Campaign for free wifi on all RCCL ships?

[AtlantaAlly]

I should also say there is an exception for small business owners, because I used to be one. But hey- at least you can write it off!

[A&L_Ont]

Deleted

Edited May 7, 2014 by A&L_Ont

[davenew]

It'll never happen. Some of those internet packages are sooo expensive and lots of people buy them because they can't bear to go a few days without being plugged in. It's too much of a money-maker.

Totally agree - who would give away a main source of income in this techno world we live in. certainly not RCCL:D

[krisko]

I like no internet for a few days to a week. If you're successful in getting free wifi, please don't tell my kids!

[poncho1973]

Yes!

 

I also vote for free booze on all Royal ships!

I also vote for free cruises on all Royal ships!

 

Hooray for freedom! Pew pew pew pew pew pew!

[BobnJac]

Yes!

 

I also vote for free booze on all Royal ships!

I also vote for free cruises on all Royal ships!

 

Hooray for freedom! Pew pew pew pew pew pew!

 

Lay off the booze or whatever substances you are taking, welcome to the real world.

[reedl]

There is a big difference between the cost of providing Internet access from a static land based hotel with access to many different Internet providers and providing Internet access from a moving ship that must tract a satellite (or drag a very long cord behind it).

This is quite correct. A land based 50 Mbps internet connection is usually under $200 a month. OTOH a satellite based internet connection is MUCH more expensive.

In addition, a land based hotel can have more than a single access point while the ship will only have one. This means that 2000 people in a hotel might be sharing four or five different access points to the Internet while 2000 people on the ship have only one access point.

Typically the ship only has a single uplink to the internet that is shared among everyone. It is up to traffic shapers which are responsible for fair use policies and limits on how much bandwidth a single connection can use. It is not like your home router that allows a single device to "hog" all the bandwidth for itself. They carve out bandwidth that is used by the company that is not available to consumers.

 

While leads to bandwidth. There is no way that a wireless signal traveling from a ship to a satellite and back to earth is going to contain the bandwidth that a land based hotel has access to.

Correct!

[reedl]

It's vacation...I enjoy cruising because I can't access my email. when you vacation stateside you don't disconnect. I think lack of internet is my favorite part of cruising

 

Very simple then. Turn off your device.

 

For everyone here who posts "I love not having internet", then it is very simple, just do not use it!

[theSHAH]

There is a fairly logical reason as to why this cannot be done. A cruise ship's WiFi is not akin to one in a hotel. As mentioned before, cruise ships rely on satellite internet. Satellite internet is considerably slower then broadband. The charge not only is used to generate revenue, but to serve as a way to limit internet access to those who actually need or really want it. If everyone on the ship was surfing at once it would render the connection useless.

Now perhaps a more novel idea is to charge for data used as opposed to time using.

[krisko]

For what it's worth, I met a guy on Oasis that is part owner of a company installing high speen internet on Oasis and Allure. Will be 20 times faster than the fleet wide service now at half the cost or greater. He said if the service works out, RCI will roll it out fleetwide and then he gets to retire.

 

Still I can't see a time when the service would be offered free. When you can get a balcony for $229 (interline rate on carnival), cruise lines need to charge when they can.

[squadron]

If they do that , they will increase the fares by the amount

of what they charge for internet . Most people don't have free

Wifi at home , why then on a cruise line?

 

Agreed! I think it would be good for people to unplug on vacation and relax - spend more time together. As for the plugged in teens - learn that there are other people to talk to other than those at home - experience new places and new people and develop a bit of independence. Enjoy your vacation - otherwise why visit new countries and spend money to do so! If someone has to stay somewhat in touch for business reasons - pay for the minimum amt of time needed. These people are probably the ones that really need to take a break. The price of cruises would have increase for all to give unlimited. To be honest do your friends want endless pictures forwarded of you on vacation or do they just hit the delete button after a few days ??

[summersigh]

I vote NO to free WiFi !!!!!

 

We just returned from Grandeur into Baltimore. Up until we had wifi/phone service from land people had actually been looking at one another and talking to each other.

