In-Cabin Internet

[aearly]

I will be sailing on the Navigator in August. I will be bringing my laptop with me and will need the internet hooked up in my room. How can I do this? When do I do this? What does it cost? Does RCCL provide the cords? Thanks a lot.

[BaumD]

The cost is $100 per week. Sign up as soon as possible as their are limited hook-ups available. The ship will provide all of the cords, etc. The hookup speed will be very slow.

[glgolfer]

Sign up at the Customer Relations desk the first day. They'll have the cord and the instructions. The above is correct, $100 for a 7 night cruise. We used it on our Alaska cruise. Only problem then was it only worked about 50% due to location, mountains, etc. Should be fine anywhere else. When it worked, it was fairly fast.

[nny92825100]

You guys got by cheap. We paid $180 and it only worked about 50% of the time. After much complaining, they did deduct $35. The net is very slow, think dial up, and if you are doing engineering like we were, it was a nightmare when it sometimes took 14-16 hours to get back on line. Still I know others who were paying over $8 for one message because of the slow speed.

[alexkrn46]

You guys got by cheap. We paid $180 and it only worked about 50% of the time. After much complaining, they did deduct $35. The net is very slow, think dial up, and if you are doing engineering like we were, it was a nightmare when it sometimes took 14-16 hours to get back on line. Still I know others who were paying over $8 for one message because of the slow speed.

 

I have had the laptop on VOS, Sernade of Seas and Navigator...on the serenade there was a special cord on the VOS and NOS you had a special phone to connect to. The service was slow . You don't have it for the last night of the cruise.

[MattInFLL]

Well, I have had it on Explorer and Serenade, and it worked great. Considering the fact you're at *sea* - there's no way you're going to match a land based connection... on Explorer we had the special phone. On Serenade it was just the cord. On Infinity (which uses essentially the same system) it was a cord. Suprised Navigator required the phone.. all ships built after Radiance (including Radiance) are only supposed to need the cord. Rates may have gone up from the $100 for 7 days, but it's still the best deal on the ocean for unlimited access. This kind of access on other major lines can cost hundreds of dollars. Connection speed is usually in the 37-44kbps range. Slow for sure, but fine for e-mail and keeping up with things. You also don't have to take it for the whole 7 days, although they don't usually advertise that fact. But you can get for a day at a time. The only problem with that is that they can limit the number of connections, and it could be "sold out".

 

And remember, laptop access is only on Voyager and Radiance class ships!

[glgolfer]

One thing we learned very quickly was that if you were doing anything of any length, do it in your word processor offline before connecting to the internet. Then just copy it to where ever you want. The first daily review I did on the Radiance was lost after 20 minutes of typing when the connection was lost. I was just a tad aggravated.

[aearly]

Is it possible to reserve the hookup in advance?

[MattInFLL]

Nope.. and not necessary.. just visit the purser's desk within a few hours of boarding... unless of course there's a laptop convention on board - then run! :)

[GlacierQueen]

Question. I plan to bring my PDA (w/ a modem card) and connect periodically (maybe once or twice) to check and send email. Is there a place on board to do this without having to buy the whole package?? I noticed on the web site there is an internet room on the NOS on one of the floors.

Thanks !

[MattInFLL]

Nope, they will not let you tap into their network like that. You either buy the access for your cabin, or use one of their terminals. If your PDA modem has a standard phone jack, you should be able to get the access from your cabin.. and you can take it just for a day at a time. I think it's usually $25/day. There are no WiFi or wireless connections on board.