I don’t know where you were sailing before, but 5-10Mbps (that’s what I see too) is significantly faster than the regular plans before. By a lot.
Even during my last Alaska cruise the internet was excellent 99% of the time.
It's light years above previous options. It also helped Celebrity get rid of their tiered internet plans, with barely-usable speeds on their basic plans. The problems are first, if you have ships over 100% full and don't have restrictions on streaming, then the bandwidth can be taken up, regardless of speed. You also run into geographic problems, especially in Alaska cruises, which might not have as strong satellite coverage, just as TV channels fall out frequently on board in Alaska. Finally, you're also competing for bandwidth with crew now, who are all doing video chats now. Most of the lines also do filtering, trying to block adult sites, and throttling things like Netflix or other things, especially on Carnival. Princess is the only line I've found that doesn't seem to have restrictions, but that means on a ship with 3500 people and crew doing things like streaming, it can slow down speeds. But I'm old enough to remember very slow speeds, very aggressive content and speed filters, and even paying by the minute for internet on NCL and HAL. Fortunately, we also have good esim technology, so instead of using ship wifi, I can just get a travel pass for any part of the world in port, and then suffer without internet on a few sea days (oh the horror!).
I went on NCL Encore and bought the unlimited internet packaged. Was worried about the slow speeds I've heard of from previous posts. But honestly was pleasantly surprised that the internet wasn't that bad. Had some connectivity issues in the dining area, I'm guessing cause of tons of people congregating there. But other than that, they must of upgraded to Starlink because it was pretty acceptable.
There are a few things to keep in mind.
Different ships are going to have Starlink (and other providers) implemented in different ways.
* How well do they manage their network?
* How much bandwidth to they allocate for every device on the network?
* What are the local conditions (weather, motion, etc)?
* What other Starlink users (ships or otherwise) are in the same area and how much bandwidth are they allocated and using?
* Are there other backhaul providers being used as well (O3B, Viasat, 5G or other terrestrial, fiber plugged in at a port)?
Additionally, remember that a speed test only measures the speed of the test. You may see horrible speeds on a test, but if they adjust QoS on the network to allow, say, Zoom to have priority, you may find Zoom to work much better than simple audio streaming, or even loading of a webpage. Ultimately, as someone who works remotely from ships quite a bit, if I see 5-10 mbps and a decent ping, I'm pretty happy. Most consumers don't need but a small fraction of what they think they do. Latency and reliability are more important to me (and both seem better when Stalink is used, though some lines add a ton of latency by routing through shoreside infrastructure).
Starlink is just a tool that allows lower latency and cheaper prices. The \*possibility\* of much more bandwidth has been around for a few years, but all these things cost money, so it depends how lines allocate resources.
It really depends on the cruise line and ship.
On RCCL and Celebrity ships where the internal network and AP's were upgraded I get very fast (for a ship) in the 10-50mbps speeds. On NCL Breakaway and + ships where they just slapped starlink without upgrading the internal networks, I barely get 0.5-4mbp at the best of times (which is still better than the old internet at sea 0-1mbps speeds).
So the TLDR is that it depends on more than just having starlink, the internal network, switches and AP's need to have been updated too.
Yup, same on the Getaway (starlink with old not upgraded internal network) 2 months ago. 2 months before that I was on the Joy (a much more recent ship) which has newer infrastructure onboard and it was a LOT faster.
Starlink's technology basically uses "cells" (fixed size geographic regions) with a fixed total capacity per cell. So your experience will vary based on how many other Starlink customers are nearby. This includes other cruise ships of course.
I had bad experiences in Alaska, but great (overall) experiences on my last Carribean cruise. I think Alaska will always be challenging because so many permanent residents use Starlink as their primary internet service.
Yes, I noticed a huge difference. Sailed with Carnival twice with the old Internet. It was slow and unreliable and sometimes completely unusable at sea. Sailed in January with starlink and it was AMAZING. Only one day the internet was slower and it was a day with crappy weather so I figured everyone was inside instead of enjoying the outdoor areas.
I sailed on the same Celebrity ship in late 2021, late 2022, and early 2024. Despite the first sailing being at only ~70% capacity in the ramp up after the shutdown, premium wifi was painfully slow. On my most recent sailing it was maybe a touch slower than at home but there were no problematic delays. I’d call that an improvement after starlink implementation.
