Any free internet access?

[CM Dad]

While I cannot guarantee that it's the same fleet wide (would be nice but not always the case), sailed the Dream a few weeks ago and COULD access DCL's site for free. (Control freak me wanted to make sure the "dummy date" I reserved went through. ) As other posters have said, the connection can be S-L-O-W and quite frustrating but it's better than nothing. Good luck!

Great. That was the answer I was looking for.

 

[trickiwoo]

Do you have a close friend or family member back home you could trust to get on your account that day and book your reservations for you?

 

[CM Dad]

I was able to access the Disney cruise web site while onboard by connecting to the DCL Guest wifi network for free . It looks like you could also get to the Disneyworld resorts sites for free, at least to do online checkin. I did not try this, since I was already checked in for our post cruise WDW stay.

Access was slow, but I was able to book Palo brunch for our next cruise, although all the cabanas on Castaway Cay were already booked

 

[tahoe9813]

Concierge gets 100 minutes included. You pay for it on your room account and they credit it back.

Royal suites get internet at no charge for the full trip.

I was impressed with the speed considering the fact that it's satellite. We primarily used it for email each day and the last night used up what was left over on Facebook, etc.

You can access the DCL website without paying! which is nice if you want to check availability or prices for a future cruise.

 

[frugalwitch]

We got 100 minutes for being in Concierge and never used it. We were "unplugged" for entire trip and it was bliss. I would've had a fit with my family if they were wanting to be online, texting or doing FB on an expensive cruise. My husband found that he actually loved not being online for a change.

Try going without, the world got along just fine before internet, take a break

 

[CM Dad]

Concierge gets 100 minutes included. You pay for it on your room account and they credit it back.

Royal suites get internet at no charge for the full trip.

I was impressed with the speed considering the fact that it's satellite. We primarily used it for email each day and the last night used up what was left over on Facebook, etc.

You can access the DCL website without paying! which is nice if you want to check availability or prices for a future cruise.

I was not impressed by the speed. It took me over 10 minutes to login to the disney cruise site and navigate to where I could start trying to book Palo for the next cruise. I know the DCL future bookings people on board were also having a hard time accessing things, and offered an option to pay $90 (I think that was the amount) for the option to book a real cruise after getting off the boat and still getting the on board booking deals.

 

[tinkerone]

worst case scenario, could you not hit a hot spot in one of the ports you stop at? there's lots around with free wifi.
just a thought.

 

[SuperDry]

I was impressed with the speed considering the fact that it's satellite.

That's been my general experience as well. There have been a few times, well under 10%, where there's a speed issue, such as during inclimate weather, or obvious times of heavy use, such as a sea day afternoon several days into the voyage.

But for the most part, it's surprisingly fast. It typically clocks in as at least 250kbps and usually much faster, which is many times faster than dial-up and not "slower than dial-up" as many people report.

I don't really know what to make of all of the people that say "it's REALLY slow!" I've noticed for the most part that they are people that claim to rarely or never actually use it. I think perhaps it's a self-supporting opinion they have to justify not paying for it while on board. Don't get me wrong: I totally understand why some people want to be "unplugged" while on vacation. But the connection being "too slow" is really not an issue unless you're trying to download or stream video. At least that's my experience.

 

[tinkerone]

That's been my general experience as well. There have been a few times, well under 10%, where there's a speed issue, such as during inclimate weather, or obvious times of heavy use, such as a sea day afternoon several days into the voyage.

But for the most part, it's surprisingly fast. It typically clocks in as at least 250kbps and usually much faster, which is many times faster than dial-up and not "slower than dial-up" as many people report.

I don't really know what to make of all of the people that say "it's REALLY slow!" I've noticed for the most part that they are people that claim to rarely or never actually use it. I think perhaps it's a self-supporting opinion they have to justify not paying for it while on board. Don't get me wrong: I totally understand why some people want to be "unplugged" while on vacation. But the connection being "too slow" is really not an issue unless you're trying to download or stream video. At least that's my experience.

I think its just perception myself. in todays world we expect fast and if it doesn't come we get anxious. my back ground is in banking. we used to time how long it took people to get to the front of the line. when asked the clients answer was usually anywhere from 7 to 15 minutes when in fact it normally took less than three minutes.
yeah, its the 'need it now' mind set. now i'm sure it is slow at times but the few times I used it, it went just fine. jmho.

 

[lanejudy]

I was able to access the Disney cruise web site while onboard by connecting to the DCL Guest wifi network for free . It looks like you could also get to the Disneyworld resorts sites for free, at least to do online checkin. I did not try this, since I was already checked in for our post cruise WDW stay.

Access was slow, but I was able to book Palo brunch for our next cruise, although all the cabanas on Castaway Cay were already booked

I'm glad it worked for you! As for the cabanas, it's likely they were all booked at the 120-day by concierge, so I wouldn't blame that on the slow connection.

Enjoy your next cruise!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

That's been my general experience as well. There have been a few times, well under 10%, where there's a speed issue, such as during inclimate weather, or obvious times of heavy use, such as a sea day afternoon several days into the voyage.

But for the most part, it's surprisingly fast. It typically clocks in as at least 250kbps and usually much faster, which is many times faster than dial-up and not "slower than dial-up" as many people report.

I don't really know what to make of all of the people that say "it's REALLY slow!" I've noticed for the most part that they are people that claim to rarely or never actually use it. I think perhaps it's a self-supporting opinion they have to justify not paying for it while on board. Don't get me wrong: I totally understand why some people want to be "unplugged" while on vacation. But the connection being "too slow" is really not an issue unless you're trying to download or stream video. At least that's my experience.

We use the internet while on our cruises, just to check our email, and it's slow. Even slower than our dial-up days.

We've found the quickest speeds we get are after the late show or early in the morning.

 

[CM Dad]

worst case scenario, could you not hit a hot spot in one of the ports you stop at? there's lots around with free wifi.
just a thought.

The only port on the DVC member cruise was Castaway Cay (twice). I didn't check for a hot spot there, but I suspect Disney doesn't provide any free wifi there.

 

[CM Dad]

I'm glad it worked for you! As for the cabanas, it's likely they were all booked at the 120-day by concierge, so I wouldn't blame that on the slow connection.

Enjoy your next cruise!

I don't blame the slow connection. I didn't really expect that there would be any availability at the 90-day window that I could start booking at. I was just glad I could book a Palo's brunch for my wife and I.

 

[CM Dad]

We use the internet while on our cruises, just to check our email, and it's slow. Even slower than our dial-up days.

We've found the quickest speeds we get are after the late show or early in the morning.

I was trying to use the internet around midnight on the first night of our cruise, when my booking window for our New Years cruise opened up. Wasn't very fast. I had thought about purchasing a package of internet minutes so I could check email for work. I decided not to bother based on the response times, so I was forced to ignore work for the length of the cruise

 

[tahoe9813]

We typically accessed the internet late at night. I also was usually going direct to gmail and leaving it at that.