Basic Voom Question(s)

[RadioPeri]

I know this should be clear, but just want to make sure. Well, two things, actually:

 

1) With the 1 device plan, is it 1 device per person for the entire cruise (say, my laptop OR my phone, etc.), or is it 1 device at at time?

 

It sounds like 1 for the whole cruise, but that actually sounds crazy. We're recently off the Celebrity Summit and routinely switched between laptop (me) or iPad (hubs) and phones, as one doesn't want to schlep around a heavy device all day, and it's still only logging in for one passenger at a time.

 

Anyhow, please fill me in on how this works, if you wouldn't mind. We have no problem buying a package per person, but a package per actual DEVICE sounds ridiculous.

 

2) I could give a rip about streaming on board. Not cruising to watch Netflix. But I don't see an option for JUST surfing without streaming, and the bundled beverage package and internet ALSO includes streaming. Huh??

 

 

Lord, I love cruising, but I HATE cruise pricing, and figuring out all their stupid obfuscations.

 

Help, please.

[Clarea]

Once device at a time.

 

Surf only is available onboard. However, the onboard price is $16/day for one device.

[colocop004]

Yep, one device at a time. We switched between our cell phone and iPads multiple times a day.

 

 

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[moopetguy]

As mentioned above, one device at a time, and you can change devices as frequently as you like. Open your device's web browser and go to "logout.com", which terminates your one device's session, allowing another device to log in immediately with the same access code. If you purchase pre-cruise, you should be given your access code on a business card when you check in at the terminal, before you board.

 

The use of "logout.com" is interesting from a technical perspective (DNS nerd alert!) because RCI is redirecting you to their own server when on the ship's Wi-Fi. I assume they use it because it's easy to remember and does what you think it should. When at home, that domain goes to someone's blog.

[RadioPeri]

As mentioned above, one device at a time, and you can change devices as frequently as you like. Open your device's web browser and go to "logout.com", which terminates your one device's session, allowing another device to log in immediately with the same access code. If you purchase pre-cruise, you should be given your access code on a business card when you check in at the terminal, before you board.

 

Thanks. Of course it makes sense for one device at a time ... which begs the question: Why on earth is it referred to like this on the Royal Caribbean website:

 

VOOM SURF + STREAM VOYAGE PACKAGE - 1 DEVICE ???

 

and the fine print states: Price is per day per device and must be purchase [sic] for the duration of your cruise.

Anyway ... I'm glad to hear this works the same way as on Celebrity. As an FYI, you do not have to visit the logout page. When you go to log on the second device, it will prompt you that there's a session open elsewhere, and ask if you want to end it. Much easier than logging out each time, since you may not always know when you're done on one device and want to use another.

 

Thanks for the prompt answers, all!

[Biker19]

When you go to log on the second device, it will prompt you that there's a session open elsewhere, and ask if you want to end it.

This varies by ship - many times the second device to log on simply bumps the first device off without any warning.

[Clarea]

... As an FYI, you do not have to visit the logout page. When you go to log on the second device, it will prompt you that there's a session open elsewhere, and ask if you want to end it. Much easier than logging out each time, since you may not always know when you're done on one device and want to use another.

I've seen this part work two different ways on Royal:

 

It automatically logs off one of the other sessions.

 

It refuses to log on until one of the other sessions is terminated, with no option to remotely terminate any other session.

[LeeW]

On Allure it seemed to bump a device not in use for maybe 15 minutes but if you switched from one to another directly you had to log off the first. In any case we had computer, phone and kindle on one account. Streaming things like weather forecasts worked fine. It really depends on the signal strength where you are on the ship. If signal wasn't "excellent" we tended to get page delays.

 

By the way they gave us a code number similar to an airline reservation number at checkin and that was entered on the devices to log in. If you happen to lose the paper then Guest Services can look up the number.

[TrishOB]

I know this should be clear, but just want to make sure. Well, two things, actually:

 

1) With the 1 device plan, is it 1 device per person for the entire cruise (say, my laptop OR my phone, etc.), or is it 1 device at at time?

 

It sounds like 1 for the whole cruise, but that actually sounds crazy. We're recently off the Celebrity Summit and routinely switched between laptop (me) or iPad (hubs) and phones, as one doesn't want to schlep around a heavy device all day, and it's still only logging in for one passenger at a time.

