WiFi on Transatlantic cruise - anyone have experience using it?

[Ixtoras]

Hello NCL CC community.   We're sailing on the Escape in November on its westbound transatlantic journey. Does anyone have experience using the Unlimited or Unlimited Premium WiFi while crossing the Atlantic?

 

We have 4 sea days between the Azores and Bermuda. I was debating of upgrading to the unlimited or unlimited premium package to get some work done (catch up on email) during a couple of the sea days.  I know its satellite based, but does anyone know if these services even function while in transit in the middle of the Atlantic?

 

Related but on a separate note, I only see the Unlimited WiFi and Unlimited Social Media WiFi available to book through the Explore and Plan option.  Anyone know if this normally the case?

 

Thanks for your help.

Jeff

[daniTS]

I used it on Epic in 2017 (BCN-Orlando). It didn't work the first day or two but they flew in a tech and got it working. I had the unlimited plan and it worked well enough the whole way to stay connected to work (up and downloading small PDFs, email, etc). I don't think I streamed anything but I did voice call my husband a couple of times via whatsapp. I imagine it's only gotten better since then, but overall I thought it worked pretty well!

[desherry]

I had the unlimited package on the DAWN Transatlantic this past May. It had numerous dropouts that would be a problem with streaming. Because I was just reading email, it was usable, but slow.

[Middleager]

We were on the Getaway TA last year in Dec.  While crossing the ocean, it was very slow, some times no connection.  We had regular internet, and I was basically checking emails, and some banking accounts.

 

The Getaway had not sailed for 1.5 years, and that was its first TA since resuming cruise.  Don't know if it's gotten better.

[smillerholmes]

I was on the EPIC TA/November 2021.  I did not upgrade because while waiting in line the 2nd day for the Internet Cafe to restore the minutes of the many that didn't type "logout" there was a mix of those that had purchased "unlimited" and they too were complaining.  Therefore, I can only speak to the free minutes.  I did not complain ONLY because it was free, but UNUSABLE for anything besides SLOWLY reading email.  It looks like some had a different experience so just be prepared if your experience is disappointing.

[JIMESOPUS]

TA on the Pearl, 2019 going east - upload / download was almost impossible to use on the second day. Speeds did pick up a tick when we approached Ireland. Recent cruise to Bermuda on the GA the download was useable but it took over 30 minutes to upload four pictures, we won't spend the money on our next cruise to upgrade.

Edited July 18, 2022 by JIMESOPUS

[schmoopie17]

19 hours ago, Ixtoras said:

Hello NCL CC community.   We're sailing on the Escape in November on its westbound transatlantic journey. Does anyone have experience using the Unlimited or Unlimited Premium WiFi while crossing the Atlantic?

 

We have 4 sea days between the Azores and Bermuda. I was debating of upgrading to the unlimited or unlimited premium package to get some work done (catch up on email) during a couple of the sea days.  I know its satellite based, but does anyone know if these services even function while in transit in the middle of the Atlantic?

 

We're also on this cruise. Because the first week of the cruise is very port-intensive, we figured we'd have access to WIFI in all of the Europe stops. We were toying with the idea of trying to add Unlimited WIFI after we leave Lisbon, but don't know if that's an option. However, after reading about the crummy performance of the WIFI, we may need to re-think that idea.

[Nicky Mouse]

Was on the Epic in November of '21 with Unlimited. There were some days during the middle of the crossing that internet just wasn't working. And the boat was only about 50% capacity passenger count.

 

I assume it's due to satellite coverage in the middle of the ocean is not an in demand coverage area.

[Ixtoras]

On 7/18/2022 at 1:00 PM, schmoopie17 said:

We're also on this cruise. Because the first week of the cruise is very port-intensive, we figured we'd have access to WIFI in all of the Europe stops. We were toying with the idea of trying to add Unlimited WIFI after we leave Lisbon, but don't know if that's an option. However, after reading about the crummy performance of the WIFI, we may need to re-think that idea.

 

That's exactly what I was thinking.  I won't really need shipboard access until after Lisbon.  I read somewhere that the premium upgrade was only available on days one and two, but I'm thinking that I should be OK without it.  I'm not planning on taking calls or trying to do anything crazy like zoom meetings.  Guess I'll just connect and queue up all my emails in Portugal,, just in case and then see how it looks on the ship.

