Wifi Rates On Board?

[F27TW]

Will be on Indy in 2 weeks and i'm curious what the charges are for the internet/wifi packages .... and how good is the signal?

Thanks for any info, folks.

[Clarea]

Will be on Indy in 2 weeks and i'm curious what the charges are for the internet/wifi packages .... and how good is the signal?

Thanks for any info, folks.

They seem to be converging on $15 per day for a single device and $20 a day for two devices. No per minute options anymore.

[F27TW]

They seem to be converging on $15 per day for a single device and $20 a day for two devices. No per minute options anymore.

 

actually that's not too bad .... is the quality pretty decent tho ? in the past ive read in trip reports on here that the wifi sucks

[Clarea]

actually that's not too bad .... is the quality pretty decent tho ? in the past ive read in trip reports on here that the wifi sucks

I believe the quality has not changed much. Quantum and Oasis class ships have the faster (O3b) internet, but I don't believe that other ships have gotten it yet.

[2nsmom]

was wondering the thing...will also be on Indy in 2 weeks and I'm in the middle of an online class, so I need wifi for sure :o)

[aviator1945]

I'm currently doing a B2B on Navigator, which started on 17 May. First week we had the following options:

"Cruise Plan Special" - $229.95; unlimited access for the entire cruise, maximum two devices may be looged in at any given time.

"Unlimited Plan" - $189.95; unlimited access for the entire cruise, only one device may be logged in at any given time.

"Daily Plan" - $59.90; 24 hrs of continuous access from time of purchase; only one device may be logged in at any given time.

"Three Day Special" - $140.95; 72 hrs of Internet access from time of purchase, maximum two devices may be logged in at any given time.

 

The options were modified wef from 24 May(=the start of our second week), as follows:

"Cruise Special" - $20 per day for one device. Price is applicable when plan is purchased for multiple days for the rest of your cruise. For example, if you decide to purchase on Day 1 of a seven day cruise, you'll be paying 7*20=$140. Only one device can be logged on at any given time.

"Super Cruise Special" - $30 per day for two devices. Price is applicable when plan is purchased for multiple days for the rest of your cruise. For example, if you decide to purchase on Day 1, of a seven day cruise, you'll be paying 7*30=$210. Maximum two devices can be logged in at any given time.

"Daily Plan" - $39.95 for 24 continuous hrs. Only one device can be logged in at any given time.

 

Note 1: Discounts for some C&A members; for example for Diamond level, the discount is $39.95, only once per cruise. In combination with the Daily Plan, this means that Diamond members can get 24 hrs of continuous wifi access for one device. I'm not sure of what the discounts might be for other C&A membership levels.

 

Note 2: There is no internet plan which allows for intermittent access, like for example ten minutes at a time now and then during the whole cruise.

 

Note 3: So far on this B2B cruise, we have been able to connect everywhere, except for about an hour just west of Jamaica. But speed is not exactly like from home, at least not on the Navigator. On average, our download and upload speed has been around 128 to 256 kB per second, not much better than old fashioned dial-up. Using Skype or YouTube has been out of the question.

[InsideCruiser]

Wow.

 

Has anyone from another ship seen $20/day for one device and $30/day for two devices?

 

Reports have been $15/day for one device and $20/day for two devices as Bob stated.

 

C&A discounts available.

 

Really not very nice off them to stop selling per hour intermittent plans. Perhaps not very smart either, time will tell.

[aviator1945]

Wow.

 

Has anyone from another ship seen $20/day for one device and $30/day for two devices?

 

 

Just spoke with a senior crew member on the Navigator and was told that this pricing was being implemented fleetwide.

[blondie from arizona]

We were just on a ship when the prices changed. I complained. I actually got a call from the IT guy who said there were so many complaints that they were sending one big complaint to corporate. Plus the WIFI didn't work very well for the premium charges.

 

As long as people continue to pay for crappy stuff, the cruise lines will continue to raise the prices and give less and less service.

[scoob2010]

Note 3: So far on this B2B cruise, we have been able to connect everywhere, except for about an hour just west of Jamaica. But speed is not exactly like from home, at least not on the Navigator. On average, our download and upload speed has been around 128 to 256 kB per second, not much better than old fashioned dial-up. Using Skype or YouTube has been out of the question.

 

I'm going on the Navigator in less than 2 weeks. The rates would be acceptable if the connection was reliable. I'll have to flip a coin when I get on the boat I guess...

