how much is internet usage on RC?

[boatman11]

Anyone know how much internet usage is on RCCL? I have a pup that I am boarding at a nice place w/ web cam and I would like to be able to check on her every onec in a while to keep peice of mind and see she is okay.

[wrp96]

Cost starts at $.50 per minute but they do have packages that you can buy that can lower the cost. Be aware that it is slow because it is dependent on the satellites.

[Terpnut]

Anyone know how much internet usage is on RCCL? I have a pup that I am boarding at a nice place w/ web cam and I would like to be able to check on her every onec in a while to keep peice of mind and see she is okay.

Be forewarned, even assuming you get a decent amount of bandwidth when you connect (never a given on a cruise ship), you will pay dearly to use your internet time and $$$ for this purpose...

[cruisead]

to download a webcam picture might not be at all possible on the ship. They don't have broadband, only dial up and it could take 15 minutes just to download one image. I tried to download one picture in an email, and it took over 30 minutes to get the photo downloaded as an attachment in the email. You could spend a lot of money trying to get a web cam pic downloaded.

[wraithe]

All of RCL's ships have wi-fi, only Voyager and Radiance class have an unlimited dial up service called Cyber Cabin. The wi-fi is 50 cents/min, or package prices at $25 for 60 minutes, $35 for 90 minutes, and $50 for 150 minutes. If you log in early in the morning or late in the evening, or best, when everyone is ashore in port, the speed is decent. If you log in at lunch time on a sea day, then you'll be lucky to connect at all. Hope this helps.

[eyzwdeshut]

I didn't need to see a webcam when i logged onto the NCL computers, but i know the feeling of checking on pets. I was checking email from my mom who was keeping an eye on the lovelies for us. Definitely helps to have some piece of mind when you leave them... that said, I would think the price for internet access on board was worth paying (now, i wouldn't spend thousands, but a reasonable amt, of course).

[Terpnut]

Just for clarification: Depending on the ship, you can use wifi and/or dial-up to connect to the ship's internal network, but everyone still has to access the internet via the ship's main satellite-based link. The latter is the bottle neck and what you pay the big bucks for. The available bandwidth is very limited and highly variable because you're on a moving ship out at sea under changing weather conditions using a single internet connection shared by thousands of passengers AND crew! As I've recommended in other threads, try to work off-line as much as possible to keep your connection time and its associated costs down.