Advice for DCL- Free unlimited wifi=more revenue.

[insureman]

So hear me out. I had a conversation with my wife, she's been working from home for 15 years now, about taking more cruises. I own my own business so vacation isn't an issue for me and she can virtually work anywhere if there is a reliable free wifi connection. When you think about it there are thousands of people still working offsite from the pandemic that would probably jump at the chance to work somewhere else and what would be better than a Disney cruise? More passengers, more revenue. Imagine your office on a veranda. Just thinking out loud.

 

[lanejudy]

I also have worked from home for over a decade. While the idea sounds great -- a change from looking at my own 4 walls -- I'm not paying thousands of dollars to sit on my balcony all day tied to my laptop. If I need to get something done while on vacation, having reliable wifi definitely helps. However I won't pay for vacation just to work from somewhere different.

 

[dclpluto]

So hear me out. I had a conversation with my wife, she's been working from home for 15 years now, about taking more cruises. I own my own business so vacation isn't an issue for me and she can virtually work anywhere if there is a reliable free wifi connection. When you think about it there are thousands of people still working offsite from the pandemic that would probably jump at the chance to work somewhere else and what would be better than a Disney cruise? More passengers, more revenue. Imagine your office on a veranda. Just thinking out loud.

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DCL WiFi sucks. than if everyone had free WiFi it will suck even more.

 

[insureman]

DCL WiFi sucks. than if everyone had free WiFi it will suck even more.

That's why I mentioned "reliable" free wifi.

 

[MomOTwins]

A cruise is an awfully expensive change of scenery. Why pay for a disney cruise only to work all day and miss out on pools, leisurely meals, activities, excursions, characters—everything that makes a disney cruise a disney cruise—for 8-12 hours a day?

During the pandemic we tried a cheaper version of this, getting an airbnb on the beach. I hated it. I had a gorgeous view of my balcony of the sea, but I hardly ever actually got to look at it for because I had to stare at zoom calls or documents I was working on. My kids and husband would tell me all about their fun days and instead of getting to enjoy that with them, I just felt resentful I had spent all day hunched over a laptop. Yes I got in a morning swim, evening walk on the beach, and dinners out, but it was just enough to leave me feeling cheated—and that was a $200 a night airbnb, not a cruise costing thousands of dollars.

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

It does have an impact on how we cruise. I wouldn't book a cruise and plan to work each day (though we did do a DVC stay for 2 weeks last August and I worked half-days every day). But we don't go on the 7-night cruises because it's just too long to be gone without spending half a day working (yes, we can be away from work that long, but when we get back, it is miserable). Any other vacation, we just work that in one morning or evening. So we only go on the shorter cruises, and we schedule them when we are more certain we can be truly away from work.

On the one hand, I would like to be able to do the longer cruises. But on the other hand, I do like knowing that for the time of the cruise, we are really away from work, even if it is just 4 nights.

 

[mevelandry]

So hear me out. I had a conversation with my wife, she's been working from home for 15 years now, about taking more cruises. I own my own business so vacation isn't an issue for me and she can virtually work anywhere if there is a reliable free wifi connection. When you think about it there are thousands of people still working offsite from the pandemic that would probably jump at the chance to work somewhere else and what would be better than a Disney cruise? More passengers, more revenue. Imagine your office on a veranda. Just thinking out loud.

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I'd do it!

Breakfast in the AM, Go for a swim in the pool or at the beach before work. Drying out on my balcony while I'm working. Palo Brunch/Serenity BBQ/lunch in whatever port we're in during my lunch break. A little jogging during my breaks, more beach or mini-golf or rainforest room for an hour as soon as I am done working. Clothes change. Dinner in the MDR followed with a show or a movie. Excursions on the week-end...

Yep. I could definitely live like this for a week or two. Or three.

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

Also, I think this idea is even better for people who live within driving distance of port and can take advantage of any discounts that might be made available. If they put a ship in Galveston for more of the year, I'd be hopping on as often as I could!

 

[belle032]

DH & I always say we'd like to retire on a cruise ship or live on ships for much of the year. And if we lived closer to a cruise port, we'd be taking full advantage of it. So it probably wouldn't be on DCL all of the time, but I could absolutely work from a ship if I was able. However, I'd need to switch ships every so often (just for my own personal change of scenery) and I would need a heck of a "long term" deal.

I think it would be a lot easier to do this once you actually start doing it for a few weeks. I imagine you wouldn't feel like you're missing everything because you've experienced it once or twice. Might start being less of a vacation (not in a bad way) and more like a new normal.

 

[sethschroeder]

Disney forces you to have your cell phone but you can't even get unlimited wifi.

It is a negative for sure and would make me more likely to cruise with DCL. After our cruise in The Haven on NCL we are not as locked in to DCL as we were.

