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Getting free internet on a cruise, saving $170

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Re: Getting free internet on a cruise, saving $170

#11
post #8

I was watching some cruise crew videos, and it turns out their biggest expense is internet. I'm curious why they don’t just install Starlink to cut costs and maybe sell to guests some "piracy" internet?

Pirate seaborne internet has been tried.

"A Navy officer is demoted after sneaking a satellite dish onto a warship to get the internet"

https://apnews.com/article/navy-illegal-wireless-internet-53...

https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2024/09/03/how-navy...

Re: Getting free internet on a cruise, saving $170

#12
One of the fringe benefits of going on a cruise is that you can disconnect from the Internet for a week. Hit up the bar, make love to your wife, gamble a bit. All without your phone constantly buzzing in your pocket. If you go on a cruise to immediately open your laptop it seems like a waste of time and money.

Re: Getting free internet on a cruise, saving $170

#13

I imagine one of the ships officers will be tipped off by the IT team about the unusual number of free-internet activation attached to your booking id, and either give your room a visit to knock it off, or just bill some multiple of the $170 anyway. It sounds like it should only be used only a few times per booking, and this is going to hit at least 4/hour for multiple hours a day, so it will stick out like a sore th…

> imagine one of the ships officers will be tipped off by the IT team

If it’s any of the major cruise lines there almost certainly isn’t anyone in IT paying that much attention.

Re: Getting free internet on a cruise, saving $170

#14
post #8

I was watching some cruise crew videos, and it turns out their biggest expense is internet. I'm curious why they don’t just install Starlink to cut costs and maybe sell to guests some "piracy" internet?

Went on a cruise last summer, the internet on board was starlink. It was advertised at $30/day.

Re: Getting free internet on a cruise, saving $170

#16

OP, great work, bypassing internet restrictions is always fun. Though, I hope your family isn't cruising much in the future-- sharing stuff like this, with so many specifics about which cruise line and exact retry methodologies used, is a surefire way to get it shut down. (Or worse, a nasty internet bill from the cruise line.)

Thanks! My thought process was that realistically, a negligible amount of people will even attempt this. Also, there will always be a way to bypass internet restrictions.

I will say, it would be kind of cool if this post gets big enough that someone from the cruise line sees it and actually feels that they need to put in the time to patch it.

Re: Getting free internet on a cruise, saving $170

#17
I used a travel router on my recent trip to Argentina and found it quite useful. It will be a permanent part of my travel kit.

Some cooler uses:

- streaming HDR video from closed MacBook running Amphetamine to Vision Pro via Moonlink

- Having a working HomePod mini in the hotel room.

The hotel internet did not like multiple devices off the router. It didn’t reject it outright but it throttled or nerfed it.

Individual connections were free, though and fwiw high speed data over cellular was more reliable.

Re: Getting free internet on a cruise, saving $170

#18
post #8

I was watching some cruise crew videos, and it turns out their biggest expense is internet. I'm curious why they don’t just install Starlink to cut costs and maybe sell to guests some "piracy" internet?

> curious why they don’t just install Starlink to cut costs

Cruise ships are tiny cities. The density overloads Starlink.

Re: Getting free internet on a cruise, saving $170

#20

One of the fringe benefits of going on a cruise is that you can disconnect from the Internet for a week. Hit up the bar, make love to your wife, gamble a bit. All without your phone constantly buzzing in your pocket. If you go on a cruise to immediately open your laptop it seems like a waste of time and money.

Unless you are on a cruise to work remotely and flee soaring rental prices.
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