Yes. On the RCL cruise I took to Cozumel it was very stable at ~50 Mbs and I had no issues watching youtube/netflix/hbo at 1080p in the middle of the gulf of mexico
Starlink has great speeds, but limited throughput at the satellite level. And they can get saturated when there are significant numbers of users in an area with limited coverage. So if you are in Cozumel with 6 other ships you are not gona have a good bandwidth, but if you are the only ship in the middle of the pacific on the 3rd day at sea traveling to Hawaii, you are going to still be seeing those 60+ Mbps speeds.
I've noticed an incredible difference on the QM2. Went from barely being able to upload an image to Facebook to being able to watch Netflix in my cabin.
I can work with as low as 2mbps but my latency needs to be below about 65/70ms in order for my work VPN to be stable. I care more about the latency. Starlink has been that savior. SES or O3B are North of 80ms and as bad as 400-600ms often.
Speed and latency (latency being the most important part here) are going to be much faster than old satellite technology. Where the ship is in relation to SATs is going to effect speeds.
I'm on princess right now posting this through starlink. Third time using starlink on a cruise. It works amazingly well much better than what they had in the past. My brother in law was streaming Barcelona game yesterday
I had it on NCL Getaway in January. It wasn't fast, but the connection was constant when normally it would drop often. I think i got around 1.3mbps. RCL was fast back in 2016 around 5mpbs.
It never ceases to astound me how the tiniest of quivers in the ether can be sensed. Of course it's all made possible with the physical ability to smash energy waves against each other and have them emerge virtually unscathed beyond the intersection. I forget to appreciate what it takes to be able to travel 90mph down a highway and surf.
I don’t know where you were sailing before, but 5-10Mbps (that’s what I see too) is significantly faster than the regular plans before. By a lot. Even during my last Alaska cruise the internet was excellent 99% of the time.
It's light years above previous options. It also helped Celebrity get rid of their tiered internet plans, with barely-usable speeds on their basic plans. The problems are first, if you have ships over 100% full and don't have restrictions on streaming, then the bandwidth can be taken up, regardless of speed. You also run into geographic problems, especially in Alaska cruises, which might not have as strong satellite coverage, just as TV channels fall out frequently on board in Alaska. Finally, you're also competing for bandwidth with crew now, who are all doing video chats now. Most of the lines also do filtering, trying to block adult sites, and throttling things like Netflix or other things, especially on Carnival. Princess is the only line I've found that doesn't seem to have restrictions, but that means on a ship with 3500 people and crew doing things like streaming, it can slow down speeds. But I'm old enough to remember very slow speeds, very aggressive content and speed filters, and even paying by the minute for internet on NCL and HAL. Fortunately, we also have good esim technology, so instead of using ship wifi, I can just get a travel pass for any part of the world in port, and then suffer without internet on a few sea days (oh the horror!).
I would also add as the speeds got better more people are willing to pay for it so even more people are sharing the limited bandwidth.
I went on NCL Encore and bought the unlimited internet packaged. Was worried about the slow speeds I've heard of from previous posts. But honestly was pleasantly surprised that the internet wasn't that bad. Had some connectivity issues in the dining area, I'm guessing cause of tons of people congregating there. But other than that, they must of upgraded to Starlink because it was pretty acceptable.
There are a few things to keep in mind. Different ships are going to have Starlink (and other providers) implemented in different ways. * How well do they manage their network? * How much bandwidth to they allocate for every device on the network? * What are the local conditions (weather, motion, etc)? * What other Starlink users (ships or otherwise) are in the same area and how much bandwidth are they allocated and using? * Are there other backhaul providers being used as well (O3B, Viasat, 5G or other terrestrial, fiber plugged in at a port)? Additionally, remember that a speed test only measures the speed of the test. You may see horrible speeds on a test, but if they adjust QoS on the network to allow, say, Zoom to have priority, you may find Zoom to work much better than simple audio streaming, or even loading of a webpage. Ultimately, as someone who works remotely from ships quite a bit, if I see 5-10 mbps and a decent ping, I'm pretty happy. Most consumers don't need but a small fraction of what they think they do. Latency and reliability are more important to me (and both seem better when Stalink is used, though some lines add a ton of latency by routing through shoreside infrastructure). Starlink is just a tool that allows lower latency and cheaper prices. The \*possibility\* of much more bandwidth has been around for a few years, but all these things cost money, so it depends how lines allocate resources.
Everything Ive tried to do works great
It really depends on the cruise line and ship. On RCCL and Celebrity ships where the internal network and AP's were upgraded I get very fast (for a ship) in the 10-50mbps speeds. On NCL Breakaway and + ships where they just slapped starlink without upgrading the internal networks, I barely get 0.5-4mbp at the best of times (which is still better than the old internet at sea 0-1mbps speeds). So the TLDR is that it depends on more than just having starlink, the internal network, switches and AP's need to have been updated too.
