Xcellerate....the fastest internet at sea?

[LzyCruiser_NWA]

I noticed this banner today also when browsing excursions for our up coming cruise in June on the equinox.

 

I wonder if they're rolling it out by then also.

[WonderMan3]

Just back from a 14 day Eclipse cruise and the internet was the slowest I've ever experienced on a cruise ship. There were times we couldn't even open emails, connections would frequently drop; just terrible. I don't think they are on the new system yet and the old system is at its breaking point from more people signing up with all these reduced price and free internet packages being given out in offers.

[Music Cruiser]

Sailed last week on Reflection. Did not buy package, but crew stated that they now stream Netflix with this connection. Captain stated that implementation on Reflection cost $10 million. Heard nothing but complements on new internet.

[psternklar]

Does anyone know if the Silhouette has the new system? We will be boarding in a week and it would be great as DH unfortunately has work to do.

 

Just off Silhouette, no new fast internet, dial up speed.

[Brittany C]

Hi Jackie,

 

That's in fact an article from right here on Cruise Critic: http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=6771. Thanks to all our members for always being on the edge of news. Once we hear more about the Internet program (unless you do first!), we'll be sure to let you know.

 

Best,

 

~Brittany Chrusciel, Associate Editor, Cruise Critic

 

This from a UK Online Travel Agent:

 

Celebrity Cruises Testing New Internet Initiative on Celebrity Reflection and More Cruise News

 

"Following sister brands Royal Caribbean International and Azamara Club Cruises, Celebrity Cruises is testing a new high-speed Internet initiative in a pilot program onboard Celebrity Reflection. Details are few at this time, but according to a thread on the Cruise Critic boards, the program is tentatively titled Xcellerate.

 

Royal Caribbean announced the arrival of Voom, its high-speed Internet last year. Azamara Club Cruises is also getting faster Wi-Fi on its ships as they go into dry dock this year. All three cruise lines are part of the Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. brand."

 

They have taken their information from this thread!

[Andy]

I suspect this is a 'soft' introduction as I have seen references to 'testing' the new system. Indeed, first hand evidence from onboard by senorjim indicates that it didn't work with older iPhones and iPads. I know on my home wireless internet when we got a new router, they had to tweak the settings to allow iPhone access, saying Apple products had a particular set of protocols. I have also read that the speed is affected by the location of the ship and is best with an equatorial route.

 

So until they have evidence In the field that all the systems are tweaked for effectiveness as advertised, it is probably prudent to not toot their horn yet or otherwise incur the sharp responses from the CC forum!!! [emoji43]

 

Sorry, but I disagree. Test it in house and with onboard teams. Roll it out when it's ready, and toot your horn at the same time - when you actually know it's ready to go. Doing soft introductions can be a recipe for disaster, especially when it seems the product may not be ready for prime time yet. They should have known this. Celebrity has a history of throwing things against the wall and seeing what sticks. This is not a wise plan, for a major enhancement such as this. If I were in their shoes, I'd want to know this system is working relatively well and, compatible with various formats such as Apple, Android, and Windows, before offering it to the public.

 

Let's hope they get this right, as it's a very exciting enhancement - especially for those of us who must stay connected with work.

Edited January 25, 2016 by Host Andy

[K.T.B.]

Hm, if this is true, my hope is that they upgrade Millennium when she goes into dry dock the end of April. It would be nice to run internet at a decent speed and not at 9,600 bit/s.

[Andy]

Just back from a 14 day Eclipse cruise and the internet was the slowest I've ever experienced on a cruise ship. There were times we couldn't even open emails, connections would frequently drop; just terrible. I don't think they are on the new system yet and the old system is at its breaking point from more people signing up with all these reduced price and free internet packages being given out in offers.

 

Hi WonderMan3,

 

You are so right. The internet on Eclipse and Equinox was absolutely dreadful, and as you described. My experiences was BEFORE Celebrity offered Unlimited Internet packages, and options in current promotions.

 

If it was awful before, I can only imagine what it's like now. I hope they will be offering the new system in the near future.

[Hlitner]

Hm, if this is true, my hope is that they upgrade Millennium when she goes into dry dock the end of April. It would be nice to run internet at a decent speed and not at 9,600 bit/s.

 

9600? And here we thought it was often running at 2400 baud :)

 

Hank

[chamima]

Sorry, but I disagree. Test it in house and with onboard teams. Roll it out when it's ready, and toot your horn at the same time - when you actually know it's ready to go. Doing soft introductions can be a recipe for disaster, especially when it seems the product may not be ready for prime time yet. They should have known this. Celebrity has a history of throwing things against the wall and seeing what sticks. This is not a wise plan, for a major enhancement such as this. If I were in their shoes, I'd want to know this system is working relatively well and, compatible with various formats such as Apple, Android, and Windows, before offering it to the public.

