Has onboard internet improved?

[californiagirl]

In the spring and early summer there were several comments on CC regarding poor internet onboard.  For recent US based cruisers has it improved?  I’m doing the 5 day Mexico cruise in Sept and wonder if I should purchase the internet pkg.  (I don’t have princess plus…I don’t drink alcohol so it is not cost effective for me.)

 

Thank you advance.

[CCFC]

I got off the Sky Princess this morning and it was bordering on unusable. The Medallion app didnt work and the best speed I got was just over 0.1meg according to Speedtest.

 

VERY disappointing as this is my third Medallion cruise and the other two were far better.

[mrstmaxx]

NO!!!  Just got off the Ruby and it was unusable🤬  My husband likes to watch RC videos and it would run for about 5 minutes then spool for up to an hour.  I was barely able to check some of my emails but gave up.  Was never able to get the CNN app to open.   In the last 6 months we've been on the Grand, Majestic and Discovery and did not have any problems at all.    I was going to say something but figured I'd just be given the runaround so I didn't bother because I didn't want to get more p#%%ed off.  I've read people complaining about the internet on other ships and couldn't relate because I had never happened to me but now I totally commiserate with them.  

[californiagirl]

Thank you for your info.  I will download books to read.  I usually surf the net before going to sleep.  I may download some movies for that purpose.  

[azbirdmom]

It really depends on where the ship is.  We had good luck in the Caribbean on the Regal and Caribbean Princess.  It was hideous last week on the Discovery in Alaska.

[geoherb]

1 hour ago, mrstmaxx said:

...  I was going to say something but figured I'd just be given the runaround so I didn't bother because I didn't want to get more p#%%ed off. 

 

I'm paying too much for the internet on my next cruise to let bad speed go without asking for a refund, either partial or full. It's 16 days. 

[ghgeckos]

No good, then we had a lot of fog on the Majestic sailing back to Vancouver and that made things worse.

[tcdcruiser]

With the Medallion App being used so widely it seems most passengers now carry a smart device all the time while aboard. No surprise PCL must be experiencing a vast increase in broadband usage.  

 

Previously passenger might check their email or social media a few times a day, not anymore!

[BuckeyeMark]

On the Emerald last of June and first of July.  Internet simply dreadful.  Often unusable at any level.  The app wouldn't even connect and show the daily sked.

[prmssk]

This year I did a full transit on the Emerald (February) and internet was pretty good and then we did 2 weeks on the Caribbean Princess (June) where the internet was unusable most of the first week (we were told a server was down) and then was hit or miss the second week.  The Caribbean Princess also was at a much higher capacity (almost 100% double occupancy compared to about 60% on the Emerald) with a younger crowd that likely used internet more (so more people to share the same bandwidth).  

[Ken the cruiser]

We were on the Caribbean Princess in May for 18 days on a Panama Canal cruise and then on the Regal in July for 21 days in the Med. On both cruises the internet was acceptable, except for maybe a few days on our Med cruise for about a 6 hour time period each time where the response was either super poor or not existent. But I will also note, we had over 3000 passengers, to include 400+ children under 18, on the ship on 2 of the three legs of our Med B3B and the internet definitely slowed down starting around 10 pm through midnight.

 

But I was able to post to a Live From thread on each cruise every evening, and during the day sometimes, that accumulated 25-30 pages and I periodically posted speed test results to document how fast or slow it was, as we had also read about how horrible the internet was. However, I will also note I did not try to stream or post any videos or perform other processes that would have required masses amounts of bandwidth. But at the same time there was plenty of bandwidth most of the time to post multiple pictures and descriptions of our daily events to my cruise thread.

 

But, my opinion is you’ll be fine as long as you just want to check your email, surf the web and do “low bandwidth” applications, but can avoid streaming movies and other services that require large amounts of bandwidth. 

[Rick&Jeannie]

It's amazing to me how the phrase "Oh, there's a server down" is so easily passed off by Princess as the reason for the bad internet.  I retired from IT infrastructure management...HOGWASH!

[bmc alabama]

Ours was OK on the Crown in May/June and actually the Medallion App worked quite well.  That said, I went by the Medallion desk early in the cruise with a different question and the person there asked about what my settings where.  She told me to A) put my phone in airplane mode, and B) did something about an IP address setting and it worked much, much better...

[Ken the cruiser]

21 minutes ago, bmc alabama said:

Ours was OK on the Crown in May/June and actually the Medallion App worked quite well.  That said, I went by the Medallion desk early in the cruise with a different question and the person there asked about what my settings where.  She told me to A) put my phone in airplane mode, and B) did something about an IP address setting and it worked much, much better...

Good point! When my son’s Medallion app kept hanging up on our recent Regal cruise, he went to see the IT folks. They turned OFF the Private WiFi Address option found in the MedallionNet “i” nformation section under Settings > WiFi. Once it was turned off, his app stopped periodically hanging.

