Internet on River Cruises

[BigGuy25]

I'm used to the very slow internet connections on ocean cruises. But, in a few weeks, we'll be on our first European River cruise (Avalon Scenery in France). I'm curious if anyone can tell me about internet connection speeds and costs on river cruises.

[ddschur]

Hey BigGuy25,

 

You seem well travelled...why wouldn't you call the cruise line to get your answers for both speed of connection and cost???:confused:

 

I suspect the general question will provide answers all over the ball park!

 

I think there will be some comments re: using an internet cafe' at some of your stops.

 

I think that about covers it.:D

[paul929207]

Our only river cruise with internet was with Uniworld. Not only was it slow, but you could only send email from an email address they provided. You could not surf the net from their computers. I think they charged a dollar or a dollar and a half per email. That was 5 years ago, so it may be better now. We just used the internet cafes in the ports.

[WIT]

The internet on AMAWaterways (Amadeus) works both in your cabin (on the multi-screen console with an attached keyboard but no other ports) or in the fore and aft lounges with your WIFI-equipped laptop. Bandwidth is shared for the cabins so the lounge connections are faster. I would say the cabins are only good for email - you can access your gmail or yahoo acccounts. The lounges were fast enough for SKYPE users but anyone who tried to upload their photos for the day quickly gave up.

 

I bring a small laptop (fits in the safe) and use Picassa to delete my many bad photos then I use the keyboard to put labels on the remaining pics while the memory of the day is somewhat fresh.

 

WIT

[H2Otstr]

Our internet fees were 5 Euros for 1 hour. It took 3 to 5 minutes to connect and we could only connect while in port. If you didn't log off properly your minutes kept counting and time was used. Seems like our minutes flew by just trying to get on. There was no "in room" service. Everyone who brought their laptops had to sit near the 2 computer stations to log on, again, only service while in port. Not sure what their charges were, but there were fees associated.

[BigGuy25]

Thanks for the info everyone ... except DDSCHUR ... you're answer was not at all helpful!! If you can't answer the question, then please just don't respond. And, just for the record, if you call the cruise line most of them won't tell you "... our internet service is awful ... please don't waste your money ..."

[H2Otstr]

Hey BigGuy, Noticed that you are from Cleveland.

My cousin was #76 for the Cleveland Browns.

[ddschur]

Hey BigGuy25,

 

You seem well travelled...why wouldn't you call the cruise line to get your answers for both speed of connection and cost???:confused:

 

I suspect the general question will provide answers all over the ball park!

 

I think there will be some comments re: using an internet cafe' at some of your stops.

 

I think that about covers it.:D

 

Well BigGuy,

 

As stated above, the answers were all over the ball park, comments re: internet cafe's, and no one specifically answered the Avalon situation!!

 

Also, the cruise line I am going on DID tell me the rates-I can't imagine them NOT doing so.:rolleyes:

 

Enjoy!:D

[webfoot]

We were on the Avalon Artistry, which is one of the older ships in the fleet. We had two terminals that could be used for internet. We bought a week package for 20 Euros ... Most of the time we had no problems connecting. Yes, it was slow, but we only wanted to look at e-mails and a few news websites.

 

Just as a warning ... anyone who looks at their financial statements on board .. and tries to print them ... be sure you pick them up off the printer ... I had a great time reading someone's American Express statement ... :D I did give it to the front desk who promptly shredded it ...

 

There was wireless available in the lounge of the ship and several folks used it on a regular basis.

 

With Avalon's newer ships, they may have better internet available. But just wanted to give you my experience on the Avalon Artistry.

[BigGuy25]

Thanks webfoot ... that's exactly the info that I was looking for. And, the kind of info I've come to expect from fellow Cruise Critic users.

[BigGuy25]

H20tstr ... #76 as in Lou Groza?? ... if so, I know his son well.

[H2Otstr]

BigGuy,

 

May I have your email address so I can "talk" to you personally?

Mine is H2otstr@aol.com

[vb527]

We've just done our cruise on Avalon Tapestry, the price on board was 5 euros for 1 hour or 15 euros for 24 hrs. I think there was also a whole week for 30 euros. The hours you can use over the period of your cruise, or you can use it up all at once. And as someone mentioned if you don't log out properly your hours do keep ticking over, but it automatically logs you out after 1 hr. We brought our own laptop so not sure what the speed and connection was like with the 2 computers on board. But with the wifi connection we had in our room, it was usable to check our web based emails, as well as banking information or wikipedia about our port locations. Depending on where you dock, sometimes the connection speed can be quite fast. The only thing you can't do was download any streaming videos, and large websites with lots of big pics.