Is there FREE wifi anywhere on the Summit?

[whatevergoes]

My 12 year old is afraid of withdrawal if he can't get wifI on our Summit cruise to Bermuda on his IPhone (lol). Are there any public areas where you can get free wifi?

[mandream]

My 12 year old is afraid of withdrawal if he can't get wifI on our Summit cruise to Bermuda on his IPhone (lol). Are there any public areas where you can get free wifi?

 

Afraid not. You need to pay to use the ship's wifi. You can usually find free (or inexpensive) wifi in most ports.

 

Good luck!

 

Mike

Edited May 25, 2013 by mandream

[WestLakeGirl]

No and warn him that its expensive (relatively) and slow.

Edited May 25, 2013 by WestLakeGirl

[cruisestitch]

And a phone call costs around $2.50 a minute!

 

This might be a good time to make sure that you set up his room key so he can't charge things -- or set up a dollar limit on his card, which I think you can do -- so he doesn't go to the computer center and set up an account and before you know it, you have a huge SeaPass bill on your hands.

 

Texting isn't free, either.

[WestLakeGirl]

There's just the one port on this cruise isn't there? Bermuda. Not much free wifi there, as I remember

[barbatkins]

There's just the one port on this cruise isn't there? Bermuda. Not much free wifi there, as I remember

 

It was $2.00 for an hour outside of the Frog and Onion Pub when I was there in April

[Scrapnana]

Just checked my "free wi-fi" app and they did not show anything for Bermuda. There is a place (reported on another thread) called the "Lemon Tree Cafe" that has either free or low cost wi-fi if you eat there. Looks like junior may have to go "old school" for awhile.

[johhnnyt]

It was $2.00 for an hour outside of the Frog and Onion Pub when I was there in April

 

I bought a package that was $10 for 29 hours of service with the Bermuda Naval Dockyard that would work as long as I was on the pier, my balcony or in windowed public areas (pooliside, buffet, etc). It was nice as it only counted service time that you were using it, so if you signed off to go to bed, you could resign onto it in the morning.

 

So for the three day in Bermuda it was more than what I needed.

[Keith1010]

As others said there is no free wifi.

 

Keith

[kitty9]

My 12 year old is afraid of withdrawal if he can't get wifI on our Summit cruise to Bermuda on his IPhone (lol). Are there any public areas where you can get free wifi?

 

You will have to strictly watch your son's use of his iPhone while on the cruise unless you don't mind a huge bill. If he uses it at any time while on the ship to access the Internet not using wifi, you could come home to a phone bill in the four figures. If he uses data roaming to access the Internet, the charge will be around $2.49 a minute!!! And you may want to control his texting---I know kids can do hundreds of texts per day, and with a charge of $.50 per text to send and $.05 to receive, again you can see that a lot of texting could add up to hundreds of dollars. My neighbors two teens used their phones for Internet and texting before they realized the charges, and they had a bill for over $2000.

[Algebralovr]

I recommend you contact your cell service provider and have them block international service on his phone. That might prevent him from making calls, texting and using the web while only ship and international cell sites are available. Make sure they are aware that the phone number is used by a minor and that you refuse to be responsible in the event they don't block as you request.

 

You probably need to put it in writing, and get a confirmation from them in writing that the number used by your son is not to be allowed to use the cell towers when international.

 

I don't know if all of the cell providers will do this, but Sprint is willing.

[CruisersTimesThree]

Why cant he just leave his cellphone at home and enjoy the time with his family?

[whatevergoes]

Thanks for all the great info. We did remove voicemail from our phones(even if you don't answer you get charged), we turned our phones off roaming, and we have told him five texts per day and no Web at all. I need him to have his phone to text me if he is leaving teen club. He's a great kid and will not do anything if we tell him not to. Also, I was kidding about the withdrawal, he spends little time on the Web and tons of family time with us. Thanks again. Happy sailing..we leave tomorrow!

[Maligator]

I'm a self-diagnosed mobile addict and I found the break refreshing. The craptastic internet service onboard only reinforced that feeling.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

Why cant he just leave his cellphone at home and enjoy the time with his family?