 

[FigmentSpark]

That would be perfect for my DS, who is still in virtual school. It's university, so it's only a few hours a day for a few days. Alas, I think it's more likely that he'll just be missing those classes, if he comes with us on our March cruise.

 

[MsSimone]

I wouldn't want to be putting in 8-10 hours a day from a ship, but being able to spend 30 minutes a day responding to emails or typing up a quick status report - without having to pay $50 for the privilege - would open up the dates available for us to sail.

 

[OhioWDWDuo]

I wouldn't want to be putting in 8-10 hours a day from a ship, but being able to spend 30 minutes a day responding to emails or typing up a quick status report - without having to pay $50 for the privilege - would open up the dates available for us to sail.

Totally agree! On our recent cruise, we paid for a wifi package so we could respond to emails from time to time. It was painfully slow and expensive. We also expected to use our Verizon Travelpass on Castaway Cay, but we had no cell signal on either side of the island. I guess the tower was down due to a lightning strike? At any rate, it was disappointing. Not that we wanted to be on our phones all day, but just to check in on a few things at home- it would have been nice. Hope that tower is fixed soon!

 

[tvguy]

The satellite bandwidth needed is too expensive at least at this point.
But vacations are a time to disconnect. I know some people think they have to be connected, but having watched a few Judges questioning Jurors who may be sequestered you learn real fast, you do NOT need to be connect.

 

[Keterrill]

I agree. If I had reliable internet it would expand my possible travel times. I don't have to work a full day 5 days a week, and can be flexible with when I work, so it would be ideal.

So hear me out. I had a conversation with my wife, she's been working from home for 15 years now, about taking more cruises. I own my own business so vacation isn't an issue for me and she can virtually work anywhere if there is a reliable free wifi connection. When you think about it there are thousands of people still working offsite from the pandemic that would probably jump at the chance to work somewhere else and what would be better than a Disney cruise? More passengers, more revenue. Imagine your office on a veranda. Just thinking out loud.

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[OKW Lover]

I don't see how somebody with a full time job would want to spend their time in their cabin (or on the veranda) when they have an entire ship outside their door.

 

[Cruising Engineer]

I tried to keep up with an online university course on one DCL cruise. It was so painfully bad that the university computer system would kick me off because the inputs were so slow on my responses to the questions. In one hour time (for a test) I had to relog in twice. Didn't think I would finish the test in time. And it cost me a fortune for a solid hour + of wifi. Never again unless DCL upgraded to super-fast wifi and it was free. Besides, how do I conduct my dissertation defense (wooh is me a poor graduate student) sitting on the verandah of a cruise ship?

 

[Starwind]

I tried to keep up with an online university course on one DCL cruise. It was so painfully bad that the university computer system would kick me off because the inputs were so slow on my responses to the questions. In one hour time (for a test) I had to relog in twice. Didn't think I would finish the test in time. And it cost me a fortune for a solid hour + of wifi. Never again unless DCL upgraded to super-fast wifi and it was free. Besides, how do I conduct my dissertation defense (wooh is me a poor graduate student) sitting on the verandah of a cruise ship?

Ah, but you can work on WRITING the dissertation while on a cruise... I did that. Sitting on the deck and inside our cabana on Castaway Cay with my laptop writing part of the the dissertation. My sister babysat the laptop while took a break and went for a swim. Sitting on the deck 4 loungers working on it while she sat and worked on her quilting or read. Plugging away at it while watching Disney movies in the stateroom. I had downloaded everything I needed to the hard drive, so no internet was needed. Also, made a complete backup before leaving home, with an extra separate copy of all the dissertation work, just in case. That said, it will hopefully be the last time I need to take a laptop on a cruise ! ;-)

 

[MomOTwins]

I wouldn't want to be putting in 8-10 hours a day from a ship, but being able to spend 30 minutes a day responding to emails or typing up a quick status report - without having to pay $50 for the privilege - would open up the dates available for us to sail.

Okay, but does $50 really make or break whether you do a cruise? For one thing cruise costs vary by far more than that depending on the date you book, but in any case, it’s less than the cost of a single Palo meal with tip.

I think OP’s premise is would DCL sell more cruises if they gave enough wifi for a full work day, which I doubt. As for people who meed 30 mins of the work email, the cost is a drop in the bucket compared to cruise cost. In fact, I have always answered work emails daily on cruises without spending a penny beyond the free 50mb.

 

[bearette]

I worked on my dissertation on a laptop too while on a cruise and other vacations. About 1-2 a day to stay on track, but about twice (not DCL) I had to stop because the Wi-Fi just didn't work.
It would cost to much for them to have decent wifi for everyone so until technology catches up we are SOL. I remember when phone calls were $8 a minute on a cruise, we are spoiled now.