 

Let's hope they get this right, as it's a very exciting enhancement - especially for those of us who must stay connected with work.

 

 

You are SO right.

Wouldn't you think they would finally learn a lesson?

 

 

Just back from a 14 day Eclipse cruise and the internet was the slowest I've ever experienced on a cruise ship. There were times we couldn't even open emails, connections would frequently drop; just terrible. I don't think they are on the new system yet and the old system is at its breaking point from more people signing up with all these reduced price and free internet packages being given out in offers.

 

This is a little scary.

We board the Eclipse in a little less than 2 weeks and my husband needs to work from the ship.

He planned on getting the unlimited internet but I'm afraid to even tell him the internet will be worse than our last cruise!

[az_tchr]

Hm, if this is true, my hope is that they upgrade Millennium when she goes into dry dock the end of April. It would be nice to run internet at a decent speed and not at 9,600 bit/s.

 

How did you get 96K. Was more like ninety-six bits last cruise!

[K.T.B.]

This is a little scary.

We board the Eclipse in a little less than 2 weeks and my husband needs to work from the ship.

He planned on getting the unlimited internet but I'm afraid to even tell him the internet will be worse than our last cruise!

 

It could only get worse is if they used passenger pigeons. (Only because Celebrity wouldn't know they're extinct....)

[jagoffee]

Just back from a 14 day Eclipse cruise and the internet was the slowest I've ever experienced on a cruise ship. There were times we couldn't even open emails, connections would frequently drop; just terrible. I don't think they are on the new system yet and the old system is at its breaking point from more people signing up with all these reduced price and free internet packages being given out in offers.

 

Interesting. I just returned Sunday from what I would think was the same cruise. What type of device were you using and when did you try and use it. I agree that it is not the improved version I found the Internet to be very good most of the time on our Apple devices. Would you happen to be using a non Apple device?

I used the Internet regularly from on cabin deck 12 aft, Cafe, and Sky Lounge. It was very fast during certain times of the day. It was best in the morning, evening, and port days. All our devices were the newer products and I suspect even with the older version of the Internet the devices are a factor.

 

I hope you enjoyed the cruise as much as we did.

Edited January 25, 2016 by jagoffee

[chamima]

Interesting. I just returned Sunday from what I would think was the same cruise. What type of device were you using and when did you try and use it. I agree that it is not the improved version I found the Internet to be very good most of the time on our Apple devices. Would you happen to be using a non Apple device?

I used the Internet regularly from on cabin deck 12 aft, Cafe, and Sky Lounge. It was very fast during certain times of the day. It was best in the morning, evening, and port days. All our devices were the newer products and I suspect even with the older version of the Internet the devices are a factor.

 

I hope you enjoyed the cruise as much as we did.

 

THANK YOU!!!

We use an Apple Ipad and a MacBook Air (that i'm on right now).

[Gordoncruickshank]

!

This is a little scary.

We board the Eclipse in a little less than 2 weeks and my husband needs to work from the ship.

He planned on getting the unlimited internet but I'm afraid to even tell him the internet will be worse than our last cruise!

 

Karen, we were on the Eclipse in September/October time and while not great, the internet worked. It usually works better inside the cabin than on the balcony but you do get a decent signal the nearer the corridor you are.

I download newspapers every morning and deal with emails regularly throughout the cruise and will be taking the unlimited package on 21 Feb and 6th March on our upcoming cruise.

 

My wife uses her 200 free minutes (which last a couple of days and then shares the unlimited package) by using the same logon details.

[Kirsten T]

We were on Equinox Jan. 2-11 and if I'd actually paid for service (we had the 90 free Elite minutes) I would have been very disappointed. There were days I couldn't access email using any device from anywhere, including the Macs in the iLounge. I think I had over 50 minutes still left after 9 days, only because the service wasn't usable.

 

If X is offering Xcellerate service on only one ship currently, I wish they'd just say that...

[Hlitner]

We heard that Celebrity is really modernizing and will soon replace the Carrier Pigeons with new Drones that can carry more messages (at least a dozen).

 

Hank

[jagoffee]

THANK YOU!!!

We use an Apple Ipad and a MacBook Air (that i'm on right now).

Exactly what we used as well as our IPhone 6 Plus. Perhaps it is device sensitive.

