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

[Riocca]

1 minute ago, lisiamc said:

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

We’re on our way to deck 10.

[lisiamc]

1 minute ago, Riocca said:

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 🥳

Look out for flamingoes and ospreys on the way up to Seville, and the way back. We were lucky and saw both. I wasn’t expecting either!

[luv2travel90266]

Internet barely useable on the Journey still. Currently in the Med heading to Valencia. Difficult to even do a speed test. IT dept is working on it when questioned. My hotspot has picked up the shore so been using that  for my primary connectivity. 

[fruitmachine]

On Journey right now, just raised the anchor and a few hundred metres off the Croatian coastline.  It's using Starlink, with the downlink to a European city (as the nearest Speedtest server is in Strausberg in Germany) yet the speed achieved is very slow.

Like @luv2travel90266, my primary connection is the local 4G network, but will use this when away from shore or later in Montenegro where my UK SIM has stupidly-high data charges.

[For UK readers, BT Mobile are still not charging extra for the old EU roaming zones.  Saves us a fortune!]

Edited April 16, 2023 by fruitmachine

[markpc17]

Just an FYI, and it seems like it has been mentioned previously.  Just off an 11-day in Portugal & Spain on the Onward with Starlink and the internet, there was incredible.  Easily the best I've ever had on a cruise.  I work remotely, and it has been nightmarish at times on so many sailings.  It's the only way I can travel often - I need to stay up on work.  And the experience was virtually perfect.  Which makes it bizarre the difference between the ships & speed.  I've got some future sailings on other Azamara ships so hoping it gets resolved and replicates the Onwards experience.  

 

In ports, we used Airalo (e-sims) with great success.  

[luv2travel90266]

Not on the Journey unfortunately. It seems they need an IT expert. 

[lisiamc]

6 minutes ago, luv2travel90266 said:

Not on the Journey unfortunately. It seems they need an IT expert. 

Yes, I think Journey is the only ship not getting the better speeds with Starlink. I don’t know what the problem is, but fingers crossed they can sort it soon.

[fruitmachine]

3 hours ago, markpc17 said:

Just an FYI, and it seems like it has been mentioned previously.  Just off an 11-day in Portugal & Spain on the Onward with Starlink and the internet, there was incredible.  Easily the best I've ever had on a cruise.  I work remotely, and it has been nightmarish at times on so many sailings.  It's the only way I can travel often - I need to stay up on work.  And the experience was virtually perfect.  Which makes it bizarre the difference between the ships & speed.  I've got some future sailings on other Azamara ships so hoping it gets resolved and replicates the Onwards experience.  

 

In ports, we used Airalo (e-sims) with great success.  

I agree.

It's worth future passengers continuing to post this - if for no other reason than to warn potential purchasers of the package that there is still a problem.

[Mercruiser]

If I've got the timeline right, Starlink was turned on for Journey around March 22. It's been unusably slow ever since (approx. 0.5 Mbps). We are approaching a month since then. I'm really surprised this is not fixed. 

 

The results reported for Onward are wonderful (as fast as 90 Mbps and more, post #36 and others).

 

The results for Quest are very good (2 Mbps, post #25)

 

Pursuit is also slow (0.84 Mbps, see post #18). 

 

I'm really wondering why Onward is so must faster than the rest? This was especially evident in Gibralter when Onward and Journey were docked adjacent (post #42).

[lisiamc]

4 hours ago, Mercruiser said:

If I've got the timeline right, Starlink was turned on for Journey around March 22. It's been unusably slow ever since (approx. 0.5 Mbps). We are approaching a month since then. I'm really surprised this is not fixed. 

 

The results reported for Onward are wonderful (as fast as 90 Mbps and more, post #36 and others).

 

The results for Quest are very good (2 Mbps, post #25)

 

Pursuit is also slow (0.84 Mbps, see post #18). 

 

I'm really wondering why Onward is so must faster than the rest? This was especially evident in Gibralter when Onward and Journey were docked adjacent (post #42).

We were on board Journey from 4th March to 3rd April, so both sides of the changeover. There was no difference at all in the speed. The only noticeable difference was that Speedtest cited Starlink after the changeover.

 

We were also on Onward last year during their changeover. The difference was huge, and impressive. We were expecting similar changes on Journey, but there must be some other issue on Journey throttling the speed.

[Mercruiser]

I sure miss have Bonnie MacLaird, former Azamara Chief Blogging Officer.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/profile/1095707-bbmaclaird/

 

We could ask her a question, like why is Journey's Internet so slow, and she would get an answer from management. Unfortunately, Azamara eliminated the position during the Covid pause, and has not reinstated it.

[ECCruise]

Quest this morning in Living Room. 