 

This also happened on an earlier Celebrity cruise to me. When I mentioned it to our Suite concierge, she instantly did the same thing and my app hanging problem was solved. Definitely a lesson learned! 😁

Edited August 1, 2022 by Ken the cruiser

[Barry ATL]

Several comments here mentioned Alaska, Vancouver, etc.  In those areas all cruise ships have to switch over to the high obit satellites.  Service will ALWAYS be dead slow in those areas.  The fast internet is only on the low orbit satellites.  Those are are more in the southern USA and going south (Caribbean, Latin America, Mediterranean, etc.)

[caribill]

On 7/30/2022 at 3:05 PM, californiagirl said:

In the spring and early summer there were several comments on CC regarding poor internet onboard.  For recent US based cruisers has it improved?  I’m doing the 5 day Mexico cruise in Sept and wonder if I should purchase the internet pkg.

 

 

Which ship?   Quality seems to vary on different ships.

- - - - -

From the Princess web site:

MedallionNet®
The Best Wi-Fi at Sea

Fast. Reliable. Unlimited. Affordable. Now on all ships.

 

Access the internet everywhere on board so you can text, post photos, video chat and stream your favorite shows, movies, music and sports with ease.

 

Fast and Reliable Internet

MedallionNet Wi-Fi sets the industry standard for internet at sea. FaceTime your pooch in the morning. Stream your favorite shows by the pool in the afternoon. Post your Chocolate Journeys dessert from your dinner table. Thanks to state-of-the-art technology, you can now stay connected with Wi-Fi coverage as you sail.

[Cruise till you drop]

I would venture to guess it has to do with the number of guests (aka # of internet users).  Years ago on a full ship, it was dreadful and you could really get reliable service at 2 or 3 am

This past January, we were on the Caribbean Princess that was 36% full and the internet was super quick (all day).

And from previous comments, now ships are full again and internet is dreadful again

Edited August 1, 2022 by Cruise till you drop

[Honolulu Blue]

On 7/30/2022 at 4:05 PM, californiagirl said:

In the spring and early summer there were several comments on CC regarding poor internet onboard.  For recent US based cruisers has it improved?  I’m doing the 5 day Mexico cruise in Sept and wonder if I should purchase the internet pkg.  (I don’t have princess plus…I don’t drink alcohol so it is not cost effective for me.)

 

Thank you advance.

I did the California Coastal thing on the Majestic in April and the Internet wasn't half bad.  I got 3-6 Mbps downloads and it was steady enough for me to stream at 480p without hiccups.  We went from San Francisco to Ensenada and the ship was about 70% full at that time.  I'm going to go on a limb and say it'll be all right when you sail, so go ahead and order it.  You can scream at me if I'm wrong. 👹

[junglejane]

Just got off the Emerald on 8/1 in Southampton. Internet was very slow throughout. Enough to send a text or email but definitely not enough to upload photos or stream anything. 

Edited August 1, 2022 by junglejane

[deltaqueenie]

We were on the Discovery Alaska JUL 24-31, internet was pretty much non existent, no matter where we were. Internet used to be free for Elites, now I’m paying for something that doesn’t work. All psgrs should be refunded- is the internet not working because of the Medallion? Or what has happened? I was told 3,300 psgrs were onboard.

[gvre]

Was on Majestic in September and November it was great, also on Grand in March. They are so much faster than a couple of years ago. I was able to do contracts with no problems.

[geoherb]

23 hours ago, Barry ATL said:

Several comments here mentioned Alaska, Vancouver, etc.  In those areas all cruise ships have to switch over to the high obit satellites.  Service will ALWAYS be dead slow in those areas.  The fast internet is only on the low orbit satellites.  Those are are more in the southern USA and going south (Caribbean, Latin America, Mediterranean, etc.)

 

Yet the Princess video on YouTube makes it seem like they still are able to get great internet with the GEO satellites used there. Princess still promises "Access the internet everywhere on board so you can text, post photos, video chat and stream your favorite shows, movies, music and sports with ease." There's no footnote saying that we can't do these things in Alaska.
 

 

[californiagirl]

Thank you to all who replied.  I cruised in November, in the Caribbean and February, Mexico and had great internet both times.  Since then is when the problem seems to have started.  I will be on Diamond’s second cruise after restarting so there is no one to ask who has been on her recently.  I may ask someone on the first cruise to let me know how it’s going before I decide.  I’ll need to purchase it before 3 days prior to get the discount.

[caribill]

2 hours ago, geoherb said:

Yet the Princess video on YouTube makes it seem like they still are able to get great internet with the GEO satellites used there. Princess still promises "Access the internet everywhere on board so you can text, post photos, video chat and stream your favorite shows, movies, music and sports with ease." There's no footnote saying that we can't do these things in Alaska.

 

People on a Mediterranean Princess cruise have posted their Internet was no better than what happens in Alaska.

 

Something is wrong that has nothing to do with being far North.

[Cruise till you drop]

17 hours ago, gvre said:

Was on Majestic in September and November it was great, also on Grand in March. They are so much faster than a couple of years ago. I was able to do contracts with no problems.

 But please also tell us how full each sailing was