New Internet rates

[POA1]

11 minutes ago, LINGBER said:

Or a Hot Spot? 

 

Technically a hotspot router, but you know what I mean. You need a device with two radios and the capability to use the ship's network on the WAN side and run a LAN on the other side. 

[POA1]

2 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Sounds great and the prices seem very fair. How is router access in the veranda cabins? In the past we would always have to go to the Explorers Lounge or up to the Crows Nest after the evening show to get good reception as it was usually very poor in the cabins.

 

I can only speak to the Zuiderdam, but the upgraded WiFi has much better penetration. There are a a couple of dead zones, but I am seeing 20 dB or better almost everywhere. (39 dB in our stateroom. 26 dB in the cabana.) 

[faerievert]

We'll be on the Eurodam if anyone has comments on reception there

[Btimmer]

Here are my Speedtest Results from the Nieuw Statendam.

[5745]

We purchased the top range WiFi package (needed to work) for $189.00 on the Zuiderdam for 11 days. It was not fast but we use satellite WiFi at home (Huges Net) and it was comparable. The last two days (sea days) were extremely slow- perhaps due to others buying WiFi for last sea days?? I wish it was less expensive but without it I would not have been able to cruise. 😊

[wales4ever]

If you think that you cannot do without the internet then pay the price.

I am not nearly important ( or young enough) to HAVE  to have internet al the time on my holidays.

 

I simply wait until I am ashore once or twice a week to check emails.

[Tennessee Titan]

To each his (or her) own. I personally will never pay the $170 ( or even $85 on my newly acquired 5*). It is not THAT important.  But that said, I do like to check my email periodically. I do not (ever) look at social media and have no desire to stream or upload stuff. Many cruise lines give it to you free if you have appropriate status.

Again, this is my personal feeling and I gave no desire to start a pissing contest over it!

Happy Holidays to all!

[aliaschief]

23 hours ago, Shmoo here said:

But, it's unlimited access to your email for the length of the cruise, is that correct?  No limit on MB or minutes?

Just got off the Prisendam which was a short six day cruise. We bought six days of unlimited for $50.00 dollars. It was so refreshing to use the internet and not rush thinking minutes of usage ticking away!

 

Keep in mind once set up only one device at a time can be on-line. We had two separate I Phones and an I Pad enrolled in plan.

 

We really enjoyed this new plan.

 

Another first on this cruise was usage of T-Mobile for our phone service. On our Koningsdam Cruise our friend Sherita convinced us  T-Mobile was the way to go if you travel overseas often. Up to 2 bar unlimited roaming and free texting in hundreds of countries. On a sea day my phone beeped and I had a welcome to Bahamas T-Mobile Service message and I was able to send text message to daughter and there was no land in sight. Dominican Republic was able post pictures on FB.

 

So we are pleased that we switched to T-Mobile and have more access when traveling.

 

 

 

[richwmn]

15 minutes ago, aliaschief said:

Another first on this cruise was usage of T-Mobile for our phone service. On our Koningsdam Cruise our friend Sherita convinced us  T-Mobile was the way to go if you travel overseas often. Up to 2 bar unlimited roaming and free texting in hundreds of countries. On a sea day my phone beeped and I had a welcome to Bahamas T-Mobile Service message and I was able to send text message to daughter and there was no land in sight. Dominican Republic was able post pictures on FB.

 

So we are pleased that we switched to T-Mobile and have more access when traveling.

I agree with you about T-Moblie. I switched just before the VoV. I had some trouble on that cruise and when I got home I tried to check on it. The reps tried to find a problem, but were unable to because I was in the US. When I got to Civitavecchia I had problems again but I was prepared. I had a VOIP phone as well and was able to talk on another phone while I made adjustments on the T-Mobile phone. I had a very good rep this time and they found that my sim was only provisioned for US/CAN/MEX. As soon as that was fixed I had no further problems. The price is good as well, so I am satisfied.

