Do you use the internet onboard?

[Lizzie68]

Is the Westerdam the only ship offering unlimited internet, and if not, which ships offer it? What's the cost?

Why don't they all offer it? I have found the Internet rules vary greatly, ship to ship. On some collectors cruises, they've moved my leftover minutes forward seamlessly to the next segment, on another collectors cruise, I had to argue that it might be two segments, for them, since some folks disembarked,but it was one trip for me, and luckily, I had a printout showing how many minutes they owed me, from the first segment that they finally restored. It would be nice to know what I can expect on the Ooesterdam come January!

 

My understanding when we had the unlimited internet on the Westerdam in April, was that this was the test ship, and it would eventually be rolled out to the rest of the fleet.

[innlady1]

Is the Westerdam the only ship offering unlimited internet, and if not, which ships offer it? What's the cost?

Why don't they all offer it? I have found the Internet rules vary greatly, ship to ship. On some collectors cruises, they've moved my leftover minutes forward seamlessly to the next segment, on another collectors cruise, I had to argue that it might be two segments, for them, since some folks disembarked,but it was one trip for me, and luckily, I had a printout showing how many minutes they owed me, from the first segment that they finally restored. It would be nice to know what I can expect on the Ooesterdam come January!

 

delete

Edited November 2, 2015 by innlady1

[iancal]

No. Not on HAL or any other line UNLESS it is complementary.

 

We don't like paying a premium price for a very substandard service. There is no pressing need for us to do this. I feel for people who need to communicate in this fashion and are stuck in this box.

 

We will do connect on shore. Usually gratis and always a much faster service platform.

Edited November 2, 2015 by iancal

[POA1]

I've been using Internet on cruise ships since it was dial up. Literally. You used to use your modem to dial into a modem bank on the ship which provided connectivity to the satellite gateway. If you were lucky, you got 33.6 Kbps. Good times! But, since we had a business to run, it was a necessity. Of course cable modems and DSL were relatively new back then, and the whole Internet was a much lower bandwidth platform, so it wasn't too hard to work because you were used to it at home, where, if you were lucky you had ISDN, or a shotgun modem setup. (Bonus points if you remember shotgun modems.)

 

Even though cruise ship Internet was expensive, it was pretty reliable - because odds are that there were about 10 people on a ship of 1800 passengers who ever used it. That's 10 total and not 10 simultaneous users. We also traveled with Aircards, which allowed us to have pathetically slow cellular data in port.

 

By the time the mid-2000s rolled around, WiFi was becoming more widespread. Ironically, the widespread use of WiFi resulted in slower overall speeds since there were more users and the satellite "pipe" didn't get any bigger. Also, since there were fewer wireless access points, you really needed to figure out where they were on the ship if you wanted anything approaching decent speed.

 

In the grand scheme of things, speed has gotten faster just about every year, and since we cut our teeth in the days of dial up, we know how to work in a low bandwidth environment, things are definitely better. We used to spend between $500 and $750 per week on Internet access, and that was just to keep up with work. Now, we can spend $250 or less and have plenty of time left over to crew around on CruiseCritic as well as attending to the business.

 

A lot of that is because we have pretty much unlimited cellular data (3G or 4G) on land in most every port country we've traveled to. I can also use my phone as a hotspot ($10 for 1 GB per week.) As a rule, we don't connect to free hotspots in ports for security reasons. We stick with the cellular networks on land and use the ship's WiFi when we're at sea. While the ship's network is an open one, we make sure to use encrypted connections and OpenVPN over port 443 to connect to our servers. For connecting to sites like CruiseCritic, I just wing it. CC doesn't support encryption, but in the grand scheme of things, it's an acceptable risk. We don't reuse our passwords, and I really don't feel like HAL ships are replete with evil hacker super geniuses.

