No WiFi on Cruise??!!

[NW-Bound]

I just got back from an Alaska cruise, and Princess has WiFi, but you have to pay for it, unless you have free minutes as a function of your status.

We got 250 minutes free each , but did not use hardly any.
As far as cellphone service in Alaska, they do not have 4G, and my smartphone did not work. It only worked en route to Vancouver/Victoria because we could hit Washington state towers.

Last year, in our RV trip of a few thousand miles through Alaska and the Yukon, we saw only sporadic cell signals, and these local carriers denied access to our T-Mobile phones.

On the other hand, in our recent 5,000-km drive through Spain and Portugal, the T-Mobile phones worked all the time, albeit with slow Internet access.

When on a ship, the only access to the Internet would be via satellite, and that would be slow (link shared with many people) and expensive (to limit usage). Technology always has limitations.

 

[Moemg]

We only get wi-fi on longer cruises as SO has an online business . The wi-fi on Royal Caribean is decent even in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

 

[WestUniversity]

How is it possible that a cruise ship would not have WiFi? AFAIK, it's not some kind of Luddite cruise. Are they sailing into a timewarp to 1967?

From my experiences on the many cruises DW and I have sailed on, what the WiFi/internet lacks in speed it makes up for by being overpriced...[emoji15]

 

[NW-Bound]

...The wi-fi on Royal Caribean is decent even in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

The WiFi would drop off to an unusable speed if they opened it for free use by all passengers.

On land, even some hotel WiFis have an unusable slow speed, and a hotel has much fewer guests than a ship.


PS. When a resource is limited, to reduce usage there's nothing better than raising prices. Another mechanism is via a quota system.

 

[kcowan]

Does anyone know what the cruise ships use to provide internet? It seems that they have the same limitations that cell phones have. e.g. Satellite internet in notoriously slow.

 

[CaptTom]

Does anyone know what the cruise ships use to provide internet? It seems that they have the same limitations that cell phones have. e.g. Satellite internet in notoriously slow.

They use satellite links, just like commercial ships (and quite a few of the pricier yachts.) The hardware is expensive, but the service is obscenely expensive. Even at the rates the cruise lines charge, they probably don't make a ton of money on it.

This might all change when the rest of Musk's satellites are launched. The first 60 went up last week.

The best place to be is on a boat, out of sight of land and out of cell range.

 

[EastWest Gal]

We went on an Alaskan cruise in 2014. Cell phone worked fine in port. Didn’t bother with WiFi. Vacation is a good time to change bad habits. Like excessive time online and media addiction.

I also noticed that many people were on the phone and computers doing work-related stuff. It was sad to see.

 

[grasshopper]

I'm used to this; UnCruise, which I use, has NO Wi-Fi available to passengers on the ship. I manage; my Ting plan works internationally but, as others have said, I use it with Cellular turned off unless I want to try and get on-line. My two main interests are seeing what the stock market is doing (I don't trade frequently but just like to know) and keeping friends/family posted via FB and e-mails. Both can wait until I get into a port with decent reception.

DH and I cruised out of Ketchikan twice; the first time we had a day there before the cruise and checked out the library, which was convenient to the port. We even bought a few books at their Used Book sale. The second time, 2 years later, the library had been moved to a location much further from the port. The locals told us it was because all the cruise ship passengers would swarm into the library and tap into the free Wi-Fi!

UnCruise had their April Fools Day post years back that said they were going to add wifi to all the ships, not.

 

[Alan]

Does anyone know what the cruise ships use to provide internet? It seems that they have the same limitations that cell phones have. e.g. Satellite internet in notoriously slow.

I’m pretty sure they use satellites and while that won’t probably be good enough for streaming it is certainly good enough for Skype. I was once sat close by a lady during a transatlantic crossing on Cunard and she was Skyping with her daughter.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Many of our cruises wouldn’t have been possible without internet as I was teaching.

 

[explanade]

T Mobile gives you data in Canada and Mexico I thought.

But not unlimited, it’s part of your monthly bucket.