How do you take pictures, write notes, read books, without an iPhone ?

 

Sometime iPhone time is better then family time :p

[fla jack]

Do what we do--Turn the phone off & lock it in the safe.

P.S.Don't give your son the combo--LOL

Jack

[Lsimon]

....If he uses data roaming to access the Internet, the charge will be around $2.49 a minute!!!...

The $2.49/minuite is the rate for phone calls. Data roaming is a lot more expensive than that. It is charged by the amount of data used, not by the amount of time you are connected. Just yesterday I posted some figures on this in post #22 to the following thread: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=38508670

 

 

I recommend you contact your cell service provider and have them block international service on his phone....

This is a good idea if your cell provider will do it so call them and see if this can be done and if it will prevent both phone calls and data when out of your home territory. If I were in your position I'd also learn how to check the data usage on the phone (there is a place to look it up in the settings) and check every day to make sure it isn't being used. The worst horror stories I've read about unexpected gigantic cell phone bills while cruising relate to smartphones being used by kids.

Edited May 26, 2013 by Lsimon

[fredflint]

I actually plan on taking a spare phone with me to use as a camera, funny how cameras are bigger than a phone with a camera.

 

they don't take the best pics but for web pages they are not bad and everyone loves food pics!

 

I feel that the cruise will be a perfect time to break the chain for everyone, give people that need to call you the information on how to call the ship and let them know it is for emergencies.

 

leave clear instructions if you have pets and talk to your Vet ahead of time about what to do in case of an emergency.

 

just enjoy being together

[JaneStarr]

The $2.49/minuite is the rate for phone calls. Data roaming is a lot more expensive than that. It is charged by the amount of data used, not by the amount of time you are connected. Just yesterday I posted some figures on this in post #22 to the following thread: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=38508670

 

 

 

This is a good idea if your cell provider will do it so call them and see if this can be done and if it will prevent both phone calls and data when out of your home territory. If I were in your position I'd also learn how to check the data usage on the phone (there is a place to look it up in the settings) and check every day to make sure it isn't being used. The worst horror stories I've read about unexpected gigantic cell phone bills while cruising relate to smartphones being used by kids.

I just saw an announcement on Celebruty's Facebook page.

You asked, we listened. AT&T customers sailing on many of our ships can now enjoy cellular service at discounted rates with AT&T’s new Cruise Ship packages.

 

Click here for details: http://www.celebritycruises.com/onboard/singleColLanding.do?cid=sm_int_fb_brndgn_1301_othr_post_all_4515&pagename=onboard_internet_access_onboard

 

 

Excerpt:

AT&T Cruise Ship Packages

Discount Cruise Ship packages are now available for AT&T® mobile customers while aboard select ships (not available on Celebrity ReflectionSM, Celebrity Silhouette®, and Celebrity Xpedition®). Choose from options for calling only, calling and messaging, or calling, messaging and data. Click here for details.

 

I found it interesting that Reflection and Silhouette are specifically excluded, Larry.

I haven't been following whether your iPhone shipboard issues were ever explained/resolved. Hoping you had service on board Eclipse. Are the excluded ships the ones served by the newer provider??

 

My last cruise was on Royal Caribbean, so I haven't been focused on Celebrity lately. I'm also a Verizon customer and extremely pleased with how well the VZW $25/100Mb global data package worked with my iPhone 4 in the Caribbean and aboard Explorer OTS.

 

Our next cruise is an Alaska cruise/tour on Millennium in July 2014. It will be nice to be on domestic voice and data for most of the trip! I may still add the $25 global data package, if it will work on Millie.

Jane

[JanineM]

I'm a self-diagnosed mobile addict and I found the break refreshing. The craptastic internet service onboard only reinforced that feeling.

 

LOL - Totally agree, down to even the word 'craptastic' to describe connectivity!