 

I look forward to the day when we don't have to work while we're on vacation. It should be around 2033 or so. :)

 

I never really understood why people complain so vocally about Internet speeds on ships. Look around. Do you see a big spool of fiber-optic cable trailing behind the ship? Are you sailing past endless cell towers at sea? No, you're not. It's a miracle that it works as well as it does. If you've ever priced satellite service for your own boat, you'll realize what a bargain the cruise ship service is.

Edited November 2, 2015 by POA1

[3rdGenCunarder]

I never saw dialup on a ship, but I started out with dialup at home.

 

Before wifi and tablets and smartphones, when very few people traveled with laptops, if you wanted to go online, you used the ship's computers. On Cunard, you were given an email address for the cruise at something like "cruisemail." Before web-based email was common, that's what we used. If you received an email, it was printed out and delivered to your cabin. It was fun to get "bon voyage" messages delivered like that. Kind of like the old days of people sending "bon voyage" telegrams (before my time, but I've seen it in old movies)

 

"Cruisemail" went away when people were able to get into their email from any computer. I remember feeling sorry for people whose address books were on their computers at home in a non-web-based system. They'd get into the ship's system, write a message, and then try to remember somebody's address. "Oh dear, is it dot com or dot net? And is it Jimmy35 or 36?" Meanwhile their expensive internet minutes were ticking away.

[POA1]

I never saw dialup on a ship, but I started out with dialup at home.

 

 

We had it in the PS on the Zuiderdam and Oosterdam circa 2002-2004. There was an extra phone jack by the desk. I don't know if it was in any other rooms. Our friends were in NS rooms, but I was the only one who carried a laptop.

[rodree]

never use internet on board

[jtl513]

We had it in the PS on the Zuiderdam and Oosterdam circa 2002-2004. There was an extra phone jack by the desk. I don't know if it was in any other rooms.

We had that on the Westerdam in '05. In '06 on the Noordam the jacks were not working. Are the jacks still on the Vista ships? We haven't been on a Vista since '09.

[POA1]

We had that on the Westerdam in '05. In '06 on the Noordam the jacks were not working. Are the jacks still on the Vista ships? We haven't been on a Vista since '09.

I don't know. There's always been WiFi since then. There's probably no reason to maintain a modem bank nowadays. The jack socket is probably still there because (1) It costs money to cover or replace it, and (2) Nobody sees an open RJ-11 jack and thinks "Internet." :)

[3rdGenCunarder]

We had it in the PS on the Zuiderdam and Oosterdam circa 2002-2004. There was an extra phone jack by the desk. I don't know if it was in any other rooms. Our friends were in NS rooms, but I was the only one who carried a laptop.

 

We were sailing old ships in those days (QE2 and Norway) and I know they didn't have the phone jacks. (But I remember using dialup connections in hotels) I know I traveled with a laptop starting some time in the 90s, but only on land trips. Can't remember when I started taking it abroad or on cruises. As a freelancer, I found it improved my life so much. I could travel and stay in touch. Even take work if I had to. I'll trade a few hours of work here and there for the freedom to be away from my desk.

 

I've never felt glued to my laptop or the ship's computers, but I like knowing I can get in touch with people if I need to. Peace of mind, priceless.

[Boytjie]

Ah memories...

 

In the 80's working in IT and being on call at night you had to go into the office to fix computer system problems (if you could not fix it over the phone by instructing the operators). Then we got this nifty computer terminal that consisted of a screen and an attached keyboard with a built in modem that folded up and looked like a small Singer sewing machine. No more leaving home to fix computer programs and jobs! It was slow as can be and since you only had one phone line, you had to disconnect the terminal to call the operators. You may be in the middle of making code changes when the operator or manager would call you, disconnecting you causing you to lose all unsaved changes AND then you had to go through the tedious log on process again after the conversation. But you could stay home and work in your jammies!

 

At the end of your week of production support, you would lug it into the office and hand it over to the next programmer.

[3rdGenCunarder]

Ah memories...

