Got an onboard wifi question? Hopefully this will answer it.
Hey! What's up with the Wifi? How will the Wifi on the new ship differ from the Infinity?
RCCL has updated the internet speeds on all of their ships, so you'll find that if you do buy the internet package, it's a lot faster than the Celebrity system. The Voyager class ships, which Explorer is a part of, has two types of packages: Surf and Voom. The Surf package is meant for basic web surfing, texting, Facebook, etc. Voom is advertised as being fast enough to allow streaming, wifi phone calls (more on that later), Skyping, uploading to FB, etc. From personal experience, it lives up to that promise - most of the time. I watched the season finale of Game of Thrones streaming while on board an RCCL ship in 2017 (I was not having that spoiled, thankyouverymuch). If I can stream dragons, you can upload a video of someone's bad karaoke. 😉
These are the prices as of 2018:
Surf & Stream Voom
1 device: $19.99 per day, per device
2 devices: $18.99 per day, per device
4 devices: $16.99 per day, per device
Single Day Pass: $29.99 per day, per device
Surf
1 device: $15.99 per day, per device
2 devices: $14.99 per day, per device
4 devices: $12.99 per day, per device
Single Day Pass: $22.99 per day, per device
Is there a way to get a discount?
Everything is cheaper if you buy it in advance and that includes the internet. A few months before boarding, we will get a notice that our reservations with ECP are available on the Royal Caribbean website. Once that happens, you can pre-buy the internet package. If you buy up to a week before boarding, you should get at least 20% off. Royal Caribbean is constantly running sales. This past week, for instance, had all of the internet plans 60% off. Once our reservations are moved into the RCCL system, start watching for sales.
But what if I don't need to connect to the internet that often?
Most of the cell phone carriers have some kind of cruise package that makes it somewhat affordable to have basic text and talk while on board. If you have AT&T, you can buy their cruise package. It gives you unlimited texts and 50 minutes of talk for $50. That does NOT give you data. For data, it's $100 for 200 MB (that's MB, not GB, so you'll want to avoid posting pictures on FB), unlimited talk and text. T-Mobile has information on their cruise plan here: https://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/roaming… Verizon's information is at the bottom of this page. Personally, it looks scary, but maybe I'm not reading it right. https://www.verizonwireless.com/solut…/international-travel/
Wait! I had cell service while we were on board this year. Why can't I just use that?
The scariest words in travel are "Cellular at Sea". You never, EVER want to see those words in the upper right hand corner of your phone. If you see it, throw your phone off of the ship and pray. If you've paid for one of the AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile plan, you'll see "Cellular at Sea" while you're using the plan, but be aware, SMART PHONES ARE ALWAYS TRANSMITTING DATA. Okay, not always, but they do send data to and from the cell phone company, Apple/Samsung/etc., app developers, your mom, etc. without you seeing it happen. My nephew was running an app that was transmitting 10-20Gb of info every night behind the scenes. He had no clue until he got a text warning him he had almost used all of his monthly data three days after the month started. Because of this, no matter what, put your phone in airplane mode whenever you're not actively using it on board. It's the only way to keep the phone from transmitting data packets.
What's wifi calling?
Wifi calling is just like Skype/Facetime, etc. It's basically the ability to send and receive phone calls on your phone number using a wifi connection. That's why you don't need a cell signal if you're on the ship's internet package.
Why is the connection so slow sometimes?
Cruise ships have to connect to a satellite to establish a connection to the internet. The more people using the ship's wifi, the slower than connection can get. That's why I dread when they start lowering prices for the internet plans on the last few days of any cruise. GET OFF MY LAWN...ERRR.. INTERNET. Mama has dragons to watch. Why is the internet so expensive? See the previous question. Satellite companies charge a boatload of cash to use their services and the cruise companies have to pay that when you use it. That's why Cellular at Sea costs roughly the same as buying your own island.
But... but... but... how will I know what's happening with the Facebook group activities if I don't have access to the FB page?
We try to arrange the times for group stuff before we depart. Personally, I put everything into iCal. This year, some lovely people were kind enough to put up flyers to remind people to bring their class t-shirts to the t-shirt party for a group picture, but you shouldn't count on that. We usually try to find a place to post physical messages (like the library), but there is no guarantee. I can tell you that RCCL ships have a bulletin board on every ship by Guest Relations for this very purpose. Hopefully, Explorer will have one. This is also why the beads are important. Some people wear them all week and if you see someone wearing them, ask away! That's why we wear them.
Ugh! You people! Why can't you just unplug and enjoy your week?!?
We didn't have internet in the 80s!
Some of us would love to do that, but we have children, aging parents, and businesses that we have to keep in contact with (my 11th grade honors English teacher would be PISSED that I ended that with a preposition, but I hated her, so whatever). We don't have the luxury of not having at least a basic data plan. Some of us just like to have access to the internet for the hell of it. Don't judge people. It's annoying. Every time someone makes a sarcastic little comment about someone else's internet usage, I will post this picture of Phil Collins. You will know Phil Collins is judging you, I'm judging you, we are all judging you.
