Wi-Fi:
Staying connected on a cruise this summer just got a little easier
In
these days of instant technology, people like to keep connected - even
when out at sea. However, not so very long ago, taking a cruise of Europe
or around the Caribbean meant giving up your email and online browsing
for the duration. In many cases, it was just too difficult and costly to
connect or too slow to be of any use. If you urgently needed to contact
someone, you had to cough up money for a telegram or ship-to-shore call.
Those
days are rapidly disappearing into the less-technological past, as cruise
lines work at offering more suitable connections this summer.
A cruise
is one of the most enjoyable and relaxing of holidays, whether embarking
on a
Princess Cruise around Australasia, or cruising around the Caribbean
or Greek islands.
| CNN
recently reported on some of the best cruise-based
Wi-Fi options out there right now.
Back
in 1999, Norwegian Cruise Lines were the first to introduce an on-board
Internet café, however coverage was slow, patchy and expensive.
According
to a poll run by the review site, Cruise Critic, one in five cruise passengers
now consider it vital to be connected to the Internet while on a cruise.
Now
things do appear to be happening, with cruise lines pushing to improve
their satellite technology to boost connection speeds and working out the
best way to give the better connection at an affordable price.
According
to Adam Coulter, editor of Cruise Critic and speaking of cruise lines,
"They are tapping into the desire to stay connected by offering faster,
more cost-effective Wi-Fi solutions." |
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Norwegian
Cruise Lines Cayman Islands by Bahman
CC BY 2.0
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Coulter
went on to say, "Package offerings now provide a greater variety of choice,
enabling travelers to select the best option for their personal requirements."
According
to Coulter, while speed options and costs still vary, many cruise companies
are now offering tiered packages, allowing passengers to choose their best
option.
Reportedly
Norwegian Cruise Lines are still pushing to be ahead of the game and are
working to quadruple their on-board Internet connectivity. Reportedly by
July 2016, the cruise line will have all 23 of its ships upgraded to a
faster Wi-Fi service, dubbed SpeedNet. CNN wanted to know if the service
was any better than previous.
They
spoke to tech consultant, Henry Mui, who sailed to Bermuda on one of Norwegian
Cruise Lines larger ships, the Breakaway, earlier in the year. Breakaway
has been trialing data packages of 300MB for $59, or 1,000MB for $125.
Mui
took a free 250-minute package as part of a promotion that was capped at
1,000MB and he said the data plan turned out to be far better than they
expected, saying, “we had over 30 logged sessions and used just over 1,000
minutes for our 1GB-worth of free data.”
According
to Mui they used the service mainly for sending emails, surfing the web
and using Google Hangout, with the occasional Wi-Fi voice call.
"The
calls were not dropped and overall it was reasonably fast and reliable
with acceptable upload times," he added.
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Royal
Caribbean is offering the Voom satellite service, which is reportedly fast
enough to stream music, videos and movies and is available on all the cruise
lines 25 ships. Their deals range between $12.99 and $17.00 a day.
According
to Michael Bayley, president and CEO of the company, their Voom service
is a "game-changer for the industry."
"Everything
our guests and crew can do online at home, they will now be able to do
from on-board all of our ships around the world," he added.
With
so much competition between the various cruise lines these days, no doubt
passengers will be kept connected in much better ways in the future. |
| Photo
Royal Caribbean Cruises by David
Spinks/CC BY 2.0 |
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