Prinsendam Internet Wireless Access

[dwkoester@earthlink.net]

I'm booked on a Sep 20 Prinsendam cruise and plan to take my laptop with me. Does anyone have any recent experience with using the wireless connectivity on the Prinsendam? I'm primarily interested in knowing whether the wireless connection is available? The HAL web site says that all the ships offer it, but I'd prefer a better indication before I lug this PC with me. I sailed the Amsterdam in Feb and as long as you were within 50 feet of the Internet "room" you could receive the wireless signal.

[dwkoester@earthlink.net]

I'm replying to my own post here in the event other's seek information regarding Internet connectivity on the Prinsendam. We were booked in one of the S Class suites and the wireless connection worked flawlessly for the duration of the 2 week trip. I was very pleased. There is, of course, a cost - but there were some reasonable packages.

[cronestein]

I'm booked on a Sep 20 Prinsendam cruise and plan to take my laptop with me. Does anyone have any recent experience with using the wireless connectivity on the Prinsendam? I'm primarily interested in knowing whether the wireless connection is available? The HAL web site says that all the ships offer it, but I'd prefer a better indication before I lug this PC with me. I sailed the Amsterdam in Feb and as long as you were within 50 feetofhe Internet "room" you could receive the wireless signal.


Just back from the Atlanticcrossing with the Prinsendam.
The wireless connection
is available. In the Crowsnest and in the internetcafe even in your cabin you can work wireless.
I had a big problem on the internet in the cafe,it works very slow and cost a lot.My laptop was at home.

I think when you are in Europe there are less problems ,than on the Atlantic and Azors.

Good luck and happy cruising

Eternity

[blackbird71]

If Grumpy does not post here, post a question to him on the World Cruise thread. I remember one of his posts that some people could get it on their balconies. But after 103++ days he would know all the spots...:p:p

[Member]

Regarding Prinsendam internet package cost (how much?), is it the same if its thru the Internet Cafe PC (that can get printout instantly) or your laptop (that can get online almost anywhere, anytime)? What is the setup cost, if any, for the wireless access?

[Jim Gallup]

Cruisers need to realise that the Satellite company that supplies Internet Services to most cruise ships, MTN, is limited in the speed that their satellites can carry and transmit data. These satellites are very slow. The technology to carry data faster is available, but extremely expensive. The other issue is bandwidth. MTN's satellites cannot provide much bandwidth. This means that the more people you have online at one time, the slower the service becomes.
Should the cruise lines make internet services more affordable??
Definitely not.
If they do, then everyone will try to get online and the speed will slow to an unacceptable crawl.

The only suggestion I can make is to try to get online during off hours - when most people (ship staff included) are doing other things. The speed and bandwidth should improve at those times.

The best suggestion of course is to go ashore and use an internet cafe that does not rely on old satellite technology to get you online.

[Grumpy1]

If Grumpy does not post here, post a question to him on the World Cruise thread. I remember one of his posts that some people could get it on their balconies. But after 103++ days he would know all the spots...:p:p

We used our laptops from inside our Prinsendam cabin with good reliability. There were others that had to leave the door open to get a signal... sit on a chair in their doorway... set the laptop on the stairwell handrail... set on the steps in the stairwell... the wireless doesn't work everywhere, but it does work in quite a few of the lounges.

We found the connection to be pretty slow most of the time, but at least we did have internet from some pretty remote corners of the world.

Grumpy

[PADutchman]

I got off the Prinz earlier this month after going around the world on her with Grumpy1. He's right the wireless works well almost all the time. Very seldom was it ‘down’ and we were in some very remote places. People misunderstand wireless networking and therefore don't get the max utility out of it.



Yes it does work from some rooms and in the stairwell and in the hallway but that's only half the story. Signal strength is everything in wireless. Wireless networks are very distance and interference sensitive. The further you are from the access point the slower your network will run. This is because more packets have to be resent if the signal is weak or if interference is causing problems. Very small changes in signal strength will cause large changes in network speed.



I don't want to go into a big tech discussion so here's the bottom line. Sit in the Ocean Bar or the Queens Lounge and most machines will have an excellent, quick connection. Of course the more clients a particular access point is servicing the slower it will run. Avoid busy times and busy locations. After I used the Ocean Bar for a while more and more people started coming there so I switched to the Queen's Lounge. People don't generally pass through there and so they didn't see that it was a good spot.




The access points are square white boxes hanging on the walls. Try to sit fairly close, but not directly under, one of these points. Not all the access points of the ship carry the passenger wireless network so us the two lounges I mentioned. You will see access points in places like the forward dining room. The only carry the ships encrypted wireless network and are therefore useless to passengers. Unfortunately they look the same as the others.



I have cable modem access at home so my connection here is blazing fast. The satellite connection is much faster than dialup. I’d say it’s about as fast as DSL if you are located a little too far from the node. At least that has been my experience. Some of this depends on your hardware and software. For example, a good friend of mine got very weak signal in the Ocean Bar. I could never figure out why because everyone else I helped get hooked up got excellent signal just like I did.



If you can, use Outlook Express, Outlook, Eudora, Thunderbird or some other email program. These programs are designed from the ground up to be efficient on a network. Providers like AOL and MSN run more slowly over a network because you have all their proprietary stuff to put up with.



Yikes! Enough already. All this to say that taking your laptop if you want to use the internet and get email is the only way to go. Besides, did you go on the cruise to sequester yourself in your room and burn up cyberspace? I doubt it. If you do all your composing and reading offline you can do it anywhere and just log on to send and receive. Above all, have fun!!

[Member]

Regarding internet cafe, I go to http://www.cybercafe.com/ before sailing for reference. However, beware of the European keyboard layout/characters and also the non-connection issue to the U.S. based Hotmail/MSN, Yahoo, etc. for some unexplained reasons from there.

[lipoppop]

We paid $100 for the four hour wireless package on the 5/9 crossing. Couldn't use our cabin -ss054 but the Erasmus lounge and library were good. Reception was spotty. Satellites lost for hours at a time.

Sometimes could receive e-mail but not send. Never figured that out.