VPN not allowed on Diamond

[dweeb]

Sailing on the Diamond Princess, and cannot use my VPN. (Nord VPN).  I can connect to the medallion net and surf without it, but as soon as I connect to Nord, all internet traffic is stopped. I have the internet package . I went to the Internet cafe, and the manager said that all Princess ships don’t allow a VPN.  I told him that last month on the Discovery, I was able to use my VPN. He told me that he has worked with this company and on Princess ships for the last 10 years, and they have never allowed VPNs. I reiterated that I have been able to on the Discovery and Also on Majestic. He told me that that never happened because it isn’t allowed.   Just another of their fastest internet at sea problems.  I really hate being lied to!

Edited January 31, 2023 by dweeb

[Charles4515]

7 minutes ago, dweeb said:

Sailing on the Diamond Princess, and cannot use my VPN. (Nord VPN).  I can connect to the medallion net and surf without it, but as soon as I connect to Nord, all internet traffic is stopped. I have the internet package . I went to the Internet cafe, and the manager said that all Princess ships don’t allow a VPN.  I told him that last month on the Discovery, I was able to use my VPN. He told me that he has worked with this company and on Princess ships for the last 10 years, and they have never allowed VPNs. I reiterated that I have been able to on the Discovery and Also on Majestic. He told me that that never happened because it isn’t allowed.   Just another of their fastest internet at sea problems.  I really hate being lied to!

Are you using the VPN on a computer, tablet or smartphone? Have you tried a manual connection?

[ATL_Miami_Cruiser]

Point to site VPN to a private IP has been available on past sailings but very slow. VPN access is a matter of network port availability and destination IP. Port 443 is a common port for SSL/TLS based point to site VPN and is likely open, but they're likely blocking public VPN's like Nord VPN and their range of IP's. I'll need to test next month on Caribbean Princess to confirm.

[Coral]

I have used a VPN on ships (Forticlient). 

[dweeb]

13 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

Are you using the VPN on a computer, tablet or smartphone? Have you tried a manual connection?

I have tried on a smartphone, and also on a windows based laptop.  Also tried a manual connection. Same results 

[Rick&Jeannie]

I have used a Vexing Princess Navigator on several occasions.... 😄

[dweeb]

20 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

Are you using the VPN on a computer, tablet or smartphone? Have you tried a manual connection?

Tried on an iOS smartphone and also on a windows based laptop. Also tried a manual connection, same results.   

[Charles4515]

7 minutes ago, dweeb said:

I have tried on a smartphone, and also on a windows based laptop.  Also tried a manual connection. Same results 

Give this a try. In settings change your VPN protocol to OpenVPN TCP.  Then specialty servers you should be able to select obfuscated servers. See if that works. 

Edited January 31, 2023 by Charles4515

[dweeb]

1 minute ago, Charles4515 said:

Give this a try. In settings change your VPN protocol to OpenVPN TCP.  Then you should be able to select obfuscated servers. See if that works. 

On shore right now, I’ll try it later this evening. Thanks for the advice!

[afurman]

I had no problem using Wire Guard last month on Emerald Princess when no one was onboard.  When people were onboard the response times over VPN were horrible.  Example ping time to google was around 300ms, ping time to a host on my network was like 2200ms.  Let's add the extra 50ms it normally takes from Dallas to the Northeast.  So, they are for sure aren't prioritizing VPN traffic on their network like other things.  Royal Caribbean seems to be blocking VPN on certain ships now, seems to be ships with Starlink but in November it did work.  Caribbean Princess and Sky Princess had no problems with Wire Guard in the past.  I wouldn't bother asking the Internet Cafe people since they are good at making up answers on why something doesn't work.  When I brought up this latency on VPN, I was told VPN always has that latency due to how much CPU it uses which I know isn't th case since I understand how this technology works.

 

[Cruiser_1977]

I believe on the Royal in January 2020 I used Cisco AnyConnect a few times as required by my company when using my work computer on any network that is not our own.

