The Current State of Included and A La Carte Wi-Fi at Sea

When will high-speed wireless internet access be available complimentarily on cruise ships across the board? It’s a question everyone in the industry is asking as such free service is becoming increasingly widespread elsewhere. At sea, the answer is a bit more technologically complicated, but more and more lines are heeding the call.

Likely prompting many competitors—at least direct ones—to rethink their paid connection policies is Viking. When the cruise line introduced its ocean fleet, it carried over many added-value inclusions from its riverboats, and free wireless internet access was on the list. Mind you this was not just an hour a day or a restricted package offered to certain guests. From day one, Viking extended unlimited complimentary Wi-Fi to all of its passengers.

As the line has quickly expanded from one to four ocean ships and since planned for up to sixteen total sisters, competition has swiftly stiffened, and other upscale and luxury lines have modified their amenities. Of course, this is wonderful news for the consumer and your clients who now have an even greater choice. So, let’s take a look at the companies in those categories to see what they currently offer guests in the way of internet.

Starting from the very top with the luxury lines, Crystal Cruises, Silversea and Regent Seven Seas Cruises all offer complimentary wireless internet access, but only Crystal’s is universally unlimited.

Silversea offers free service to all guests, but quality tiers differ based on accommodations. It also offers additional packages available for purchase. Meanwhile, Regent provides a single login (one device at a time) per suite or up to four logins for guests in Concierge Suites and higher, as well as Gold-level and above Seven Seas Society members.

Surprisingly, however, Seabourn still charges for its onboard connection with basic pricing available at a rate per minute or according to pre-purchased packages. The line claims on its website, “This nominal charge serves to limit usage to some extent and thus improve the performance for all our guests.”

As for upscale brands, Oceania Cruises is the most recent to announce that it will begin offering free fleet-wide Wavenet internet to its guests come the end of April 2018. Like Silversea’s, it will be available in levels with a higher-grade streaming-speed service Wavenet Prime available at a per day cost.

Azamara Club Cruises, though, continues to charge for its internet with prepaid packages good for one hour, one day or the entire voyage. This may be in keeping with corporate cousin Royal Caribbean International’s philosophy that the company’s current investment in internet infrastructure is extremely expensive.

Just onboard its latest Symphony of the Seas, the line’s President and CEO, Michael Bayley spoke to the media about how he believes the cost will eventually subside: “The theory is that over the next five to ten years as the technology improves the cost of internet is going to start decreasing significantly. So, I think at some point when the cost becomes more sensible then it will be probably something that will convert into free internet, free Wi-Fi for our customers.”

Until then, mainstream standard and premium brands—Royal and other corporate cousin Celebrity Cruises included—such as Carnival Cruise Line, Cunard, Disney Cruise Line, Holland America Line, MSC Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, Princess Cruises and more still feel inclined to price their internet. Certainly larger ships from these lines have the task of scaling up their services for greater guest capacities, a challenge smaller vessels already struggle with to a degree, but eventually it will be possible.

In other words, the days of free shipboard internet access, regardless of chosen lifestyle and fare, are coming.