Onboard Internet Cafes

[RoamingGnome]

Has anyone used the Internet Cafes on board a Carnival Ship? If so, how fast was the connection? Is it faster to use the Internet terminals or go WiFi? How viable is it to use an Internet Cafe in port? I am in the process of booking a cruise and need to keep in touch with work and family so any help here would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[RoamingGnome]

Has anyone used the Internet Cafes on board a Carnival Ship? If so, how fast was the connection? Is it faster to use the Internet terminals or go WiFi? How viable is it to use an Internet Cafe in port? I am in the process of booking a cruise and need to keep in touch with work and family so any help here would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Larry in Miami]

It depends on your definition of "fast". If you are just using email or going to a few websites it is ok. The WiFi and the terminals are about the same as far as speed goes.

[Terri R.]

From the Carnival website:
http://www.carnival.com/CMS/FAQs/On_...net_Cafes.aspx
Can I access the internet while on board?

For those guests who want the option of staying connected to the everyday world, we have implemented Internet Cafes fleetwide.

The Cafe is open 24-hours a day and features private workstations with the latest flat panel computer terminals. Guests will have the ability to send and receive e-mail and access Internet sites. Guests can access their home account through AOL, Hotmail, Juno or Yahoo or have the option of setting up their very own temporary account on board with our CruiseE-mail.

The computers are equipped with WordPad.

The Internet is accessed via satellite through a satellite modem and guests are able to surf the internet as if they were at home. Files can be downloaded as "read only" but cannot be saved, since a floppy disk cannot be inserted into the PC's.

The Internet connection speed is able to connect with bursts of 2.5 megs and 128 kbps upstream.

If Palm Pilots are wireless than guests can take advantage of our wireless access.

Guests may bring their own personal Laptop for use on board by using our Wireless Internet Service.

If the laptop is not equipped with a Wireless Internet Card, guests will need to rent one from the Internet Cafe.

If the laptop is running on Windows 2000, Windows ME, Windows 98 or Windows 95, software will be installed in order to run the Wireless System. This will take approximately five minutes.

If the laptop is running on Windows XP, the above software is not needed. The Wireless Internet Service is compatible with a Wireless 802.11b card, which is the industry standard.

Even with the wireless service, guest's personal Laptop must be used in close proximity of the Internet Cafe. It cannot be used in guest’s staterooms.

Internet Cafe Price List

To utilize the service of the Internet Cafe while using one of the private workstations, a guest's personal laptop or a laptop rental, the charges are as follows and will be billed directly to the guest's Sail & Sign Account:

A one time activation fee of $3.95 applies to each user.

A basic time charge is $0.75 per minute (pay as you go).

Discounted Time Plans can be used anytime throughout the cruise until debarkation; no refund for unused minutes. Plans are subject to change.

100 minutes for $55.00 ($0.55 per minute)

250 minutes for $100.00 ($0.40 per minute)

To rent a Wireless Radio Card for a guest's personal laptop, the rate is $10.00 per day; optional insurance is $3.00 per day.

To rent a laptop, the charge is $35.00 per day; optional insurance is $10.00 per day.

[Larry in Miami]

I would debate the speed claims.

[RoamingGnome]

Anybody who has used internet services quickly finds out that actual speed seldom approaches the "burstable" speed many providers like to claim. Would you happen to have a quess at the speeds you were receiving? This does not have to be overly accurate but just so I can get a more realistic picture. Thank you to all who are helping me with this.

[CruiseDad]

quote:

Originally posted by RoamingGnome:
Anybody who has used internet services quickly finds out that actual speed seldom approaches the "burstable" speed many providers like to claim. Would you happen to have a quess at the speeds you were receiving? This does not have to be overly accurate but just so I can get a more realistic picture. Thank you to all who are helping me with this.

My daughter works on the Liberty. She has a fairly new Apple of some kind, I know very little of Apple being a PC guy, but her model starts with a G I think if that means anything. Her crew cabin is close enough to the cafe to recieve wireless and she thinks the connection is good and plenty fast. Her frame of reference is a wireless cafe near our home in NH and d...i..a...l up at my house. But I think the speed is probably fine on board or she would have said something.

[gdjoslin]

quote:

The Internet connection speed is able to connect with bursts of 2.5 megs and 128 kbps upstream.

We Just got off the Spirit. The internet was the only area of the cruise that I felt we got ripped off. High rates, slow speeds and POPUPS! I will not use they service again.
The rest of the cruise was a bargain.

[Dave]

quote:

Originally posted by CruiseDad:

My daughter works on the Liberty. She has a fairly new Apple of some kind, I know very little of Apple being a PC guy, but her model starts with a G I think if that means anything.

G model Macs are not especially new. They have phased out the G4 laptops and the G5 desktops for machines with Intel processors. The G referred to machines with PowerPC processors. Still good machines though. I have several Macs and my main machine is a PowerMac G5 (which I am typing this on), although I am replacing it with an iMac next week. My experience on cruise ships has been that Mac computers seem to get better wi-fi signals than Windows machines. Mac laptops have pretty large antennas in them which no doubt helps.

[Can't wait to Cruise]

If I take my personal laptop on the ship and I have a Wifi card already installed, will I pick up. When I normally am on my laptop, example when I'm at work our neighbor has wireless internet connection, my computer will automatically pick it up. So, what is different about the satelite connection? The above post is the first I've seen about a $10.00 charge. Could I pay this charge and use my personal computer for $10.00 a day? I'm not that addicted, but I'm taking two teenager along that are having a cow when I told them no cell phones or internet on the cruise. Any help on this quesatly apprecialted. Sailing April 5, 2007 on the Holiday.