Internet speeds on the Magic in Europe

[Currahee]

HOw would you gauge the internet speeds on the Magic in Europe. I have used it several times to check email but never have I used it to view media such as youtube. My daughter will be taking her online College summer classes and I wish her to join us for this trip.

How realistic am I that the she will be able to view media?

I also posted this in another forum and was wondering other's opinions.

Thanks in advance.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

HOw would you gauge the internet speeds on the Magic in Europe. I have used it several times to check email but never have I used it to view media such as youtube. My daughter will be taking her online College summer classes and I wish her to join us for this trip.

How realistic am I that the she will be able to view media?

I also posted this in another forum and was wondering other's opinions.

Thanks in advance.

Well, internet speeds can vary, depending on what time of day you are using it. We found the best speeds if we were online early, early in the morning, or after the late show at night. During the daytime, it can be really slow.

I'd suggest she think about using the internet cafes/hot spots in port. She may find that works better.

 

[Anisum]

A friend of mine was able to make a blurry Skype video call when we did the Northern Europe cruise last year but it became two blurry/non-responsive/etc. half way through. I would agree and say using internet cafes and hotspots might work better. Also, I'm not certain how your daughter's class works but a number of online courses in my experience use pre-recorded lecture videos and if that's the case it may be possible to download lectures before you leave.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

I have cruised on the Magic in Europe a lot, on a number of long cruises using a lot of packages for myself and my children. We have got through up to eight large packages.

It's a reasonable speed, works well, no issues, I have posted live blogs with photos, thousands of photos and no issues.

We cruised Europe on the Magic in 2015 12 nights, and 2014 12 nights.

The Wifi was good, no issues, for those saying its speed may vary, check when they cruised the Magic in Europe.

I found the staterooms very good, bar 8032 directly under cove cafe there it was slow, but moving away it was great. Check my trip reports a lot posted live on the ship Internet, if you can upload thousands of photos it can't be bad!

 

[kaseyC]

I have cruised on the Magic in Europe a lot, on a number of long cruises using a lot of packages for myself and my children. We have got through up to eight large packages.

It's a reasonable speed, works well, no issues, I have posted live blogs with photos, thousands of photos and no issues.

We cruised Europe on the Magic in 2015 12 nights, and 2014 12 nights.

The Wifi was good, no issues, for those saying its speed may vary, check when they cruised the Magic in Europe.

I found the staterooms very good, bar 8032 directly under cove cafe there it was slow, but moving away it was great. Check my trip reports a lot posted live on the ship Internet, if you can upload thousands of photos it can't be bad!

That is great that it worked well for your posting of photos and blogging. But, the OP is asking if their DD will be able to stream video for an online University class. The internet on board does not work well for streaming video.


To the OP, have your daughter check with her College. My DD will be taking an online College course while we are on a 3 week European vacation in June, 10 of those nights on an Eastern Med cruise. Her class uses pre-recorded lectures. She will be able to download the lectures and the textbook. She uses Blackboard on her phone and Macbook to take care of all assignments and assessments.

 

[Mickey&JoshNut]

I was on the Magic for 34 nights last year (Norway, Baltic, Iceland, Scotland) and the internet connections vary greatly depending on where we were and the time of day. I only checked/posted on Facebook, checked emails and uploaded some photos and I found that my MB were gone very quickly. There were times when we could not connect to the internet and other times when it was great (I second the early morning times). I would search out internet cafes in each port to have a back up plan in case your daughter is not able to "stream" a video while onboard.

 

[SuperDry]

I use the on-board Internet for a lot of things, and generally find it responsive, but watching streaming video as the OP is proposing is not realistic, in my opinion. She mentions YouTube, but I'm not sure if the college course videos are actually hosted on YouTube, or on a private server run by the college (or a service that they subscribe to). The reason this is important is the bandwidth required for the video. YouTube allows you to adjust bandwidth down to what they call 144p, which is grainy but uses "only" 114MB/hour. A "standard" YouTube video at 480p will use about 500MB/hour, and many other streaming services may not allow you to adjust the quality to a lower setting. I generally think the on-board Internet is a bargain for what you get, but in this particular case, costs could add up quickly. Of course, if it's a matter of watching the videos or not being able to go, then consider it just an added cost of the trip and budget for it.

 

[bafleyanne]

I have a similar question. We will be on the Magic in April and my son needs to participate in an online classroom (using Electa software if that matters) on one of our sea days. Anyone have any idea how much data that will use?