Unlimited Internet Coming to Carnival!

I heard that they tried an "Umlimited Internet" package on the Carnival Magic... This has to be a rumor, no?

And if true, does anyone know if they have they rolled this out on any other ships?

Thanks!

No rumor. They were piloting it on the Magic. A few weeks ago it appears to have been on the Dream too as a CC member was doing a "Live" review from the Dream and spoke about the two packages.

It hasn't been rolled out to all the ships yet. When I was on the Sensation and Freedom earlier this month they had the standard X minutes for X dollars.

Oh cool, im on the Dream on Dec 1 (9 days baby! lol), i hope they have it. Any idea what the cost was?

Oh cool, im on the Dream on Dec 1 (9 days baby! lol), i hope they have it. Any idea what the cost was?

They have two levels. $40 is unlimited slow speed (like dial up supposedly) and $100 is unlimited high speed. I haven't heard what the actual speeds are though but I'm told the $40 is like browsing forums, reading stuff online, and the $100 would be like Facebook, uploading pictures, etc.

I'm on the Breeze in January and if they have it by then I may do the $40 so that I can do a day by day review of the cruise to post on here. I will add some pictures and if it takes 30 minutes to upload, I'll let it.

So does this mean the Dream does have it or just a trial?

I am using it on Magic now. The high speed is blazing fast once it connects (5-7 second delay when starting a new app or web page). I have used it several times to stream Netflix for the kiddos. It is $100 for the week.

I don't see how the ship's WiFi can support a couple thousand folks streaming movies.

I'm sure they have multiple routers serving the ship and the Internet access is satellite which has bad latency but great bandwidth (high speeds, but slow initial connection). Should have no trouble servicing people.

We were on Magic in September and knew before hand what the options would be. I had never used internet on board because I'm not desperate to be connected. I did decide to take the $40 pkg: unlimited use for one device. My partner signed up for the $100 plan; unlimited use, unlimited number of devices. I think we both had the same amount of bandwidth available. For my Kindle Fire, I had no problems downloading books and magazines, surfing, playing words with friends, email, whatever. My partner used his smart phone, laptop, Kindle and netbook. He said he had great speed. It was the 1st time I used the internet on board and I did enjoy having it available, but if it cost more than $40 for unlimited, I would do without. On the other hand, my partner usually spends much more than the $100 he was charged. So, he did some comparison shopping online and decided to apply his savings to a nice new Citizen's watch from the the ship's duty free shop.

I'm hoping they'll someday sell their UNLIMITED INTERNET at the same price Starbucks, McDonalds, and numerous other restaurants do around So Cal. :rolleyes:

So does this mean the Dream does have it or just a trial?

Dream does have it!

I'm hoping they'll someday sell their UNLIMITED INTERNET at the same price Starbucks, McDonalds, and numerous other restaurants do around So Cal. :rolleyes:

 

In all seriousity, I am dubious about the "high speed" part. I do not believe for a second that they have installed the infrastructure necessary to support anything with performance superior to a 286 processor connected to a 300 bps modem. :eek:

Just off the Dream last week and I had the 39.99 slow package..it worked okay...for what I needed...checking facebook...news sites....email..on my ipad...it was slow...but for that price slow was okay...as long as I could stay connected:D

Now...hoping they will have it on the Glory in June!!

Anyone know if they have this on the Splendor now? We sail the 9th of December and DH has to stay connected to work even on vacation. GGGRRRRRR

They are also supposed to be (finally) adding webcams to the rest of the fleet.

They are also supposed to be (finally) adding webcams to the rest of the fleet.

Does that mean they will also be fixing the ones in place now so they work? LOL

It's on the Magic and the Dream now. John Heald posted on FB a few days back that it would be coming to the Breeze and Glory in December, with plans eventually to roll it out to the fleet.

According to reports I've read, the "high speed" is roughly DSL speed, which is significantly faster than what they've had in the past. The "low speed" is basically what they had previously.

