Cruising and internet access

opethdisciple

opethdisciple

opethdisciple

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Parents are going on a cruise in Jan to the Caribbean.

The ship has Wi-Fi but it is extortionate so they have asked me if there are any options.

I found this article which gives me some ideas.

It seems like the best option is to purchase an esim.

Do you think an esim will be the answer?

Are there any other alternatives I am not aware of?

Basically the aim is to be able to get internet whilst at sea.
 
This is all from general principle, rather than personal experience, as I've never done a cruise or even travelled outside of Europe.

As long as it's somewhere an eSIM can service (in terms of signal), then that would seem like the best option. The biggest consideration other than that is how much data they'd need

If ping isn't an issue, then the best solution would likely be satellite (as in, would get signal anywhere on earth), but for cost and portability, something like starlink is probably a no-go. (for frequent trips, the hardware cost might work out ok)

The article you linked seems to be from a provider of eSIM packages, so there may be others that are better value if you shop around - one that I'm aware of is Saily (as it's promoted by a lot of YouTubers) - I can only see 1GB/7day ($8.99) package listed, but the screenshots on the page seem to suggest other plans are avaiable:

Hope that's some help, and maybe others can chime in with more experience :)

Edit: this might help: https://www.reddit.com/r/eSIMs/comments/1nqg7l1/best_esim_caribbean/
 
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Get an esim for when the ship is in port. There are various that cover several Caribbean islands which are reasonably priced.

On the ship don't even bother. I think there are a few esims that will give you on board data but it isn't much and won't last that long. Background updates etc will kill your data very quickly. Even if you turn all the syncing etc off they still seem to gobble data up. Phones these days are designed to be online 24/7 so trying to stop them constantly using data is difficult. Especially for those who are not tech savvy. The only way I ever managed it was to download a firewall and only let certain apps through. But honestly the ship will be in port during the day so and with the time difference it's the middle of the night at home when the ship is at sea so it's not like it's a good time to call etc.

Source: I have worked on Cruise Ships for many years. I am posting this from a Cruise Ship in the Carribean! Thankfully Internet for crew is now very cheap (and fast) since the advent of starlink so I don't need to worry too much about the above any more. Still pretty pricey for the guests though.
 
They won't get internet at sea without the ship Wifi. They can get internet at port by either adding roaming data to their plan, or getting an eSIM.
Depends how many sea days they have whether it's an issue or not. Wifi is really good at sea now thanks to Starlink. Whatever they do, don't connect to the ship cellular and use that. Stick a spending limit on their account to make sure they don't get a nasty suprise.
 
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EH75 said:
Get an esim for when the ship is in port. There are various that cover several Caribbean islands which are reasonably priced.

On the ship don't even bother. I think there are a few esims that will give you on board data but it isn't much and won't last that long. Background updates etc will kill your data very quickly. Even if you turn all the syncing etc off they still seem to gobble data up. Phones these days are designed to be online 24/7 so trying to stop them constantly using data is difficult. Especially for those who are not tech savvy. The only way I ever managed it was to download a firewall and only let certain apps through. But honestly the ship will be in port during the day so and with the time difference it's the middle of the night at home when the ship is at sea so it's not like it's a good time to call etc.

Source: I have worked on Cruise Ships for many years. I am posting this from a Cruise Ship in the Carribean! Thankfully Internet for crew is now very cheap (and fast) since the advent of starlink so I don't need to worry too much about the above any more. Still pretty pricey for the guests though.
Click to expand...

So the esim won't be able to provide an internet connection at sea?
 
opethdisciple said:
So the esim won't be able to provide an internet connection at sea?
Click to expand...

Apparently there are some on the link in the first post which will provide this. However at $18.99 for 512mb I'd imagine you'd run through that in about 20 mins on the modern Internet with video content everywhere (even ads etc on websites). You'd be better off paying for the ship's WiFi package. This won't be cheap either but will probably work out better value than the esim on board. I reckon the best options are:

- Esim for use while ashore and accept you won't have Internet when the ship is at sea overnight.
- Esim and pay for ship WiFi package and use this when ship is at sea.
 
Tell them to enjoy their holiday instead. I’ve done multiple cruises and never wanted for WiFi, plenty of better things to do!

I can understand if you’re staff of course.
 
There be no wifi on my ship me harties

grumpy-ship-captain.jpeg
 
opethdisciple said:
Parents are going on a cruise in Jan to the Caribbean.

The ship has Wi-Fi but it is extortionate so they have asked me if there are any options.

I found this article which gives me some ideas.

It seems like the best option is to purchase an esim.

Do you think an esim will be the answer?

Are there any other alternatives I am not aware of?

Basically the aim is to be able to get internet whilst at sea.
Click to expand...
The gonna have to get off Facebook for a few days, or cough up for the wifi.
 
Just watch out if you elect to use roaming, that you don't roam onto the ship's onboard mobile provider (if it has it - the two P&O cruises I've been on have done so).

It's trump white house decoration levels of expensive. Like £10 per megabyte. Or more.
 
Sinbad2000 said:
Just watch out if you elect to use roaming, that you don't roam onto the ship's onboard mobile provider (if it has it - the two P&O cruises I've been on have done so).

It's trump white house decoration levels of expensive. Like £10 per megabyte. Or more.
Click to expand...

Also this. I have twice in my career left my roaming on by mistake when then ship was at sea. I have a self imposed £20 data roaming cap incase this happens. I think reached the £20 in less than a minute of the phone just being in my pocket with data turned on. An expensive mistake but could be a lot worse if you don't have a data cap.
 
Sinbad2000 said:
Just watch out if you elect to use roaming, that you don't roam onto the ship's onboard mobile provider (if it has it - the two P&O cruises I've been on have done so).

It's trump white house decoration levels of expensive. Like £10 per megabyte. Or more.
Click to expand...

Made that mistake on a crossing to the Netherlands. Maritime mobile data connections are eye wateringly expensive.
 
TrojanWhore said:
If ping isn't an issue, then the best solution would likely be satellite (as in, would get signal anywhere on earth), but for cost and portability, something like starlink is probably a no-go. (for frequent trips, the hardware cost might work out ok)
Click to expand...

Starlink is banned on cruise ships.

@opethdisciple's parents should check out the Tips For Travellers channel on YouTube for help on this and much, much more.

 
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so does this mean you can't even watch anything decent on the tv's that are presumably in all the cabins ? most of folks would presumably want netflix and not just CNN/BBC.

courtesy of this thread, I now understand why I hadn't seen daily pictures of food/surroundings from relatives on cruise ships, how much does the in ship entertainment cost in comparison,
to what looks like preposterous £14/pd wifi essentials.
 
Quartz said:
Starlink is banned on cruise ships.
Click to expand...

Bringing a personal starlink antenna wouldn't be allowed (and would be useless - how are you going to get direct line of sight to your cabin?) but basically the entire cruise industry has switched to Starlink as a provider. I think we have somewhere between 10 and 20 antennas mounted up on the top deck. I was on board when they switched the service over from whatever we were using previously. The difference was night and day. When I first started at sea Internet was very slow, very expensive and you paid by the minute. Video calls were impossible. Now I can call my family whenever I want and stream Netflix etc. It costs £1 per day. Starlink has honestly been a revelation for seafarers. Obviously it's much more expensive for the passengers but that will come down with time and with competition between cruise companies.
 
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