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anadi
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Two weeks until our upcoming cruise on the Star Pride! Just a few questions for those who have purchased internet packages on any Windstar cruise recently. I have a package thru Verizon for use off the ship, but given the time differences, internet on-board is much better timing.

1. Can a package purchased on-board (have a ton of onboard credit to use) be shared between more than 1 device? Reading on the website, it says 1 device, however, does this just mean 1 device signed on at a time? 2 of us would like to share an unlimited package, or at the very least I would like the option of using either my phone or tablet.

 

2. How is the internet for using Facebook messenger, posting pictures to Facebook or by email, and possibly playing an on-lline game like Yahtzee (Facebook to communicate instead of texting, Yahtzee late at night when everyone else is asleep and I am wide awake!).

 

Thank you so much!

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We share one log on. Sometimes we can both log on at once but mostly one at a time. The service is slow and sometimes barely equivalent of 3g, better in port. Facebook posts slow. No way to play online games. Suggest you just enjoy the cruise and mostly unplug. Also don't make mistake of seeing if you can catch a signal when passing close to land. You'll likely get snagged by an ONWAVES or some other signal and you'll get billed by Verizon in addition to your overseas plan. Best time to catch up with the world (if you must) is wifi in a restaurant or port building but make sure your security is tight. Best advice, just enjoy the cruise and let go. And you might be surprised how well you sleep on board. I also am awake all night at home but not on the water. You can always go to the bridge and be entertained by duty officer!

 

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If you book unlimited internet package prior to the cruise, it's $250 and available for 2 devices. If you buy it onboard, same price ($250) buy only available for one device. Speed is slow but like you, we had tons of onboard credits, so we used them to buy internet, laundry and bev packages.

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We did not buy internet on our Legend cruise as we found it grossly over priced even compared to other cruise lines. Normally I would just suck it up and pay, but for some reason WS charges a premium for internet and I could not justify the cost. Depends on the itinerary though, and availability of wifi off ship.

 

 

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Problem is if you book online you have to pay in real money. Booking on board you can use OBC. Unless you found a way around that.

 

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Problem is if you book online you have to pay in real money. Booking on board you can use OBC. Unless you found a way around that.

 

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Right, we need to use the OBC. Normally we would not get the internet package, but we have so much OBC to use! But still hoping to share it between 2 of us.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Internet prices are too high. At $250 a week per device, I pass on signing on. Service is slow. Ask crew where to find free wifi in ports. They know where to find free wifi, best shopping, and best restaurants. It's a shame that Windstar doesn't allow free wifi to crew. On my most recent cruises on other lines, the internet has been free for guests. In the competitive cruise industry, free wifi would be a good amenity.

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Just got off the Star Pride a few days ago (Spanish Serenade, Barcelona to Lisbon). We did use onboard credit to get the $120 internet package. It was definitely shareable, although sometimes would not connect well. 2 of us shared it and we were able to check and send email, although if an email (either sent or received) contained pictures, it often would not come up or send. If we had not had so much OBC, we probably would not have gotten it, however, it was useful for what we needed it for. Due to the time difference, it was handy tto have to use in the evening and night when it was actually daytime at home.

Some of the ports we stopped in had wifi right there where we disembarked. It was often VERY difficult to find in port at a restaurant, and we did NOT see any internet cafes anywhere.

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Agree with Redtravel. Ask the crew or look around in town to see where they are hanging out. They know all the spots and happy to share as we are with them when we find a good spot.

 

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  • 1 year later...

Package TypePrecioThe Email Plan: 200 MB of data; recommended for guests

checking email but doing very limited browsing$60.00The Surfing Plan: 500 MB of data; recommended for additional

browsing and small file transfers (i.e. uploading pictures)$120.00Unlimited Internet (Pre-Purchase Package) - One ticket will be

issued onboard that is valid for two devices7 Day - $250.00

8 Day - $280.00

9 Day - $315.00

10 Day - $350.00

11 Day - $385.00

14 Day - $490.00

15 Day - $525.00Unlimited Internet (Purchased Onboard) - One ticket will be

issued onboard that is valid for one device7 Day - $250.00

8 Day - $280.00

9 Day - $315.00

10 Day - $350.00

11 Day - $385.00

14 Day - $490.00

15 Day - $525.00

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Windstar wifi is slow and too expensive. On my last Windsurf cruise, when I went to buy wifi, the guest relations crew suggested that I not buy it. They said that I would be upset with the slow speed. They told me where to find free wifi at each port. Saved $$$$. I was surprised that the crew had to pay for wifi. You will see crew in every port heading for the wifi hot spots. Most terminals have free fast wifi. When I sail on other lines, free wifi is included. Hotels usually have fast free wifi. Some airlines offer free wifi to people with status. It is about time for Windstar to include free wifi.