[Guest ldtr]

1 hour ago, dweeb said:

Sailing on the Diamond Princess, and cannot use my VPN. (Nord VPN).  I can connect to the medallion net and surf without it, but as soon as I connect to Nord, all internet traffic is stopped. I have the internet package . I went to the Internet cafe, and the manager said that all Princess ships don’t allow a VPN.  I told him that last month on the Discovery, I was able to use my VPN. He told me that he has worked with this company and on Princess ships for the last 10 years, and they have never allowed VPNs. I reiterated that I have been able to on the Discovery and Also on Majestic. He told me that that never happened because it isn’t allowed.   Just another of their fastest internet at sea problems.  I really hate being lied to!

Keep in mind that the corporate policy is to block some types of connections including VPN.  Some ships do it more effectively then others. Just as some countries that try to block such are not always effective.  So the IT person what telling you corporate policy and on that particular ship the filters are working to enforce that policy.

[Cruiser_1977]

I need to clarify...I was in the Mexican Riviera and my cell phone plan includes Mexico. I was able to use my phone as a "hot spot" to my laptop then use the VPN. Maybe that's a work around for you? Some mobile carries offer a "travel plan" for like $10-$25. For example, Verizon Wireless is $10/day in 210 countries unlimited talk/data.

[Human Tripod]

Nord VPN on Crown Princess in November did not work

[Steelers0854]

VPN is an umbrella term that encompasses a number of different protocols.  “They block VPNs” is an incorrect statement, they may block particular ports which certain types of VPNs utilize but in many cases there are other protocols out there that will work fine.  As Charles4515 suggested simply changing the protocol will likely resolve the issue.  OpenVPN (specifically TCP not UDP) is good but a secondary option within Nord specifically is NordLynx, which is proprietary to them.  All the Princess cruises we have been on I’ve never had an issue.  They mainly like to block IPSec and L2TP.  

[Guest ldtr]

38 minutes ago, Steelers0854 said:

VPN is an umbrella term that encompasses a number of different protocols.  “They block VPNs” is an incorrect statement, they may block particular ports which certain types of VPNs utilize but in many cases there are other protocols out there that will work fine.  As Charles4515 suggested simply changing the protocol will likely resolve the issue.  OpenVPN (specifically TCP not UDP) is good but a secondary option within Nord specifically is NordLynx, which is proprietary to them.  All the Princess cruises we have been on I’ve never had an issue.  They mainly like to block IPSec and L2TP.  

If the IT staff talked about ports being blocked the passengers would probably complain about a itinerary change.

[dweeb]

4 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

Give this a try. In settings change your VPN protocol to OpenVPN TCP.  Then specialty servers you should be able to select obfuscated servers. See if that works. 

 

4 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

Give this a try. In settings change your VPN protocol to OpenVPN TCP.  Then specialty servers you should be able to select obfuscated servers. See if that works. 

Thanks Charles4515.  Changing this setting from NordLynx to OpenVPN TCP has fixed this problem on the Diamond.  I will keep this in mind for upcoming cruises.  Thank you all for the suggestions!!

[dweeb]

2 hours ago, JennyB1977 said:

I need to clarify...I was in the Mexican Riviera and my cell phone plan includes Mexico. I was able to use my phone as a "hot spot" to my laptop then use the VPN. Maybe that's a work around for you? Some mobile carries offer a "travel plan" for like $10-$25. For example, Verizon Wireless is $10/day in 210 countries unlimited talk/data.

 I do have Verizon and have Mexico in my plan usage.  VPN works fine using my Verizon data and cellular.  However it is limited after so much data.  Therefore, I like to use the ships internet when possible, and it allows me to stream.  Thanks!!

[Rick&Jeannie]

1 hour ago, ldtr said:

If the IT staff talked about ports being blocked the passengers would probably complain about a itinerary change.

I sense a whole new round of "complaint threads" here on CC about ports being blocked! 😄