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The internet on this cruise was terrible. It was so bad that even the comedians were making jokes about it. Many people requested and received a full or partial refund.
I've been on a number of cruises over the past two years and the internet has been fine on those cruises, even on our Panama Canal and Transatlantic cruises. The speed on those cruises was not as fast as what you are used to at home or work but it was way faster than the old dial-up speeds. I'd compare it to the speed of the old DSL service if you remember what that was like. The speed was good enought to place phone calls over WiFi and to even stream YouTube and live radio.
On this cruise on the Splendor Carnival, however, the speed was way slower than dial-up even when the internet was working at all. The internet did work while we were in each port, though very slow. While out at sea the internet was extremely unreliable and often did not work at all. For much of the journey we couldn't even get any live TV on the ship provided TV set in each stateroom! I assume this is because the TV and the internet both rely on the same generation of satellite technoloy which seems to be outdated on this ship.
The Carnival Hub App did always work perfectly throughout the ship. The Carnival Hub App only needs to access the local computer servers on the ship. It does not have to use the satellite provided internet to work and thus works fine even when the internet is not working at all. Using an App that I have on my smart phone I was able to see that the ship is saturated with WiFi hot spots everywhere. This is what allows the Carnival App to work everywhere on this ship, even in your stateroom. If the satellite internet was working properly you would be able to access the web from anywhere on the ship using your smart phone, computer or tablet.
Even though the internet provided by the Carnival ship usually worked while in port, I found I could get much better speed by turning my smart phone into my personal hotspot. While in port I would turn off Airplane Mode, turn off WiFi, and turn on my personal hotspot to use the data feature of my cell phone plan. I have a T-mobile plan that allows me free voice, text, and data almost everywehre in the world. As soon as I pick up cell service in a country, T-mobile always sends me a text welcoming me to that country and telling me to not worry about using voice, text and data as it is all free under my plan. I don't think I've yet gone to any country where I didn't get this welcoming message. The internet speed over the T-mobile hot spot was like 100 times faster than the internet speed provided by Carnival, even when in port. I was able to upload dozens of photos from my smart phone to the internet in just a few minutes. In all the days I had been connected to the Carnival internet I had only been able to upload a handful of photos using that internet service.
My Suggestion To Carnival: Get the internet and TV satellite equipment upgraded as soon as possible. Don't wait until this ship goes into dry dock in Singapore in October 2019. My wife and I and many others are going to be on the Transpacific Cruise of the Carnival Splendor from Long Beach, California, to Singapore. It is going to be really bad if we have to go without adequate or reliable internet or live TV for most of the 24 days of that cruise. If you are on that cruise also, I would suggest you call your Carnival agent, your travel agent, and call all Carnival executives or Carnival Board Members that you can reach. Carnival really has to be flooded with complaints and concerns that the internet be fixed BEFORE its 24 day Transpacific journey.
I think this is a problem that can be fixed without needing the facilities of a dry dock for 2 months. I'm pretty sure the satellite and internet equipment can be upgraded right on board the ship at any port. The only problem is that this ship might be in constant service every day from now until its Transpacific cruise. It may be difficult to upgrade the equipment during the short few hours the ship spends in port between each cruise. Carnival would have to find some installation technicians willing to do the job while on a short free cruise.
I'll have more suggestions later but right now the upgrade of the internet mentioned above is the most important one.
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