Azamara Internet (Wi-Fi) with Starlink - How well does it work?

[Mrs Skip]

23 hours ago, Baynanno1 said:

 

We cruised on Quest from 6 to 19 February, Sydney to Perth.

Starlink was expected to be installed during the following cruise, Perth to Hong Kong.

Thanks for the update

[Mrs Skip]

23 hours ago, Baynanno1 said:

 

We cruised on Quest from 6 to 19 February, Sydney to Perth.

Starlink was expected to be installed during the following cruise, Perth to Hong Kong.

 

6 hours ago, Drebay said:

Posting from the Quest Japan Intensive. Starlink shows as the provider in my Speedtest. Just shy of 2mbps on Speedtest. Doesn’t seem like a lot when testing but pretty great to use. Clear;y not land based but so much better than any previous cruise. Just FaceTimed with home and it worked just fine!

Great news, thanks for the update

[Mercruiser]

On 3/18/2023 at 9:41 AM, Host Jazzbeau said:

Someone on Silversea just reported that after making a bank payment they got a text from their bank to verify a strange charge from Nigeria. So Starlink is working in some African countries. 

This coverage map shows where Starlink sells their service to retail customers.
https://www.starlink.com/map

 

That makes sense. Nigeria and Rwanda are the two African countries on this map. If Starlink is selling service in a country, they are going to have a ground station there.

 

I did a few "what's my ip address?" queries while using Starlink on Onward, between Peru and Miami. As I recall, I was usually getting USA IP addresses. I only cared about this because I was buying AARP Princess gift cards at 10% off. AARP will only sell gift cards to USA/Canada IP addresses that are NOT a known VPN. That made it a bit challenging to buy cruise gift cards while on a cruise.

[Mercruiser]

On 3/19/2023 at 6:56 AM, Drebay said:

Posting from the Quest Japan Intensive. Starlink shows as the provider in my Speedtest. Just shy of 2mbps on Speedtest. Doesn’t seem like a lot when testing but pretty great to use. Clear;y not land based but so much better than any previous cruise. Just FaceTimed with home and it worked just fine!

Thanks for the report from Quest and Japan. 2Mbps is very usable for emails, web browsing, and video chats. It's not going to work so well for streaming video (Netflix etc.).

 

This is one of the problems with Internet speeds. 10 years ago, most everyone would have been happy if emails went through. Very soon, we will see complaints that people cannot stream 4K Ultra HD Netflix on their Antarctic cruise. Bandwidth is like money. No matter how much people have, they will always want more.

Edited March 20, 2023 by Mercruiser

[Carnevale]

Is starlink on all Azamara’s ships?  We will be on Journey this summer sailing around Iceland and are wondering how good the connection will be. 
Thanks!

[Grandma Cruising]

It’s on Pursuit, not sure about Journey

 

Edited March 23, 2023 by Grandma Cruising

[DS]

Onboard the Journey...  STARLINK was our internet provider as of this morning in Funchal, Madeira  (it was NOT the provider up the west coast of Africa, nor in the Canaries the past two days).   Downlink speeds (per speedtest.net) was about 1/2 of a megabit... not great, but clearly better than yesterday!

[Mercruiser]

7 hours ago, DS said:

Onboard the Journey...  STARLINK was our internet provider as of this morning in Funchal, Madeira  (it was NOT the provider up the west coast of Africa, nor in the Canaries the past two days).   Downlink speeds (per speedtest.net) was about 1/2 of a megabit... not great, but clearly better than yesterday!

Thanks for the post.

 

The slow Starlink speed might be related to the region (West of Africa). See post 18, where Pursuit was getting 0.84 Mbps near Cape Verde. 

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2923906-azamara-internet-wi-fi-with-starlink-how-well-does-it-work/?do=findComment&comment=65022483

 

[lisiamc]

I think there is a remaining glitch, or maybe glitches, with the StarLink connection on Journey. We are now in Lisbon, and it’s still very slow, and somewhat patchy. It’s better than it was along the west coast of Africa, but nothing like the speeds we were getting on Onward after the changeover.

 

[Mercruiser]

9 hours ago, lisiamc said:

I think there is a remaining glitch, or maybe glitches, with the StarLink connection on Journey. We are now in Lisbon, and it’s still very slow, and somewhat patchy. It’s better than it was along the west coast of Africa, but nothing like the speeds we were getting on Onward after the changeover.

