Do you have enough internet time?

We are Diamond WC, and receive a usually healthy 480 internet minutes for a journey or sector, often with some extra time if registering soon after departure. It seems a lot to some, but in this day and age of everything being electronic, from banking to home security, there are occasions when a top up is really needed. Last year on the round trip from Southampton to the Caribbean on QV, to eek the entitlement over 24 days can be a challenge (which included my blog)! But, if you were on the QM2 doing a few nights longer but with NY on the itinerary x2, one would have the internet time topped up at each embarkation of new passengers.

It seems that the time has come for Cunard to reassess internet time for longer cruises, perhaps for those over 14 days. I assume those doing a 2 night voyage would get the same entitlement to those on a much longer cruise, which does seem a little unjust!

Does anyone else have the same thoughts as myself? I do hope someone from Cunard reads will read my post(chance being a fine thing), and rectifies this before the next QV Caribbean cruise in November.

Perhaps. Many other lines adjust perks for the length of the booking. I also am pretty sure that the double allocation on a RT crossing is due to the limitations of their system rather than generosity or planning by Cunard.

 

More importantly. Cunard needs a HUGE redo of their internet access in general. It's no longer competitive and no longer meets the needs and expectations of a growing number of passengers. It desperately needs to be sped up and they should look at other lines' pricing and usage options. (...Although I'm certain that the adjusted perk will not be more generous.)

Maybe I'm too young to understand but: isn't getting away from the Internet exactly the point why one roams the Seven Seas?

I'd rather have other freebies than Internet access.

Nice font, by the way.

As much as one may want to "unplug" for seven days or longer there are many who need to keep in tough with family and job colleagues. I've probably wasted most of my 480 minutes just trying to log on - a process that gets progressively worse with each sailing. There was a thread earlier this year about QM2's internet where somebody with professional networking experience summed up the situation pretty comprehensively. The link to that post is here.

Three years ago, I decided not to use the internet for my emails whilst on holiday. I regretted that decision.

 

On my return, I found that I had over 1500 emails to wade through. It took a couple of days and of course, I started to get phone calls from people telling me that they had sent messages but had no reply.

 

After that debacle, I'm back to spending an hour a day on the internet, but usually very early, before most are awake, therefore the speeds seem okay.

 

Stewart

We are Diamond WC, and receive a usually healthy 480 internet minutes for a journey or sector, often with some extra time if registering soon after departure. It seems a lot to some, but in this day and age of everything being electronic, from banking to home security, there are occasions when a top up is really needed. Last year on the round trip from Southampton to the Caribbean on QV, to eek the entitlement over 24 days can be a challenge (which included my blog)! But, if you were on the QM2 doing a few nights longer but with NY on the itinerary x2, one would have the internet time topped up at each embarkation of new passengers.

It seems that the time has come for Cunard to reassess internet time for longer cruises, perhaps for those over 14 days. I assume those doing a 2 night voyage would get the same entitlement to those on a much longer cruise, which does seem a little unjust!

Does anyone else have the same thoughts as myself? I do hope someone from Cunard reads will read my post(chance being a fine thing), and rectifies this before the next QV Caribbean cruise in November.

 

I do not see why you would consider it is unfair, when someone on a two night voyage against someone on a longer voyage gets the same amount of free internet time.

 

It is free and offered by the Company to the particular guest who has reached that level of loyalty membership.

You can guarantee that if and when the Loyalty scheme is changed, everyone including those that want a change will be complaining.

Remember what happened to P&O Loyalty scheme when that changed !

With an offline email program you connect long enough to download the day's batch of messages, spend however long to read and reply, the connect again to send off your responses. This should consume at most 10 or 15 minutes a day of connect time if you connect during low use periods.

To answer your question: Yes, I have enough Internet time.

 

Being a diamond member, too, I never use up my minutes.

Further more, on my last cruise, I did not use a single minute.

 

Internet access is really a very low priority while being on the seas. (And everybody in and out of office knows that I am on vacation. Point. Not reachable. Away.)

 

Like Shuffleboard Dude I would rather see some other improvements if any.

I try to unplug and really spend no time on sites like Cruise Critic that are hobbies for me while on land. However, in this modern age, most of travel is organized and governed by the internet and one must keep on top of things at one's own peril. For instance, the time a landlord in London threatened to cancel my apartment booking if I did not get in touch immediately while I was on a Transatlantic. Panic time. And many travelers have real life situations at home (elderly and sick relatives, etc.) who need attention. The internet is not a frivolous thing for almost all of us. And then there are travelers younger than me, whom Cunard needs to attract in order to stay in business while we old people die out. And for younger people the internet is like oxygen. Unfortunately, as Blue Riband shared, the connectivity problem on Cunard is shared with other Carnival Corp. ships where the corporation has chosen to not invest in a better satellite connection. Not so with some other cruise corporations where investments have been made and things are improving.

I have more than enough internet time - 0.

 

340+ days a year I live "on the Internet" with email, desktop, laptop, iPads, phone. I think it does me good to chill out for a cruise.

 

Sure, I sometimes need access, and port wifi and/or (in Europe) mobile roaming provides.

 

I know some people _have_ to have permanent fast internet, but it's not as many people as those who think they do! ;-)

 

God help us if we end up with cruise ships full of people walking around glued to their phones - just like at home!