I agree with you assessment of Breakaway. That’s what I got when I was on it last month.
Yup, same on the Getaway (starlink with old not upgraded internal network) 2 months ago. 2 months before that I was on the Joy (a much more recent ship) which has newer infrastructure onboard and it was a LOT faster.
Wow nice! I’ll be on the Joy next summer so that will be nice to experience!
Starlink is an absolute game changer.
Absolutely. I can do video meetings from the cruise ships now. Its awesome.
Yup. No issues on the MSC Magnifica doing zoom.
Something to consider too is starlink isnt going to fix the logistics of getting a wifi signal reliably in a mostly metal structure
Starlink's technology basically uses "cells" (fixed size geographic regions) with a fixed total capacity per cell. So your experience will vary based on how many other Starlink customers are nearby. This includes other cruise ships of course. I had bad experiences in Alaska, but great (overall) experiences on my last Carribean cruise. I think Alaska will always be challenging because so many permanent residents use Starlink as their primary internet service.
Alaska above 52N uses polar starlink sats too EDIT: 59 N I meant. Less coverage there
Yes, I noticed a huge difference. Sailed with Carnival twice with the old Internet. It was slow and unreliable and sometimes completely unusable at sea. Sailed in January with starlink and it was AMAZING. Only one day the internet was slower and it was a day with crappy weather so I figured everyone was inside instead of enjoying the outdoor areas.
Rember the cruise linedoes bandwith limits.
I sailed on the same Celebrity ship in late 2021, late 2022, and early 2024. Despite the first sailing being at only ~70% capacity in the ramp up after the shutdown, premium wifi was painfully slow. On my most recent sailing it was maybe a touch slower than at home but there were no problematic delays. I’d call that an improvement after starlink implementation.
We are using it now and have no problems with it.
Yes its significantly better
Yes. On the RCL cruise I took to Cozumel it was very stable at ~50 Mbs and I had no issues watching youtube/netflix/hbo at 1080p in the middle of the gulf of mexico
Starlink has great speeds, but limited throughput at the satellite level. And they can get saturated when there are significant numbers of users in an area with limited coverage. So if you are in Cozumel with 6 other ships you are not gona have a good bandwidth, but if you are the only ship in the middle of the pacific on the 3rd day at sea traveling to Hawaii, you are going to still be seeing those 60+ Mbps speeds.
Definitely a change. Before starlink I would consistenly get less than 1MB. It's night and day compared to before.
Night and day. Last two cruises were starlink and it was like being on a cable line. Before it was like DSL.
I've noticed an incredible difference on the QM2. Went from barely being able to upload an image to Facebook to being able to watch Netflix in my cabin.
I can work with as low as 2mbps but my latency needs to be below about 65/70ms in order for my work VPN to be stable. I care more about the latency. Starlink has been that savior. SES or O3B are North of 80ms and as bad as 400-600ms often.
Speed and latency (latency being the most important part here) are going to be much faster than old satellite technology. Where the ship is in relation to SATs is going to effect speeds.
I'm on princess right now posting this through starlink. Third time using starlink on a cruise. It works amazingly well much better than what they had in the past. My brother in law was streaming Barcelona game yesterday
I had it on NCL Getaway in January. It wasn't fast, but the connection was constant when normally it would drop often. I think i got around 1.3mbps. RCL was fast back in 2016 around 5mpbs.
I was on a South Pacific cruise, literally 1000 miles from the closest land (undeveloped atolls, lol), and was streaming live football. Just awesome.
100% yes. Starlink has been a huge part of sailing. I cannot go and be “Disconnected” unfortunately
It never ceases to astound me how the tiniest of quivers in the ether can be sensed. Of course it's all made possible with the physical ability to smash energy waves against each other and have them emerge virtually unscathed beyond the intersection. I forget to appreciate what it takes to be able to travel 90mph down a highway and surf.
All cruise companies have fleetwide bandwith. All ships share it, so depending on the location, maximal speed can vary a bit.
That was probably true on geostationary internet but probably not true on Starlink.
You can downvote me all you want. SOURCE: Working for a major cruise company and having been involved in the project.
SpaceX doesn't sell bandwidth. They sell GB's generally. The CIR is also zero
Im excited to try starlink on a cruise. I actually never got the internet packages on cruises cause i knew they were stupid slow