 

In the 80's working in IT and being on call at night you had to go into the office to fix computer system problems (if you could not fix it over the phone by instructing the operators). Then we got this nifty computer terminal that consisted of a screen and an attached keyboard with a built in modem that folded up and looked like a small Singer sewing machine. No more leaving home to fix computer programs and jobs! It was slow as can be and since you only had one phone line, you had to disconnect the terminal to call the operators. You may be in the middle of making code changes when the operator or manager would call you, disconnecting you causing you to lose all unsaved changes AND then you had to go through the tedious log on process again after the conversation. But you could stay home and work in your jammies!

 

At the end of your week of production support, you would lug it into the office and hand it over to the next programmer.

 

Ah, the 80s! Our office had a Compaq that wasn't compact by today's standards. I don't remember it having a modem. It was just a computer someone could borrow if they needed to work from home for a day. It was heavy to lug around.

 

Jammies and bunny slippers, the uniform of the telecommuter!!

Edited November 2, 2015 by 3rdGenCunarder

[Loreto]

We gave up with HAL internet and now purchase an international data plan for our iPad. Drawback is it only works in port when we connect with the local internet, but it has been a good option for our last 3 cruises in South America. Sometimes we have had service when cruising along the coast of Mexico (Cabo area) or around Vancouver Island. We type messages ahead of time and send them when in port.

 

To print out boarding passes for flights, HAL offers a brief plan, which we purchase.

 

Karen

[dogo88]

There has been a LOT of discussion on CC about ships' internet lately. I've been cruising since long before the internet was ubiquitous. I can also remember having to hunt down internet cafes in ports, if I wanted to check in with people via email.

 

Now, I just expect that I can keep in touch and that influences (in a positive way) my ability to travel. I need to have internet access for both business and family reasons. So I use the ship internet.

 

With all the talk about internet on the ships, I'm wondering who else uses the internet when cruising, if having internet available makes it easier for you to travel, and what uses you have for it. And if you don't use the ship's internet to stay in touch, do you use smart phones, internet cafes or ??

 

I use my smart phone global services. Easy enough to sign up for and is prorated for the days I use it. I can check which countries have it available before I go. Many times as the ship sails by the islands I get reasonable coverage.

 

Ship's wifi is slow and expensive. All I want to do is check emails from our house sitter and have information available if there is a weather related issue at home.

 

Dan

Edited November 2, 2015 by dogo88

[iancal]

We travel frequently and it generally involves overseas travel. We never take our cell phones. We travel with our ipads and a long distance calling card that we have used in many countries.

 

We do not need communication for business. We keep in touch with family periodically. Our largest requirement is for travel arrangements. We often leave home on an extended trip with only a few weeks of solid travel arrangements. We do the rest on the fly. It is usually hotels a few days out, flights, or a last minute cruise. I cannot think of very many places, especially family run pensions or hotels, that have not had good internet connections. Last time we travelled through the US, we stopped at a Kalamazoo Startbucks to connect and bid a Priceline hotel in Chicago for that night. Did the same on a Greek Island last month for our first night in Naxos.

 

So we need internet. Once in a while we do pay for shipboard internet if we need to make shore arrangements for the first day or two of our disembarkation. This is highly unusual for us as we typically have the first two days after getting off the ship covered off.

 

Three years ago our son did an extended independent land trip from Greece, through the 'stans'. We were amazed at how often he had good internet in out of the way places. Good enough for Skype. The web has changed the world and for us it has changed how we approach travel.

 

Amazing for someone who started his IT career in early 1980 when we were selling core memory, 4K mainframe memory boards, 1200baud acoustic couplers, and a CRT was $3200. The brochures always featured attractive women and no cables.

Edited November 2, 2015 by iancal

[innlady1]

We usually buy a package...so that we can keep in touch with our dog sitter and our family, and do online banking.

[TheEmerson]

Ah, the 80s! Our office had a Compaq that wasn't compact by today's standards. I don't remember it having a modem. It was just a computer someone could borrow if they needed to work from home for a day. It was heavy to lug around.

