We wanted to bring our laptop aboard to have a blog of our cruise, for family and friends, i will also post on the dis the website soon enough. So I was wondering what was the speed of the wireless service? We are trying to figure out if we should do it by minute or buy a package like 100minutes for so much money. Thanks everyone
Wow, that should be great! Given that you are planning to spend a fair amount of time on the internet, I would highly recommend the unlimited internet package (their terminals) for your cruise. Service is slower on the ship. How much slower depends on where the ship is. We did this for our 4 day cruise last October. We were keeping in contact with our DD (16) at home, so it was completely worth it to us. Plus, I was able to indulge my DIS habit! But I cannot fill you in on the wireless speed since we used their terminals. Once I learned that wireless service is not available in the staterooms and there is no "unlimited" package, I left my laptop at home. HTH and have a wonderful cruise! Here's the info from the "DCL Main" link at the top of the cruise boards page. Disney Cruise Line Internet Access Disney Cruise Line Computer Terminal Locations: The Internet Cafe is Located on Deck 3 (near the Promenade Lounge). This group of 16 terminals provides high-speed access to the internet via the ships on-board satellite system. Guests of all ages can access the internet from this location and it is open 24 hours a day. The Cove Cafe is located on deck 9. This adults only coffee bar is for guests 18 and over. The computer terminals can be accessed when the cafe is open. Teens can access the internet from Aloft (Disney Wonder) or The Stack (Disney Magic.) Per-Minute rates: $0.75 per minute $55.00 for 100 minutes $105.00 for 300 minutes (14 night cruise only) Additional charge of $3.95 to send an email from your onboard account. No charge to receive an email Unlimited Internet Access: $39.99 - 3 Night cruise $39.99 - 4 Night Cruise $89.99 - 7 Night Cruise $129.99 - 10 Night Cruise $179.99 - 14 Night Cruise Printing is available at $.025 per page Wireless Internet Service If you have a wireless ready laptop, you can use your personal computer to access the internet while onboard both the Disney Wonder and Disney Magic. Access is available at: Cadillac Lounge (Wonder) Sessions (Magic) Wavebands (Wonder) Rockin' Bar D (Magic) Promenade Lounge Studio Sea Cove Cafe Open Decks (9 & 10) Atrium (Decks 3, 4 and 5 Mid-ship) Wireless internet access is not offered from the staterooms Wireless rates: $0.75 per minute $55.00 for 100 minutes $100.00 for 250 minutes Printing is not available for wireless connections
We took our laptop in order to dump my pics, but only used the unlimited package with their computers. It is my understanding that the wireless connection is not very good at times and it eats up your minutes quickly. I will do the same on our next cruise. BTW, I use our laptop to unload my digital pics and have them edited before we even get home. There were several times where I could see I needed to get more photos of this and that since I could view them on our latop. It was worth lugging it with us. Also, I NEVER had any problems getting to a computer with waiting. My favorite place to go was The Cove Cafe.
I only paid for the wireless access ... didn't make sense to me to pay "double duty" for wireless and for using their terminals. What I did though was did all my typing off line. Then I'd hook up to their wireless service, copy/paste, send. It saved me a TON of minutes that way.
Last October I used my laptop to post a live trip report with pics from WDW and from the Disney Magic. We bought 250 minutes and went through it quickly. I typed up my report in Word including the text links to my photos, I edited my photos in Photoshop and then when I connected all I did was copy and paste into the thread and upload my pics to my server. When we had time to read the replies, I just loaded each page quickly then I hit "work offline", brought the laptop back to our room and hubby and I would read them there. This only took about 5-7 minutes MAX each day. Then everyday my hubby would download his mail which took another 5-10 minutes per day. One day hubby did some online banking which took about 10 minutes. That's ALL we did and we ran out of minutes by Thursday night!!! I was not happy. I went to see the CM who was in charge of the computers and she printed me off our usage minutes which stated that we had used 249.75 minutes!!!! We had about 7 logs that logged in over 25 minutes each!!!! Come on people!! Neither of us were ever even GONE that long WITH the laptop so we know that we didn't use up all of our minutes but she refused to even listen to me since it was all right there in black and white (that's what she said!) If I could have uploaded photos on their computers, I would have chosen the unlimited package but apparently you can't do that. It also would have been nice if Disney had in room internet access. I don't understand why they don't yet?? We cruised with RCCL in 2003 and they had stateroom internet access back then!!! Can't wait for your report!!!! Click HERE if you want to read my live trip report.
I found the internet access to be slow, and at times a real pain. Sometimes I could not get the system to log my computer off and it left me unable to sign in and the entire time counted minutes against my account. The last night was really frustrating when it said I was out of minutes, and I know thre was no way I used 250 minutes. DCL needs a better system for counting the minutes actually used, and better yet make it unlimited, especially for the price charged. I would really like to have the rooms wired rather than a wireless connection.
We had the exact same awful experience with the wireless service as other posters here. It is dreadfully slow, does not log you off properly and minutes seem to disappear like water through a sieve. We even found that it charged us for time when we knew we were not on the laptop because it was during our Palo brunch. We did complain as well and got some minutes credited back, but overall it was a huge waste of money. Until they come up with some sort of unlimited minutes plan for wireless I would recommend using their computers so you can enjoy unlimited access. If you do use their wireless plans, keep a written log of exactly the time you spend so you can compare it to the printed log you get from DCL. This way you have an accurate record of your time if you need to dispute overcharged minutes.
Thanks for the info all, it stinks that it was dreadfully slow. At least i can type to my .mac iweb site with out going online which will be good. I can just load it in a couple mintues with our internet home, so maybe ten minutes on board. Oh and another question...If you get unlimited minutes, is it for one person or for all the people in the room?
It is good for everyone in your cabin, but only one person can be logged on at one time. It worked great for DH and I.
I too found that my minutes seemed to "disappear" from the wireless minutes I purchased. There is no system that tells how many minutes you have used per session or how many you have left. All of a sudden my minutes were all gone (and I was doing minimal work from my computer a few evenings.) I ended up finishing up some work on the wired computers from the Cove Cafe and questionning my time use. Unfortunately they generally will not refund the internet time. What I plan to do this year (if I use my computer again) is keep a log of time used (sign on/off) and compare it with DCL. They do not provide you with a print out of time used, so you will have to get someone who can assist to compare what you show with the time they show you have left. I found it to be terribly slow sometimes to get pages loaded, but not always. Sue Ellen
