My problem with the current internet situation is my ability to be accessible to my family when I cruise. I cruise without my husband and sons at least once every year, sometimes more. I need to be accessible to them. If you think the emergency contact provided in the back of your cruise booklet is reliable, think again. Last year a situation came up where hubby was desperately trying to contact me on an at-sea day. He started calling the number & all DCL numbers he could find around noon. He finally spoke with me at 9 pm. Over $100 in charges on our credit card, I think maybe closer to $200 but I could be wrong. You know, they require a credit card number when you call that emergency number, right? If I had internet accessible throughout that day he could’ve simply messaged me and I could’ve FaceTime called him. The entire situation that went down (without going into detail) would’ve been entirely different had I been reachable that day. What happened that day has effected our lives since and will for quite some time to come...and not in a good way. At the very LEAST it’s a lot of $$ that could’ve funded more travel, when I think about it. THIS is why I’d like to have better internet options.
I had purchased internet access on the cruise last year. I couldn’t figure out for the life of me how my phone was in airplane mode with WiFi off then I’d sign back into the WiFi and half my data vanished. You can’t just stay sitting on the WiFi connection. It’ll all be gone in a short time. I took my phone to the internet desk person, they changed all the settings, restored data on the package for me twice, rechecked my phone twice, and still the data magically vanished without me using it at all. It was crazy. The 3rd time I ran out of purchased internet access I figured enough. It’s only 1 more day. Well, that 1 day was THE day I needed it.
Sometimes being in touch is imperative. I know since that happened last year I stress a lot more than I ever have before when I’m out of touch with home. I’m never 100% relaxed. Every port or opportunity to access cellular I use my AT&T international plan to check in at home. I’m even considering getting a satellite phone at this point...but those won’t receive a signal unless you’re outside.
Royal introduced VOOM on newer ships starting a few years back. They’ve since retrofitted it onto some of their other ships so its obviously a profitable thing to do. The ships they’ve made this possible on during construction and retrofits are larger with more guests than what Disney’s ships have and it works. It’s not impossible. You can’t really say Disney wants a captive audience and don’t want people on devices. I mean, hello - My Disney Experience. They’ve developed the onboard app for the ships and continues to upgrade and improve that. There’s no reason not to make decent streaming WiFi available onboard. For me? The sooner the better. Can’t happen soon enough. Here’s my money. Charge me daily. Take my money. The peace of mind would be so worthwhile.