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Windstar is our number one choice for sailing and cruising on a truly small ship. Being off the grid is one of the pleasures of cruising. [Consider why you choose to go on a Windstar cruise] All inclusive pricing does not mean you received your "internet" services for FREE. We choose to pay for the unlimited package and it works fine. We do this because once we are in a port we want to maximize our time exploring, seeing and learning everything about a new part of the world. We do NOT want to spend time sitting in a coffee shop or cafe accessing "free" internet. TIME is valuable....everyone has to make their own choices. We do not believe that the unlimited internet package offered by Windstar is an excessive cost. [it actually is quite amazing how good the connection is given the remote regions of the world the Windstar ships travel to on its voyages! Using your onboard ship credit for this service seems to be a great choice!

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We have many friends who sail other lines and, other than the ones who pay for the high end suites, they all charge some fees for internet. The ones who are repeaters get some credits. We get brochures from all of the high end lines offering us "free" internet but their prices far exceed Windstar's for similar itineraries. What I'd like to see Windstar do is give credits based on loyalty points. It would be a nice perk. We have purchased internet when business needs required that we be in touch but for the most part, try to make do without or take care of a few things before and after touring. The connections have been ok in some areas, not so good in others. Unlimited is only necessary if you want to be on social media during your vacation or facetime. We care about neither when we travel so checking and answering email is low usage, low cost. It's different needs for everyone so there is no one answer. The cruise lines pay third parties for service and it's an added cost to them so of course they have to charge. It's not the same as checking into a land based hotel.

 

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Amazing!!!! What priorities guide people to worry about playing a Facebook game, laying in bed next to their partner late at night, rather than going up on deck, looking at the stars as enjoying the experience. I think it’s time for some to reassess priorities. Glad that’s not me.

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  • 1 month later...

Just another perspective- I own my business and when I'm away for two weeks, I simply do not have the option to 100% unplug. I need to access email at some point in the day to make sure there are no emergencies. This line of work grants me the ability to take this kind of cruise. It's not stressful to me and it has rarely ruined a trip. For me, it's one of life's necessities and I'm glad to go online for 20 minutes a day to have the freedom to travel.

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2 hours ago, TiffanyW said:

Just another perspective- I own my business and when I'm away for two weeks, I simply do not have the option to 100% unplug. I need to access email at some point in the day to make sure there are no emergencies. This line of work grants me the ability to take this kind of cruise. It's not stressful to me and it has rarely ruined a trip. For me, it's one of life's necessities and I'm glad to go online for 20 minutes a day to have the freedom to travel.

TiffanyW,

I have the same requirement for my business.  And when using an internet connection internationally, with limits based upon MBs rather than time, I have found a good alternative, especially related to email.  All of my mail only goes to my "always-on" desktop computer at my office.  I then use RemotePC to access my office computer.   Then I am not using bandwidth to pull mail and I am using only about 20% of the usual needed MBs to review what is there.  FYI: RemotePC is less than $100 a year.  I had GoToMyPC for years, but they priced themselves out of the market this year.  Hope this info helps.

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40 minutes ago, Del Rio said:

TiffanyW,

I have the same requirement for my business.  And when using an internet connection internationally, with limits based upon MBs rather than time, I have found a good alternative, especially related to email.  All of my mail only goes to my "always-on" desktop computer at my office.  I then use RemotePC to access my office computer.   Then I am not using bandwidth to pull mail and I am using only about 20% of the usual needed MBs to review what is there.  FYI: RemotePC is less than $100 a year.  I had GoToMyPC for years, but they priced themselves out of the market this year.  Hope this info helps.

