Sharing wifi

[long4acruise]

@LeCommandant.  Thanks for your expert advice!  This is our 1st MSC cruise, traveling from the U.S. and want to be sure I understand their Internet package as it's quite different from what I'm used to on Royal Caribbean.

I purchased one 3-device plan at $xxx per person. My intention is to use it on 3 (mine, my husband's and my brother's) different android phones.

Thanks for your guidance!

[MarkusToe]

You know, this will only work if you use the same login account on all devices.

Means you don't have your personal cruise planner..(MSC app)

[publicpersona]

23 hours ago, publicpersona said:

Our cruise of two pax purchased the ALL IN DRINKS & WIFI fare for each. This rate is described as including "ACCESS FOR 2 DEVICES DURING YOUR CRUISE WITH UNLIMITED 24-HOUR ACCESS." I've been assuming all along that this means 2 devices per pax.

 

OK, I just spent 20 minutes on the phone with MSC and have learned that when there are two pax, each of which paid for a fare that is described as including "ACCESS FOR 2 DEVICES". the fact is that if two pax share a cabin, the second pax gets no wi-fi included in their All In fare.

 

If you book solo under All In, the one passenger gets two devices.

 

If you book tandem under All In, the second passenger gets no wi-fi included, and the first passenger must share.

[LeCommandant]

On 9/20/2021 at 5:05 AM, long4acruise said:

@LeCommandant.  Thanks for your expert advice!  This is our 1st MSC cruise, traveling from the U.S. and want to be sure I understand their Internet package as it's quite different from what I'm used to on Royal Caribbean.

I purchased one 3-device plan at $xxx per person. My intention is to use it on 3 (mine, my husband's and my brother's) different android phones.

Thanks for your guidance!

You are welcome. Yes, you can connect the 3 devices easily with one account (yours). 

 

Best regards

[LeCommandant]

On 9/19/2021 at 9:37 PM, SeaBrz said:

Thanks so much, LeCommandant! Will try it out when I sail next Sunday and report back with results.

 

I look forward seeing your feedback 😉

[publicpersona]

There are certainly peculiarities with the way MSC does wi-fi.

 

There is a general expectation that you are going to carry around your phone to read QR codes (menus, etc.). For this you need to connect to wi-fi but you do not need to login to a paid wi-fi account. Be careful that you don’t accidentally login to your paid account unless you wish to have this phone be one of your devices. Interestingly, this access isn’t totally blocked from the Internet and I found I was receiving some cloud-based app notifications in real time on a phone that was not one of my paid devices.

 

The difference between the “surf” and “stream” is apparently not enforced by bandwidth throttling, but instead by blocking specific popular streaming sites. As noted previously, VPN makes that blocking ineffective. If you have an iOS 15 device and have Private Relay enabled (Settings > Tap on Profile name > iCloud > Private Relay > Turn on Private Relay Toggle), the DNS resolution and traffic is also encrypted which also makes the blocking ineffective while in Safari. 

Edited September 27, 2021 by publicpersona

[LeCommandant]

2 hours ago, publicpersona said:

There are certainly peculiarities with the way MSC does wi-fi.

 

There is a general expectation that you are going to carry around your phone to read QR codes (menus, etc.). For this you need to connect to wi-fi but you do not need to login to a paid wi-fi account. Be careful that you don’t accidentally login to your paid account unless you wish to have this phone be one of your devices. Interestingly, this access isn’t totally blocked from the Internet and I found I was receiving some cloud-based app notifications in real time on a phone that was not one of my paid devices.

 

The difference between the “surf” and “stream” is apparently not enforced by bandwidth throttling, but instead by blocking specific popular streaming sites. As noted previously, VPN makes that blocking ineffective. If you have an iOS 15 device and have Private Relay enabled (Settings > Tap on Profile name > iCloud > Private Relay > Turn on Private Relay Toggle), the DNS resolution and traffic is also encrypted which also makes the blocking ineffective while in Safari. 

Thanks for sharing this new option released on the latest version of iOS 15. Good idea if you don't want to use a VPN. 