[Charles4515]

Sorry, but I disagree. Test it in house and with onboard teams. Roll it out when it's ready, and toot your horn at the same time - when you actually know it's ready to go. Doing soft introductions can be a recipe for disaster, especially when it seems the product may not be ready for prime time yet. They should have known this. Celebrity has a history of throwing things against the wall and seeing what sticks. This is not a wise plan, for a major enhancement such as this. If I were in their shoes, I'd want to know this system is working relatively well and, compatible with various formats such as Apple, Android, and Windows, before offering it to the public.

 

Let's hope they get this right, as it's a very exciting enhancement - especially for those of us who must stay connected with work.

 

If its the same service as the Voom interent on RC it does not need to be tested. It is only a matter of deployment.

[WonderMan3]

Interesting. I just returned Sunday from what I would think was the same cruise. What type of device were you using and when did you try and use it. I agree that it is not the improved version I found the Internet to be very good most of the time on our Apple devices. Would you happen to be using a non Apple device?

I used the Internet regularly from on cabin deck 12 aft, Cafe, and Sky Lounge. It was very fast during certain times of the day. It was best in the morning, evening, and port days. All our devices were the newer products and I suspect even with the older version of the Internet the devices are a factor.

 

I hope you enjoyed the cruise as much as we did.

 

Used Iphone 5 and Ipad 2. My partner had an Iphone 6. All devices experienced slow service on average wherever we went on the ship, mainly in our room (Deck 11 mid-ship) but also in the Oceanview and some other public areas. There were brief periods during the cruise (never at the same time of day) where service was fairly quick and then plenty of times when it was so slow we couldn't even open emails.

 

It was annoying but didn't ruin our cruise.

[Charles4515]

Used Iphone 5 and Ipad 2. My partner had an Iphone 6. All devices experienced slow service on average wherever we went on the ship, mainly in our room (Deck 11 mid-ship) but also in the Oceanview and some other public areas. There were brief periods during the cruise (never at the same time of day) where service was fairly quick and then plenty of times when it was so slow we couldn't even open emails.

 

 

 

It was annoying but didn't ruin our cruise.

 

 

And that is why Celebrity has begun installing high speed internet on their ships. Passengers do not want to be annoyed. They are used to high speed internet at home. It is also to Celebrity's benefit if passengers post to social media while onboard. Also passengers would be able to use their smartphones to book excursions, make dinner reservations, check daily activities, etc. High speed internet is a win for both passengers and the cruise line.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[jagoffee]

Used Iphone 5 and Ipad 2. My partner had an Iphone 6. All devices experienced slow service on average wherever we went on the ship, mainly in our room (Deck 11 mid-ship) but also in the Oceanview and some other public areas. There were brief periods during the cruise (never at the same time of day) where service was fairly quick and then plenty of times when it was so slow we couldn't even open emails.

 

It was annoying but didn't ruin our cruise.

Then it must not be device related. I guess "fairly quick" would be the way to describe our best service as well, but for us it was more frequent. Only once did I have trouble sending an IMessage and it was because it had a video attached with a birthday wish.

It was much better than our Sihouette TA in November. it will be nice if it improves even more.

[rhodgewald]

We just got off the Equinox on 1/22 and I used the internet on both my new Galaxy Note 5 phone and on my old computer. The speed was very good to excellent when I used my phone but slower on my older computer. We had the go best package, so we were on the internet all the time and I really had very few complaints.

[clandestino_usr]

I'm currently on the Silhouette, in RS1614, going back to Amsterdam after a 12-night cruise to the baltic sea and St-Peterburg.

 

While the cruise itself was, as always, a real pleasure, the internet part was a total disaster.

 

Celebrity claims their new XCelerate high-speed internet is already active in our ship, but at best I've been experiencing speeds from the early ages of dial-up connections.

 

Sometimes, even the page to connect or disconnect couldn't be reached.

 

According to the Michael's Club concierge, they had repeated issues with the hardware that they could not resolve on their own and had to call for an intervention in port (in Wardemunde). But it did not changed anything. Even after, internet was at best slower than a pack of lazy snails, at worst totally erratic. There were even spots in our suite where the signal would not reach my macbook, my iPad or my samsung.

 

In fact, most of the time, I used the in-port or the "cellular at sea" signals to follow up on my mails and catch up with friends on Facebook and twitter.

 

I hope they fix up this in the future. It's good that our suite package included a complimentary unlimited connection for two guests, otherwise I would have been quite mad with the quality of the service. The concierge even granted us with a nice rebate on our next cruise as an apology.

[LADinCT]

We both have to work on our 12 day Solstice in Feb so hope it is running by then particularly after paying $500+ for 2 people to use it.