Is Princess' Internet Service Really The Best?

It's 2016 and every time I cruise Princess, I get the impression (as I watch 100 minutes disappear while logging on/off) that there MUST be better wifi systems available considering the massive cruise ships being used by other lines.

I ran across a Crew Notice that spelled out their personal use of the internet which I attached below. I find it interesting they are required to avoid our higher use times, which might indicate a more delicate system.

So...anyone know if Princess is years behind or at the forefront and that's just as good as it can be:eek:

Internet access is available to crew members on all ships, either at the crew Internet Café or via Wi-Fi on your personal computer or mobile device. Portholes, our company intranet, and other Princess websites are accessible for free. However, there is a small, per-megabyte fee for general access to the Internet. Discounts are available during while ships are in port and during off-peak hours.

Internet access on board is provided via long-range satellite; so bandwidth is limited and data transmissions are slower than on land. Many of our ports in Alaska and the Caribbean have land-based antennas to provide faster connections when the ship is near these ports.

Please consider the following tips for better performance of the crew Wi-Fi network:

.Use the Internet at night when passengers are not online.

.Use the Internet while in port to take advantage of land-based connections, where offered.

.Avoid using the Internet on the first and last days of an itinerary when passengers are most often online.

.Load only one application or website at a time, with no other Web browser tabs/windows open, downloads in progress, or Web applications running.

.Avoid using the Internet when the ship is in heavy rain or snow.

.Disable automatic app or software updates of your computer and devices.

.Limit use of video calling services and other applications that use higher amounts of data.

.Use the low-bandwidth, mobile, or text-only versions of favorite websites.

For help and more information about the Crew Internet Service, please speak with the Internet Cafe Manager.

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Always find 6 am in the morning great time to use internet. Either most are sleeping or having breakfast.

Try Singapore for a little bit on internet speed. :)

Princess is pretty standard across cruise lines for Internet capabilities, middle of the road. RCI has - likely - the "Best" amongst mass market lines on the ships with Vroom interest, which is quite fast, good enough to stream video, etc., with minimal buffering or dropout. And allows multiple devices. Celebrity has also recently done a major upgrade on Internet to be similar to what RCI offers. Carnival's is a solid 2nd to those, especially with their several different levels/speeds you can purchase, ie just enough for email and social media or faster for full Web or fastest for streaming, etc. Princess comes in behind those with basically standard interest similar to what moat lines have had for years...yes, much slower during more peak hours, long load times, etc. Sufficient for keeping in contact but that's about it.

Must be a better way because a few years ago they wanted to charge more for some to get faster and better service. After a huge customer outrage the program seemed to have disappeared. Was not even brought out n the new ships when they came out. Princess is far from the best.

I have not had any experience on other cruise lines lately to compare it with. However our experience on the Regal earlier this month was extremely poor, in fact the poorest ever on any ship ever. It may have just been our cabin but it was sufficiently poor that I for the very first time ended up using the PC's in the internet café.

Ummm....no, there is no way that Princess is the best internet on the seas. Both Celebrity and DCL have better service, and DCL is much better priced.

On Disney, you pay by the mb, whether you choose to do a package or not. This means that you pay for your actual usage so that if their system is slow, the user is not penalized. That said, we found their in cabin wifi to be excellent and had no bad experiences around the ship.

Princess had overall slower speed and it varied with location around the ship. In cabin was "just OK." And since you are paying by the minute, if it is slow, that's on you...not on Princess.

I was on the Regal this Spring for TA + Baltic, didn't find the internet an issue in internet café. I use their computers, nothing of my own. Many people were having trouble bringing up email accounts but my account through a small, local phone company, no issues. People near me were surprised but most had large, well known providers! :D

When I was on RCI, I could use their computers to access email (Med + TA) but didn't like the restriction when you could use your "free" minutes. Princess doesn't have a time frame, RCI gives you minutes but to be used in a 24 hour period, doesn't make sense.

Must be a better way because a few years ago they wanted to charge more for some to get faster and better service. After a huge customer outrage the program seemed to have disappeared. Was not even brought out n the new ships when they came out. Princess is far from the best.

I'll take Princess internet any day over Carnival. I happened to be on the only working computer on the Carnival Legend. I paid $25 for as much use I could get out of a 24/hr period. It was Memorial Day and I printed out our boarding pass. All the other computers had a blank screen or no one was getting anywhere in printing out their boarding passes. So, I sat there for 3-4 hours printing out passengers boarding passes. I saved the passengers $$$ and I looked at it as doing community service for the day since Carnival wasn't willing to fix the problem. Princess at least has crew at the Internet Cafe to help people out.

Price is included with cruise fare. Was able to use Google Hangout for video conference, no lag, instant response.

I'll take Princess internet any day over Carnival. I happened to be on the only working computer on the Carnival Legend. I paid $25 for as much use I could get out of a 24/hr period. It was Memorial Day and I printed out our boarding pass. All the other computers had a blank screen or no one was getting anywhere in printing out their boarding passes. So, I sat there for 3-4 hours printing out passengers boarding passes. I saved the passengers $$$ and I looked at it as doing community service for the day since Carnival wasn't willing to fix the problem. Princess at least has crew at the Internet Cafe to help people out.

I'm confused and curious. How did you get on the ship to get to the Internet Cafe without having the boarding pass?

Boarding passes for flight I guess

Price is included with cruise fare. Was able to use Google Hangout for video conference, no lag, instant response.

Are you talking about on Princess? I have never heard of internet being included in the price of the cruise. Unless you are referring to the Platinum/Elite internet benefit?

