Remember a time when cruising meant escaping everything, including technology? What happened on the cruise ship stayed on the cruise ship. Cell phones wouldn’t ring, work emails would pile up, you couldn’t document your every move on Snapchat. Well now, those blissful, peaceful days are long gone.
Connecting at sea is now easier than ever. Ships have branded apps that allow cruisers to chat with each other onboard and include super-fast, high-bandwidth WiFi. Whether you want to check in with family or friends, check out the ship’s dinner menu or post a selfie to Instagram about your super awesome vacation, you’re covered.
Internet speeds can vary from line to line and ship to ship. In 1999, Norwegian Cruise Lines introduced the first on-board Internet café, though connection was patchy, slow and expensive.
Cruise lines have been improving satellite technology to boost connection speeds and figuring out ways to accommodate various budgets. Carnival Corporation, the world’s largest cruise company, announced a new WiFi pricing plan offering access starting at $5 a day. The company plans to offer this service on 100 ships by this year. The pricing plan can be broken down as follows: $5 a day for access to your favorite social channels and apps like Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram; $16 a day for basic web capabilities like checking your email or the news; or $25 a day for bandwidth up to three times faster than other plans suitable for Skype and music streaming.
Royal Caribbean provides high-speed Internet on all of its ships for $20 a day. Guests onboard one of the Quantum and Oasis ships are available to use a service called VOOM, allowing guests to stream videos and music for $15 a day.
The Norwegian Cruise Line offers WiFi throughout all of its 13 vessels except the Pride of America, which has Ethernet in the cabins. Connectivity costs $29.99 a day for one- to 12-day cruises and drops to $24.99 a day for cruises longer than 12 days. The 24-hour plans must be purchased for the entirety of the trip which means WiFi will cost $300 for a 10-day cruise. A short plan is also available, 60 minutes for $39 and 100 minutes for $85.
All of Viking River Cruises’ ships offer complimentary WiFi. Access to faster service, needed for video streaming, is available for $11.95 a day.
AmaWaterways’ and Uniworlds’ ships also offer complimentary access to basic WiFi.
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