We love to travel, especially via cruise ships. And while we like to take a break from work as much as this next person, we cannot completely “go dark” from work, clients and family members for a week or two when we cruise.
We know we are not alone with this challenge. Much of the professional working world today requires the ability to stay in touch, somewhat, even when on vacation.
Internet connectivity has been available at sea on cruise ships for at least 10 years. Yet, too often, it is overpriced and performs poorly.
Some cruise lines and some ships (particularly newer ones, with advanced technology) have made great strides in providing better internet access at sea. Royal Caribbean’s Oasis and Allure ships, currently the two largest cruise ships in the world, come to mind.
In general, however, there is still much room for improvement.
That’s why we were excited to see a new “unlimited” minutes option on our March 1st 7-Day Western Caribbean cruise on Holland America’s Nieuw Amsterdam.
On the March 1 sailing of the Nieuw Amsterdam, the unlimited price was $250 for a 7-day cruise. We considered this a very high price for 1 device-at-a-time for 7 days, but we bought it anyway. If you wanted to pay by the minute, that was still an option:
-pay as you go, $.79/minute
-200 minutes/$99
-400 minutes/$159
-600 minutes/$199
-unlimited (one device/ 1 log-in at a time) $250 for 7 days.
On an “Unlimited minutes” plan, you don’t have to worry about logging out, although the system will log you off when you’ve been inactive for too long. (It’s no big deal to log back in when you are ready to check your email, etc.)
We used our plan on our iPhones, iPads and computers without an issue most of the time during our cruise. (The internet was down two times when we were trying to use it.) With the unlimited plan, you may only log in on one device at a time.
One of the biggest issues that we’ve found for Pay-As-You-Go or by-the-minute package plans is that it is often difficult to log out, and to know that you are logged out. If the internet connection is lost, as can happen frequently on some cruises, you are not logged out when it comes back up, and those precious minutes are ticking away. Then you have to go and find the internet supervisor, and have a discussion about how yes, you did log out, and you did not use those minutes. (They can tell if there was activity on the account or not.) But that is an unpleasant, time-wasting, pain when you are on vacation.
The “unlimited minutes” plans also seem better for the cruise line/internet provider, in that they do not need a dedicated staff person on board to deal with that problem.
We noted that on Holland America’s Nieuw Amsterdam, the librarian was the internet contact, which used to be a separate staffer.
This slip of paper (pictured above) is given out in attempt to answer frequently asked questions about accessing the internet.
It appears that Holland America Line is testing the “Unlimited Minutes” plan rate.
Moriah reported on Cruise Critic that the 7-Day Unlimited Minutes plan is currently $99 on Holland America’s Westerdam. Another cruise guest reported an “Unlimited” minutes plan for 11 days for $150 on the Zuiderdam.
Hopefully, many more Holland America guests will buy the “Unlimited” plan at $99 than at $250, and the price will “right” itself.
Of course, if too many people are on the system at the same time without enough bandwidth, it will be slow for everyone trying to use it.
We believe that if cruise lines want to attract a wider cruising customer base, then offering high-quality, reasonably-priced Wi-Fi is essential.
Check out these other posts from our recent cruise on Holland America’s Nieuw Amsterdam:
- The Cabana Club on Holland America’s Nieuw Amsterdam
- A Look at the Dim Sum Lunch in Holland America’s Tamarind Restaurant
- A Look Inside a Verandah Stateroom on Holland America’s Nieuw Amsterdam Cruise Ship
- Views from Half Moon Cay, Bahamas
- An Updated Look at Holland America’s Canaletto Restaurant Menu
- The B.B. King Blue’s Club on Holland America’s Nieuw Amsterdam
- The Updated Menu for An Evening at Le Cirque on Holland America Cruises
- An Update on the Signature Beverage Package on Holland America Cruises
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