We came in reach of land service and out came the phones and tablets - and stop went face-to-face interaction.

Example ... a party of 4 adults sharing a couch in the Schooner Bar ... all staring at their cell phones. They might as well have been sitting home alone for all the good the ship was to them at that point.

 

Don't flame me ... I'm entitled to my opinion ... and that opinion is that a cruise is a good way to enhance face-to-face communication.

[poncho1973]

Lay off the booze or whatever substances you are taking, welcome to the real world.

 

Is there a lot of free stuff there?

[cndljen]

The thing is that if (and it is a big if) they did bring in free wi-fi they would just increase the cost of cruises across the board to cover it and for those who don't use wi-fi they would be penalised.

 

 

 

I would love to see free wi-fi on the ships HOWEVER I spend a lot of time on the internet and to be honest if I buried myself into my laptop on board my husband would wonder why he bothered to pay for the cruise as I might as well be perched on the sofa as usual :rolleyes:

 

 

I agree with both sides. It would be nice to have wifi cause I have an iPhone so I could send I messages across the wifi and not incur the international charges. So it would be nice to be able to stay in contact somewhat. But on the other hand I think about the fact that we decided to cruise this year so we could completely relax. And I know how my mom and kids are they would iMessage or fb message me constantly. They don't consider the time differences. And I know me, I would get on fb sitting pool side. I'm worried about no one being able to contact me but also looking forward to being cut off from the world.

 

 

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[xpcdoojk]

If it were free for everyone to use, I'm guessing it would be amazingly slow.

 

It already is amazingly slow. I always buy it (actually my work pays for it), but it is never a good experience.

 

jc

[CarRex]

Hi all,

 

I think we should start a campaign for RCCL to set a cruise industry first by offering free wifi on all RCCL ships.

 

Wifi is quickly becoming apart of everyday life for so many people, for so many different reasons that it seems old fashioned to charge for wifi. It really would be WOW if RCCL offered free wifi.

 

It's just an idea.... :confused:

 

I would rather book a ship for a few months in the coldest part of the winter than go to FL if I could stay in closer touch with my children & grandchildren. This could be a great marketing tool for the first line to allow free or cheap unlimited wifi.

[mngolfer]

Hi all,

 

I think we should start a campaign for RCCL to set a cruise industry first by offering free wifi on all RCCL ships.

 

Wifi is quickly becoming apart of everyday life for so many people, for so many different reasons that it seems old fashioned to charge for wifi. It really would be WOW if RCCL offered free wifi.

 

It's just an idea.... :confused:

 

Absolutely not!!! I don't want to use wifi on the ship when I cruise so I don't want to pay for you to use it. When I take a vacation I want to get away from work and constant communication. I don't care if you want to use it and be connected 24 hours a day, but I don't want to pay for it!!

[LuvBNatC]

I vote NO to free WiFi !!!!!

 

We just returned from Grandeur into Baltimore. Up until we had wifi/phone service from land people had actually been looking at one another and talking to each other.

We came in reach of land service and out came the phones and tablets - and stop went face-to-face interaction.

Example ... a party of 4 adults sharing a couch in the Schooner Bar ... all staring at their cell phones. They might as well have been sitting home alone for all the good the ship was to them at that point.

 

Don't flame me ... I'm entitled to my opinion ... and that opinion is that a cruise is a good way to enhance face-to-face communication.

 

I second this.

 

Recently returned from Norwegian Getaway, which offers a free WiFi app called iConcierge. I used it in my cabin a few times to read menus for dinner at night, but not sure what else it can do.

 

As I walked around the ship, I noticed more people glued to their smartphone screens and even yakking on the phones than I'd ever seen on a ship before.

 

If the day comes when most cruisers stay as engrossed in their devices and as rude to all around them in the here and now as they are on land, what's the point of cruising?

 

Free WiFi would just make that day come faster, IMHO.

[steveru621]

WiFi is not free anywhere obviously, and if it were included in your cruise price, 3000 people using the same pipe would slow the satellite connection to a crawl.

