NCL Internet Speed/Reliability?

[AstoriaPreppy]

Heading on NCL in a few weeks, and looking for feedback on the internet service at sea. I've got 500 minutes of internet total from a combination of promos, and it's likely I'll need to use this for some work on our cruise. 99% of the comments on the boards are people saying "just unplug" or "they don't run a cable to the ship," but that's not entirely realistic for my work, so I'm trying to gauge any real-life experiences.

 

My only hands-on with cruise ship internet has been Royal Caribbean, which was surprisingly fast (better than some land-based options). Is NCL comparable? Are we talking mbps? Kbps? 2400 modem?

[KeithJenner]

It can vary.

 

The main factor in my experience is time of day. When everyone is arriving back onboard from port and, I assume, start posting to Facebook etc then it can be extremely slow, especially if you are in ports where people are unlikely to have cellular coverage.

 

At times like that it can be difficult to even log on.

 

If you can be fairly flexible with your timings then you should be able to find quieter times. Then I usually find it is a decent speed for things like email etc. On occasion it can be pretty good.

 

If you are trying to do things which are data heavy then you may struggle at all times.

 

Ignore the people judging, by the way. The internet is full of people who just see the world through their own eyes and can’t see that other people have different requirements and responsibilities. Their comments say far more about them than they do about you.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[tef43]

Your old 300 bps modem will seem blazing fast compared to onboard.

[All-ready2cruise]

Heading on NCL in a few weeks, and looking for feedback on the internet service at sea. I've got 500 minutes of internet total from a combination of promos, and it's likely I'll need to use this for some work on our cruise. 99% of the comments on the boards are people saying "just unplug" or "they don't run a cable to the ship," but that's not entirely realistic for my work, so I'm trying to gauge any real-life experiences.

 

My only hands-on with cruise ship internet has been Royal Caribbean, which was surprisingly fast (better than some land-based options). Is NCL comparable? Are we talking mbps? Kbps? 2400 modem?

 

I can totally relate to you need of internet. Don't worry about those who say disconnect! My DH felt he had to be connect to the internet since he did the tech support for his company online through email. He supposedly had retired (yeah right) but we still needed connection and so he opted for the unlimited internet. It worked really well for him (he also had a satelite phone, not always available except in ports off the ship).

 

I'd suggest you inquire at the internet cafe whether you can simply have the unlimited internet package. It will never be as fast as you'd like, however, it will suffice as far as connectivity is concerned.

 

Good luck and may the force (the internet) be with you. ;)

[BirdTravels]

Heading on NCL in a few weeks, and looking for feedback on the internet service at sea. I've got 500 minutes of internet total from a combination of promos, and it's likely I'll need to use this for some work on our cruise. 99% of the comments on the boards are people saying "just unplug" or "they don't run a cable to the ship," but that's not entirely realistic for my work, so I'm trying to gauge any real-life experiences.

 

My only hands-on with cruise ship internet has been Royal Caribbean, which was surprisingly fast (better than some land-based options). Is NCL comparable? Are we talking mbps? Kbps? 2400 modem?

If you have done voom, you know what satellite internet is. Surfing will give you good apparent speed because ships use cache servers to prefetch pages. VPN into a business is subject to latency and shared bandwidth 100% of the time.

 

Take your 500 mins and use it as credit toward an unlimited plan.

[AstoriaPreppy]

Speaking of VPN, is that an option with the NCL internet? Or should I just aim for connecting to email servers?

[calmpets]

I run a small business, and I check email once per day while cruising to address any issues that may come up back home. The 100 minute package is just enough for me to log in, check my email, type a couple of replies, and log off, daily. I actually average 10-12 minutes per day, and that is really just enough time to briefly answer two or three emails max. Unplugging completely is a nice concept, but if it will help relieve stress to check in to work periodically, I see nothing wrong with doing that. The speed is fairly painful, so plan your minutes accordingly. Enjoy your trip!

[PTC DAWG]

Never tried it, hopefully I never have too....if I was that important, I wouldn’t go cruising.

[AstoriaPreppy]

Never tried it, hopefully I never have too....if I was that important, I wouldn’t go cruising.

 

I envy you!

 

As a millennial, I enjoy both working *and* vacation. Often, these happen at the same time. Performing both simultaneously allows me to have lots more of each :cool:

[BNBR]

I spend a ton of time online while on a cruise. I like keeping up with my business as well as reading the news, communicating with friends, etc. So I require unlimited internet. I thought the internet on Escape was more than adequate. Slower than Royal but faster than Carnival. Nothing outstanding but I definitely wouldn't call it painful.

[Rasvar]

I almost never use internet on the ship. It's never worth the cost for me. I might do a pay per use day or go to the cafe to check email if I'm on a cruise with back to back sea days. Otherwise, I'll check everything at ports since my cell and data plan is essentially no more than $10/day to use if I can't find wifi. But, I'm also a person who takes three days in backcountry wilderness with no cell service for vacation and make sure enough people are properly trained back home to handle my job if something goes wrong for a couple of days. One of those things of just making sure I'm covered if hit by a car/bus/scooter. I'm much happier when I don't think about work while on a cruise.

[nlstigger]

While I haven’t sailed this specific ship, I was able to work and cruise ok. I access my work via vpn and it worked fine. however, I admit I spent a couple of hours each day we were in port linked up to my iPhone as a hotspot, because the wireless over iPhone was quicker than the ship WiFi.

