buying internet minutes...

[simbasmom2]

Unfortunately my DH will have to buy internet minutes onboard to do some school work online. He can't skip a week of work. Any tips? I just looked at old navigator's, so I know what to expect cost wise. Is it a better connection certain places versus others. It will really frustrating for him to be messing with poor connection. If it works fine in our room (verandah) he will stay there, otherwise he could go somewhere else. Thanks

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Unfortunately my DH will have to buy internet minutes onboard to do some school work online. He can't skip a week of work. Any tips? I just looked at old navigator's, so I know what to expect cost wise. Is it a better connection certain places versus others. It will really frustrating for him to be messing with poor connection. If it works fine in our room (verandah) he will stay there, otherwise he could go somewhere else. Thanks

The connection is equally s-l-o-w-w-w-w over the entire ship. And notorious for kicking people off in the middle of what they are doing. Have you looked into the possibility of free wi-fi in any of your ports?

 

[simbasmom2]

I was afraid of that. I thought maybe in St. Maarten since it is a long day in port he could find a place. I will have to do some research. Thanks

 

[JodyTG]

I will also have school work to turn in on our cruise and found out from Verizon Wireless that since we're going to St. Thomas and San Juan we'll be able to use their service on my Android phone for no additional charge. This is a relief. It will take me a little longer to do the work on my phone, but the lack of additional cost is great. I was also told that I could upgrade to a $30 international calling rate for one month that includes internet if we decide to go on a Western Caribbean cruise instead.

This may be worth a phone call to your provider if you have wireless to check out. It can't be any slower than the internet on the ship, surely.

 

[kcashner]

Avoid internet on the ship if at all possible. The cheapest you can get is a 240 minute package. SOunds like a lot, but at ship speed, it isn't.

Eastern....St. Thomas, if you walk toward the chair lifts, just before the building where you would buy the tickets there is an Asian restaurant. Internet is $3 for all day with a good connection, cheaper if you buy a meal. You'll see plenty of CMs hanging out there. There is also an internet cafe in Havensight mall, but it was also a bar and we honestly didn't feel safe there. The restaurant was very crowded and totally felt OK. There used to be an internet place right at the end of the dock--it has been converted to a Senor Frog's.

The above was accurate as of December 2011.

Google "cheap internet name of port" to have some good ideas in advance. Then talk to the servers/stateroom hosts. THey know where the good places are.

We haven't done internet in St. Maarten for a couple of years, so don't know if my info there is current.

If he MUST use it on the ship, go on, download what he needs and log off. Do the work off line, then log on and hit "send." Alternatively, if possible, save the work and send from an island.

 

[mdvlprof]

St Maarten.
There was a candy store downtown that had free internet [but only a few benches. DD used it to check her email]. You might be able to buy time at one of the places at the port [which has a small shopping area]. The info station probably would know where to buy time.

And I absolutely agree with kcashner about using internet on-board.