Only one "device" is logged in, but all your devices can access that "device".  I've got my armor on for all the swords and daggers coming my way for suggesting it. 😏 (I'm also not your IT guy to help you figure it out)

All devices within range and I am currently using one on Glory, so no daggers, but you are still sharing one connection to the ship access point and so is slower than multiple independent connections.

 

No cruise line is really giving away anything - the price is included in the base fare. I think Royal charges even more than Carnival.

 

 

[BrentD]

43 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

All devices within range and I am currently using one on Glory, so no daggers, but you are still sharing one connection to the ship access point and so is slower than multiple independent connections.

 

True, and I’m sure they’ve got each connection throttled. Guess it depends on what you’re wanting to do as well. I ran a couple speed tests and averaged about 80 down and 5 up connected to my router. Don’t think my wife was using it concurrently when I did those, so I’m guessing they’ve got it capped roughly around there per connection.

Honestly pretty amazing for a ship in the middle of the ocean. And especially if the last time you used WiFi on a ship was 6 years ago like me. Had no issues with HD video streams. Watched bits and pieces of the Masters and the Augusta National Women’s Amateur (we are from Augusta, so we like to keep up). Made a couple FaceTime calls no problem. Quality on my end was fine with some pixelation (as expected with 700+ms ping times), not sure about what was received from us. Probably was hit and miss with 5Mbps upload and those ping times. 

 

Starlink is definitely a game changer, but I agree they should be testing it as more of a utility with how connected everyone is now. Then again, if they don’t charge a premium for it they’ll have to upgrade their equipment and bandwidth to accommodate, which would just drive the cruise price up. 

Edited April 22 by BrentD

[jimbo5544]

On 4/18/2024 at 8:54 AM, mfs2k said:

The answer is simple.  And the answer pertains to cruise lines as well as other businesses in the hospitality industry.  Cruise lines want to "catch" buyers by offering low advertised rates for the cabin, then want to build revenue and profit by upselling and adding on additional charges for internet, beverages, gratuities, port fees, premium restaurants; art sales; etc..  As long as guests pay for these services, the cruise lines will continue to charge for them.

 

In my opinion, these charges will go away when more cruise lines start treating internet like other utilities such as water and electricity, and offer it for free.  Imagine if Royal Caribbean; Celebrity, or Princess started advertising and promoting Free high speed Internet to all, to attract more passengers.  If the trend caught on, Carnival would have to eventually include internet in the basic cabin cost.  But personally i dont think there's enough competitive pressure for this to happen.

 

This is, by the way, what happened in American hotels 10-15 years ago. Many hotels started advertising free internet, and the ones which charged $9.95 to $14.95 per day eventally caved to social media and TripAdvisor pressure and switched to free internet.  The complaints were too much.  Now you see it with "Resort" or "Facility" fees.  This too will go away eventually and hotels and resorts will be forced to raise their advertised rates to keep the revenue growing.

Is the internet they offer under these programs free to them?  NO. Will it ever be free to their customers? NO. Should it be?  NO  

[mz-s]

5 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

Is the internet they offer under these programs free to them?  NO. Will it ever be free to their customers? NO. Should it be?  NO  

 

It's not free to Hilton or Howard Johnson or McDonald's either but they make it free to their guests as an amenity. 

[BlerkOne]

7 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

It's not free to Hilton or Howard Johnson or McDonald's either but they make it free to their guests as an amenity. 

No, they don't. They include it in the price of the room or Big Mac.

[mfs2k]

35 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

Is the internet they offer under these programs free to them?  NO. Will it ever be free to their customers? NO. Should it be?  NO  

Is electricity free to them? NO Is water free to them? NO

Is the internet an essential utility in 2024 to most people ? YES

Can most people live without internet for a week? YES. And most can live without electricity for a week too. What’s your point?  
Mine is that internet access is an essential utility in 2024 and no longer a luxury.