[nlstigger]

I think it is fun to travel and work at the same time. I had beautiful views outside my balcony window while working and I was able to use a lot less vacation hours at the same time.

[mking8288]

To OP, if you are cruising soon on the BA or Gem soon, I can say with a fair degree of confidence that satellite WiFi works fine, not blazing fast 4G/LTE speed but more than adequate for basic web browsing, email, Facebook & VoIP (Hangouts & Skype) while at sea. BA is faster but Gem isn't too slow in comparison - last November, the data transfer speed was about 1Mbps when it wasn't busy over the shared connections.

 

I am still skeptical of this new rollout reported within the past few weeks, going fleetwide, until someone onboard can demonstrate some basic benchmarked results on latency & speed in actual use ... it should be better & even faster, which is good and NCL's pledge last year. The Escape, Getaway & the Epic, supposingly had been running "trials" for the new 3-tiers for a while.

 

NCL's private island @ GSC in the Bahamas, had deployed technologies last year to extend ship's WiFi to the beachfront ... you can see satellite dishes & antennas on the tall tower, backside of the beach area. Possibly using microwaves to beam the signals among antennas ... worked with the Gem & the Breakaway last year. GSC also has a good cellular signal at 3G on our T-Mobile/Project Fi devices, which is comparable to ship's satellite signal ("BTS" is the roaming carrier) Our roaming data signal cost is dirt cheap and for the 150 or 200 MB used, cost was less than a can of soda sold on the ship.

 

Uptown isn't going to 99.75% but fairly close, in a dead zone with marginal coverage ... the connection might timed out or drop, usually can find services again as the ship at sea do "move" along - even if weather is poor, clouds & weather do have unintended consequences.

 

Since you mention RCL's Voom, this will be much slower as their I.T. vendor has lot more bandwidth. Reading in between the lines about the BA on an unrelated subject this week, it appeared that they haven't experienced any major or real changes with the new plans rolling out, yet - if you have 250 minutes/1000MB offer on the BA, it was credited as 1GB data, which translated into over 1,000 minutes - not true for other ships but this, too, could change with the new.

 

Sailing the smaller ship in a few weeks ourself, will get the chance to see whether our newest Ooma mobile app work or not at sea, as VoIP over WiFi since we finally cut the cord & unbundled our home setup.

[VideoTech]

Heading on NCL in a few weeks, and looking for feedback on the internet service at sea. I've got 500 minutes of internet total from a combination of promos, and it's likely I'll need to use this for some work on our cruise. 99% of the comments on the boards are people saying "just unplug" or "they don't run a cable to the ship," but that's not entirely realistic for my work, so I'm trying to gauge any real-life experiences.

 

My only hands-on with cruise ship internet has been Royal Caribbean, which was surprisingly fast (better than some land-based options). Is NCL comparable? Are we talking mbps? Kbps? 2400 modem?

 

I have used the ship's internet on all our cruises to log in for work on a periodic basis. Have never even come close to using the entire allotment of minutes we get. The service is more than adequate for email. Web surfing can be slow. FB messaging works just fine. Main thing to remember is to log off your account. If you forget, you'll burn through the minutes fast.

[AstoriaPreppy]

To OP, if you are cruising soon on the BA or Gem soon, I can say with a fair degree of confidence that satellite WiFi works fine, not blazing fast 4G/LTE speed but more than adequate for basic web browsing, email, Facebook & VoIP (Hangouts & Skype) while at sea. BA is faster but Gem isn't too slow in comparison - last November, the data transfer speed was about 1Mbps when it wasn't busy over the shared connections.

 

This is great info. I'm completely okay with 1 mpbs as long as it's stable and (relatively) functional. I'll make sure to run a speedtest and report back. If it's particularly bad, I've got AT&T so could always tether to my phone in an international port and pay the $10 a day roaming charge.

 

I've also got the phone call package included as a perk, so we'll see how that goes too.

[mking8288]

This is great info ... got AT&T so could always tether to my phone in an international port and pay the $10 a day roaming charge ... also got the phone call package included as a perk, so we'll see ...

Cool, please do share & report back - along with the latest 3-tier offers, etc. - some of the details were on the free iConcierge App, not necessary to pay extra to use the optional components. Download the newer "Norwegian" App, just in case if they switch over ... unannounced.

 

We sail in less than 2 months on the Gem again, our Roll Call organizer is a frequent & regular - and, shared that she noticed that log-in and speed are better & noticeable faster on their recent trip. That's a positive & encouraging indicator, as it was okay last April - not as robust as the BA but Tapatalk, FB & other functions on my devices worked just fine.

 

Oh, if yours support 5 Ghz and the new "ac" protocols, use it as those Cisco/Lucent grade hotspot/routers do put out solid signals across the channels = less data traffic & congestions, most of the time.

[CruisinNana]

I have unlimited internet on the Jade. Will apps

like "WhatsApp" or "WeChat" work for a phone call while at sea? I have used these apps on other cruise lines that worked just fine, but this is my first time on NCL.

[mking8288]

I have unlimited internet on the Jade. Will apps like "WhatsApp" or "WeChat" work for a phone call while at sea? ...

They should - last November on Breakaway & May on the Gem ... Skype, Facetime and Hangouts voice & video calling worked for me.

 

DW uses WeChat on hers, no issues that I know of on WiFi, not just ship's inTRAnet. You should be good to go & just fine.