 

[NW-Bound]

About Internet via satellites, this remains the only possible link for remote land areas even here in the US and not just when you are bobbing in the ocean.

Twenty years ago, Motorola Iridium satellite network quickly ran into financial difficulties, and was bought out by the government for military use where money is no object. Teledesic with a similar plan never got off the ground.

Musk's Starlink satellites orbit at an even lower altitude than the Iridium satellites, and he will need even more of them. It will be interesting to see how that works out. The problem is more financial than technical, meaning one can do it but the question is whether it will generate enough revenues to pay for itself.

 

[Amethyst]

In the middle of the ocean, satellites are necessary for cruise ships to relay data signals. Still, it does seem excessively expensive. I suspect cruise ships charge a lot for internet access because they can, and it's profitable to do so. It's not like you can hop over to another ship that's got better internet.

Does anyone know what the cruise ships use to provide internet? It seems that they have the same limitations that cell phones have. e.g. Satellite internet in notoriously slow.

 

[cathy63]

About Internet via satellites, this remains the only possible link for remote land areas even here in the US and not just when you are bobbing in the ocean.

Twenty years ago, Motorola Iridium satellite network quickly ran into financial difficulties, and was bought out by the government for military use where money is no object. Teledesic with a similar plan never got off the ground.

Musk's Starlink satellites orbit at an even lower altitude than the Iridium satellites, and he will need even more of them. It will be interesting to see how that works out. The problem is more financial than technical, meaning one can do it but the question is whether it will generate enough revenues to pay for itself.

Over on Cruise Critic one of the current topics on the Princess forum is about how their new higher-speed Internet service degrades in Alaska because the satellites that provide it are in a low orbit to reduce latency, so they are below the horizon once you get that far north. Apparently the ships have to switch back to the higher orbit satellites once they leave Seattle and that slows the Internet speed down considerably, which annoys those who paid for it expecting the higher speed.

It's an interesting problem that I had never really thought about before. I wonder if the Starlink network will cover more of the far northern and southern latitudes.

 

[explanade]

Solution is don't cruise if you want to stay connected.

There are European river cruises and those are stupidly expensive. The food had better be worth it but actually, I would think the food you can find in Europe is a lot better than what they serve on cruise ships.

 

[braumeister]

Over on Cruise Critic one of the current topics on the Princess forum is about how their new higher-speed Internet service degrades in Alaska because the satellites that provide it are in a low orbit to reduce latency, so they are below the horizon once you get that far north. Apparently the ships have to switch back to the higher orbit satellites once they leave Seattle and that slows the Internet speed down considerably, which annoys those who paid for it expecting the higher speed.

It's an interesting problem that I had never really thought about before. I wonder if the Starlink network will cover more of the far northern and southern latitudes.

I'm surprised. We used the ship's wifi in March while way above the Arctic Circle in Norway (north of 71°) and it was flawless. Good (not great but definitely good) internet speed and constant availability. We were impressed. I don't think any cruise ships in Alaska go even north of 65° so it seems strange they would have a problem.

 

[TromboneAl]

Your daughter has inherited cheapness from someone and it going without WiFI .

Yes, she got the cheapness gene, but she also has tons of money and is a millennial, so I'd expect her to pay for it. I'll ask her when she gets back within range of Earth.

The cruise is with her hubbie and her hubbie's sister, sister-in-law, and parents. A week on a small boat with the in-laws and no internet—what could go wrong there?

When I was up on Mount Rainier, my phone wasn't in roaming. I concluded that it could see the cell towers back here in Humboldt County. I'd have expected towers along the shore to beam their goodness far out into the ocean, but apparently not.

 

[athena53]

UnCruise had their April Fools Day post years back that said they were going to add wifi to all the ships, not.

I remember that! I responded that I hoped they'd add more ports where we could shop for tanzanite jewelry.

 

[target2019]

I did not see any cell signal while away from the Alaskan ports. I have Verizon LTE, as does spouse. Her iPhone was occasionally in the wrong mode, so she had more problems.