Having done some work with satellite internet providers and knowing what's up there and how things are being changed, my strong suspicion is the "high speed" is a multiplex of satellite connections and higher speed long range ship to shore radio. The satellite providers are slowly launching new higher speed satellites, and supplementing them with shore point communications at pretty good ranges. All of that reduces cost while increasing speed.

I was a bit surprised to see it NOW, though, as a lot of the infrastructure to do this is brand-spanking new and much of it is still being worked on. I figured we might start seeing something like this starting in around 2015 when the Caribbean is fully wired and the new satellites are launched, but they jumped the gun. I'm betting they're dealing with more than one provider and negotiated some sweet deals to get this up and running early -- who knows, maybe they've invested in some of the infrastructure companies themselves.

As for the person above who was hoping for more or less free internet pretty much all of the satellite providers right now charge based on data throughput, and it thus costs a whole lot of money for any cruise line to supply internet at sea. Looking at the trends, I can foresee a time when internet, even at sea, will become inexpensive enough for cruise lines to make it a free-for-everyone perk, but I don't see that happening anytime in the 10-15 years at least. You'll probably see it as a frequent cruiser perk before then, though.

Carnival gets big kudos from me just by being willing to try this out at the prices they are today. Odds are good that they have to sell a LOT of these plans on a ship to break even - and if they have some data hogs (and there will be) on the ship, they might not break even at that.

From my point of view, $99 is a pittance to pay for internet for a week at sea - and will be a huge benefit to me, personally, as it will mean I'll be able to cruise *much* more often. I'm just crossing my fingers that "December" for the Breeze means right away, as I'm cruising on the Breeze on Dec 2. I could *really* use this then. :D

I honestly have no need for internet while I am on a vacation. Unless I have children at home (and I don't) or a sick family member, There is no need for me to connect with facebook, email, ect. I am on a vacation. I will catch up with all that when I get home.

I honestly have no need for internet while I am on a vacation. Unless I have children at home (and I don't) or a sick family member, There is no need for me to connect with facebook, email, ect. I am on a vacation. I will catch up with all that when I get home.

That's the great thing about options, what one person would never use, the next person would love to have.

Its nice that the cruise lines are offering options to cruisers.

Always better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.

You know *THAT* will never happen. That would be like the crack dealers giving away their product for free. Once you have them hooked, you own them forever, and price doesn't matter to the end-user.

 

In all seriousity, I am dubious about the "high speed" part. I do not believe for a second that they have installed the infrastructure necessary to support anything with performance superior to a 286 processor connected to a 300 bps modem. :eek:

Nobody thought Walt Disney World would ever offer wifi either. But it rolled out and has been a huge perk that has brought them plenty of customer good will. I would not be surprised if it does happen eventually.

We were just off the Dream on the 17th. I had the unlimited internet for $39.99. It worked great for us from our cabin. We had two grand-daughters with, and I was able to send updates and pictures everyday. This was one of the best values onboard! Loved it!!

Nobody thought Walt Disney World would ever offer wifi either. But it rolled out and has been a huge perk that has brought them plenty of customer good will. I would not be surprised if it does happen eventually.

Did WDW ever charge for wifi????

Its pretty easy for a company on land to offer free wifi..especially if it was never a profitable revenue stream

High end hotels have no problem charging obscene amounts for Internet access.

Just off the Dream last week and I had the 39.99 slow package..it worked okay...for what I needed...checking facebook...news sites....email..on my ipad...it was slow...but for that price slow was okay...as long as I could stay connected:D

 

Now...hoping they will have it on the Glory in June!!

Perr JH facebook "New high speed internet will arrive on Carnival Glory, Carnival Breeze next month." It is then to be added to other ships as well. Currently price is $100 unlimited per week.

So is there a time line for the rest of the fleet? I am going to be on the Triumph in 89 days and it would be awesome to be able to keep in contact with my family back here without paying an arm and a leg for it.