 

[Schooner-ca]

I spent 38 days on the Noordam in October/November. I did the same trip in 2017. In 2017 you bought minutes and could have multiple devises on the same account at the same time. 2018 you buy internet packages that are clearly explained on the ships web site. I found the overall cost to be lower on our last trip. The overall performance was much better. I was able to face time with our grand daughter any time I wanted. The one issue is that under the new program you can only have one devise on the system at any given time. I never ran out data. I did have some issues with band width on my banks wed site and my security cameras.

Social medial I was always able to up load pictures. When off the ship I was always able to find free hot spots. I would not recommend using these for any financial transaction.  

 

I am off on the Eurodam in a few weeks to Mexico. My experiences in Mexico any shore based top spots are very slow. I will be getting a ship internet package.

[DWAliaschief]

On 12/22/2018 at 7:22 PM, POA1 said:

 

Make that device a router. 

How would I do that?  (Never mind - google is my friend and I know how to do that now!) 

My DH and I just kicked each other off when one of us wanted to use the internet.  That said, we are still married as well! It was nice to have unlimited use without worrying about the minutes  DH used FB alot and we did not experience any slow down - however, we were only on the ship for 6(!) days.

Edited December 28, 2018 by DWAliaschief

[POA1]

1 hour ago, DWAliaschief said:

How would I do that?  (Never mind - google is my friend and I know how to do that now!) 

My DH and I just kicked each other off when one of us wanted to use the internet.  That said, we are still married as well! It was nice to have unlimited use without worrying about the minutes  DH used FB alot and we did not experience any slow down - however, we were only on the ship for 6(!) days.

 

I used a TP-Link N300 travel router/hotspot. (Model # TL-WR802N) <<

 

The text above links to it on Amazon.  It comes with everything you need, including a plug-in USD charger, LAN cable, and USB cable.  You'll want a small rechargeable "lipstick" style battery if you want to go mobile with the router. There's a photo of it sitting on top of my laptop in the cabana last week here.  For about $35, you can get the router ($23.99) and a battery.  The router will run for days on a battery the size you see in the photo.  You do have to rescan and connect to different access points if you move around the ship. The device will try to stay connected, but you'll want it to latch onto the ship's access point with the strongest signal.  Even though I had my laptop connected to the router when we were in the room, I just stick it in my pocket when we went out in search of clean, bright entertainments in the evening. It worked really, really well. We configured all our devices before we left home, adding the SSID and the password to our phones, computers, tablet, Kindle, etc. Then, once on the ship, I logged onto the router via its web configuration page, and ran the Quick Setup. Basically, we had 5 devices connected to the hotspot router for the low, low price of $129.99 for access, and less than $25 for the device as I already had the battery packs.

Edited December 28, 2018 by POA1

[Btimmer]

I will be doing the same thing with a Hoo Too TripMate Nano travel router model MT-TM02 and a small battery.  Otherwise my wife and I would just share the connection one at a time.  While it's still expensive on HAL for internet access, at least it's not being charged by the minute and the speeds are sufficient for uploading pictures and blog posts. 

[POA1]

11 minutes ago, Btimmer said:

I will be doing the same thing with a Hoo Too TripMate Nano travel router model MT-TM02 and a small battery.  Otherwise my wife and I would just share the connection one at a time.  While it's still expensive on HAL for internet access, at least it's not being charged by the minute and the speeds are sufficient for uploading pictures and blog posts. 

 

I opted for the TP-Link because you're can clone your MAC address to it. They're not currently checking for router MACs, but some convention centers do and it's important to make the router look like PC or other device. 

[Btimmer]

19 minutes ago, POA1 said:

 

I opted for the TP-Link because you're can clone your MAC address to it. They're not currently checking for router MACs, but some convention centers do and it's important to make the router look like PC or other device. 

Good point.  I hadn't considered that, but for $25, it's an inexpensive solution until it won't work.

[POA1]

8 minutes ago, Btimmer said:

Good point.  I hadn't considered that, but for $25, it's an inexpensive solution until it won't work.

 

The Hoo Too is probably easier to configure and use. If you already have a router I would not buy a new one. 

