offtopic .. cruise
 

I'm considering a Bahamian cruise vacation. I was wondering if Internet access is availble onboard? The cruise's website says that each room has a phone. Can that be used to dial out to an ISP? Would that be like a long distance call or international call? Anyone know of a cruiseline that has dataports in the rooms? Thanks for any info and sorry if its offtopic. Never been on a cruise.
Thanks.

Good question, selfdestrc, one I'd never thought of before. You might try posting your query in the General Travel Talk forum where you're likely to be more "on topic". http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

I know that many Royal Caribbean ships have internet terminals, available on a pay per time basis (they've got a deal with IBM for reasonably high speed access). I think Princess may offer something comparable, too.

Using ship phones to dial an ISP would be outrageously expensive because of the satelite connections, and I'm not even sure if it's possible. I've never seen anybody doing it.

Elektrik

crap. I just spoke to Carnival. Dialing from your room is $9.60/minute.

Yep. I was with someone who broke a tooth a couple years ago, and it was a 2 minute, $40 call to a dentist friend for advice (which was still cheaper than seeing the "Dentist" on board http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ). There might be silly connect charges, too.

You are supposed to be RELAXING and having a good time! Leave the internet at home. Get a tan. See the sights.

I was on Royal C. in Feb this year. You couldn't use the phone in room to connect internet, but they have about 10 computers in the lobby, and the charge is 50 cents/min. I think other cruises which have computer prob charge similar rate. It's not too bad as long as you don't stay on it too longggg... =) have a good trip.

Helen

I was on NCL's Wind in March and it was 0.75 per minute to use the internet--they had terminals waiting. It was only open limited hours.

I am on the net like 20 hours a week at home (not counting home office time!), and could not imagine spending time on the net during a cruise.

I would NOT trust the lines in the ship to handle modem data at any speed > 28.8. These are fones that do not even have voicemail.

I just got back from a wonderful cruise in the Mediterranean. Our ship charged $.75 per minute from their internet cafe on-board, and we probably connected at 4800! However, we were able to find internet cafes at every port for around $2 per minute, so you may want to do your surfing while on land.