Travel Technology - Cruises...internet access, phones, etc.

Just some observations from my recent cruise on the Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas (MIA-Cozumel-Grand Cayman-Hati-MIA)

Cost for internet was .33-.50 / minute. Internet access speed was fast on the first and last days. Internet speed was as slow as a 2400 baud modems the other days--almost unusable.

Eventhough I had a strong wireless continous wireless signal, about every 30 minutes I had to turn my laptop completely off and back on in order to log back in. A 'restart' would not work. [seemed like my antenna had to go completely off...anyone know why?]

Cell coverage ($5/min) worked through out the cruise. RS on my Balckberry started to work on the segment from Jamaica on...anyone know why it would not work before that? legal? technical?

Just thought people would like to know.

Just some observations from my recent cruise on the Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas (MIA-Cozumel-Grand Cayman-Hati-MIA)

Cost for internet was .33-.50 / minute. Internet access speed was fast on the first and last days. Internet speed was as slow as a 2400 baud modems the other days--almost unusable.

Eventhough I had a strong wireless continous wireless signal, about every 30 minutes I had to turn my laptop completely off and back on in order to log back in. A 'restart' would not work. [seemed like my antenna had to go completely off...anyone know why?]

Cell coverage ($5/min) worked through out the cruise. RS on my Balckberry started to work on the segment from Jamaica on...anyone know why it would not work before that? legal? technical?

Just thought people would like to know.

The only thing I can think of for the first one was that for some reason the boat lost its signal or a lot of people were on. Thats odd though b/c when I went on my cruise a few years back the internet was fairly quick throughout the cruise.

The second question also sounds weird. Maybe something like a dropped signal between your computer and access point?

Third question: where was it before that? Which stop was Jamaica on the cruise? What were the ports?

The only thing I can think of for the first one was that for some reason the boat lost its signal or a lot of people were on. Thats odd though b/c when I went on my cruise a few years back the internet was fairly quick throughout the cruise.

The second question also sounds weird. Maybe something like a dropped signal between your computer and access point?

Third question: where was it before that? Which stop was Jamaica on the cruise? What were the ports?

Yes, I do think overall speed had to do with number of people

The second problem was something that everyone with a laptop was having. The connection would be strong and continous, but all of a sudden a hard off would be requred.

The cruise was Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Jamaica, Hati. It is possible that a hard reboot of the BlackBerry might have been needed (sometimes this happens when I travel to Australia, for example). However, the BlackBerry Pearl for the most part has been immune to this.

The second problem was something that everyone with a laptop was having. The connection would be strong and continous, but all of a sudden a hard off would be requred.


Not sure what could cause the problem with the third issue. But..for the second issue..is it possible that the ship had software to limit the session length for a connection. Some ships offer a plan like $100 for internet for the whole cruise. But in order to keep the network with the least amount of connections, maybe they put session limits ie: 30 minutes per connection. Then it would time out the connection until a shutdown/reboot. This is just going off of a hypothesis and opinion...don't even know if they make network software to do such a thing.

Not sure what could cause the problem with the third issue. But..for the second issue..is it possible that the ship had software to limit the session length for a connection. Some ships offer a plan like $100 for internet for the whole cruise. But in order to keep the network with the least amount of connections, maybe they put session limits ie: 30 minutes per connection. Then it would time out the connection until a shutdown/reboot. This is just going off of a hypothesis and opinion...don't even know if they make network software to do such a thing.

What was interesting is that a re-start would not work. A turn off / on radio also would not work. Shutting down for 5 seconds would. It was as if their network rememebered something that most networks don't.

Taking an upcoming small boat cruise in a few weeks, Internet access is prepaid:

250 minutes for $100 = $0.40/minute
100 minutes for $55 = $0.55/minute
30 minutes for $22.50 = $0.75/minute

I'll check back with a connectivity review (or follow in Trip Reports :))

Taking an upcoming small boat cruise in a few weeks, Internet access is prepaid:

250 minutes for $100 = $0.40/minute
100 minutes for $55 = $0.55/minute
30 minutes for $22.50 = $0.75/minute

I'll check back with a connectivity review (or follow in Trip Reports :))

I took a cruise from Tampa/St Pete, Mexico, Gautamala, Belize, Key West, and back to Tampa at the end of 05 beginning of 06. I was able to keep my internet usage very low on the ship by tethering to my mobile phone for a huge chunk of the cruise. I had notebook connectivity for all of day 1, part of day 2, (I had roaming data access in Mexico which I essentially did not use), used some ship in Guatamala, Belize, and at sea using a download/sign off, compose responses and sign backon, and was back on internet and managed to get the back on the cellular net outside of Key West and backup to St Pete

Stu

PS: One gotcha that you should watch out for. Many cruise ships have different access plans using their computer or your notebook and they don't permit mixing and matching.

Once I was just checking the deck plan on the computer at the RCCL website (which was free.) A technician came by and needed to fix something on the computer which reset the system. I got 2 hours of free internet. :cool:

The difference in speed that you experience it due to the satellite uplink for each cruise ship. This is the bottleneck, you may have a perfect wi-fi signal to the access point but if a lot of people are using it at the same time or if the satellite link is intermittently dropping then you'll experience delays.

Obviously they can get away with charging high rates because they are the only game in town (or ship as the case may be). On the other side, the satellite links are very expensive.

I was on Norweigan to Progresso, Cozumel and Belize a few weeks ago. The rates were so outrageous that I didn't even bother (and people were complaining that it took 10 minutes to get even a short email done because everything was running so slow). My blackberry didn't work either, so I just stayed unplugged for the week (which killed me, but it was probably good for me). :)

Times have changed I guess. I was on RCCL back in 2002, I remember I paid $100 for 7 days of wired access in my cabin. Speed was about 56-100k, nothing amazing, but it got the job done.

We are cruising on HAL next week and the prices are about what those in this thread mentioned.

It appears that onboard calls are now managed by SeaMobile: http://www.seamobile.com/