[Ixtoras]

Thanks to everyone for your replies and experiences.  Much appreciated

 

Jeff

[spanishguy1970]

We love transatlantics, is our cruises of choice and in our experience is always been every slow, works better when in ports, but still not good enough for us to pay for it, we have always gotten free minutes with our booking. Now, we just keep our phones in the safety deposit box unless we go out on an excursion. Good luck

[nferr]

Did Transatlantic in April on the Epic. Premium wi-fi was OK at best and that was with about 50% passenger load. 

[Sundiego]

We're also on this Escape transatlantic sailing Nov 1. I'm bumping this hoping to hear at least one positive experience lol. 

 

~Denise

[smillerholmes]

I will be on the EPIC/TA again in December.  I will have Unlimited this time so really hoping to report an improvement.

[Ixtoras]

Thanks again to everyone who replied!  Greatly appreciated.   We got back home on Friday, and I thought I'd just give an update on how it went to anyone who is interested, or for anyone searching the CC forums for info.   

 

I ended up going ahead and upgrading to the Unlimited Streaming Wifi package pre-boarding.  Cost was $279 to upgrade from the 500 "free at sea" minutes for our 16 day cruise.

 

Because we were going to be in Rome for a week in advance, and as a backup, I also purchased a European eSIM from Holafly (20 days unlimited bandwidth for $57) and set it up on my phone.  When in port, had great internet every day throughout our journey - Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, even the Azores.  Would do that again in a heartbeat. Oddly, neither the euro SIM nor our ATM cards worked in Gibraltar, but our TMobile roaming worked...   I switched to onboard internet when we got back to the ship each night.  The rest of this is just about the onboard wifi.

 

The internet worked OK throughout our journey and was more than enough for me to get the work done that I needed to.  We had one night of high winds / rough seas where the connection was completely unusable, but other than that I was able to use it throughout the trip.   It wasn't fast by any means, but it worked pretty reliably for me.  (Although sometimes had to log out / back in.  I also heard from others that they had a lot more trouble.)   

 

As far as working from a cruise ship crossing the Atlantic goes, I was able to connect and get all my email / messages, used Citrix remote desktop for a few hours (that did cut out a couple of times, but reconnected within a minute or two).   And even participated in a few hours worth of Zoom / Teams meetings.  Due to the nature of the satellite connection, hearing everyone and seeing their video worked fine, but it got bad if I tried to talk more than a quick yes / no.  Same with turning on my camera for more than a couple minutes to show the view out the window.  Gave up on talking and typed any responses / questions, which worked out just fine.

 

I didn't do much streaming, but did use the ship's wifi to stream a couple of NFL games to my tablet on one of the Sundays and  caught a Monday night game.  That worked out pretty well and other than a couple of blips, I was able to catch up on football.

 

So long story long, it is definitely possible to work remotely on the NCL Escape, even when crossing the Atlantic.  Temper expectations and be patient / prepared for some interruptions, and it helps if you don't need a "constant" connection.  

 

If they end up switching to something like starlink and get true high speed wireless, it could open up a whole new set of opportunities.

 

Hope this is helpful to someone in the future.

 

Thanks

[Candy Apple 12]

@Ixtoras Thanks for coming back with an update. I always appreciate when someone does this. By chance, did you use iMessage at all? If so, how was receiving texts?

[Ixtoras]

8 hours ago, Candy Apple 12 said:

@Ixtoras Thanks for coming back with an update. I always appreciate when someone does this. By chance, did you use iMessage at all? If so, how was receiving texts?

I'm on an android device, so I don't have access to iMessage, but the standard digital text messaging worked, as did what's app, so I'd expect that it would work.   My wife used the standard WiFi and we were able to do our Wordle and share with our family group daily.

[mscdivina2016]

On 7/17/2022 at 8:15 PM, Ixtoras said:

Hello NCL CC community.   We're sailing on the Escape in November on its westbound transatlantic journey. Does anyone have experience using the Unlimited or Unlimited Premium WiFi while crossing the Atlantic?

 

We have 4 sea days between the Azores and Bermuda. I was debating of upgrading to the unlimited or unlimited premium package to get some work done (catch up on email) during a couple of the sea days.  I know its satellite based, but does anyone know if these services even function while in transit in the middle of the Atlantic?

 

Related but on a separate note, I only see the Unlimited WiFi and Unlimited Social Media WiFi available to book through the Explore and Plan option.  Anyone know if this normally the case?

 

Thanks for your help.

Jeff

Last month we did Alaska to Hawaii and had 6 sea days.

I would give it a 3 out of 10. If you do not need to stream or do large uploads or downloads you will get by.

It's slow but it does work. I questioned it and was told that every one is using it on sea days.