WiFi included but it’s not really

[jwlane]

29 minutes ago, Traderboy said:

In my opinion they do it on purpose  - to make money for Celebrity. 

Everything they do is to make money.

[NutsAboutGolf]

2 hours ago, Traderboy said:

I was pleased to have a package with WiFi included. 
 Unfortunately this is another trick to take your money. 
While it does include a basic access to the Internet you find that you cannot even send a single photo to your loved ones. 
In order to share even simple photos  you have to pay another 91 dollars for 12 days.

I can understand why they might want to prohibit streaming videos or online video chats. However the banning of sharing a few photos is just a way for Celebrity to make money.

What do others think?

 

It's been a while since I've done this but they allow you to upgrade mid cruise, they used to pro-rate it by night.  I'm sure you can still upgrade it mid-cruise but am not sure if they're still allowing discounts or not

[Mark_K]

42 minutes ago, Traderboy said:

The point is that a simple photo is not a large upload.   

The data involved in downloading say the BBC website (including lots of pictures)  far exceeds what I am talking about.  This is allowed on the basic WiFi package.

 

In my opinion they do it on purpose  - to make money for Celebrity.  Not because they cannot handle the data uploads.

 

Perhaps you weren’t aware, but almost all Internet access, most likely even the one you have at home, is asynchronous i.e. having faster download speeds than upload speeds.  I wouldn’t be surprised if the Basic download speed is faster than the Premium upload speed, much less the Basic upload speed.

 

Of course they do it to make money.  Just like they allow better liquors on the Premium package even though they could allow them on the Classic package.

[Rick&Jeannie]

3 hours ago, upwarduk said:

If you are mid Atlantic you have little chance of ant Wi- Fi signal.

I think maybe you meant to say "a good Internet signal".  You can always connect to the ship Wifi.

[Rick&Jeannie]

I'm curious what kind of service I'll be getting on the Millie around Japan....

 

 

Edited March 23 by Rick&Jeannie

[Arizona Wildcat]

3 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

I know.  Maybe they had me on a dialup connection 🤣

They just wanted you to feel like you were back home.

[the penguins]

4 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

I think maybe you meant to say "a good Internet signal".  You can always connect to the ship Wifi.

not always in mid Atlantic - on out last Fort Lauderdale to Southampton (Princess) we had 3 days with no connection.  IT blamed it on a combination of the storm behind us and the route we were taking to keep ahead of said storm that resulted in major route changes.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

3 minutes ago, the penguins said:

not always in mid Atlantic - on out last Fort Lauderdale to Southampton (Princess) we had 3 days with no connection.  IT blamed it on a combination of the storm behind us and the route we were taking to keep ahead of said storm that resulted in major route changes.

Does Princess use Starlink ?

[Rick&Jeannie]

1 minute ago, the penguins said:

not always in mid Atlantic - on out last Fort Lauderdale to Southampton (Princess) we had 3 days with no connection.  IT blamed it on a combination of the storm behind us and the route we were taking to keep ahead of said storm that resulted in major route changes.

I reiterate my statement.  YOU CAN ALWAYS CONNECT TO WIFI.  Many people just don't seem to ubderstand that the connection to Wifi is simply the "pipe" that let's you get to the internet.  Connection to the ship's Wifi IS FREE.  Yes...there are MANY places where the internet is limited...but that has nothing to do with what I posted.

[Rick&Jeannie]

Just now, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Does Princess use Starlink ?

Yes

[the penguins]

4 hours ago, Traderboy said:

I was pleased to have a package with WiFi included. 
 Unfortunately this is another trick to take your money. 
While it does include a basic access to the Internet you find that you cannot even send a single photo to your loved ones. 
In order to share even simple photos  you have to pay another 91 dollars for 12 days.

I can understand why they might want to prohibit streaming videos or online video chats. However the banning of sharing a few photos is just a way for Celebrity to make money.

What do others think?

X is very clear on what you can expect from the basic package.  If this had met your requirements you would have been delighted. When you wanted something faster you had the option to upgrade to Premium for just over $7 a day which seems an absolute bargain.

[Ken the cruiser]

Have all of the Celebrity ships upgraded to Starlink?

[the penguins]

3 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

I reiterate my statement.  YOU CAN ALWAYS CONNECT TO WIFI.  Many people just don't seem to ubderstand that the connection to Wifi is simply the "pipe" that let's you get to the internet.  Connection to the ship's Wifi IS FREE.  Yes...there are MANY places where the internet is limited...but that has nothing to do with what I posted.

Sorry you have lost me. 

What  connection to the ships WIFI is free? There is always a charge.

Or are you saying that we can connect to the ship's system but that the ship's system can't connect to the outside world?

