Royal Caribbean’s Internet on-board their Trans-Atlantic cruise is about the most expensive Internet I have ever paid for. $150 for 500 minutes, equates to .30 cents/minute, or $18/hour.
However, Carrie and I have been able to check email, manage communication, and maintain the essential functions of our business while crossing the Atlantic ocean on a truly amazing ship, Royal Caribbean’s Grandeur of the Seas.
We weren’t sure what the connection quality would be before we got on board.
The upload speed is about 15k/second, so not fast enough to have a consistent conversation on Skype, but the download speed is about 80k-125k/second. This speed rivals many places we stayed and visited in Southeast Asia.
As time goes on and ships continue traversing the ocean, I imagine that the connection quality will get even better.
(Maybe the speed already is fast enough, but perhaps it is a bit limited so that they can charge for phone calls – which are QUITE expensive ($8/minute) while on board.)
Access Locations:
Apparently, on some of Royal Caribbean’s other ocean cruises, the Internet works in all of the rooms. On the Grandeur of the Seas, it works in many of the bars and other open places on-board (including outside on the main pool deck), but you will need to go to those places on the ship in order to get a strong enough signal.
This was one of our questions before booking the cruise. We did a lot of research, but did not find a definitive answer regarding the Internet, so hopefully this post will help those who want to know.
For anyone crossing the ocean, doing a trans-Atlantic cruise on Royal Caribbean, you should know that there is Internet on board the Grandeur of the Seas. It is expensive, and you do need to be somewhat patient to use it (again, Skype to phone calls are do-able, but not great).
But the Internet does work, at rates ranging from 30 cents/minute to 65 cents/minute, depending on how much time you buy.
I’m impressed and pleased with what we’ve been able to do online from the middle of the Atlantic ocean.