Wifi

When is Seabourn introducing free Wifi? Other luxury lines, such as Regent and I understand Crystal already do so. Although if you are Gold you get 3 hours free per voyage, but that's not much and very mean.

Onboard internet is a very lucrative source of revenue for cruise companies. You pay in a week what your terrestrial supplier charges for a year.

Up to now there has been very limited capacity, hence the slow speeds. That is changing. Royal Caribbean quote their recently launched Quantum of the Seas as having more bandwidth than all the other cruise ships on the planet combined. They charge around $190 per week for unlimited access.

At the moment there isn't sufficient capacity to open it up fully for free and there is massive investment required to improve the situation. Carnival will surely follow Royal Caribbean's lead and come up with their own solution which will trickle down to Seabourn.

For the moment it is a good loyalty reward to offer regular cruisers. Sadly I don't even get the 15 minute check an email voucher and so don't bother.

Will we ever see free wi-if on Seabourn? I'm sure we will eventually but I think it's some way off. It might be offered as a booking incentive in lieu of price reductions and that would be quite smart providing loyal cruisers don't feel sold out.

But for the moment I wouldn't hold your breath.

Henry :)

When is Seabourn introducing free Wifi? Other luxury lines, such as Regent and I understand Crystal already do so. Although if you are Gold you get 3 hours free per voyage, but that's not much and very mean.

I highly suggest you read the fine print for the Regent and Crystal offerings. Last I checked the free inet was limited to certain cruises, and/or certain category cabins, and/or certain frequent cruiser categories.

Crystal's 'free' costs money http://www.crystalcruises.com/guidebook/benefits-program--43?JL=349&JLT=wifi#jl

Some of Regents fine print:

FREE

WIFI THROUGHOUT THE SHIP†

IN CONCIERGE SUITES AND HIGHER

So, no, neither is offering truly free internet.

At home you can have a firehose for an internet connection. At sea you usually have a garden hose. Now imagine everyone on the ship trying to get water from that hose at the same time. Besides making money for the line it currently isn't practical (or desirable for the end user) to have everyone online 24/7 at sea. Time will tell how well the new system on the RC ship works out.

I'm not sure where the mean comment comes from.:confused:

Agree completely. Plus Seabourn has the most reasonable rated for internet of any line i know of.

 

I'm not sure where the mean comment comes from.:confused:

I suspect when compared to terrestrial internet offerings such as hotels.

You and I both know there is a huge difference between plugging into a hole the the wall and looking to the heavens. I looked into marine internet recently for my own boat and you need to be sitting down when it comes to cost.

It will change but we aren't there yet. The Royal Caribbean / O3b service centres around the equator and 45 degrees either side. It's early days.

I still remember when a mobile phone cost thousands of pounds, came with a 3 year contract and call charges were akin to international roaming charges today.

Henry :)

I suspect when compared to terrestrial internet offerings such as hotels.

 

You and I both know there is a huge difference between plugging into a hole the the wall and looking to the heavens. I looked into marine internet recently for my own boat and you need to be sitting down when it comes to cost.

 

It will change but we aren't there yet. The Royal Caribbean / O3b service centres around the equator and 45 degrees either side. It's early days.

 

I still remember when a mobile phone cost thousands of pounds, came with a 3 year contract and call charges were akin to international roaming charges today.

 

Henry :)

Then there was the size/weight of the buggers;)

When is Seabourn introducing free Wifi? Other luxury lines, such as Regent and I understand Crystal already do so. Although if you are Gold you get 3 hours free per voyage, but that's not much and very mean.

Have you ever checked SB's loyalty program?

I highly suggest you read the fine print for the Regent and Crystal offerings. Last I checked the free inet was limited to certain cruises, and/or certain category cabins, and/or certain frequent cruiser categories.

 

Crystal's 'free' costs money http://www.crystalcruises.com/guidebook/benefits-program--43?JL=349&JLT=wifi#jl

I think Crystal's free Internet looks fairly generous. A passenger qualifies as soon as they've taken their first cruise and it applies to both passengers in a stateroom. A passenger gets one hour free for each day of the cruise, so for instance, on a 10-day cruise you would have 20 hours free if there are two of you in the stateroom. Those 20 hours can be used at anytime during the cruise. After that yes, one would pay for additional hours.

Thanks for the info