WiFi Package

[Krissyboi]

Hi Guys

 

Wondering what experience you guys have had with the WiFi package.

 

I am looking to do the full cruise plan which I know is £10 a day but I'm willing to spend extra as I have a good amount of onboard credit as we are on a 12 night cruise.

 

What I want to know is, is it worth it? Especially on sea days as we have 5 days in total.

I will probably be using it for Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger.

Is it worth it or more like an intermittent signal?

 

Any experience of the WiFi would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance

 

Kris ☺️

 

 

 

 

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[Southendweather]

Hi Kris,

 

It is quite expensive but far better than the time countdown they used before. You can only have one device connected at one time, but not a problem. I think you maybe ok with the mid range package. I used the mid one which worked with WhatsApp, Twitter etc, although I think I couldn't send photo's, but did that at an internet cafe on shore.

It can be slow at times, I found in the Fjords you lost the signal because the satellite must have been hidden by the mountains. The Med or Caribbean shouldn't have this problem.

If you are like me and like to be connected whenever I want to be, worth going for in my opinion.

 

Keith (Southend)

[Goosebear Mum]

We found it worth it when we had a lot of sea days, and bought the package. Sad to some people but we spent nothing in the spa, speciality restaurants, etc. But when we went to the Fjords, we just used my inclusive mobile data from 3 and didn't buy wifi.

 

Internet lasts 24 hours, so if you want it for just sea days, you could buy at mid day and use it till midday the following day... this can save some money over a full cruise package.

 

We used the mid package. I couldn't view any videos friends posted on FB, (nor any BBC news video clips annoyingly). but other than that it was fine. Also allowed us to talk to our parents on Christmas Day. Not sure if the mid package allows use of What's App or Instagram... you'd need to check beforehand... someone on here may know

[Florry]

Hi we used it on Arcadia when we had lots of sea days and it worked well, with the medium package you can't stream video but FB, browsing etc. works fine. When we brought it there was no advantage to the whole cruise package as it was just the daily rate multiplied up. We only brought it on sea days as there is so much free wifi in ports. We generally brought 24 hours at about 3pm every other day which effectively gave us access for a part of every day. I didn't miss it in the evenings on port days it's quite liberating to be free of the internet.

 

 

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[tartanexile81]

Like Florry we bought the middle package and found it really efficient and we'll definitely be doing the same on our next cruise with lots of sea days. We also did the same as Gooseberry Mum and started early afternoon on one day till early afternoon the next day. People go on about how expensive it is but I love having access to the internet and I want to keep in touch with the outside world so to me it's worth every penny

[Host Sharon]

It's not £!0, it's £12.50pd, although you get your Peninsular discount on it. It worked just fine for me on Aurora. You can also use it on several devices as long as only one is logged in at a time. It just annoys me you have to buy 24 hours when you will be asleep for at least 6-7 of those.

[Selbourne]

If you can live without internet coverage on sea days then there is no need to buy any of the extortionately priced P&O wi-fi packages (certainly if your cruise is within Europe) if you have a smartphone etc. I relied solely on my iPhone during a recent 16 night Baltic cruise (including Russia). I had around 20 emails a day, used Social Media, regular messages to family etc. Total cost £30, or less than £2 a day. Since I returned, data roaming charges within Europe have been slashed in price and are now included within U.K. based data packages, so that £30 would now be around £10. And if I could have had a £1 coin for every person I noticed at the library asking for assistance on logging on or being kicked off the P&O system, being charged for time that they weren't able to get online, complaining about how slow it was etc I would have got my £30 back! I had a few issues trying to text in Russia but in all the other 7 countries all aspects worked as well and as quickly as if I was at home.

[Goosebear Mum]

It's not £!0, it's £12.50pd, although you get your Peninsular discount on it. It worked just fine for me on Aurora. You can also use it on several devices as long as only one is logged in at a time. It just annoys me you have to buy 24 hours when you will be asleep for at least 6-7 of those.

 

Sharon, it is £10 with the whole/remainder of cruise packages. Well, it certainly has been when I got it. :) Maybe others can say if it is still so. You have to attempt to log in to the ship wifi and go to payment option to find this discount. Maybe on short cruises they don't offer it?

 

Edit, and I wasn't part of the Peninsula club when I paid £10 so that wasn't the reason for the reduced price.

[brian1]

Sharon, it is £10 with the whole/remainder of cruise packages. Well, it certainly has been when I got it. :) Maybe others can say if it is still so. You have to attempt to log in to the ship wifi and go to payment option to find this discount. Maybe on short cruises they don't offer it?

 

Edit, and I wasn't part of the Peninsula club when I paid £10 so that wasn't the reason for the reduced price.

Hi,you are right,we were on the same cruise as Sharon but only the Dubai to Singapore segment.We were offered the whole cruise for £10 a day but when we found out there was little or no signal quite often,we didnt bother,cheers,Brian.

[terrierjohn]

If you can live without internet coverage on sea days then there is no need to buy any of the extortionately priced P&O wi-fi packages (certainly if your cruise is within Europe) if you have a smartphone etc. I relied solely on my iPhone during a recent 16 night Baltic cruise (including Russia). I had around 20 emails a day, used Social Media, regular messages to family etc. Total cost £30, or less than £2 a day. Since I returned, data roaming charges within Europe have been slashed in price and are now included within U.K. based data packages, so that £30 would now be around £10. And if I could have had a £1 coin for every person I noticed at the library asking for assistance on logging on or being kicked off the P&O system, being charged for time that they weren't able to get online, complaining about how slow it was etc I would have got my £30 back! I had a few issues trying to text in Russia but in all the other 7 countries all aspects worked as well and as quickly as if I was at home.

