I wrote this on a cruise, in January 2020.
Do you remember those days before Coronavirus when you could go on a cruise?
Well, back then, many people were asking…
…and
Why Can’t we all have Free WiFi on our Cruise?
Hopefully, by publishing this now, when you get back on board your favourite cruise ship you’ll have the answers.
And you’ll know…
How Much Does WiFi Cost on a Cruise?
My jaw dropped.
“You can’t be serious!” I blurted. “I’m not taking out a mortgage to get a bit of internet!”
But they were serious.
Yes! It cost me £12.50 for 24 hours of WiFi. And that didn’t include any video streaming or video calls.
So forget YouTube or FaceTime! Including that would have cost £24.95 for a day.
I could have bought Pay-As-You-Go for 65 pence per minute. But with the ship’s slower-than-dialup internet speed, that would have worked out much more expensive.
Do we need Internet on a Cruise?
Over dinner, everyone compares notes:
“I’m not paying for WiFi.”
“I need internet to message family back home.”
But the most popular question of all…
“Why can’t the internet be free?”
Why Can’t Internet Be Free on a Cruise?
I think I’ve worked out the answer.
I reckon it’s to keep down the price of your cruise.
“Please explain, David,” I hear you say.
OK. Here’s my thinking…
Why Cruise Companies Charge for WiFi
If a cruise company can reduce the basic price of a cruise to a competitive level, they’ll attract more paying passengers.
Then, once onboard, the cruise company will encourage those passengers to spend more in order to increase their profits.
We spend on things like…
- Shopping
- Excursions
- Duty-free
- Drinks
- Luxuries like the internet
The ship’s internet is all done via satellite with limited bandwidth – so that’s slow to start with.
Satellite internet is expensive. And bandwidth is limited.
Some people will buy an internet package. But others won’t.
So the cruise companies calculate that if they charge a premium price, just enough people will buy it.
And the internet usage by all the individual users at any particular time shouldn’t slow down everyone’s speed to a totally unacceptable level.
And that’ll keep most users happy.
That’s my theory, anyway.
But what if you do want free WiFi as part of your cruise?
Which Cruise Companies Include Free Internet?
Here are some of the major cruise companies which include WiFi in their standard cruise fare:
- CroisiEurope
- Crystal Cruises
- Majestic Line
- Oceana Cruises
- Ponant
- Regent Seven Seas
- Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection
- Saga Cruises
- Scenic Cruises
- Silversea Cruises
- Viking Ocean Cruises
- Virgin Voyages
A big thanks must go to The World of Cruising magazine for that information.
Do remember, though, to check on the availability (and cost) of WiFi before you book your cruise in case any of that information has changed. It’ll quite possibly change, post-lockdown.
And also remember that the more ‘freebies’ – such as WiFi – that you get included in your cruise, the higher the price of the cruise is likely to be.
These are the cruise companies that do free internet on a cruise. #cruise Share on XYou and Cruise WiFi
What’s your opinion of WiFi on a cruise?
Is it important?
Would you pay more for a cruise which included free WiFi?
Would you prefer a cheaper base price and pay for the WiFi as and when needed?
Are you just glad to get away from the internet?
Pop your thoughts into the comments box below, or send me a message, and let’s keep the conversation going.
Next Reading Suggestion ? Are there enough lifeboats on a cruise ship?
My wife needs the internet to facetime the daughter and granddaughter. It helps make for an enjoyable holiday if she can show where we are and what we are up to. If not available she can become grumpy.
We rely so much on the internet, don’t we. Thankfully it’s still available at sea… albeit often at a price.
David, using a satellite system to provide internet is extremely expensive. I was involved in satellite maritime services at one point of my career, and this was significantly more expensive than the previous HF point to point service. It was really all about providing efficient services.
Now they have used some of the satellite bandwidth to provide internet, as well as phone services, emergency / distress services. Cruise ships have had satellite radio services for decades, and the obvious direction to go, was to offer the passengers some of that internet bandwidth.
You are correct about a lot of the companies not including internet in the basic price. If they did this the customers would complain bitterly about the price going up. Sadly however, by giving an attractive price to attract more customers, it has meant paying over the odds for internet, as well as photographs, select dining options, and (perhaps) less than a good deal in the franchise shops.
Also, if internet was free, more people would use it, and the limited bandwidth available would quickly be used up, and the speed would drop even further. By charging extra, it stops the person who now takes an internet free holiday, simply continuing as normal with emails, etc.
In the last two or three years, more and more passengers are willing to pay the charges, and their laptops, phones, tablets, are left on 24 hours a day. Even when idle, these devices make ‘polling’ interactions over the internet to show where they are, and to check if there are any messages.
This is what has produced the ‘snail like’ speed of the cruise ship internet. The designers of the systems never imagined the growth in mobile communications that has exploded in recent years.
I think the satellite bandwidth availability is about to grow with all sorts of new satellites being launched, and hence it will drop in price to users such as cruise ships. But, they will almost certainly have to invest in new equipment.
A few years ago, I suggested to one of the IT crew, that they should drop all users off the wireless system at moments during the day or night. This would switch off all the devices, meaning that people would have to log on again, but more importantly would increase the speed, before everyone had realised their mobile was not connected. That would at least temporarily increase the satisfaction of that rather expensive internet, until new satellite equipment becomes available.
After all, do we really need to have 24 hour a day contact, when we all enjoy sleeping sometimes, watching a show, or talking with other passengers.
Thank you, George. Really appreciate the interesting tech insights.
And you sum it up perfectly: it’s good to be internet-free sometimes.
I was told that the reasons it is so expensive is firstly that it costs a lot for the satellite internet to be provided and secondly that if it was free a lot more people would use it this reducin* the bandwidth to totally unacceptable speeds. Even on river cruises it is slow and we are talking less than 200 passengers on those.
Yes, that’s absolutely right, Danuta. So perhaps it’s best to keep it the way it is until satellite technology changed and prices come down.
Makes me wonder what people did before the internet.
Yes, I think we do rely on it a bit too much nowadays, Gerry.
That’s why I like to be internet-free for most of the cruise, and then catch up all at once.
I won’t pay for wi-fi on a multi-thousand pound cruise. If I want Internet or messaging I’ll wait until I go ashore and use ‘free’ wi-fi in a bar.