On Board Internet

[edhopper]

We haven't cruised since pre-Covid. On our Cunard cruises, the on board internet then was painfully slow, 15 minutes just to download email. I have been on other cruises with faster speed so it's not an "all cruises" thing. Would like to hear from anybody from a recent cruise on how the internet connections were on Cunard now.

Thanks.

[IB2]

I'm on it now, and its way better than it was in 2019.  I have the basic package (no streaming) and it works fine for email and browsing, just occasionally a little slow (only a second or two or three) on loading pages at busy times (lunch and before and after dinner) but otherwise fine.  It works well in my 3rd floor cabin but other passengers have said their cabin service is slow and it only works well in public rooms.  I guess it depends on where your cabin is.

 

Another passenger has the enhanced streaming service and he says it OK but not great, with a fair bit of buffering.

Edited October 11, 2022 by IB2

[carlmm]

I had the streaming package for a couple of days on my recent QE cruise.

Internet worked well allaround the ship besides the balcony for emails and reading.

 

Yet, even it is supposed to work for this application, too, video chats via whats app did not work at all.

[Host Hattie]

As long as you are prepared to move around the ship in search of good reception it worked well on Queen Victoria recently. I had the Essential package.

[LadyL1]

I got off QV this morning, and had used the premium package. In some areas the internet was very good; Queens Room and Lido areas in particular. In a midship deck 6 balcony cabins there were occassions that I could not log on, or it just dropped out. 

This is the second cruise with the new package; the first was in March on the QE (first voyage of the roll out) and it was dire. No doubt it seemed better this time and in future will be only paying for the basic package.

[edhopper]

Thanks for the responses.

[Poole Boy]

On QE at the moment , internet speed is OK for emails and web surfing etc.

 

have been able to access the internet in the cabin Deck 7 and the lido with no problems

[Windsurfboy]

Where do you get best signal on QM2

[D&N]

2 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

Where do you get best signal on QM2

Generally where you have one of these within sight on the ceiling. Most public areas including  lounges and restaurants have them. I think that one was over the bandstand at Pavilion pool.

Of course there is the complication of whether the ship's satellite link has a good signal, which you can't control no matter where you connect.

 

[tv24]

Sorry to report that on the QM2 in June the service was terrible.  We bought the upgraded service and it was seldom useable, especially in our PG stateroom.  We tried all over the ship, often sitting or standing directly under a router and still bad.  The problem was that it kept cutting out, in the middle of an email, reading something on-line, etc.  I hit rock bottom when I tried to use the internet while sitting in Connections while the ship was docked in Southampton and most of the PAX were off the ship.  Still did not work.  And the staff had trouble as well.  My husband needed to send a time-sensitive legal document and was unable to do so with his own device.  He got a kind concierge in the lounge to help, and she was unable to assist with a project that would take a minute or two at a hotel on land.  The concierge enlisted further help and finally after 30 minutes or so they were able to electronically send the document.  So, to sum up, lower your expectations.

[Thaxted]

7 minutes ago, tv24 said:

Sorry to report that on the QM2 in June the service was terrible.  We bought the upgraded service and it was seldom useable, especially in our PG stateroom.  We tried all over the ship, often sitting or standing directly under a router and still bad.  The problem was that it kept cutting out, in the middle of an email, reading something on-line, etc.  I hit rock bottom when I tried to use the internet while sitting in Connections while the ship was docked in Southampton and most of the PAX were off the ship.  Still did not work.  And the staff had trouble as well.  My husband needed to send a time-sensitive legal document and was unable to do so with his own device.  He got a kind concierge in the lounge to help, and she was unable to assist with a project that would take a minute or two at a hotel on land.  The concierge enlisted further help and finally after 30 minutes or so they were able to electronically send the document.  So, to sum up, lower your expectations.

We had a similar experience in July and things were worse in August when there was absolutely no reception in our balcony stateroom on deck 11.

[Windsurfboy]

On 10/12/2022 at 7:36 PM, D&N said:

Generally where you have one of these within sight on the ceiling. Most public areas including  lounges and restaurants have them. I think that one was over the bandstand at Pavilion pool.

Of course there is the complication of whether the ship's satellite link has a good signal, which you can't control no matter where you connect.

 

 

Thanks , I will have to book air tickets whilst on board

Edited October 14, 2022 by Windsurfboy

[exlondoner]

20 hours ago, Thaxted said:

We had a similar experience in July and things were worse in August when there was absolutely no reception in our balcony stateroom on deck 11.

Did you try the balcony? Strangely, that was the only place it worked in our cabin on Deck 9.

[IB2]

On 10/11/2022 at 2:43 PM, Host Hattie said:

As long as you are prepared to move around the ship in search of good reception it worked well on Queen Victoria recently. I had the Essential package.

My feeling from the QM2 is that the internet worked pretty well in the public areas, but what passengers thought about it varied considerably depending on how good it worked in their cabin. 

[edhopper]

I'll be on the QV, hope it works better than the QM2.

[david,Mississauga]

I don't use wi-fi on ships. Fortunately on our two recent voyages both the QE and QM2 had computers, the former  only in the library and the latter in the library and also the computer room on Deck 2.  On the QM2 only three or occasionally four of the nine in the computer room were working. 

 

I was surprised that the speed of the internet was very good on the QM2, a little less so on the QE.  I "paid" for the premium plan out of our CWC internet credit. On the seven-night QM2 voyage a package for the rest of the voyage was offered on day two: $90 standard and $120 premium.

[Thaxted]

9 hours ago, exlondoner said:

Did you try the balcony? Strangely, that was the only place it worked in our cabin on Deck 9.

We did but with little success. It would pop on for a minute or two only to shut down again. We had better luck in July when we had a cabin on deck 8, although even then the connection wasn't reliable.

[moses0]

On 10/12/2022 at 11:45 AM, Windsurfboy said:

Where do you get best signal on QM2

Walk past the pursers desk on the right round the corner there is a desk under a router. I even streamed my soccer match there. 🙂

[Desert Cruisers]

Just got off the QM2. Even after taking into consideration that we were crossing the Atlantic, the wifi was awful. Sometimes couldn’t even get basic e-mail no matter where one was on the ship.  Same problems in Nay on the QE going thru the Panama Canal. 
 

Re booking air tickets (or anything using a credit card)…you are using unsecured wifi. Avoid if possible. 

[Windsurfboy]

4 hours ago, Desert Cruisers said:

 

Re booking air tickets (or anything using a credit card)…you are using unsecured wifi. Avoid if possible. 

 

Thanks for warning , luckily credit card is registered /stored with airline.

[frankp01]

20 hours ago, moses0 said:

Walk past the pursers desk on the right round the corner there is a desk under a router.

In December I made a list of all of the public spaces, ranked by WiFi signal strength. Now I can't find that list, but I'll have to add that desk to the list. I didn't try the lobby.  Off the top of my head, two really good locations were the lounge at the Verandah and the marble walkway between the Carinthia and the Mareel Spa.