 

 

[roberts2005]

Quest in my cabin

[roberts2005]

For the above it does say Star link. So no idea why so slow. We are at sea off the coast of Japan

[markpc17]

Has anyone talked to someone on board about it?  I know it's a small ship so doesn't necessarily have an IT department for passengers.  I remember sailing on the Apex on their initial crossing and it was awful.  They had two people who had to deal with a line of customers all day complaining.  Not to say they had many answers, but they were in constant contact with corporate.  It finally improved marginally the second half of the voyage.  Anyway, just curious what the corporate/onboard explanation is.  

[fruitmachine]

My (albeit speculative) guess is that Starlink charge Azamara by data volume. After they got the bill for the first couple of months after the first conversion, they realised that they have to come up with a way of restricting usage, and this is a short term fix that stops people streaming and similar. 

 

If I'm right, don't be surprised to find future changes that match their income to their cost profile, such as data rather than time limits. 

[Host Jazzbeau]

9 hours ago, fruitmachine said:

My (albeit speculative) guess is that Starlink charge Azamara by data volume. After they got the bill for the first couple of months after the first conversion, they realised that they have to come up with a way of restricting usage, and this is a short term fix that stops people streaming and similar. 

 

If I'm right, don't be surprised to find future changes that match their income to their cost profile, such as data rather than time limits. 

And if you're wrong, this is libel.  Why do people feel the need to start rumors with zero information to back it up?

[Mercruiser]

1 hour ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

And if you're wrong, this is libel.  Why do people feel the need to start rumors with zero information to back it up?

Jazzbeau, Are you licensed to practice law in Scotland? If not, why do people without legal credentials feel the need to give legal opinions?

 

I'm just having a little fun at your expense 😁
I appreciate the work you do moderating these forums!

[fruitmachine]

23 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

And if you're wrong, this is libel.  Why do people feel the need to start rumors with zero information to back it up?

The facts are, that Journey's Internet access is now so bad it is unusable. Speedtest won't even run. 

 

My 5 year old mobile phone is getting 33Mb with 4G in the Adriatic Sea. 

 

If there is any legal issue, then it's Azamara failing to deliver a contracted service.

 

Caveat emptor. 

Edited April 20, 2023 by fruitmachine

[lisiamc]

4 minutes ago, fruitmachine said:

The facts are, that Journey's Internet access is now so bad it is unusable. Speedtest won't even run. 

 

My 5 year old mobile phone is getting 33Mb with 4G in the Adriatic Sea. 

 

If there is any legal issue, then it's Azamara failing to deliver a contracted service.

 

Caveat emptor. 

Internet on a ship has never been a precise science for many reasons. Azamara has never guaranteed 24/7 internet access, so I don’t think you’d have a case describing it as a contracted service. Journey had a few times when the internet didn’t work on our two cruises in March in April. I am sure they will get it working again if it’s due to equipment failure. If it’s due to spotty satellite coverage, that should improve with a change of location.

[Host Jazzbeau]

After today's spectacular Space X launch failure, I don't expect Starlink to get better as soon as expected.  For Azamara or any other cruise ship.

[roberts2005]

Todays speed on Quest, if I  am able to post

Edited April 20, 2023 by roberts2005
Typo

[Mercruiser]

2 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

After today's spectacular Space X launch failure, I don't expect Starlink to get better as soon as expected.  For Azamara or any other cruise ship.

It is a setback for the Starship heavy lift rocket. This was a test flight and had no payload. No StarLink satellites were involved.  But to your point, Starship has 10X payload capacity compared to Falcon. Starlink has been using Falcon so far for all StarLink launches. Starlink needs Starships' 10X payload to get the thousands of satellites launched that they need for full deployment.

 

Speaking of Falcon, they launched another 21 StarLink satellites yesterday.

https://www.floridatoday.com/story/tech/science/space/2023/04/19/spacex-launch-today-follow-live-falcon-9-starlink-cape-canaveral-space-force-florida-updates/70120968007/

This didn't make the national news because it didn't blow up. As the news folks say, "If it bleeds, it leads"

 

These are exciting times for a Apollo era kid like me.

 

But I'm still disappointed we don't have the supersonic passenger planes they promised to us 1970s kids. I'm tired of all those 10 hour flights. It amazes me that they retired Concord without any replacement.

 

Edited April 21, 2023 by Mercruiser

[fruitmachine]

6 hours ago, lisiamc said:

Internet on a ship has never been a precise science for many reasons. Azamara has never guaranteed 24/7 internet access, so I don’t think you’d have a case describing it as a contracted service. Journey had a few times when the internet didn’t work on our two cruises in March in April. I am sure they will get it working again if it’s due to equipment failure. If it’s due to spotty satellite coverage, that should improve with a change of location.

As I said, Caveat Emptor. 

[Riocca]

Could it be the networking within the ships themselves that holds the key to this particular problem? Just seems strange that the original 3 ships bought from RC have a problem whilst the newest ship which had the whole network replaced in dry dock last year doesn’t.

Possibly Onwards network was installed with a specification that supports the speeds possible with Starlink. If this theory is correct then it’s probable the networks of the other 3 ships will be upgraded next dry dock