[ibm_db2]

I called today Independence of the seas

 

Unlimited

One device $15 a day ( $105 a week)

Two devices $10 a day ($140 a week)

[Clarea]

I called today Independence of the seas

 

Unlimited

One device $15 a day ( $105 a week)

Two devices $10 a day ($140 a week)

Wow, those are the best prices I've seen on WiFi.

[Ocean View]

I called today Independence of the seas

 

Unlimited

One device $15 a day ( $105 a week)

Two devices $10 a day ($140 a week)

 

 

Wow do you know if the diamond discount then applies to those prices?

[Newbegin]

I teach online and had no trouble getting online in the Independence of the Seas going east or west in the Caribbean this Spring.

[bigeck]

Wow do you know if the diamond discount then applies to those prices?

 

We were on Serenade in Norway a few weeks ago. It was $20 per day for 1 device.

Diamond received 1 full day (24hrs) and D+ got 2 days continuous free.

If you took a package and were Diamond you got a discount of $29.99 off the package price and D+ got $59.98 discount.

Package options were same as stated above.

Edited June 19, 2015 by bigeck

[mo&fran]

This is a constant source of confusion. WiFi is the way that you connect your system to the computer system on the ship. The ships computer system is what connects you to the internet itself. At home, I have a WiFi device that is connected to the cable system. WiFi is what connects to that device, it is the device ( modem) that connects to the internet.

When the ships started to offer unlimited packages, combined with pervasive WiFi, which basically meant you could connect a WiFi equipped device anywhere on the ship, their access speeds slowed down, not because of the internet, but the WiFi system itself became saturated. There are plenty of reports from those that use the ships computers, that do not use WiFi, but are hardwired into the system, are much faster.

That said, there are supposedly places on the ship that are reported to have faster WiFi speeds, meaning those circuits are not as jammed up as others.

[Sascol]

Those price plans are crazy. I do not want/need a full day's worth of access. I need about 15 minutes every day to check e-mail and do a few things. If I am reading this correctly this is not something I can do any more with a plan that gives me X number of minutes to use during the cruise? I can't imagine I am the only one in this boat (no pun intended).

[BOLTFISH]

Just spoke with a senior crew member on the Navigator and was told that this pricing was being implemented fleetwide.

 

When/where do you sign up, or is there a prompt to your device offering the options?

[sippican]

Has anyone from another ship seen $20/day for one device and $30/day for two devices?

C&A discounts available.

 

That was the price last week on Serenade.

Service was horrible - got kicked off wi-fi constantly.

You could choose to buy one day at a time; for instance, you could purchase service for sea days only if you just wanted to catch up on e-mail, etc.

[BOLTFISH]

I intended to get the Verizon wireless package for all of us. It comes with 100MB of data. I have no idea how much that is, however it all means nothing if the ships "cellular at sea" (CAS) provides a weak signal...

 

Anyone know how good NOS CAS is, and where the best place to get a cell signal is? We can all survive on text while onboard. They can all exhang'o gram, snap & tweet while in port.

[Clarea]

When/where do you sign up, or is there a prompt to your device offering the options?

Just connect to the wireless and open your web browser to any website. Yu will see instructions on how to create an account.

[Mark-Sheffield]

We contacted RCI last week about internet prices and they replied that there is now fleet wide packages as previously mentioned in this thread, but also no discounts for class of cabin or C&A grades either.

[Clarea]

We contacted RCI last week about internet prices and they replied that there is now fleet wide packages as previously mentioned in this thread, but also no discounts for class of cabin or C&A grades either.

There are discounts for C&A level, usually a certain number of dollars off if you purchase a package and/or some number of days free. Diamond level have been getting one day free and Diamond Plus have been getting two days free.

[Mark-Sheffield]

Hiya Bob,

 

Thanks for the answer, strange why RCI responded to me on Facebook messenger that there was no discounts just a flat rate ? We are sailing next year, but it was just a question I thought I would ask together with a question of upgrading the internet speed. The response was, no current plans to upgrade.

 

Mark

[Clarea]

Hiya Bob,

 

Thanks for the answer, strange why RCI responded to me on Facebook messenger that there was no discounts just a flat rate ? We are sailing next year, but it was just a question I thought I would ask together with a question of upgrading the internet speed. The response was, no current plans to upgrade.

 

Mark

Unfortunately, not strange at all for Royal reps to give incorrect info.