 

 

[the penguins]

1 minute ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Have all of the Celebrity ships upgraded to Starlink?

yes I believe they have.

[patty1955]

15 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

I'm curious what kind of service I'll be getting on the Millie around Japan....

 

 

We're just off the Millie. Around Japan, the service was pretty good. Around Hong Kong and Taipei, not so good.

[patty1955]

1 minute ago, the penguins said:

Sorry you have lost me. 

What  connection to the ships WIFI is free? There is always a charge.

Or are you saying that we can connect to the ship's system but that the ship's system can't connect to the outside world?

 

 

There are actually talking about intranet vs internet. You can almost always connect to the intranet, but not always the internet

[Ken the cruiser]

1 minute ago, the penguins said:

yes I believe they have.

Cool! That probably explains why folks are now saying they can post photos and text to Cruise Critic now using the Basic Internet service.

[Rick&Jeannie]

4 minutes ago, the penguins said:

Sorry you have lost me. 

What  connection to the ships WIFI is free? There is always a charge.

Or are you saying that we can connect to the ship's system but that the ship's system can't connect to the outside world?

 

 

There is NEVER a charge to connect to the ship's Wifi.  That is how the app performs its functions.  Once you connect to Wifi...and IF you have purchased an internet plan, THEN you get internet service.

[the penguins]

1 minute ago, patty1955 said:

There are actually talking about intranet vs internet. You can almost always connect to the intranet, but not always the internet

thanks - well I think it's thanks.

None of the posts refer to "intranet" only "internet". But does that mean that what I said was correct? I  do hope so.

[Rick&Jeannie]

9 minutes ago, the penguins said:

Sorry you have lost me. 

What  connection to the ships WIFI is free? There is always a charge.

Or are you saying that we can connect to the ship's system but that the ship's system can't connect to the outside world?

 

 

Perhaps you should take a look at this:

https://www.longlines.com/blog/internet-vs-wifi-whats-the-difference#:~:text=Wi-Fi connects devices within,%2C routers%2C and other infrastructure.

[the penguins]

1 minute ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

There is NEVER a charge to connect to the ship's Wifi.  That is how the app performs its functions.  Once you connect to Wifi...and IF you have purchased an internet plan, THEN you get internet service.

Surely your "splitting hairs". In my example we had paid for a package. For 3 days using that package we were unable to send any messages i.e. we could the type them, press send but the messages went nowhere. That is my definition of having no internet connection.

[CeleryCruiser]

Last cruise Eclipse we had both: for me the basic wifi and my husband had premium. What was the most surprising was that those friends who are using I phone or Mac like we do, we could send all pictures perfectly to them - from my phone it took maybe bit longer than with my husbands wifi connection but those who uses other technologies could never get any mails from me. Maybe someone knows the facts behind.

[Rick&Jeannie]

1 minute ago, CeleryCruiser said:

Last cruise Eclipse we had both: for me the basic wifi and my husband had premium. What was the most surprising was that those friends who are using I phone or Mac like we do, we could send all pictures perfectly to them - from my phone it took maybe bit longer than with my husbands wifi connection but those who uses other technologies could never get any mails from me. Maybe someone knows the facts behind.

Apple devices have always (or at least for a long time) had an advantage in that they don't require an internet connection in order to send messages between themselves.  All of my traveling party are Apple iPhone users...I use Andriod.  Until very recently, I was never able to participate in any of the texts or group texts that were sent.  When Google switched their Google Messages to use RCS I was then able to switch away from the default Samsung messaging app (which used basic SMS technology) and start using Google Messages.  Once I did that...I was finally able to participate with the "Apple world" while on board.  It was never an issue while on land (in port) but on the ship the Apple devices simply did not use the internet to pass messages.  Can be confusing, I know...

[the penguins]

2 hours ago, paulh84 said:

To be fair they do spell out the limitations clearly.....

 

 

https://www.celebritycruises.com/things-to-do-onboard/onboard-packages/internet-and-phone-packages

 

There is an error there but it's not pertaining to the limitations. It should state Basic WiFi is not available pre-cruise. 

the wording is correct basic WIFI can only be purchased pre boarding. Once onboard you can only purchase the Premium WIFI option. 

[arealcheapskate]

The Basic wifi limitation is artificial and is purposely restricted by Celebrity. 

We use a GL-AXT1800 router with a wireguard protocol VPN. It bypasses all the port blocks/social media blocks/speed limitations and the internet works as the premium would. (Video calls etc). 

 

Because it's not a traditional VPN it's impossible for them to block as it uses the same port as a secure HTTPS connection. In addition we can tether as many devices as we like - they don't seem to throttle the speed.