 

Jammies and bunny slippers, the uniform of the telecommuter!!

 

I have one. So when someone came in demanding a loaner laptop for X and their flight is in 8 hours without planning. I would pull out the compaq, a box of 5 1/4 floppies. DOS 3.3, WordPerfect 5, Lotus 1-2-3, and Telix for the 2400bps upgraded modem. I was dead serious and handed it over. Soon a VP would call, and apologize for their employee. I would agree to hand over a more recent machine. This time a 5 year old laptop.

[dakrewser]

We had it in the PS on the Zuiderdam and Oosterdam circa 2002-2004. There was an extra phone jack by the desk. I don't know if it was in any other rooms. Our friends were in NS rooms, but I was the only one who carried a laptop.

 

 

Wasn't there a PC in the PS back then, or was that a later addition?

[dakrewser]

We were sailing old ships in those days (QE2 and Norway) and I know they didn't have the phone jacks. (But I remember using dialup connections in hotels) I know I traveled with a laptop starting some time in the 90s, but only on land trips. Can't remember when I started taking it abroad or on cruises. As a freelancer, I found it improved my life so much. I could travel and stay in touch. Even take work if I had to. I'll trade a few hours of work here and there for the freedom to be away from my desk.

 

 

In the mid 90's I began traveling with my laptop. On Renaissance ships in the late 90's there was no Wifi or dialup, but there was a PC lounge. I worked a deal with the IT guy aboard so I could write in my cabin, then save the work on a external drive (don't thing we had thumb drives back then) which he'd connect to the onboard PC so I could transfer files and email them off. Creaky, but it worked. Here's a link to a column I wrote for Network World all about connecting at sea on the Volendam back in 2003.

Edited November 2, 2015 by dakrewser

[DaveOKC]

Ah, the 80s! Our office had a Compaq that wasn't compact by today's standards. I don't remember it having a modem. It was just a computer someone could borrow if they needed to work from home for a day. It was heavy to lug around.

 

Jammies and bunny slippers, the uniform of the telecommuter!!

 

I bought one of the first IBM PCs sold (I know it was the first one in OKC since I got it directly from IBM's office in our building) and back then we put it on an old portable typewriter station and wheeled it around to the various corporate departments as they needed it (by schedule).

 

Machine had 256k of RAM, but at the time the software available could only access 64K! We had to write our own programs or use Visicalc for spreadsheets.

[POA1]

Wasn't there a PC in the PS back then, or was that a later addition?

Unless you're counting mine, no. There was an awesome juicer though.

[jtl513]

... which he'd connect to the onboard PC ...

Today they're too afraid of getting malware introduced.

[Lizzie68]

I have one. So when someone came in demanding a loaner laptop for X and their flight is in 8 hours without planning. I would pull out the compaq, a box of 5 1/4 floppies. DOS 3.3, WordPerfect 5, Lotus 1-2-3, and Telix for the 2400bps upgraded modem. I was dead serious and handed it over. Soon a VP would call, and apologize for their employee. I would agree to hand over a more recent machine. This time a 5 year old laptop.

 

Omigod, Lotus 1-2-3 - that brings back memories.:eek: I had to teach it to newcomers to the company. WYSIWYG - that actually became my nickname in the company and beyond.;)

[dakrewser]

Today they're too afraid of getting malware introduced.

 

They were then, also. But as I was the only person on the cruise who used the ship's computers regularly we were able to work out a plan for the IT guy to scan my drive before attaching it.

[CowPrincess]

We usually buy a package...so that we can keep in touch with our dog sitter and our family, and do online banking.

 

On our last cruise I tried getting text/voice/data plan from my cell provider in place of using the ship internet. It turned out to be a complete mess, didn't work.

 

Adding to the trip down memory lane, does anyone other than me remember punch cards for mainframes? :D