Buying internet time

[elmsliebev]

we have Gold status so will get $45 onboard credit on QA for the Internet. I don't need it for the whole trip so was planning on a couple of days at $18per day for the basic package - not bothered about streaming. Cunard's website for My Booking says its $18 if bought beforehand or $24 if bought onboard. It also says

"You have been gifted complimentary internet credits: Gold members receive $45, Platinum members receive $80 and Diamond members receive $135 (all in USD).Once you board your ship, you can use your credits to purchase internet by the day or for your entire voyage, according to the prices shown here."  The "prices shown here" have the $18 first and the $24 in small print!

 

So does "the prices shown here" mean $18 or $24? I was easier when you just had a credit for minutes! The website won't let me buy in advance it says "Use your credits to purchase internet on board". 

Any thoughts?

[bluemarble]

The pricing listed in My Cunard for the Essential Plan that I'm seeing is as follows.

 

Essential Voyage Plan

$18.00pp per day

24-hour plans are available on board: $24.00pp per day

 

The first rate quoted here is the $18.00pp per day rate if you purchase the package for the full voyage (or more precisely for all remaining days of the voyage at the time of purchase if you wait to purchase until on board).

 

The second rate quoted here is the $24.00pp per day rate if you choose to purchase individual segments of 24-hours at a time once you are on board. You can't purchase individual days at $18.00pp.

 

Since you have a $45 Internet credit from your Gold Cunard World Club status, you can't purchase an Internet plan prior to your voyage. But you will have the same pricing options to choose from once you are on board. You may choose to purchase a full voyage Essential plan at any point while you are on board for a cost of $18pp per day for all remaining days in your voyage. Or you may choose to purchase individual 24-hour segments of the Essential plan at a cost of $24pp per day.

 

Since you mentioned wanting to purchase individual days, your $45 Internet credit will allow you to purchase two of the 24-hour plans once on board (for 2 x $24 = $48) with a net charge of $3 to your onboard account.

 

Hope this helps.

[elmsliebev]

2 minutes ago, bluemarble said:

The pricing listed in My Cunard for the Essential Plan that I'm seeing is as follows.

 

Essential Voyage Plan

$18.00pp per day

24-hour plans are available on board: $24.00pp per day

 

The first rate quoted here is the $18.00pp per day rate if you purchase the package for the full voyage (or more precisely for all remaining days of the voyage at the time of purchase if you wait to purchase until on board).

 

The second rate quoted here is the $24.00pp per day rate if you choose to purchase individual segments of 24-hours at a time once you are on board. You can't purchase individual days at $18.00pp.

 

Since you have a $45 Internet credit from your Gold Cunard World Club status, you can't purchase an Internet plan prior to your voyage. But you will have the same pricing options to choose from once you are on board. You may choose to purchase a full voyage Essential plan at any point while you are on board for a cost of $18pp per day for all remaining days in your voyage. Or you may choose to purchase individual 24-hour segments of the Essential plan at a cost of $24pp per day.

 

Since you mentioned wanting to purchase individual days, your $45 Internet credit will allow you to purchase two of the 24-hour plans once on board (for 2 x $24 = $48) with a net charge of $3 to your onboard account.

 

Hope this helps.

thanks, that's really helpful. Looks like 2 days. We have 2 sea days and my mobile provider allows me to use my phone for calls, texts etc in Norway as if at home so I can keep in touch with the olds. Plus hopefully wifi in cafes of course. 

[Victoria2]

Beautifully explained bluemarble.

We bought the Essential wi fi on a per day [$24 for 24hrs] basis between the two of us, utilising both Diamond credits and with judicious planning eg didn't renew when in port/didn't need it overnight etc, ended up with a zero Internet bill for the a 14 day cruise.

 

Gold credits are not as generous but sharing the load [if two of you] and using own phone signal when in port elmsliebev, will help.

[Pushpit]

Note buying by day is exactly 24 hours  (regardless of time changes onboard). So if you have some wifi down time after the first 24 hours then it may well work well for your needs. 

[mahasamatman]

2 hours ago, bluemarble said:

Since you have a $45 Internet credit from your Gold Cunard World Club status, you can't purchase an Internet plan prior to your voyage.

 

You can, you just wouldn't get the World Club benefit.

[TheOldBear]

If you use WC credit to purchase 'whole voyage' internet [instead of day by day] only one passenger's credit is applied. The other passengers credit is unused. 

[bluemarble]

1 hour ago, mahasamatman said:

You can, you just wouldn't get the World Club benefit.

 

I don't think there's any way to pre-purchase an Internet plan through My Cunard if you have an Internet credit from your Cunard World Club status. Here's what my "Voyage internet plan" page looks like on My Cunard.

 

 

Note where there would be a button to begin purchasing a plan, this page states "Use your credits to purchase internet on board."

[Carnevale]

7 hours ago, TheOldBear said:

If you use WC credit to purchase 'whole voyage' internet [instead of day by day] only one passenger's credit is applied. The other passengers credit is unused. 

That’s a disappointment since we can easily share one whole voyage plan and had hoped to apply the credit we each will have.

[Victoria2]

1 hour ago, Carnevale said:

That’s a disappointment since we can easily share one whole voyage plan and had hoped to apply the credit we each will have.

It's worth doing a spot of Maths.

