Internet at Sea

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You are on a trip of a lifetime with lots to share with people: blogs, pictures, video and more!  Easy enough to share your life when you are on a land based vacation, but what about at sea?  We get that question a lot.  Here is where we stand on wifi at sea - it will not be as fast as land.  Why?  Technology is different is the short answer - when you are at sea, you will be dependent on satellite technology which are quite far from your ship, the access point.  

Which cruise lines provide free wifi?

For the most part, most lines do not provide free wifi, except to their most loyal customers.  However, the trend is slowly changing with luxury lines now providing free wifi: Silversea, Viking, Crystal, Regent, and soon to be Ritz Carlton.  Being the latest ships built, Viking and Ritz will have the fastest speeds too.   In general, most lines have an app you can download ahead of time to use while on board - make reservations for dinner/spa, text other guests, look up activities or a map.  All this over wifi at no charge.  

Our Experience with Wifi

What are the options then for people not on a luxury line?  Well, the choices are near endless in terms of packages, with some just basic surf all the way up to near streaming speeds.  The fastest internet so far is now Princess - only ships with the Medallionnet.  We found that out on the recent Sapphire Princess - with painfully slow speeds.  Even bringing up the Princess site on the cafe computers caused it to seize.  Up to now, Royal Caribbean has held the crown as fastest, and all their ships are equipped for it.  MSC Seaside is new to the game, but the rest of MSC is not worth the money.  Disney is pretty fast, but you will be paying dearly for it.  

Tips and Tricks to Save Money

So what is a traveler to do?  It would be nice to powerdown the phone and tablet, but sometimes you got to look stuff up.  If you are a family of 4, paying $39.99 per device per day is not really reasonable.  Here are some tips that can help save you some money (and painful lessons):

• Buy a package for a single device and then share it with the family. They won't tell you, but there is no reason you can't share. Just don't lose that password - take a picture for safe keeping.
• Most lines will want you to purchase a package for the whole cruise, but you can buy the package later. For example, we bought into a package half way through the cruise and sometimes wait until the next to last day.
• Buy a package that is in the middle for pricing. This will save you money as the most expensive package will be for streaming and you likely won't be using it for binge watching when there are other things you could be doing.  Avoid the lowest cost package as you will be unreasonably be throttled - seen a lot of folks complaining that they could not even check email.
• Bring your own portable wifi mobile hotspot.  You can easily rent them in airports - check out places like ivideo.com where the price per day can be as low as $3. This will also let you connect up to 5 devices at no additional cost. Works great as long as you are near ports since the technology depends on cell coverage.  Not good if you are in open ocean or in Greenland. Check ahead to see how many countries can be covered by one device/carrier.
• Once in port, look for a major landmark which is likely to have free wifi.  Examples include government buildings like city hall, most major hotel lobbies, and malls.  We were even able to bum off free wifi on a tour bus which was stuck in traffic.  It is interesting to see what you find when you scan, but it is highly dependent on the port.
• Since cruise lines do provide free wifi to loyal members, sign up.  Eventually if you like the brand, you will cruise on it again and eventually be rewarded for it, sometimes earlier by offering discounts on packages.
• Look into buying the package ahead of time if you know you will buy it for the whole trip.  Some lines do offer up to 25% off if you book before the cruise begins (no later than 1 week prior to embarkation).

Have any tips or tricks of your own not mentioned above?  Feel free to leave a comment.