 

That's not good at all. Hopefully there is a way to these speeds up to what we are seeing on Onward and others.

 

[IMNiles]

Connection is great aboard Onward right now in the Canary Islands…. Not as good as home but amazing for a ship!

[Riocca]

Location and speed test onboard Onward today.

 

 

[Mercruiser]

Wow. Those are impressive speeds. 

[Host Jazzbeau]

5 minutes ago, Mercruiser said:

Wow. Those are impressive speeds. 

Hope for things to come worldwide.  Apparently these speeds are possible because the ship is close to land, so the Starlink satellites can easily downlink to the land network.  I have read that we won't see speeds like this in mid-ocean for quite a while because only the newer Starlink satellites can talk to each other and there are many more old-gen birds than these new ones.  Let's hope Elon keeps his focus on this project instead of flitting off to the Next Big Thing while it's still half-finished!

[lisiamc]

We are on Journey, docked next to Onward, using StarLink, and this is what Speedtest says today:

 

 

 

😢😢

Edited March 30, 2023 by lisiamc

[Riocca]

4 hours ago, lisiamc said:

We are on Journey, docked next to Onward, using StarLink, and this is what Speedtest says today:

 

 

 

😢😢

Just to make you jealous this is the speed onboard Onward in Gibraltar 😁

 

[johnnyswitzerland]

So the two ships are literally right next to each other in Gibraltar and both accessing the internet via Starlink?  And getting such vastly different service?  How can this be?

 

 

[fruitmachine]

24 minutes ago, johnnyswitzerland said:

So the two ships are literally right next to each other in Gibraltar and both accessing the internet via Starlink?  And getting such vastly different service?  How can this be?

 

 

The satellite link is a shared resource (as is the WiFi between your device and the wireless access point it is connected to)..  If anyone else is downloading anything at the point you run the speed test, you only see the share that you're being allocated.  Two minutes later and it could easily be the other way around.

[Grandma Cruising]

Certainly it varied a lot on our recent Pursuit cruise and was always slow in the morning (7:30ish) when presumably everyone was catching up with emails etc.

[luv2travel90266]

On the Journey. I don't think they have activated the starlink system. Excruciatingly slow internet. Staff is on the same slow system and was having trouble too. Will be onboard through Venice and will report if any difference noted. 

[lisiamc]

20 minutes ago, fruitmachine said:

The satellite link is a shared resource (as is the WiFi between your device and the wireless access point it is connected to)..  If anyone else is downloading anything at the point you run the speed test, you only see the share that you're being allocated.  Two minutes later and it could easily be the other way around.

Since the moment we picked up StarLink, (22nd March) we have not exceeded .49 of a megabit. There is some other factor that needs addressing - maybe wiring onboard ship?

[Mercruiser]

21 minutes ago, lisiamc said:

Since the moment we picked up StarLink, (22nd March) we have not exceeded .49 of a megabit. There is some other factor that needs addressing - maybe wiring onboard ship?

It seems pretty clear that the internet on Journey is not working right. Speedtest indicates that Journey is on Starlink - see SpaceX Starlink in lower left of the screen captures. Try this at home and you will see something like Xfinity or Verizon. 

 

The problem could be totally unrelated to Starlink, such as wiring problems or a bad router configuration. Alternatively, it could be a bad Starlink setup on Journey. It's going to take a skilled IT person to determine root cause and fix this. 

Edited March 30, 2023 by Mercruiser

[lisiamc]

1 hour ago, Riocca said:

Just to make you jealous this is the speed onboard Onward in Gibraltar 😁

 

We will wave at you at sail away. I think we’re staying longer in port than you, since we have White Night tonight. It’s lovely to see Onward again! Enjoy the Atlas Bar on our behalf, please.

[lisiamc]

We will be on Deck 7, waving extravagantly! Safe journey to your next port.

[Riocca]

14 minutes ago, lisiamc said:

We will wave at you at sail away. I think we’re staying longer in port than you, since we have White Night tonight. It’s lovely to see Onward again! Enjoy the Atlas Bar on our behalf, please.

Lisa, we’re watching the white night chairs being put out, off to ours is sailing out of Seville in a couple of days time. Atlas bar is as good as ever 🥳