 

On our first cruise back in '22, we bought a whole voyage plan to share which meant one Diamond $135 'allowance' was wasted.

Once bitten, twice aware and now we 'do the Maths' and use both credits on a per 24 hrs Essential 'plan'.

Just for a bit of fun, watching the hours and using the internet when in phone signal range meant zero account for the two weeks.

[exlondoner]

This might not help with $45, but throughout the cruise they offer a rate for buying for the rest of the cruise, which eventually gave us far more days for one of our $135s than buying by the day did. We bought by the day with the other person’s $135 up to that point. I’m sorry this doesn’t sound terribly comprehensible but I hope it just about makes sense, and might enable you to get another free day.

 

[Pushpit]

Yes, that's implied from post 8 really, and for Diamonds on a mid length trip it makes a lot of sense: buy the whole sailing package, perhaps on day 2 (since on day 1 you can get wifi via your cell phone) and get 9 or 10 days cover for a few dollars. If you buy per day over 10 days then it's a lot more expensive.

 

For Platinums that's 6 or 7 night sailings

 

For Golds it's only 4 or 5 night sailings 

 

If you are Diamond on a 21 day sailing, particularly with port stops, then the $24 daily rate equivalent is only 5.6 days, so 8 days cover, sort-of, so it's then a judgement call to have that split over the sailing or go for the $18 rate and end up paying over $200 for it.

[Carnevale]

We are on a sailing that starts with 3 sea days followed by 6 ports days then 3 sea days (the NYC to Southern Caribbean return voyage). Since we only get the $45 pp and my DH is a serious reader of online news even the port days will be challenging without a plan as our cells will cover us while in port but not in the evenings and early mornings when we are sailing. What we'll probably do is buy two 24 hour days each in succession at the start (paying the top up between our $45 and the daily rate for two days) and then buy a package for the remainder of the trip.

 

Between this and figuring out the bev pkg value it sure takes a lot of planning to arrange the best approach on Cunard. I really appreciate all the CC input on things like this - you all really make a difference with the info you so kindly share.

[Yoshikitty]

Both my husband and I are Platinum.  We booked a 3 nights on QA in July.

How much credit will we get? 

[bluemarble]

16 minutes ago, Yoshikitty said:

Both my husband and I are Platinum.  We booked a 3 nights on QA in July.

How much credit will we get? 

 

Platinum level in the Cunard World Club means you should each receive $80 of Internet Credit. That means you can each purchase the Premium Plan for the full three night voyage at 3 x $24 = $72. The internet credits work great on short voyages such as yours.

 

Edit to add: Just curious which voyage you are on. I don't see any 3-night voyages on QA's schedule, in July or otherwise.

Edited June 10 by bluemarble

[Yoshikitty]

Thanks for your reply. I thought we may get less credit because it's only 3 nights.

 

We booked the H416C, on July 11 Kiel to Southampton. One port in Skagen. 

 

 

[Host Hattie]

This post suggests a smaller allowance on a short cruise. 

 

 

 

[bluemarble]

23 minutes ago, Yoshikitty said:

Thanks for your reply. I thought we may get less credit because it's only 3 nights.

 

We booked the H416C, on July 11 Kiel to Southampton. One port in Skagen. 

 

15 minutes ago, Host Hattie said:

This post suggests a smaller allowance on a short cruise. 

 

Oh, yes I remember now reading about that reduction in the Platinum and Diamond internet credits to $54 per person published in the daily programmes for the recent QM2 3-night cruise to Cherbourg and Portland. Seems to be some question as to whether that reduction was actually implemented though.

 

Looks like you may need to wait until you are on board your Keil to Southampton cruise to see if you will have a similar reduction in your Platinum internet credit, @Yoshikitty. I do not see documentation anywhere on Cunard's websites stating Cunard World Club Internet credits are reduced for shorter voyages.

[Sue-B]

2 hours ago, bluemarble said:

 

 

Oh, yes I remember now reading about that reduction in the Platinum and Diamond internet credits to $54 per person published in the daily programmes for the recent QM2 3-night cruise to Cherbourg and Portland. Seems to be some question as to whether that reduction was actually implemented though.

 

Looks like you may need to wait until you are on board your Keil to Southampton cruise to see if you will have a similar reduction in your Platinum internet credit, @Yoshikitty. I do not see documentation anywhere on Cunard's websites stating Cunard World Club Internet credits are reduced for shorter voyages.

Despite them advertising a reduced internet credit in the daily programme (which I didn’t even spot last week) the system definitely did not recognise this and I was refunded the full $135 diamond allowance as usual on my onboard account.  Had I have been charged I would have popped to the concierge or front desk to have it amended given the advertised club benefits on the Cunard world club internet pages (t&cs) do not mention the rate will be reduced for short cruises.  
 

 

[elmsliebev]

On 6/9/2024 at 10:04 PM, mahasamatman said:

 

You can, you just wouldn't get the World Club benefit.

the option to buy wasn't there, it only said buy on board. 

[elmsliebev]

On 6/9/2024 at 7:53 PM, Victoria2 said:

Gold credits are not as generous but sharing the load [if two of you] and using own phone signal when in port elmsliebev, will help.

yes, we'll use our phone package onshore though we'll probably just each use our own credits for our own devices when we need to access on board. Thank you.