 

Stuart

"God help us if we end up with cruise ships full of people walking around glued to their phones - just like at home!

 

Stuart"

AMEN.

It’s a freebie. Use and be thankful..

 

 

David

The internet is not a frivolous thing for almost all of us. And then there are travelers younger than me, whom Cunard needs to attract in order to stay in business while we old people die out.

I always laugh when I see people talking about how the old folks are dying and they need the young to stay in business. There are "new" older people being created every day. ;p

I always laugh when I see people talking about how the old folks are dying and they need the young to stay in business. There are "new" older people being created every day. ;p

 

So true, but those new older people will have come of age during the time of the internet and will demand the service while they travel.

Having just read the replies to my post, it is obvious there are widely differing views and importance of internet connection!For us, we have the pleasure of being early retirees, and enjoy holidays both cruising and otherwise. We like to use the internet to keep in touch with the family as we do at home, and for other reasons: this is not a stress inducing past time reading commercial emails, as has been suggested. On longer vacations, one needs the internet, it is part of life.

I would just like to reply to a few posters.

Mark: You mentioned extra internet time available on QM2. Every time she docks with a turn around of pax, then a new internet account can be opened. Hence those from the UK going to the Caribbean have their time topped up in NY, and again on the return from the sun, in NY before the TA. The same happens on world cruises, at the end of sectors. For us it is 25 days to the Caribbean on 1 internet package.

Big Mac; I can understand your exasperation! If you have your own company the internet may be very important whilst at sea. We have met quite a few people who have this need.

BlueRiband; We have also found minutes just disappear, especially at the log-off process.

Pennbank; Not sure I agree with you, re fairness of minutes allocated!2 days compared with a long trip with many sea days, although it is gratuitous. After all, if you buy a FCD the OBC is given (in the UK) on days and cabin category/spend.

Underwater: Thanks for your comment, and certainly find using email off-line to have everything ready for sending, very useful.

tv24. You have some good points.

Whatever, am sure we will thoroughly enjoy the Caribbean round trip, being just as happy with a good book as the internet. Hopefully there will be some improvement in the near future. The internet is not going to go away, and a younger pax profile will increasingly expect this as part of the service.

The 4-hour free internet by virtue of being a Platinum member of the World Club is usually enough for my wife and I.

 

Jonathan

I've witnessed a passenger fly into a rage, after 4 days at sea, because she could not get a signal on her cellphone.

It wasn't a pretty sight, especially since it was at our collective supper table. Her parents didn't seem too bothered, though.

I've witnessed a passenger fly into a rage, after 4 days at sea, because she could not get a signal on her cellphone.

It wasn't a pretty sight, especially since it was at our collective supper table. Her parents didn't seem too bothered, though.

Internet addiction withdrawl...:evilsmile:

Didn't you just want to grab that phone and toss it overboard?

We were in the middle of the So Pacific when our house sold; we had been assured that there would be no one buying for several months but a good idea to make it available to view. What a panic trying to organize electrician, plumber, repairs as per the inspection and Fire Marshall reports with intermittent internet and extreme time zone change. We hope not to need it but will need to check in. For those not getting any free internet, where do they show the prices and packages available?

Try this thread

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2656190

Do Grill passengers get any free internet?

Not because of being a Grills passenger. The free internet time comes with your World Club status.

for example if you are Gold you get 1 hour of free internet.

On 6/10/2018 at 10:01 AM, cruiserking said:

The 4-hour free internet by virtue of being a Platinum member of the World Club is usually enough for my wife and I.

 

Jonathan

If you wife is also a Platinum member,  you and you wife actually have a total of 8 hours of free internet.   That's much more than we have ever needed on a TA crossing.

On 6/7/2018 at 3:00 PM, Wiltonian said:

I have more than enough internet time - 0.

 

340+ days a year I live "on the Internet" with email, desktop, laptop, iPads, phone. I think it does me good to chill out for a cruise.

 

Sure, I sometimes need access, and port wifi and/or (in Europe) mobile roaming provides.

 

I know some people _have_ to have permanent fast internet, but it's not as many people as those who think they do! 😉

 

God help us if we end up with cruise ships full of people walking around glued to their phones - just like at home!

 

Stuart

 

A lot of "need" to be online is actually "want."

 

I do check in with family and friends, but I haven't used my entire 480-minute allotment in a long time. Even when I was working, I would check email once a day in case there were questions/decisions that needed me, but I didn't "hover" over my team. I still check email every day or two, do a quick cull, mark things that I'll need to deal with after the trip, and handle anything that MUST be done right away. And then I spend my time enjoying my vacation. 

 

You said "God help us if we end up with cruise ships full of people walking around glued to their phones - just like at home!" and I have seen it. HAL has gone to unlimited packages. Three packages at three different price levels--just social networks, surfing the net, streaming. Their system is far superior to Cunard's. You can access the evening menus, daily programme, book tours and restaurants all from your in-cabin TV or from your device. The convenience is nice, but it feeds the electronic addiction. This winter on HAL I saw more people glued to their phones than I have ever seen before on a cruise. Watching people sitting facing the ocean and staring at a screen made me want to scream, "There's a whole WORLD out there, get off the #$%^&* phone and look at it!"

 

Edited August 27, 2019 by 3rdGenCunarder