Comments on: Internet Connection on Cruise Ships

By: Kerry Kennard

Kerry Kennard — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 22:25:18 +0000

HI Dave and Josh,

I’ve been doing percussion with Holland America the last three years, including this summer 2010, and HAL now has a $40 Internet card with 460 minutes. Yes, still a little high, but after doing the math, and all the ‘downloads’, and the great tip about Facebook (thanks very much :~),
Here’s some other tips – always eat on the ship – o.k. treat yourself to those nice coffees, oh, Chai tea in Juneau’s Silverbow, etc, and your really livin’ :~)

Yes, do not drink the drinks on the ship; the kids can spend between 30 and 70 a week.
I saved a few dollars and made some really great musician friends.
Feel free to look me up at the website > > > http://www.kerrykennard.com
My e-mail is there.

Blessings,

Mr. Kerry Kennard

P.S. I liked the idea about the ‘home-made’ antenna – please let me know more.

By: Phil

Phil — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 05:02:31 +0000

I saw something on my last ship that was very interesting and unique in regards to internet connection. A violinist had this make-shift antenna for his wifi signal on his laptop! When we were in port (Eastern and Western Mediterranean cruises), he would go to the mess (had windows on deck 5), set up his gear, and get free internet. With a strong antenna, he could pick up a lot of different networks and usually find some that were not password protected. Granted we went to a lot of “cities” rather than island paradises, but it’s a thought to research if anyone is interested.

Personally, I just had my little netbook and would use an email client like Mozilla Thunderbird to download all of my mail (usually took no more than 1 minute, maybe 2). Then I would sign off. I can then read it, write back, etc. And next time I connect, it will automatically send them. Also for facebook messages, I would copy them into a word document and then read and respond after disconnecting. Next time I sign back on, I just copied and pasted from the word document what I had wrote. If doing “research” of any kind: google search it and open a ton of new windows or tabs then sign off to read them.

Also, my experience with internet has been slightly different in price. I think it worked out to be $0.06 a minute if using the few computers they had in the crew internet cafe. If you used your own laptop, it was $0.12 after 11pm, and from about 8 or 9am-11pm (aka “peak hours”) I believe it was around $0.36 cents a minute. Again, the $0.06 applied to all hours if using crew computers I believe.

By: Stephen Dunn

Stephen Dunn — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 10:40:12 +0000

Dave

This is a very useful blog, i have also found a article which gives useful information about internet access onboard a cruise ship at http://www.sophiesetssail.blogspot.com/

By: Stephanie Crawford

Stephanie Crawford — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:04:24 +0000

David,
This is a wonderful blog – so, so helpful. My husband is a musician so I’d been considering cruise jobs as an alternate career for us both. I have a real estate business that would allow me to farm out leads to other employees but I would need good internet access.

We recently took a transcontinental cruise with NCL and I was still able to receive/send e-mails on the high seas through my Blackberry data plan and it’s connection through the ship. Of course the fees were astronomical. I would love to see other posts on solutions to this issue. I would think that new technologies might help. Don’t they now make satelite phones that worj anywhere??

Can you speak to the process of getting your spouse onboard? I realize that as a musician he has the more specialzed talent. I would be willing to work wherever needed. I have experience in the hospitality industry that pre-dates my real estate career – though I also have a college degree.

My thinking is that he should apply first and make his contract contingent upon securing a position for myself. Does that sound reasonable? We are older – I’m 32 and he’s 43 with no children or want of them and have been married for three years, together for six.

By: Josh

Josh — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 18:35:45 +0000

Thanks – it’s my first one =D I don’t have all of the details yet so I’m scouring the web looking for them and your site has been a big help =D

By: David J. Hahn

David J. Hahn — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 19:54:49 +0000

Hi Josh –

I never did the Alaska run, but you might find the tethering route works for you. I would wait until you get out there to sus out the situation. You’ll definitely have trouble getting a signal on the leg between Seattle and Alaska, on the open ocean, and (very likely) while you’re in the inside passage.

One of the things that was convenient for me on my last ship was that I had a cabin with a window, which allowed the cell signal to come into my cabin. You may not be as lucky if you have a crew cabin below decks.

But again, I’d wait until you’re out there to decide which is best for you. If you are doing the Seattle to Oregon run as well as Alaska, that might change things for you.

I’m glad you dig the site – best of luck on your contract!

By: Josh

Josh — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 19:45:32 +0000

Dave,

You have a fantastic resource here =)

I was recently cast on a cruise ship for a four month run. I’m not a musician but I’ll be performing nightly.

I’m already having internet withdrawals due to my crippling internet addiction.

Fortunately, the cruise is only running from Seattle to Alaska and back. Do you think I can expect to get a similar deal to yours? I’m also on Verizon and would really love to be able to tether.

But I guess that’s not something you can do on the open ocean, huh?