[faerievert]

Hmm, may have to snag a Hoo Too so we can both get online, at least when we’re together. 

[Hlitner]

Just for comparisons sake, here is what we recently experienced on MSC's Divina.  We were on a 21 day cruise in the Caribbean and were able to purchase Internet access for $165 (total cost for the 21 days).  That included 10 Gigabytes of data for 4 devices (which could be logged on at the same time).  Internet service was much faster then what we have experienced on our HAL cruises.  Over the 21 days, despite using the Internet many hours a day (I used to leave my phone logged-on all day) we still had about 3 Gigs remaining.  We used our Internet service for multiple phone calls, texts, the Web, and lots of Facetime.

 

I really like the concept of paying for Gigs rather then time.  

 

Hank

[GateGuardian]

Just got off the Koningsdam. Same price for a 7 night cruise. I got the premium package and the speed is horrible. Averaging about 1M down at peak times and can barely stream anything (even though it was advertise).

 

 

[The-Inside-Cabin]

17 hours ago, POA1 said:

 

The Hoo Too is probably easier to configure and use. If you already have a router I would not buy a new one. 

I used to use a HooToo but have started using my laptop with Windows 10 - it has the ability to create a hotspot in your cabin.

 

If you don't have WIN 10 or a laptop - then Hoo Too is my favorite...More HERE

[POA1]

Just now, The-Inside-Cabin said:

I used to use a HooToo but have started using my laptop with Windows 10 - it has the ability to create a hotspot in your cabin.

 

If you don't have WIN 10 or a laptop - then Hoo Too is my favorite...More HERE

 

You can hotspot on Windows 7 Professional and subsequent versions as well. However, you have to be near your computer to make it work. I like being able to take the small device with me, since it - and a small battery - fit in a pocket. "Is that a hotspot in your pocket or are you happy to see me? I only ask because you're giving off a very strong signal. Can I pair my device with yours?"

[Btimmer]

2 hours ago, POA1 said:

 

You can hotspot on Windows 7 Professional and subsequent versions as well. However, you have to be near your computer to make it work. I like being able to take the small device with me, since it - and a small battery - fit in a pocket. "Is that a hotspot in your pocket or are you happy to see me? I only ask because you're giving off a very strong signal. Can I pair my device with yours?"

Well put about hotspot in a pocket! 

[kazu]

2 hours ago, POA1 said:

 

You can hotspot on Windows 7 Professional and subsequent versions as well. However, you have to be near your computer to make it work. I like being able to take the small device with me, since it - and a small battery - fit in a pocket. "Is that a hotspot in your pocket or are you happy to see me? I only ask because you're giving off a very strong signal. Can I pair my device with yours?"

 

I'm investigating this, thanks POA1.

 

I don't travel with my laptop which has Windows10.  Only my Ipad and my smart phone (which I am useless on and is just a phone  unlike my Ipad 😉 ) 

 

DH once bought me a Linksys (sp?) as a gift pre-cruise which was totally useless  for this purpose IMO.  It did nothing at all on the ship well.

 

This idea is very much appreciated 😄 

 

 

[POA1]

2 hours ago, Btimmer said:

Well put about hotspot in a pocket! 

 

Thanks. It's not often that you get the opportunity to make networking sound suggestive. I'd hate to waste a chance. 

[POA1]

2 hours ago, kazu said:

 

I'm investigating this, thanks POA1.

 

I don't travel with my laptop which has Windows10.  Only my Ipad and my smart phone (which I am useless on and is just a phone  unlike my Ipad 😉 ) 

 

DH once bought me a Linksys (sp?) as a gift pre-cruise which was totally useless  for this purpose IMO.  It did nothing at all on the ship well.

 

This idea is very much appreciated 😄 

 

 

 

It's easier than you'd expect. If you need help, let me know. I don't know which Linksys you have. You need two radios in order for the hotspot to work. Many devices only have one and an Ethernet port on the "other side." 

Edited December 30, 2018 by POA1