Mercruiser

Thanks for the report, especially from such a remote location. Glad to hear the WiFi is improved

I have a small favor to ask. Could a couple folks on this cruise let us know how well the Azamara Internet (Wi-Fi) is working? You are on a unique itinerary, and some of us would be interested to see how well it works around Brazil and during the TA part of the trip. Here is a link to the thread where you can respond please: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2923906-azamara-internet-wi-fi-with-starlink-how-well-does-it-work/?do=getNewComment Given all the photos in this thread, you must have good Internet, but I'm not sure if it's Azamara or if you have been using cellular data in port. I'm enjoying reading about the Rio cruise a lot. I've had my eye on this itinerary.

We look forward to hearing how it works in the Canaries.

Speaking for my DW, she rarely has pockets, but she always has her phone.

The technical breakthrough for middle-of-the-ocean communications is the space lasers installed on the newer satellites. Yes, I know this sounds like something from James Bond's Moonraker, but it's true. Lasers are used create a space-based mesh network between satellites, while radio is used for satellite-to-ground (or ocean) communications. (Sorry to nerd-out here.) Source: https://www.inverse.com/science/spacex-starlink-launch-mission-details (Red emphasis mine.) Starlink blasted its first satellites in May 2019, and as of December 2022 had conducted 67 successful launches. In 2021, Starlink began equipping satellites with lasers that ping data around the constellation rather than sending it back and forth to Earth, reducing the need for ground stations. “Laser links in orbit can reduce long-distance latency by as much as 50 percent, due to higher speed of light in vacuum & shorter path than undersea fiber,” Musk tweeted in July 2021. These nifty lasers allow the company to serve all seven continents — in 2022, Starlink ran a test in Antarctica with the United States National Science Foundation’s McMurdo Station.

100Mbps is pretty amazing anywhere, but especially is such a remote location. Thanks for reporting on this!

I'm glad to be seeing some first-hand reports of Starlink performance on a TA. It is sounding very good. Now it will be interesting to see how it does at extreme northern (Norway, Alaska, Iceland) and southern (Patagonia, Falklands, South Shetlands Islands Antarctica) latitudes.

On Onward, they seem to be available if you ask, but are not publicized. I was at the customer service desk (asking about OBC) when I overheard a lady passenger asking if bridge tours were available. She wanted to sign up a tour for her husband. The agent said yes, and signed him up on the spot. Was that you Gardendog? I'll speculate that they are offered to VIPs. Ordinary folks, like me, need to ask.

I am wondering why Silversea's internet speed was so disappointing. Azamara Onward is having very good results with Starlink. See: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2923906-azamara-internet-wi-fi-with-starlink-how-well-does-it-work/#comment-65011230

I'm glad the captain made this happen for you. I went down to the customer service desk and was told no port gate shuttles.

And another: "Internet on trans-Atlantic Onward has been great for us. Not perfect, but WAY better than the internet on Nov. trans-Atlantic!" https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2812089-anybody-onboard-currently/?do=findComment&comment=64980717

Here is a report from an Azamara Onward TA that might be of interest: Note that Azamara Onward normally has 600 passengers max. A Cunard ship will be sharing the internet speed with way more passengers.

Here is another report from a different thread. 94 Mbps down, 8 Mbps up https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2870465-internet-question/?do=findComment&comment=64859055

Ship: Onward Cruise: Feb 12, 2023 Lima to Miami Location: Cozumel Time: 8:32 pm We recently were on Onward's Feb 12 Lima Peru to Miami (Panama canal) cruise. I thought the internet speeds were consistently great. Here is one screen capture from speedtest.net showing 6 Mbps down and 15 Mbps up, as recorded at the dock in Cozumel. 15 Mbps upload is faster than what I have at home! This is significant, because your phone will attempt to upload all the pictures you took, whenever it has Wi-Fi. Imagine what happens when 600 cruisers all return to the ship after a day of sightseeing. All those phones will try to upload photos to Google Photos or Apple iCloud. For comparison, the slowest home internet package from Xfinity (Comcast) is 75 Mbps download and 10 Mbps upload. But, on a ship, you are sharing the internet with the other passengers.