Yes, MSC gives free WiFi access to Apple servers in order to allow customers to download the MSC For Me app on the App Store, but it tends to be limited in the time. 

 

The only downside of using a VPN is that you cannot access to the MSC For Me app when VPN is enabled. That means that you will need to disable VPN when you want to check the MSC App e.g., for looking lunch menus. 

Edited September 27, 2021 by LeCommandant

[phissy]

On 9/20/2021 at 1:03 PM, publicpersona said:

 

OK, I just spent 20 minutes on the phone with MSC and have learned that when there are two pax, each of which paid for a fare that is described as including "ACCESS FOR 2 DEVICES". the fact is that if two pax share a cabin, the second pax gets no wi-fi included in their All In fare.

 

If you book solo under All In, the one passenger gets two devices.

 

If you book tandem under All In, the second passenger gets no wi-fi included, and the first passenger must share.

Thank you for clarifying this. Many are not sure what is included with their booking.

sounds like we have 2 devices each as we each paid passenger cruise fare.

[styles27]

59 minutes ago, phissy said:

Thank you for clarifying this. Many are not sure what is included with their booking.

sounds like we have 2 devices each as we each paid passenger cruise fare.

I’m reading it as the all in is for 2 devices total per cabin since it states “if 2 pax share a cabin the 2nd pax gets no WiFi “

 

So my hubby and I can each use our phone or tablet but 2 max per stateroom?

 

Does anyone have any info on upgrading the browse WiFi to the browse and stream before we get on board?

[publicpersona]

12 hours ago, styles27 said:

I’m reading it as the all in is for 2 devices total per cabin since it states “if 2 pax share a cabin the 2nd pax gets no WiFi “

 

So my hubby and I can each use our phone or tablet but 2 max per stateroom?

 

Does anyone have any info on upgrading the browse WiFi to the browse and stream before we get on board?

 

You have it right. The fare description that each pax paid says it includes wi-fi for two devices. But that’s a lie.

 

If there are two people in a cabin booking the “all in” promo, only the first person gets wi-fi (for two devices). The second gets none.

 

On the plus side. I’ve found the wi-fi on the Meraviglia to be the most stable and fast of any cruise I’ve done. This is on a Western Carib itinerary. Your mileage may vary.

[maureencruiser]

 

On 9/18/2021 at 11:08 AM, marielco said:

Just got off Seashore you are correct the 1 device plan is locked to the first device you log on and register.  You cannot use it for any other device.  On other cruise lines it is possible to use 2 different devices as long as not logged on at same time.  This is not possible on MSC. 

 

I can confirm this, also.  I was solo, with one device plan.  I was using my laptop to post a live review from my cabin.  I thought I could use my phone at Ocean Cay to post pics to Facebook, etc.  They had emphasized the night before for everyone to make sure they logged off the ship wifi before heading to Ocean Cay.  I found out I was wrong, I could not use my phone, although other cruise lines allow it.

[heathstockton4]

Amazes me why cruise lines rip their customers off so much with wi-fi, they must make an absolute fortune off us every single day.

 

Wondering if anyone can help with this, if my wife and i both have an internet package for both our Android phones ( 2 Device Cruise Package), can i hotspot mine to my laptop to check emails etc when in the cabin. I know i have done this before on cruises and pretty certain we could do this on MSC Seaside from Miami a few years ago.

 

Doubt it makes a difference but we are on MSC Grandiosa from Rome in a couple of weeks

 

Thanks and i will update when we have done the cruise

[phissy]

On 9/30/2021 at 6:02 PM, phissy said:

Thank you for clarifying this. Many are not sure what is included with their booking.

sounds like we have 2 devices each as we each paid passenger cruise fare.

Researching this…

All In Promo includes what is  Standard Internet Package.

-2devices  per cabin 

Yacht Club booking includes Premium Internet Package.

This is the actual term used in YC Booking.

-4 devices. 4GB per cabin

There was a third- Unlimited Internet Package.