 

Anyhow, please fill me in on how this works, if you wouldn't mind. We have no problem buying a package per person, but a package per actual DEVICE sounds ridiculous.

 

2) I could give a rip about streaming on board. Not cruising to watch Netflix. But I don't see an option for JUST surfing without streaming, and the bundled beverage package and internet ALSO includes streaming. Huh??

 

 

Lord, I love cruising, but I HATE cruise pricing, and figuring out all their stupid obfuscations.

 

Help, please.

 

When is your cruise, Peri? I booked our British Isles cruise, coming up in May, more than a year out, and when the Internet Packages showed up on the cruise planner, only the Surf+Stream package was available, but later on, the Surf-only packages popped up. So you might want to keep an eye on your cruise planner as time goes on for the Surf-only packages if you’re still several months out.

[RadioPeri]

I've seen this part work two different ways on Royal:

 

It automatically logs off one of the other sessions.

 

It refuses to log on until one of the other sessions is terminated, with no option to remotely terminate any other session.

 

Clearly, Royal Caribbean is as on top of its onboard Internet as it is on its website, lol. :D

[RadioPeri]

When is your cruise, Peri? I booked our British Isles cruise, coming up in May, more than a year out, and when the Internet Packages showed up on the cruise planner, only the Surf+Stream package was available, but later on, the Surf-only packages popped up. So you might want to keep an eye on your cruise planner as time goes on for the Surf-only packages if you’re still several months out.

 

This was a close-in booking for us, Trish. HOTS the first week in March. We'll likely bundle with a beverage package at this point.

[dave.s]

I was just on Independence. There, you have to explicitly log off one device in order to use another (I did that by going to logoff.com, not logout.com, but maybe they’re interchangeable); diconnecting from wi-fi is not enough to log you off. I purchased the discounted Surf+Stream package for 2 devices before the cruise; I didn’t need the streaming feature, but there were no Surf-only packages available in advance. Even so, the service was extremely slow and unreliable, definitely not the “the fastest internet at sea” that RCI advertises. If you need to access the internet, the only other option is to pay for RCI’s cellular service, which is probably more expensive (I don’t know if it would be any faster).

 

If you can get by with accessing the internet only when you’re in port, there are probably better and possibly cheaper options available, including public wi-fi hotspots, international plans from your cellular service provider, and portable wi-fi hotspots such as SkyRoam.

[Biker19]

Even so, the service was extremely slow and unreliable, definitely not the “the fastest internet at sea” that RCI advertises.

I don't believe any other cruise line uses the O3B service that RCI uses on some of their ships, so in that sense and with the Streaming tier - those ships probably do have the "fastest" (combination of speed and latency) service at sea.

 

BTW, when we were on Indy in Nov there was no need to logoff - the login of a new device automatically bumped the previous device off.

[BrentD]

The use of "logout.com" is interesting from a technical perspective (DNS nerd alert!) because RCI is redirecting you to their own server when on the ship's Wi-Fi. I assume they use it because it's easy to remember and does what you think it should. When at home, that domain goes to someone's blog.

Man, wouldn't that suck if that WAS your blog? Planned on doing a live blog of your cruise but kept getting knocked offline.... lol

[dave.s]

I don't believe any other cruise line uses the O3B service that RCI uses on some of their ships, so in that sense and with the Streaming tier - those ships probably do have the "fastest" (combination of speed and latency) service at sea.

 

BTW, when we were on Indy in Nov there was no need to logoff - the login of a new device automatically bumped the previous device off.

 

Maybe so, but I doubt I would have been able to stream anything on the ship, since it was difficult even to get e-mail. Seems like misleading advertising.

 

Interesting that your experience on Indy regarding logging out was different from mine. I discovered that I had to log out when I tried to log in from another device, and I got an error code saying that I had reached the maximum number of devices, even though there was only one other device using wi-fi at the time. Maybe it depends on the devices you’re using: we were switching between two iPads and two iPhones.

[Biker19]

Maybe it depends on the devices you’re using: we were switching between two iPads and two iPhones.

Device should make no diff - this implementation (of how devices get connected) varies between ships but it was interesting to see the process changed on the same ship.