Internet on the Wind Star
Hello,
We are going on the Treasures of the Aegean in June and can't find any info on wifi availability on the ship, Wind Star. Any idea if Wifi is included? Trying to plan accordingly.
thanks
0
Hello,
We are going on the Treasures of the Aegean in June and can't find any info on wifi availability on the ship, Wind Star. Any idea if Wifi is included? Trying to plan accordingly.
thanks
Comments
Yes,but like all ships, can be slow and spotty since it is satellite based. It doesn't have the bandwidth to upload or download large files (e.g. hi res photos, etc.) Standard service is included for Tauck customers.
I went to the Windstar website for the Wind Star, and found that they offer several levels of internet service. As AlanS stated, we do get basic service included. I’m booked on your trip next year. Please post how you find the service after your trip.
This is what I found, and copied:
Windstar offers three different internet plans. The Email Plan is $60 and gives you 200 MB of data to use during your cruise. This plan is best for checking email and doing very limited browsing. The Surfing Plan is $120 and gives you 500 MB of data to use for additional browsing and small file transfers, like posting pictures to social media.
The most inclusive WiFi package is the Unlimited Plan. For a 7-day cruise, this plan is $250 or roughly $35 per day. This plan gives you unlimited internet access without worrying about time or amount of data.
Of note, guests can use only one device at a time with all internet packages.
We recently returned from one of the Tauck Ponant ships and it was explained by the ship that only one device per person is connected at a time, but you can switch them up, so you could be using a phone and then your iPad for instance. This means there is less bandwidth being locked up when a device is not being used.I’m no internet expert, but I think that is what was meant. We found the Internet pretty good, so I don’t know if this is a new rule on ships compared to when we last took a small ship cruise. You can’t really download pictures or send them, so we waited until we got home, no big deal. Quite honestly, we were hardly on the ship during the day and very little free time to be on the internet.
We were on a large cruise ship with Tauck last summer, only half full, 1800 passengers and internet was hopeless.
Agree with you…..send pictures when get home. Vacation means no texts, no messages with issue, and the $60-250 can go for a couple of bottles of their better wine! If you are inclined to spend the money.
If you have a Windows PC, you can set it to be a mobile hotspot and then connect your other devices (such as your iPhones) to the mobile hotspot. Assuming two people, each with an iPhone, and one PC, this will allow you to use all of the devices simultaneously on one Internet plan.
The limitation is that the people with the iPhone have to be within range of the PC hotspot so you won't have service throughout the ship - just fairly close to the PC. Most ships have steel bulkheads so that really limits the range of the hotspot.
You can make an iPhone a mobile hotspot as well. It doesn’t require a Windows PC.
SEE CORRECTION BELOW.
I'm not sure you can set up an iPhone to share a WiFi connection. I thought you could only set up an iPhone to share a cellular data connection. If that's true, you likely would not have a cellular connection on the ship.
What you want is to have the device you're setting up as a hotspot connected to the ship's WiFi. I know you can do that with a PC but I haven't seen how to do that on an iPhone.
If you know how to do that with an iPhone, please describe.
If people really need wifi on a vacation, then it might be better to do a land tour. We did all survive without cell phones and internet and have great vacations. I do understand that some people might have things going on at home, but for true emergency anyone can always contact Tauck to relay a message to people on a tour. There is also the opportunity to find wifi when you are off the boat I would think.
Mike, you are correct on the hotspot. I misinterpreted what you were trying to do. What I was describing was connecting my iPad to my iPhone hotspot when there is no WiFi for my iPad. My iPad only has WiFi, no cellular. The iPad is using the iPhone cellular network connection.
I’m with British. Personally and honestly it’s such a relief to be liberated off the grid. We’ve become dependent on these devices as if they were air and water. I know this is the way it is now snd I don’t mind what the internet offers and how convenient it is connecting with family, etc but please don’t bring your cell phone to the dinner table. That is my one and only rule with my family, and still the youngsters push the envelope. It’s as though I’m cutting off one of their arms. I haven’t had my coffee yet and this is just my opinion.
British, OurTravels34 - Seems like you two might be candidates for the next Progressive commercial, where the instructor is tutoring people about becoming their parents!!! 😂😂
Smiling Sam: that’s funny.
Cruise ships provide Internet access because their guests demand it. That satellite Internet access is expensive for the ship and not very fast. They usually have to carry additional crew to take care of the system.
I use it because I create a blog of our trips and I found that I can only do that accurately by writing the description of the day's events in the evening. Once a few days go by, I'm very confused as to what happened when.
I've done this for years and used to write everything in the evening and then go ashore to find a place where I could get access to the Internet to upload to my server. I've sat with the crew on the dock where there was WiFi, and worked in bars that provided Internet access. But it's so much more convenient to work from my cabin.
I do it as I go because I share my blog with friends and family and if I wait until we get home, it's too much for them to take in. I get better responses from them if I send them short segments (usually a couple of days worth) that they can review in just a few minutes.
I write a diary/blog too but I do it on my Notes App. If I do have internet and I have time to use it, often when I’m awake in the middle of the night, the intermet is easy and quicker, I’ll send it. If I do not, I am sure it is not missed by many. So many of our friends and acquaintances have no interest in foreign travel and think there is nowhere better than the US. We travelers know better don’t we. Our most recent trip to Arabia, people did not know where it was, had never heard of the countries, thought it was dangerous etc etc . We know better and feel richer for it.
Oh British, you are music to my ears. You mentioned all the wonderful reasons to see the world. Well said. You’re spot on, some people don’t like to travel out of their zip code, or they go to the same place repeatedly such as Disney. I’ve only been to Disneyland and Disneyworld each once and I’m good with that. I took my husband on his first international trip in 1992. He really didn’t travel at all with his family although they had the means; they just stayed in the states. It just wasn’t a desire for him. He enjoys travel now and we’re always planning future international trips. I am one of many siblings and the only one with the travel bug. There are different priorities for all of us.
I saw an article today in the Tampa Bay Times dated 21 Feb 23 that is an interview with Phil from Somebody Feed Phil. Great article but the best part was his story about how the show came about. It started with an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond with Ray not wanting to travel. The real Ray didn't either but after filming in Italy he became a fan of travel.
I have Phil’s book.