Are you talking about on Princess? I have never heard of internet being included in the price of the cruise. Unless you are referring to the Platinum/Elite internet benefit?

In the header title it said "Viking Ocean".

Hi Mark - Believe me, Celebrity's Xcellerate is SO much faster than Princess', it's incredible! What a difference! I was really shocked. Hopefully, Princess will catch up.

Like I said above, Celebrity and DCL have much better internet than Princess.

Celebrity costs are about the same as Princess and are priced per minute, but the service is seriously faster.

Disney service is better and priced by mb used rather than minute.

No way no how does Princess have the best internet. Other lines are investing heavily in high speed.

It's 2016 and every time I cruise Princess, I get the impression (as I watch 100 minutes disappear while logging on/off) that there MUST be better wifi systems available considering the massive cruise ships being used by other lines.

 

I ran across a Crew Notice that spelled out their personal use of the internet which I attached below. I find it interesting they are required to avoid our higher use times, which might indicate a more delicate system.

 

So...anyone know if Princess is years behind or at the forefront and that's just as good as it can be:eek:

 

 

 

Internet access is available to crew members on all ships, either at the crew Internet Café or via Wi-Fi on your personal computer or mobile device. Portholes, our company intranet, and other Princess websites are accessible for free. However, there is a small, per-megabyte fee for general access to the Internet. Discounts are available during while ships are in port and during off-peak hours.

 

Internet access on board is provided via long-range satellite; so bandwidth is limited and data transmissions are slower than on land. Many of our ports in Alaska and the Caribbean have land-based antennas to provide faster connections when the ship is near these ports.

 

Please consider the following tips for better performance of the crew Wi-Fi network:

 

.Use the Internet at night when passengers are not online.

.Use the Internet while in port to take advantage of land-based connections, where offered.

.Avoid using the Internet on the first and last days of an itinerary when passengers are most often online.

.Load only one application or website at a time, with no other Web browser tabs/windows open, downloads in progress, or Web applications running.

.Avoid using the Internet when the ship is in heavy rain or snow.

.Disable automatic app or software updates of your computer and devices.

.Limit use of video calling services and other applications that use higher amounts of data.

.Use the low-bandwidth, mobile, or text-only versions of favorite websites.

 

For help and more information about the Crew Internet Service, please speak with the Internet Cafe Manager.

 

 

.

No way , Oasis and Allure are the best.

Hi Mark - Believe me, Celebrity's Xcellerate is SO much faster than Princess', it's incredible! What a difference! I was really shocked. Hopefully, Princess will catch up.

Hi, nice to hear from you and I see you are enjoying lots of high seas adventures? It would be fun to share a balcony rail with you and your family again!

I am thou somewhat surprised Princess operates in this "Technologically" modern cruise market without having one of the best onboard WiFi-etc-etc systems afloat. It's not like they are marketing to OFF-GRID passengers:eek:

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As others have posted Princess lags seriously behind on this....We just used Celebrity's Xcellerate for the 1st time last month. It was very fast and easy to log on, by the looks of pax walking around at sea using wifi on their smart phones I would bet that there were easily 1000 people or more online at any given time as most just kept it on with their phones, there was also a separate crew wifi so they didn't have to compete with the pax.....I was very impressed with it and hopefully Princess will get on board soon....it can't be that big of a deal to install either as X installs it in 1 day on a turnover day, Solstice had it installed in Vancouver when they arrived from down under....

In the header title it said "Viking Ocean".

Gotcha, thanks. Tapatalk doesn't like to display headers.

No way no how does Princess have the best internet. Other lines are investing heavily in high speed.

That is for darn sure.....:):):)

Bob

I'm confused and curious. How did you get on the ship to get to the Internet Cafe without having the boarding pass?

I don't understand where you are confused. I said I'd take Princess Internet any day over Carnival. We were recently on the Carnival Legend whose internet sucked. Princess is much faster, and there's an internet manager available on Princess. Only comparing the two. Where did the boarding pass in your mind come into being? I'm confused too!:eek:

I don't understand where you are confused. I said I'd take Princess Internet any day over Carnival. We were recently on the Carnival Legend whose internet sucked. Princess is much faster, and there's an internet manager available on Princess. Only comparing the two. Where did the boarding pass in your mind come into being? I'm confused too!:eek:

Perhaps their confusion came in with printing boarding passes foe yourselves and others - and didn't specify airline boarding passes the day before flights. And somehow, the confusion may have been that they thought you meant the Carnival boarding pass rather than airline, ie how could you board Carnival without boarding pass/setsail pass, etc.. Best I can figure anyways.

I got what you said no probs. Only point of order I saw was that Princess IT folks are only available on some hours so any problems oitside those hours has the same issue as Carnival without IT folks to help guests... Otherwise, totally agree.

Right now, RCIs Vroom and Celebrity's Xcellerate (both only began this recent spring, so only a very few months in) are top notch for the mass market lines - everyone else is way behind. Upmarket lines likely have better service, but then again they also don't have the passenegrs and crew loads of most mass market ships, so trade off.

Either way, Princess works OK for what we do onboard - check email and a bit of social media. Anymore than that and we do what we need to in port. We're not big streamers, etc so no big deal to us either way.

I find it interesting they are required to avoid our higher use times, which might indicate a more delicate system.

A tip for better performance is not a requirement.

Crew is also charged at different rates depending on time-of-day, etc.

Like long distance in the old days.

For instance, in-port pricing is cheaper.

This thread has a strange title.