In this day and age there is no doubt that the generation of tech freaks are now serious cruisers, mainly with American cruise lines!
I have to say I am too, and love to show off my travels to my friends. It’s always handy to keep in touch with my parents who like the usual updates – my grandparents are so excited when I call from abroad and ask so many questions – I think because they don’t travel any more it’s nice for them to see me exploring this beautiful place that we call Earth.
So for many of us, I’m sure you will agree, it’s important to have this line of communication. With ships being moving targets, so to speak, it’s very difficult to provide a reliable and cost effective internet service. You would pay around £40 for just 100 minutes of painfully slow browsing, not enabling a skype or facetime call. You could only just about send email! Since the introduction of faster internet services it has become cheaper.
Industry leaders Royal Caribbean led the way with ‘Voom, the fastest internet at sea’. Not only could you post status updates to facebook instantly, you can even manage a skype call, facetime call and even stream TV Shows and music! Yes this is the most expensive option of all but to have that capability at sea is pretty impressive.
My recent Carnival Vista cruise in July offered a $25 social package, this meant I could access facebook, facebook messenger, whatsapp, twitter etc. It did not allow me on email or news/weather sites. This $25 was not per hour, or even per day – it was for the whole cruise! Just $25 to have this unlimited service, no worries with logging in or out, data usage, just one off fee and free roam! This is the sort of package that I would happily pay for on any cruise that I did – it enables that important communication without the hefty bill!
So what are your thoughts? Too expensive? Do you think we will see some kind of complimentary access in the future?
Happy cruising!
Ed x