Starlink Equipped Ships

[soremekun]

14 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Like the weather, wait a minute, it'll get better.

Or like real estate, location location location.

[U2FanHFX]

Thanks for all the info and tracking of Oasis especially!

 

 This is all new and with time I expect it to get better.  Does everyone’s wifi work exactly the same in each corner of their home?  Likely not, not sure why one would think there wouldn’t be inconsistencies if not hard wired.

[TheHomelessCruiser]

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Edited December 22, 2022 by TheHomelessCruiser

[twangster]

I overlaid the map from the Oasis with the Starlink Maritime coverage map.

 

https://api.starlink.com/public-files/maritime-coverage-map.pdf

 

Light blue is Starlink maritime coverage today.

 

 

Our route according to Royal.

 

 

Overlaying the two and painting in the Royal map onto the Starlink coverage map yields this:

 

 

Normally we would sail down the coast of Florida and turn east to run along the north shore of Cuba to reach Labadee.  Collectively we have sailed this route thousands of times.  

 

It seems they were trying to keep the ship within Starlink coverage but I suspect the Starlink coverage map isn't absolute nor an indication of 100% solid coverage.  I think it's more like "Towards the edges of the light blue you will get some internet but not the full Starlink experience".

 

If that is true then the edges of the Starlink coverage zone is fringe coverage where you can expect some internet at times which is certainly what I experienced especially coming back where we took a route slightly more to the east.

 

Had we taken the southern route through the Florida Straits we would have gone solidly into the no coverage area along the north shore of Cuba.  

[dada2199cc]

Starlink on Symphony at PortMiami is fine — 6-9 mbps down and up, latency is 47 unloaded but 2 seconds under load.

 

Tried it in JS 8640 and it is very usable early

on.

 

We are both going to try to work Monday and see.

Edited December 24, 2022 by dada2199cc

[Daghis]

On 12/22/2022 at 4:21 AM, soremekun said:

 

Could they at least double the bandwidth limitations on Anthem?  This is horrendous.

 

They apparently listened. I noticed the 4Mbps cap disappeared in the past day or two.

 

 

Performance in the cabin is still more miss than hit, but it's showing that it's much more likely to be a local infrastructure issue. Accessing WiFi access points in less busy, public areas generally gives ~excellent internet connectivity. Our cabin (right off the aft elevators on deck 6) seems to be in a weak spot.

[soremekun]

24 minutes ago, Daghis said:

They apparently listened. I noticed the 4Mbps cap disappeared in the past day or two.

 

 

Performance in the cabin is still more miss than hit, but it's showing that it's much more likely to be a local infrastructure issue. Accessing WiFi access points in less busy, public areas generally gives ~excellent internet connectivity. Our cabin (right off the aft elevators on deck 6) seems to be in a weak spot.

I do have a feeling that they monitor these boards.

[Daghis]

1 minute ago, soremekun said:

I do have a feeling that they monitor these boards.

With Royal Caribbean, I've discovered there is a strong distinction between being aware of an issue and actually doing something about it.

[smokeybandit]

Starlink at 3mbps on mariner right now

[Stick93]

On 12/15/2022 at 4:59 PM, exm said:

 

As an IT person myself, kudos for this update! It seems to me Starlink is definitely being installed on Anthem.

Has it been installed yet?

[Biker19]

5 hours ago, Stick93 said:

Has it been installed yet?

See post #181. Don't expect those speeds long term - likely still testing for a while.

Edited December 26, 2022 by Biker19

[twangster]

22 hours ago, Daghis said:

They apparently listened. I noticed the 4Mbps cap disappeared in the past day or two.

 

 

Performance in the cabin is still more miss than hit, but it's showing that it's much more likely to be a local infrastructure issue. Accessing WiFi access points in less busy, public areas generally gives ~excellent internet connectivity. Our cabin (right off the aft elevators on deck 6) seems to be in a weak spot.

 

I've often had local wifi issues on Q class.  I keep an empty water bottle on hand to prop open my cabin door a crack when I want to get work done.  Just opening the door a crack seems to let in enough signal to make a big difference.  WiFi signal don't go through metal doors very well.  