These packages , as listed, are to expire November 30, 2021.

Not sure when they stopped being offered for new bookings.

 

MSC has Browse and Browse and Stream Packages now listed on site for sale.

Still researching MSC travel agent notices - looking to see how old packages correlate to new Internet packages.

[phissy]

On 9/30/2021 at 7:04 PM, styles27 said:

I’m reading it as the all in is for 2 devices total per cabin since it states “if 2 pax share a cabin the 2nd pax gets no WiFi “

 

So my hubby and I can each use our phone or tablet but 2 max per stateroom?

 

Does anyone have any info on upgrading the browse WiFi to the browse and stream before we get on board?

I found a chart of prices for Browse and Browse & Stream per region and cruise length.

USA- cruises less than 8 days, 2 devices

Browse price for 2 devices is $22pp/day

Stream price for 2 devices is $29pp/day

one could conclude that upgrade is $7.00 pp/day or $49.00 for 7 day .

Edited October 2, 2021 by phissy

[GerriK]

I’m confused. Can’t my husband and I each use our own phone and just use the same login?  That is 2 devices for 1 stateroom. 

Edited October 2, 2021 by GerriK

[styles27]

25 minutes ago, GerriK said:

I’m confused. Can’t my husband and I each use our own phone and just use the same login?  That is 2 devices for 1 stateroom. 

Yes you can. That’s what we plan to do, we have WiFi/browse for 2 devices included so we’ll each use our phones. 

We want to upgrade to browse and stream just trying to figure out how to do that. MSC rep I spoke to today wasn’t helpful at all. Even her supervisor didn’t know how to do it. 

[styles27]

1 hour ago, phissy said:

I found a chart of prices for Browse and Browse & Stream per region and cruise length.

USA- cruises less than 8 days, 2 devices

Browse price for 2 devices is $22pp/day

Stream price for 2 devices is $29pp/day

one could conclude that upgrade is $7.00 pp/day or $49.00 for 7 day .

Could be.
Seeing that only one of us actually gets the internet package it should be $7.00x7 days $49 total. 

[publicpersona]

11 hours ago, phissy said:

Researching this…

All In Promo includes what is  Standard Internet Package.

-2devices  per cabin 

Yacht Club booking includes Premium Internet Package.

This is the actual term used in YC Booking.

-4 devices. 4GB per cabin

There was a third- Unlimited Internet Package.

These packages , as listed, are to expire November 30, 2021.

 

Where did you find the words "per cabin" when describing the All In promo? It does not appear in the details on the fare when making a booking.

[publicpersona]

13 hours ago, heathstockton4 said:

Wondering if anyone can help with this, if my wife and i both have an internet package for both our Android phones ( 2 Device Cruise Package), can i hotspot mine to my laptop to check emails etc when in the cabin. I know i have done this before on cruises and pretty certain we could do this on MSC Seaside from Miami a few years ago

 

Typically a personal hotspot share's a device's mobile cellular Internet service to another via wi-fi. I've not heard of a way to relay wi-fi to wi-fi on iOS phones at least.

[thesnoopster2]

On 10/2/2021 at 6:38 AM, publicpersona said:

 

Typically a personal hotspot share's a device's mobile cellular Internet service to another via wi-fi. I've not heard of a way to relay wi-fi to wi-fi on iOS phones at least.

You might be able to try this.  This is a quick article on connecting your one device through wifi, then using Bluetooth to share the wifi.  I would love feedback on this type of strategy.

 

https://www.nextpit.com/share-wifi-over-bluetooth

[Froggitt]

On 10/4/2021 at 1:31 AM, thesnoopster2 said:

You might be able to try this.  This is a quick article on connecting your one device through wifi, then using Bluetooth to share the wifi.  I would love feedback on this type of strategy.

 

https://www.nextpit.com/share-wifi-over-bluetooth

Didn't read the article but this works on MSC. Android/Settings/Connections/Mobile Hotspot and Tethering/Bluetooth Tethering. You then connect your IOS or laptop to your phone using Bluetooth.