Now that Azamara has installed the new Starlink satellite internet on several ships, assorted posts are asking how well it performs compared to the previous internet. Maybe it makes sense to have a thread where folks report the speeds they are experiencing. I am particularly interested on how it does in remote areas such at Trans-Atlantic crossings and polar regions (Iceland, Norway, Alaska, Antarctic). The easiest way to do this, while on ship, is open speedtest.net on your phone, run the test, and post a screen capture. See example in my next post.

We were on the Onward, Feb 12, Lima to Miami cruise. It had an overnight in Lima before proceeding to Salaverry Peru. Azamara ran a free shuttle to/from the Inka Market in Miraflores (about 30 - 45 minutes travel time). This was great if you wanted to explore the Miraflores area on your own. Azamara also ran the normal ship sponsored excursions. Independent excursions were a bit of a challenge. Lima (Callao) is a very industrial port, with no passenger facilities whatsoever. For our cruise, there was no way to get to the port gate. Independent travelers could only go to Miraflores, as mentioned above. This messed up anyone who was planning to take an independent tour that would pick them up at the port.

I am hoping we start hearing some reports on how Starlink does on a TA. Azamara Onward recently completed a Miami to Tenerife Spain TA crossing. Here is the one report I can find on CC for Onward: "Internet on trans-Atlantic Onward has been great for us. Not perfect, but WAY better than the internet on Nov. trans-Atlantic!" Source:

My Starlink experience on Azamara Onward, last month, was really impressive. This was on a Lima Peru to Miami cruise. The speeds were great everywhere along the route. But, we were always close to land. I don't think Starlink will work well in the middle of the ocean (I could explain why, but it gets into technical details about ground station uplinks.) Here is a thread about the Starlink speeds. See the last post. I was getting similar speeds on my cruise. The Starlink equipment install does not need a drydock. It's actually very compact - especially compared to the legacy satellite dishes on most ships. Google "Starlink Maritime" if you want to know more.

We were on Onward last week, Feb 12 - Feb 28, Lima to Miami. I thought Onward was in great condition. The interior looks mostly brand-new. The assistant cruise director said that Princess basically trashed the interior when they laid up Pacific Princess for Covid. Princess stored all kinds of junk inside the ship. As a result, Azamara had to replace or refinish almost everything you see in the interior. IMHO, the result looks very good. A couple of niggles that had absolutely no impact on our enjoyment of the cruise: 1) They painted over the Pacific Princess white hull with Azamara blue. Some of the blue paint is coming off, especially at the waterline, showing the white paint underneath. Looks like a bad paint job. 2) They replaced the fans on the pool deck, underneath the jogging track. They look like some cheap POS that you might buy from a liquidation store for $20 each - not something I would want on my home, let alone a moving ship. The fans are already broken and inoperative. This fan is supposed to have four blades. It only has three. If you turned it on, it would vibrate so bad as to be a hazard to passengers below.

I am interested in this as well.

I am on Onward right now. I agree that this new Starlink Maritime system is very fast. I will be interested to hear from Scots Caz, and others how it does on a Trans Atlantic. When near land, Starlink satellites talk to the nearest ground-based uplink station. This has been the way Starlink has worked since launch for the home, business, and RV programs. The new feature of Starlink Maritime is new satellites that can talk to each other, until they reach a satellite in range of a ground station.This is important for remote Internet far away from land, like a TA journey. (Sorry to nerd-out here. It's an occupational hazard for electrical engineers.)

Here is a photo of the outlets in my Onward cabin. The hair dryer in the cabin uses the UK outlet. There is also a European outlet in the bathroom.

I'm on Onward now. On boarding day they set up the Aqualina/Prime C/Chefs Table booking desk right outside of Windows on the pool deck. I just went up to Windows on embarkation and asked, and they pointed the way. Subsequently, it's been just inside the entrance to Windows. Chefs Table bookings are NOT sold out on this 16-N cruise. They put a flyer in our room advertising open dates for Chefs Table.

Maybe for you, but not everyone in the world is the same. Wouldn't it be a very boring world if everyone was the same? Our adult children and us thoroughly enjoy sharing pictures with each other in real time during our trips.

MP opened Sunday Feb 12. Source is Notocias en Cusco on FB.