 

Only once has anyone noticed.  A guest once knocked on my door to let me know my door was open a crack.  "Do you know your door is open?"  Me: "Yes".  🙂 

[Ret MP]

On 12/25/2022 at 7:35 AM, soremekun said:

I do have a feeling that they monitor these boards.

I think they'd be crazy not to monitor, say, the top visited/most popular 5 or 6 Cruise Social Media sites.  

[radiojw]

On Wonder of the Seas at the moment. This ship now has Starlink (document on here says O3B)

 

Currently getting lasered back to Atlanta starlink gateway while at sea. 
 

speeds are capped at 4Mbps down / 4Mbps up on the surf + stream plan.

[radiojw]

(Wonder of the Seas) We’re docked in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. Speeds now seem to be capped at 10Mbps/5Mbps. Routing is still going through Atlanta.

 

 

[John&LaLa]

On 12/19/2022 at 7:52 AM, Biker19 said:

I looked pretty hard on Enchantment but could only see 2- I suspect the other Vision class are similar.

 

Mariner had about 10. 4 above putt putt course and 6 above VCL

[Biker19]

1 minute ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Mariner had about 10. 4 above putt putt course and 6 above VCL

There were no obvious visible ones above the VCL, but there probably were some up there.

[John&LaLa]

Starlink on Jewel is good in public areas. Non existent in my cabin.

 

Chops this morning

 

Overall

[Carlos A.]

Has any Starlink enabled ship crossed the Atlantic yet? 
This map, currently on their website, doesn't show coverage on larger areas yet. 

[Biker19]

2 hours ago, carlosalonsor said:

Has any Starlink enabled ship crossed the Atlantic yet? 

Probably not till the spring TA season. I don’t think any of the ships which were in Europe got the install before crossing. 

[twangster]

3 hours ago, carlosalonsor said:

This map, currently on their website, doesn't show coverage on larger areas yet. 

 

I don't think Starlink is very good about keeping their marketing up to date.  A Celebrity cruiser posted their speeds from the middle of the Tasman Sea a few weeks ago. 

 

Take that map with a large dose of sea salt.  

[PompeySailor]

Being a predominant RC sailor 

I thought I would compare Celebrity for wifi

Celebrity Beyond is using Starlink 

excellent service across the whole ship so far

 

 

 

[Clovis8]

Anyone know if ovation of the seas in Alaska has Starlink?

[twangster]

1 hour ago, Clovis8 said:

Anyone know if ovation of the seas in Alaska has Starlink?

 

Ovation is currently sailing in Australia and has not been upgraded.  It has been suggested or reported that crew stated it would get upgraded only when it came North to Alaska.

 

Starlink only recently began offering Starlink to residents of Alaska.  There are some extra things they had to do to provide coverage so far North.  This involves relaying signals between satellites to get far enough South where signals can be sent down to earth at a gateway location. 

 

This is the same way that Starlink will eventually provide coverage far away from land in the middle of oceans which isn't possible today. 

 

We don't know yet if their solution for Alaskan residents will be used for cruise ships in Alaska or if they'll force ships to wait until they have solved this issue all over the world.  That is coming "soon" and maybe before the 2023 Alaska cruise season kicks off.  No one knows but SpaceX.   

 

If they allow cruise ships to leverage the existing Alaska satellite-to-satellite solution that might overload the network and make Starlink performance terrible for residents of Alaska.  That wouldn't be a great way to roll out the technology in its first year of service for residents of Alaska so they might wait.  We don't know and they aren't saying.  

[twangster]

In other Starlink news Carnival has announced that it will be adopting Starlink for all it's ships in all fleets including Princess.  Princess just converted the whole fleet to O3b before the shut down.  Now that all Carnival PLC brands are converting to Starlink it raises the possibility that cruise lines will have to be aware how other cruise lines are selling and marketing Starlink. 

 

Competition is a good thing and this may force Royal to keep it real.