This is a great tip! Thank you so much for sharing. I'll def do that.

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18 hours ago, TiffanyW said:

Just another perspective- I own my business and when I'm away for two weeks, I simply do not have the option to 100% unplug. I need to access email at some point in the day to make sure there are no emergencies. This line of work grants me the ability to take this kind of cruise. It's not stressful to me and it has rarely ruined a trip. For me, it's one of life's necessities and I'm glad to go online for 20 minutes a day to have the freedom to travel.

Ditto me. While is isn't my own business, I'm responsible for about 200 people working within my departments, and many millions of budget dollars. We have a public face, so any variety of public services issues, including police reports, need tending to, and they sometimes need my advice on policy. While they tend to leave me along, I can't be completely unplugged. Mrs. Milepig and I have reached a compromise - we each get 30 minutes in the morning to be online, I tend to go up top and grab some coffee, she works in the cabin. We can again go online before "cocktail hour". That's it. It works for us.

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My experience has been that the 1 device internet package purchased on board is really just 1 device at a time. We were told when we purchased it that once we logged in from another device the original device was logged off.

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We purchase internet because of the need to promptly read and return business emails.  If purchased more than a week before the cruise, its 2 devices for the price of 1. I didn't find the internet on the Windsurf that slow...especially very early in the morning. Not sure about VPN access.

Edited by SMNYCruise
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  • 1 month later...

Just about to book the internet package for 2 for our Singapore Bali trip on the legend - We had the wifi on the windsurf and found it did the job for emails most of the time - Question is the equipment on the legend of similar speed/availablity?

Like others have said we too need get our real world fix every day and can'y unplug 100% just wonder what the cell phone cover is in the shipping lanes given its fairly close to the coast?

Any one traveled this route before? 

 

 

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8 hours ago, grada289 said:

Just about to book the internet package for 2 for our Singapore Bali trip on the legend - We had the wifi on the windsurf and found it did the job for emails most of the time - Question is the equipment on the legend of similar speed/availablity?

Like others have said we too need get our real world fix every day and can'y unplug 100% just wonder what the cell phone cover is in the shipping lanes given its fairly close to the coast?

Any one traveled this route before? 

 

 

 

With our global plan we do just fine using cell phone data access in most places. It certainly works 100% when you're in port and very often whenever you're close to land. For many areas that's much of the time. Just be sure to disallow the OnWaves carrier or you'll be in for a big shock when the warning about using a ton of paid access start to come. On most days we had access from when we woke up in the morning until a fair amount of time after we left port in the evening, a window of maybe 12 hours without access, 8 of which you're sleeping, worked for us. As long as I can get my email fix in the morning and evening I'm good to go.

 

We had no included data in French Polynesia, so I did get the unlimited WS package. Access was indeed spotty, and on several occasions I almost threw my device overboard, but once things got sorted out I mostly made it work. When you get your access code on boarding they'll also give you a list of things they suggest you turn off. While that is aimed at people who are paying as they go, I also used it to turn off all my stuff that goggles data, and it seemed to help. Hint: write down what you changed so you can reverse it later. The biggies were auto app updating, cloud backup, and I deleted my trash. To help with lag in loading full messages, I increased my preview to 5 lines, which helped me know which emails I could ignore. I had a lot of trouble with emails I thought I'd deleted coming back to life like zombies and when it took you 20 minutes to delete a hundred messages doing it a second or third time becomes a real pain. The answer for me was the sit on my hands and wait before starting to read things. Let the phone say "completed" and then close the inbox and reopen it a couple times, if it is still saying "completed" then you're probably OK to delete stuff. Even so, I'd delete a few at a time, close the inbox and then reopen to be sure the stuff stayed deleted.

 

The biggest annoyance is that even with the prepaid plan they make you log back in like every 10 minutes. It is indeed two devices at a time, so with only the two of us that was fine.

 

The technique we used to only allow wifi access was to:

 

turn off wifi

then put the phone into airplane mode

then turn wifi back on and log into the WS port -

 

there are several ports around the ship and I needed to be sure I chose the one closest to where I currently was - Veranda, Pool Bar, etc. Each level of cabins had several options to try. Sometimes it would connect automatically and sometimes it wouldn't/

Edited by milepig
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