I have only ever had a PAYG phone as I rarely use it at home and only for text messages when cruising, but my current phone is a smart phone. Although I have paid for the odd day when on holiday, now that roaming charges in Europe have been reduced I am considering a monthly contract, some of which are only £5 pm and give you 1gb of data per month, which should be enough to download my e mails, and they allow enough texts to last me a lifetime of cruise holidays.

[Britboys]

Of course you could always just go 'cold turkey' and leave all your devices in the back of the wardrobe. Go on, live dangerously Kris ;)

[Selbourne]

I have only ever had a PAYG phone as I rarely use it at home and only for text messages when cruising, but my current phone is a smart phone. Although I have paid for the odd day when on holiday, now that roaming charges in Europe have been reduced I am considering a monthly contract, some of which are only £5 pm and give you 1gb of data per month, which should be enough to download my e mails, and they allow enough texts to last me a lifetime of cruise holidays.

 

Good thinking John. My package (GiffGaff) is just £7.50 per month and I just topped up £20 extra credit before I left. Job done.

[Goosebear Mum]

For those who don't want wifi on sea days, just ignore this thread! Using mobiles in ports is very very different. And we all have different reasons to want or need internet. Respect other people's needs or wishes please :) .

 

Brian, I think we must have been lucky, as we found signal and speed acceptable all the way to the Caribbean and back, never had any connection issues except for the bug that they didn't inform us that on long cruises we have to be reset up... (we have to rebuy the package and then be reimbursed!). hopefully they've got that bug sorted... We'll get it again when we do this same cruise in 18mths time.

[Host Sharon]

Sharon, it is £10 with the whole/remainder of cruise packages. Well, it certainly has been when I got it. :) Maybe others can say if it is still so. You have to attempt to log in to the ship wifi and go to payment option to find this discount. Maybe on short cruises they don't offer it?

 

Edit, and I wasn't part of the Peninsula club when I paid £10 so that wasn't the reason for the reduced price.

 

Ah - I see what you mean. I was on the full world cruise so no way was I going to pay for the whole package. My friend and I shared about 6 or 7 internet days and used free port wi-fi in between. Now of course, with Europe included in UK phone packages, I won't need it on Adonia next week.

[Goosebear Mum]

Ah - I see what you mean. I was on the full world cruise so no way was I going to pay for the whole package. My friend and I shared about 6 or 7 internet days and used free port wi-fi in between. Now of course, with Europe included in UK phone packages, I won't need it on Adonia next week.

 

Ahh, LOL, no I wouldn't either; a world cruise at £10 a day would be a huge bill!

 

And yes, on the Fjords a few weeks ago I just used my 3 mobile included minutes, when we were close enough to land. The new EU wide rule will now make that even easier.

[brian1]

For those who don't want wifi on sea days, just ignore this thread! Using mobiles in ports is very very different. And we all have different reasons to want or need internet. Respect other people's needs or wishes please :) .

 

Brian, I think we must have been lucky, as we found signal and speed acceptable all the way to the Caribbean and back, never had any connection issues except for the bug that they didn't inform us that on long cruises we have to be reset up... (we have to rebuy the package and then be reimbursed!). hopefully they've got that bug sorted... We'll get it again when we do this same cruise in 18mths time.

Hi,it was just what a few people we met on ship said,that their connection was poor.What annoyed me was when I mentioned to IT girl that Princess packages are by the minutes used,she said that Princess are going over to the P&O system,which was completely untrue,cheers,Brian.

[Goosebear Mum]

Something I'd not considered, is the ship and hence the age range of the passengers may affect wifi speed, etc.

 

An older age range of passengers on the ship may have fewer people paying and using it, and correspondingly a faster speed? When I paid for wifi we were on a 24 night cruise with many sea days (to and from Caribbean). Although we were not the youngest (there were a few families in board) the cruise won't have been maybe wifi user heavy...

 

Some people do not understand satellite wifi, that it's very expensive even for rural home owners, let alone for a ship! They don't always understand that speeds will be lower than what they get on broadband or fibre at home and satellite lags occur.

 

Paying for and connecting to the ship wifi wasn't the most straightforward at times I agree, and for many people who don't understand PCs very well, they will need help. But I also heard some very obvious questions and the staff sometimes have to be very patient.

 

Maybe being in IT we have a greater understanding and tolerance, so the speeds and issues we got, we understood and considered acceptable/good in the middle of an ocean :)

[Selbourne]

Something I'd not considered, is the ship and hence the age range of the passengers may affect wifi speed, etc.

 

An older age range of passengers on the ship may have fewer people paying and using it, and correspondingly a faster speed?

 

I've noticed the complete opposite. Most of the people paying for the exorbitant P&O packages on our cruises have been older passengers who have not discovered how much cheaper, easier and quicker it is to use your own network provider, or simply don't use smart devices. I appreciate that if you are simply unable to be torn away from the World Wide Web during sea days (which I fully appreciate that many self employed people are unable to do) then you have no option but to buy access from P&O. If, however, you are fortunate enough to be able to switch off from work when on holiday (or don't work at all) then I see no need to pay these rip off prices. If there is an emergency at home on a sea day then I can be contacted immediately via the emergency contact details. As I say to my adult kids, believe it or not, most of us survived decades without mobile phones, email, wifi, internet etc etc. A few sea days on a holiday reminds me of how peaceful things used to be before we were available to anyone and everyone 24/7 for 365 days a year!

[danielundecided]

I found that I could view videos on Facebook, however they were painfully slow on sea days. I also could video chat people and send/receive photos via the Facebook messenger app :)

 

Almost all social medias worked; Facebook, Instagram and Twitter worked, however Snapchat isn't included in the £7.75 package. It's fairly fast for regular social media browsing.

 

Dan

 

 

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