Connection at Sea

[septrack]

A couple of years ago my wife and I took a cruise on the Summitt and enjoyed the UNLIMITED internet access in the stateroom (actually on the balcony) that was offerred for $100/10 day cruise. We are now booked on the Dec 6 sailing and I have heard they are now charging $25/day for the equipment rental and that is limited to 50 minutes of usage. Can anyone confirm this is the new policy. This will be our 16th cruise and the connection at sea was one of the main reasons in our cruise selection. Nothing quite like following the market from your balcony overlooking the bay at St Thomas.

 

Also, does anyone else think the frequent cruise benefits for Celebrity are a joke. I couldn't stop laughing after I heard they give 10 free minutes of internet access after 5 cruises. Princess gives unlimited internet at that level, and I find that a real incentive to go back. Just my opinion.

[Andy]

A couple of years ago my wife and I took a cruise on the Summitt and enjoyed the UNLIMITED internet access in the stateroom (actually on the balcony) that was offerred for $100/10 day cruise. We are now booked on the Dec 6 sailing and I have heard they are now charging $25/day for the equipment rental and that is limited to 50 minutes of usage. Can anyone confirm this is the new policy. This will be our 16th cruise and the connection at sea was one of the main reasons in our cruise selection. Nothing quite like following the market from your balcony overlooking the bay at St Thomas.

 

Hi Septrack !

 

Yes, the rates you mentioned above are correct. They are the New Rates on the Millennium Class ships, and are in the process of being introduced on the Century Class ships as well. I know it just changed on Century about 2 months ago.

 

These rates were changed, when the PC's were upgraded in the Internet Cafe and the PC Lab onboard the ships. From what I heard, Celebrity has given this operation to an outside company, and apparantly, these were the rates they agreed upon.

 

In addition, the per minute rates in the Internet Cafe have gone up from .50 cents per minute, to .75 cents per minute.

 

I know it all sounds disappointing, but there are 2 good things to point out. First the connection is "slightly" faster (no, its not DSL speed or anything), and you do get FULL AOL instead of basically just being able to read AOL emails.

 

I always liked the idea of taking my laptop on the ship, and having the Unlimited internet, but unfortunately, that is gone now. I dont even take a laptop with me anymore. It was great while it lasted. I certainly hope Celebrity will look into some better pricing on this in the future.

 

Regards,

Andy

[tbelian]

I sympathize with you on this one. Definitely. That's really a very high price.

 

I was doing some research on a particular issues with connect@sea, specifically whether or not the connection would support VPN clients, and I got hold of the company that celebrity has outsourced this too.

 

I think we should contact them and let them know our dissatisfaction with the high price.

 

The company is called Highseas Computer Service. Google will help. Or whois.

[TEXASMUNK]

can I bring my laptop so i can sign into my company VPN while on the ship?

[septrack]

I sympathize with you on this one. Definitely. That's really a very high price.

 

I was doing some research on a particular issues with connect@sea, specifically whether or not the connection would support VPN clients, and I got hold of the company that celebrity has outsourced this too.

 

I think we should contact them and let them know our dissatisfaction with the high price.

 

The company is called Highseas Computer Service. Google will help. Or whois.

I did email Celebrity today and voiced my displeasure with the new rates. I seriously used internet access as a primary decision criteria in cruise selection and will probably not be cruising them again, after my December 6 sailing which is all arranged. Princess earns my vote in the future with their free internet for 5 time cruisers and other valuable items once you become a diamond member.(free laundry svc). Thats a frequent cruiser program with actual value, which I hope is copied throughout the industry.

[tbelian]

Jim:

 

Here is what I know from correspondence with High Seas (company handling connect@sea).

 

This is from Ken @highseas:

 

"Yes reviewing this documentation tells me this is what you are looking for.

I would follow these recommendations to enable using your VPN client within

our configuration. Although I can not guarantee this will work I can tell

you that our network will perform NAT so this should be taken into account.

 

Regards,

Ken"

 

Please note the reference to "NAT" (Network Address Translation). You have to confirm that your VPN client supports NAT, and, it should work.

[suzsummit]

Does the same internet policy true for the penthouse and royal suites? I was wondering if it was different since they have computers in the room.

 

 

thanks for the information so far -- I am also going to call/write the company and complain since internet usage was a BIG pro for us taking a 15 day pananma canal cruise in May.

[raudacruise]

If you are using a firewall or router at home to access your VPN you should be OK since both NAT addresses. One VPN I access however required me to change both the IP range and network submask in the router to get consistent connections.

 

BTW, if you are not using a firewall or router at home, get one even if you are only using a dialup connection. I got nimda'd (bad, bad virus) over a dialup connection when it came out a few years back.

[raudacruise]

From what I've heard the change is across the board, including suites.

 

This is a shame. We had a Penthouse suite on summit when this was first introduced. $100 for an 11 day cruise. We had 2 internet connections for that price, one of which was attached to a webcam. Celebrity definitely got a lot of publicity from that webcam.

 

But now its over. As they've done with other services, connect@sea has been sold to the highest bidder. Internet access is not a primary (or even secondary) reason on what cruise we choose. But it does seem that Celebrity is missing the boat (pun intended) on managing many of its services by outsourcing.

[tbelian]

IP Schmipy .... I think I'm just going to pack a SUPER long telephone cord to hook up with :) ...

[cherski]

I'm just grateful that they have it. I could never have gotten my husband to take a long cruise if he couldn't just check his e-mail every day (just to satisfy himself that everything's fine, so he can relax).

 

The $25 a day works out to 50 cents a minute for the "free" 50 minutes of connection time each day. That's more than enough time to check up on things and it's sooooooooooo convenient to have access in the cabin.

 

Cher

 

PS - OT -- Didn't typewriters have a "cents key" in the old days? What replaced it?

[tbelian]

PS - OT -- Didn't typewriters have a "cents key" in the old days? What replaced it?

 

ALT+0162

 

ok, so i'm overly geeky at times LOL!

 

try it, in word, hold down alt, then type 0162 ...

[raudacruise]

The cents key went bye-bye during the early 60's when ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) was adopted. The committee felt that $0.02 was good enough to represent my two cents ;).

[Clasina]

But what a geek you are! It works, it works ... thanks for putting in your 2¢ worth! :D

 

Now tell us how we can find out what alt + 1 ... whatever will give us, without trying each one individually.

 

Please :p

[suzsummit]

For all you Mac diehearts .... option 4 works real nice

 

 

just my 2¢

[raudacruise]

there is a Character Map option available on windows. On NT you get directly by going to Accessories. On 2000 and XP you go to Accessories and then System Tools.

 

Keep in mind that these are mapped to fonts. Meaning that you might not be able to paste these into every application or web page. But have fun playing with them.

 

I'm out to beat tbelian in geekdom :).

[Clasina]

I'm out to beat tbelian in geekdom :).

Well, you beat tbelian to the answer anyway! I went and had a look at the map and it's amazing. Now if I ever want to key something in Korean, I'll know where to go ...

 

Thanks for the lesson!