[NJtomato]

I got off the Summit this morning. No free wifi on the ship. When docked in Bermuda there were signs everywhere about it being a wifi hot spot. I found a number of open wifi connections but my iphone just did not want to work with the wifi they had. It might be user error but its a first for me. That said, I found the week to be very peaceful and my internet withdrawal symptoms to be minimul. My 13 yr old son played his games on his phone and was fine with no internet.

[gregjm]

I'm a self-diagnosed mobile addict and I found the break refreshing. The craptastic internet service onboard only reinforced that feeling.

 

Same with me. And it reminded me of the time not too long ago when part of the allure of a cruise was being disconnected from the world for a week or two. I'd get the ships phone number, give it to a few relatives for emergencies and left know that no news was good news ;)

[Lsimon]

I just saw an announcement on Celebruty's Facebook page.

 

 

 

Excerpt:

AT&T Cruise Ship Packages

Discount Cruise Ship packages are now available for AT&T® mobile customers while aboard select ships (not available on Celebrity ReflectionSM, Celebrity Silhouette®, and Celebrity Xpedition®). Choose from options for calling only, calling and messaging, or calling, messaging and data. Click here for details.

 

I found it interesting that Reflection and Silhouette are specifically excluded, Larry.

I haven't been following whether your iPhone shipboard issues were ever explained/resolved. Hoping you had service on board Eclipse. Are the excluded ships the ones served by the newer provider??

 

My last cruise was on Royal Caribbean, so I haven't been focused on Celebrity lately. I'm also a Verizon customer and extremely pleased with how well the VZW $25/100Mb global data package worked with my iPhone 4 in the Caribbean and aboard Explorer OTS.

 

Our next cruise is an Alaska cruise/tour on Millennium in July 2014. It will be nice to be on domestic voice and data for most of the trip! I may still add the $25 global data package, if it will work on Millie.

Jane

I'd be careful of the on-board packages. For calling they only provide value if you use enough service to be close to the package limits. For data, they only provide a limited amount of data so you still need to monitor your useage. I also read a thread where someone (might have even been Host Andy) reported that they bought this package and never got decent data service on the ship.

 

What we did on our last cruise was buy a standard ATT international data roaming package for our iPad which gave us 120MB for $30. We used that when the ship was in port (turning data roaming on and off as needed when at port) and when we really wanted to get online when at sea we used the ship's WiFi system.

 

On our Eclipse cruise we did have cellular service on our iPhone 5's. Not sure if it related to the steps we took or not but one strange thing was the on board service was switched mid-cruise from OnWaves (which runs the service on the Silhouette and possibly the Reflection) to Cellular-at-sea which is run by Wireless Maritime Services. For those of you wondering - this point and Janes comment to me related to a thread about problems getting any cellular service at all on some ships: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1752678

Edited May 26, 2013 by Lsimon

[New Hampshire]

I got off the Summit this morning. No free wifi on the ship. When docked in Bermuda there were signs everywhere about it being a wifi hot spot. I found a number of open wifi connections but my iphone just did not want to work with the wifi they had. It might be user error but its a first for me. That said, I found the week to be very peaceful and my internet withdrawal symptoms to be minimul. My 13 yr old son played his games on his phone and was fine with no internet.

 

The wifi hotspot signs in Bermuda refer to the wifi card you can purchasein Dockyard. I returned on the 19th on the Summit. I purchased a $15 card for 72 hours of Internet. I was able to use my ipad thevwholebtime Wevwerenin Bermuda anywhere in the pier area and on the ship on the starboard side. Imfound my best connection on the ship to be in Cafe al Bacio.

 

I also had the 90 minute Internet package onboard using my Elite coupon. The connection was the slowest I've ever experienced on any ship anywhere in the world!!! If I had paid $50 for it I would have been very upset. I burned through minutes at a rapid rate accomplishing very little.

[Corgis mom]

As others said there is no free wifi.

 

Keith

 

Free wifi? Yes! When you get off the ferry, look for the road between the Irish Linen Shop and Goslings Liquor store. Walk up the short block and you will see the Perot Post Office. Right next door is the library. Nice places to sit outside. AND free wifi. If it is hot, go inside the library.

 

Free and fast.

 

I will write a review later of my trip that ended today.