 

Most people use their cell phone data connection which is not WiFi.

[Ocean Boy]

I would rather book a ship for a few months in the coldest part of the winter than go to FL if I could stay in closer touch with my children & grandchildren. This could be a great marketing tool for the first line to allow free or cheap unlimited wifi.

 

"Free" or "cheap" means that everyone else is subsidizing your use. If you want to stay in touch then buy an unlimited package and stay in touch as much as you want.

[lucymorgan]

Every McDonalds in Australia has free wi-fi as do a lot of coffee shops etc. Many libraries also. It is becoming more and more common for businesses to attract trade by offering free wi-fi.

 

And for other poster talking about wi-fi costs in hotels. In my experience the more expensive the hotel, the more expensive the wi-fi. Stay in a $59 per night hotel and get free wi-fi, stay in a $600 per night hotel and pay $30 for internet:eek:

 

I agree. More expensive hotels charge and cheaper hotels don't.

 

Canberra (the Australian capital) is currently installing free internet access across the city, partly to attract tourists. http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/government-it/cbrfree-wifi-network-officially-launched-in-canberra-20141030-11e7lv.html

 

Last week I was in Switzerland (Geneva) for work and the hotel wifi was free. Usually hotels provide free internet because it doesn't actually cost them very much at all to do so. Land based internet access is becoming very cheap for large amounts. It doesn't need to mean higher room rates.

 

On the flights from Oz to Europe, crossing half the globe, there was even free or nearly free internet in the air (on Emirates). (I connected for a short time but decided not to stay online!) http://www.emirates.com/au/english/flying/staying_connected/staying_connected.aspx

 

At sea, the cost is probably still high, but the march of technology advancement will change that. For people who are interested look at Google's Loon project http://www.google.com/loon/

 

I think consumer demand and competition will eventually drive cruise companies to offer free or nearly free internet access just as it has on land and is starting to occur in the air. Whether or not you want internet access on a cruise, I think it is likely that it will continue to be an area where the leading cruise companies try to offer better deals than their competitors. I don't think it necessarily means that non-internet users will be subsidizing internet users.

Edited November 25, 2014 by jenibor

[nelblu]

"Free" or "cheap" means that everyone else is subsidizing your use. If you want to stay in touch then buy an unlimited package and stay in touch as much as you want.

 

I couldn't have said it better. Nothing is free in life.

[lucymorgan]

I couldn't have said it better. Nothing is free in life.

 

However if a lot of people go elsewhere because they value a new service offered by competitors, the people remaining will end up paying more because there is a diminishing market.

[John&LaLa]

WiFi is not free anywhere obviously, and if it were included in your cruise price, 3000 people using the same pipe would slow the satellite connection to a crawl.

 

Most people use their cell phone data connection which is not WiFi.

 

Is it really that different logistically? You still need a cell tower to roam.

 

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Forums mobile app

[MrsPete]

I say no.

 

I personally don't want to have a link to the real world, first of all.

 

Second, I know that they have no choice but to have satellite coverage only, so it's never going to be cheap or fast.

 

Putting one and two together, I don't want to pay for other people's coverage. I'd rather my fees be lower and make the people who want the coverage pay for it. Much like the specialty restaurants.

 

Oh, and FWIW, wi-fi isn't free in Europe.

My thoughts exactly. This isn't a product that can be offered "for free" or even cheaply. Yes wifi is free in many places on land, but on land we have cell phone towers -- well, pretty much everywhere. It's the lack of towers that make wifi expensive at sea.

 

I personally don't care to be "connected" 24/7 and don't want to see my ticket price increase for a product I don't want.

 

The current system is fine: Let those who want the product pay for it. It makes sense.

Many hotels do give you free wi-fi

Hotels give you "free wifi" in the same way that the Windjammer or the MDR provides you with a free meal. That is, it's not without cost; rather, it's worked into the price of your stay.

The only logical reason is that the ships are not connecting at 4.8GHz now. Why do you believe that they would upgrade just so that they can charge less???

Well stated. It's amazing how many people simply don't grasp the principles of business.