Others with us had ATT, and they had more problems.

On a cruise, with some booze, there may have been more user error!

What is humorous about this thread, is that our daughter called travel agent when she didn't hear from us. In your case, Al, you are the one who needs to know.

 

[target2019]

I remember that! I responded that I hoped they'd add more ports where we could shop for tanzanite jewelry.

This glacier to your left is retreating, subject to global warming (loud booms and cracks are heard.)

Please be sure to stop for your shopping packet before departing Ketchikan! Many Special Offers.

 

[NW-Bound]

I'm surprised. We used the ship's wifi in March while way above the Arctic Circle in Norway (north of 71°) and it was flawless. Good (not great but definitely good) internet speed and constant availability. We were impressed. I don't think any cruise ships in Alaska go even north of 65° so it seems strange they would have a problem.

The satellites currently providing Internet access are of the geosynchronous types. The newer have antennas that provide spot beams to specific areas that they serve. Perhaps that may explain why some areas are better served than others.

 

[NW-Bound]

GEO (geosynchronous equatorial orbit) satellites sit at 26,200 miles from the earth center, or 22,200 miles above the equator.

This is a big difference compared to LEO (low earth orbit) satellites which have altitudes as low as 210 miles for Space X's Starlink network.

LEO satellites cannot "park" in space and move quite fast across the sky. Space X's plan calls for as many as 12,000 of these "cubesats" to provide coverage.

Amazon (Bezos) talks of a plan to deploy 3,000 satellites with the same goal.

Another company called OneWeb has a plan for 650 satellites at an altitude of 750 miles.

In comparison with the above, the failed Teledesic plan of 20 years ago called for just a few 100s of satellites at an altitude of 400 mi.

Satellites are cheaper to make now, and the cost of launching them is reduced. And that spurs people to try again.

 

[CyclingInvestor]

Ketchikan, Juneau, Anchorage have good connectivity and 4G data. Victoria and Vancouver have free texting and good data, but phone calls cost $$. Kodiak has nothing unless you purchase a local package. Homer and Icy Strait have free texting but very poor data connections.

Your phone will tell you when you are connected to land services instead of ship.

 

[Go-NoGo]

Over on Cruise Critic one of the current topics on the Princess forum is about how their new higher-speed Internet service degrades in Alaska because the satellites that provide it are in a low orbit to reduce latency, so they are below the horizon once you get that far north. Apparently the ships have to switch back to the higher orbit satellites once they leave Seattle and that slows the Internet speed down considerably, which annoys those who paid for it expecting the higher speed.

It's an interesting problem that I had never really thought about before. I wonder if the Starlink network will cover more of the far northern and southern latitudes.

Check out this animation of the starlink satellites :
https://www.starlink.com/

if you drag the mouse around the globe you can see that the orbits do not cover the earth uniformly, there is a greater concentration of the birds around North American and Europe. The coast of Alaska seems to be quite thick with them. This is, of course an animation, and we don't know yet what the precise orbits/coverage will be - but still interesting to see what the general plan is.

 

[aja8888]

GEO (geosynchronous equatorial orbit) satellites sit at 26,200 miles from the earth center, or 22,200 miles above the equator.

This is a big difference compared to LEO (low earth orbit) satellites which have altitudes as low as 210 miles for Space X's Starlink network.

LEO satellites cannot "park" in space and move quite fast across the sky. Space X's plan calls for as many as 12,000 of these "cubesats" to provide coverage.

Amazon (Bezos) talks of a plan to deploy 3,000 satellites with the same goal.

Another company called OneWeb has a plan for 650 satellites at an altitude of 750 miles.

In comparison with the above, the failed Teledesic plan of 20 years ago called for just a few 100s of satellites at an altitude of 400 mi.

Satellites are cheaper to make now, and the cost of launching them is reduced. And that spurs people to try again.

At the rate these satellites are going to be sent into orbit and eventually dying out, there may as much junk in orbit as there is scrap plastic in the Pacific Ocean!