Internet access

[Prince1]

Sailing on the Pearl to Alaska August 19th. I know there are internet connections in each room, but was wondering if anyone knew the rates they charge. Is it free (which I highly doubt)? Is there an hourly rate? Can you get it for a full 24 hours at a time? Or is there any way to activate it for the entire duration of the cruise?

 

Would greatly appreciate any info. If the rates are astronomical I would probably decide not to take my laptop... one less thing to lug around.

Thanks!

[cliffd64]

Sailing on the Pearl to Alaska August 19th. I know there are internet connections in each room, but was wondering if anyone knew the rates they charge. Is it free (which I highly doubt)? Is there an hourly rate? Can you get it for a full 24 hours at a time? Or is there any way to activate it for the entire duration of the cruise?

 

Would greatly appreciate any info. If the rates are astronomical I would probably decide not to take my laptop... one less thing to lug around.

Thanks!

 

 

There are per-minute charges. You can buy packages of varying lengths.

 

Here are details of internet access including ALL plans regardless of whether you use your own laptop or not:

 

Terminal usage time

 

$0.75 per minute

Time Package Plan:

250 minutes for $100 ($0.40 per minute)

100 minutes for $55 ($0.55 per minute)

Pay as you go $0.75 per minute

 

 

 

Personalized Cruise-mail™

 

$3.95 per email transmission (send only)

$0.99 offered in the staterooms only through the ITV television on the NCL Jewel, Pride of America and Pride of Hawaii

 

 

 

In Stateroom Access - currently available

on the Norwegian Sun, Pride of Aloha and

Pride of America.

 

Normal usage fee $0.75 per minute.

Dial up access: Diskettes for dial up network access and cable is $10 (available at reception desk - fee refundable when diskette is returned)

 

 

 

Wireless Internet Service for laptop usage

 

Time Package Plan:

250 minutes for $100 ($0.40 per minute)

100 minutes for $55 ($0.55 per minute)

Pay as you go $0.75 per minute

Wireless card - $10 per day (if required) Wireless card Insurance - $3.00 per day (optional)*

 

 

 

Laptop rentals

 

Laptop rental -- Complimentary with the purchase of a Time plan.

Laptop insurance - $3 per day

 

 

 

Access to printers

 

$0.50 per page

[Prince1]

Thanks so much for the reply... just what I was looking for.

 

That works out to between $25-$45 per HOUR. I've stayed in hotels in the most expensive cities in the world (NYC, Tokyo, London...) and never paid more than $25 per DAY for an internet connection.

 

Some airlines are starting to offer on-board wireless connection. I recently went online somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean and paid a fraction of this.

 

Boy, talk about a profit scheme.

[cliffd64]

Thanks so much for the reply... just what I was looking for.

 

That works out to between $25-$45 per HOUR. I've stayed in hotels in the most expensive cities in the world (NYC, Tokyo, London...) and never paid more than $25 per DAY for an internet connection.

 

Some airlines are starting to offer on-board wireless connection. I recently went online somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean and paid a fraction of this.

 

Boy, talk about a profit scheme.

 

 

Well, for whatever reason, as long as there are people who will be willing to pay for such access, the price for this convenience will be high. I for one can do without the access, or use an internet cafe in port when I need to rather than take advantage of the ship's service.

 

I agree it's high, but obviously there are people who are still willing to pay for it anyway :)

[want2cruiseagain]

We brought out laptop and connected in our cabin (they gave us the cable line at the internet desk). The connection was very slow and we did the .75/minute. We were charged at least $10 everytime we connected. We limited ours to 1 x day and wouldn't have at all, except we had to keep track of flight capacity, since we were space available on our flight to Rome after the cruise.

[salty dingo]

I brought the laptop on the last cruise... it was nice for viewing the digital pictures we took. I tried to use it to check email but it was so slow, and given the high price I gave up trying after a short time.

 

The problem is, there is some yo-yo who sends you a huge file with pictures or some video or something, and to download it at those slow speeds would cost $10 or more... just not worth it.

 

What IS worth it, is checking mail while in port. Most of the crew will know where to go, since they need to keep in touch with family. It is very reasonable compared to the ship, and I have found an internet cafe in every port I have ever been to.

[tony@stanton19.freeserve.]

Also remember that you will also be paying a fortune to download all that spam and joke emails at a really slow speed.

I completely gave up and used a free internet connection ashore to delete them off using webmail.

Of course my daughter had to use our 250 mins for MSN but at least it kept her happy:D

[fin]

Well, for whatever reason, as long as there are people who will be willing to pay for such access, the price for this convenience will be high. I for one can do without the access, or use an internet cafe in port when I need to rather than take advantage of the ship's service.

 

I agree it's high, but obviously there are people who are still willing to pay for it anyway :)

 

I'm one who is willing to use it, but my bar bill is zero.

[3dblouder]

I use the Email on my blackberry it's much cheaper

3dblouder

[BuffySummers]

Hmmm what about a wireless mobile broadband card? This is the same as the service available on phones, and mine is through sprint. I wonder if it will work on the ship too? Right now it's the only thing we use at home, and have yet to find a place where it won't work. When we plug it in, it connects to our network, just the same as one connects to a network through their cell phone. I'm wondering if this would work?

[want2cruiseagain]

I saw some people on the Jewel with the PC card. We got the cable to use in our room, but the connection was so slow - just to check emails and check some flights would run us about $15.00 each time. If you use the internet room and their computers, there was a fee to log on each time.

 

We saw kids emailing like crazy! Guess the parents didn't care how much it cost as long as they were occupied!:)

[BuffySummers]

This isn't a regular card. It only connects to our account on the Sprint network. It's not the kind that's built in to most laptops.

[Catamount71]

This isn't a regular card. It only connects to our account on the Sprint network. It's not the kind that's built in to most laptops.

 

And Sprint does not have towers in the middle of the ocean the last time I checked :D The only connections I believe you will get unless in port is from the services onboard the ship all of which use the same satellite connections.

[tuffy88]

At every port you visit there will be an internet cafe close to the pier and in every shopping center close to the pier. You can usually rent time to use on their computer for about $2.00 for 20 minuets. Not sure what they charge for printing, but it will be far less than 50 cents per page.

 

Charles

[Prince1]

I was the original poster of this thread so I wanted to circle back and close the loop. We sailed on the Pearl to Alaska on 8/19. I ended up taking my laptop and purchasing the 100 minutes for $55. It was very easy to connect from my room every day for 10-15 minutes and check/send email (mostly from our kids... great way to stay in touch). I used web-based email rather than dowloading everything to Outlook so the speed was actually very acceptable since I only looked at the mail I wanted to see.

 

The internet cafe on the ship would have been an ok alternative, but I went with the greater convenience. I saw internet cafes at some of the port cities but for cryin' out loud, why would anyone spend their shore time doing that?

 

And by the way... my laptop fit very nicely into the safe in the room (with plenty of space for other stuff) which was a pleasant surprise.

[MrLee]

I'm one who is willing to use it, but my bar bill is zero.

 

In order to get me to pay those prices my bar bill would have to be quite high! ;)