Celebrity tarnishes the Starlink brand by advertising “Starlink” and delivering 1990s Internet speeds (see Celebrity Starlink Wi-Fi Internet (3 Mbps at $1,000 per month)). What was it like on Norwegian during a recent Alaska trip (on the Norwegian Joy)? Similar pricing, but 100 Mbits down and 10 up:
Mid-afternoon on a sea day:
Perhaps they’re throttling uploads to 10 Mbps because it was never fast to upload photos to Dropbox. However, downloads perhaps run at a speed related to the number of users online and active.
Latency means that web pages feel slower even than on our ghetto-class Xfinity cable at home, but the bandwidth is there for streaming addicts.
What if you need to connect an IoT device, old Kindle, or something else for which the Norwegian web-based portal won’t work? A Windows 11 PC is capable of broadcasting a mobile WiFi hotspot to multiple additional devices even with just one WiFi adapter. (This also works for using a laptop and phone at the same time or sharing among family members.)
Separately, Norwegian might be the ultimate nightmare for a progressive. It was co-founded by an Israeli (Ted Arison, “third-generation sabra” born in Tel Aviv in the “Palestine” days, who later founded Carnival, which also own Cunard, Costa, and a bunch of others, with financing from Israeli-Bostonian Meshulam Riklis). If Jewish-Israeli foundation weren’t bad enough, the modern company was built by private equity (Apollo, founded and run by three American Jews)!
How’s the ship? I’ll cover that in a separate post. Derek Zoolander would probably say that it is suitable for ants and needs to be at least three times bigger.
Loosely related… “Apollo snubs Mamdani, picks Texas tech hotspot for second US HQ” (New York Post).
How we managed to survive vacations before the internet, and cell phones, (and GPS for directions) is beyond me.
So the next time you are on vacation, tell us about the adventures you had and the social justice you experienced, not the Wi-Fi speed. 😄
How did a cruise in the good old days look like?
@PhilG Fan, That is an easy one. In the good old days, there were no cell phones and no internet. But, even way much better, we were not bombarded with the rainbow flag and ideology.
Haha! That I know, I mean more like what comes to your mind when you compare and contrast how folks spent time, and chilled? I have only read books and seen films about it and when I was in my undergrad, in the late 2000s, the internet was getting quite popular in India.
I’m taking a more modern vacation, bringing the cruise ship and island paradise to me. Streaming The Love Boat and Fantasy Island on my gigabit/sec internet during a couch staycation. I had a little celeb crush on Vicki when I was a boy. What is up with the hair wings back then?
https://www.imdb.com/video/vi648526361
What a great Jewish name, Apollo. That’s how some were describing my looks and build when I were younger. When I was a child I wad often called a cherub, this one actual Hebrew word.
When you say starlink on a cruise ship, did you bring your own modem, or did you use the cruise line’s wifi?
https://starlink.com/roam?referral=RC-DF-11645446-35784-4
Perhaps you get better speed using the former.
This was Norwegian’s “WiFi” service, about $30/day. I didn’t see anyone using a personal Starlink antenna. I am not sure it would work from a typical cruise ship balcony, which is covered by a higher deck’s balcony. Also, remember that the goal for most people is to have Internet service anywhere on the ship, including interior public spaces. If you’re at a restaurant and want to look up an ingredient, for example.
I was being slightly facetious, I knew you were using the WiFi, and it makes total sense that the Top “Penthouse” Decks are rationed! 🙂
And I can’t see a creature of convenience bringing an extra bag for antenna and battery!
You should do the Calif* rotation during gay pride quarter & Alaska in August.