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I have booked a cruise on December 2nd 2022 leaving out of Miami for 9 nights on the grandeur of the seas. 

Does rcl have July 4 sales or other sales on their voom internet last December I paid $11.99 per day but now it is like $16 or $17 dollars a day very big jump in price. We only use it for wi fi calling what's up app.

So if you are aware of any price drops please let me know.

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There are sales every few weeks, and I'd be shocked if there wasn't a July 4 sale.

Regardless, if you want a Voom package, you should buy it now and lock in the price.

If the price goes lower on July 4th (or at any other point) you can cancel and rebook under the lower price.

But if the price goes up, you are protected.

What you paid for Voom last December is irrelevant. It has no bearing on what you may pay for it for your cruise this year.

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23 hours ago, Toby said:

Let's hope the new Starlink trials (and FCC approval) show a better internet experience than Voom!  We were not happy with it.  We have been spoiled by very good home internet service and Voom reminded me of the days of 56K modems.

We've got someone on Freedom this weekend to test out Starlink

So far, looks very promising

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On 6/23/2022 at 1:04 PM, Toby said:

Let's hope the new Starlink trials (and FCC approval) show a better internet experience than Voom!  We were not happy with it.  We have been spoiled by very good home internet service and Voom reminded me of the days of 56K modems.

In 2013 when Voom was introduced it was revolutionary.  A total game changer for cruise ship internet in an era when the internet at sea model was typically a small, expensive bucket of minutes for very slow throughput closer to 9,600 baud modems.  Along comes 4Mbps!  And no unlimited!  Connected 24 x 7!  Voom!  

In that era the average home had around 15 Mbps so getting 4 Mbps at sea was pretty outstanding.

Fast forward 9 years and while Voom has remained constant our expectations have grown substantially.  In current times the average home internet is over 200Mbps with some homes opting for gigabit speeds.  

From experiencing 1/4 of average home speed when at sea in 2013 to two percent of home speeds in 2022 that 4 Mbps speed now seems dreadful.

As a society we also consume much more video content now compared to 2013.  We have unlimited mobile plans so riding transit we can stream hours of video that we couldn't do in 2013.  Pop up ads in 2013 were still pics.  Now pop up ads are more likely to be video content which slows down a 4Mbps connection as the ad slowly loads making the situation even worse.

While we have changed over these last 9 years, Voom has not.  

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3 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

I just assumed it was some limited crew trial, not actually using it for passengers. This especially since they don't have FCC approval to do it

That's what I thought too. Then I heard last week they enabled it for guests. And it's definitely on for guests right now on Freedom.

Aint no test like in the real world

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I think Voom has been getting a bad wrap.  I fully understand that the following is my experience and only my experience, yours my be totally different.  This is just my story!

I've only cruised on Oasis and Quantum class ships and I've found Voom to be very good and reliable.  Perfect?  NOOOOOO.  But, neither is my Cable Internet Connection at home.  I've uploaded video and pics to my cloud in near equal speed as my cable and I pay for 200mbs.  I've watched @Matt live YouTube casts from various ships and I don't remember, but I haven't watched every one of them, being bad or real bad, especially on Oasis and Quantum class ships.   

Having said that, it will be nice when they fully deploy the Starlink system, if the early reviews, although somewhat mixed, of it are close to being accurate.  

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On 6/23/2022 at 10:04 AM, Toby said:

Voom reminded me of the days of 56K modems.

I wish it was the speed of 56K modems.  I just got done with a transatlantic and the Vision of the Seas it was unusable.  I am a computer programmer, and I would not get any pages to load unless we were very close to land.  I was getting up at 3 in the morning and still could not get my emails.  Out of 14 days I made them reimburse me for 10 days of non-usage.

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On 6/25/2022 at 8:01 AM, Matt said:

Go on Brilliance or Mariner of the Seas and then you'll know what we're talking about 😆

Hey @Matt I have heard that the internet on Mariner wasn’t great…… If there was something written about it in this thread I’m sorry i must have overlooked it.   Typically in our friends group we buy the internet package for one device for everyone to share, aka send update text to family.  Would you still purchase the Zoom with streaming?  Thanks as always!

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19 hours ago, Burberrybanker said:

Hey @Matt I have heard that the internet on Mariner wasn’t great…… If there was something written about it in this thread I’m sorry i must have overlooked it.   Typically in our friends group we buy the internet package for one device for everyone to share, aka send update text to family.  Would you still purchase the Zoom with streaming?  Thanks as always!

Always book the Surf and Stream package because it's overall better speed.

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I’m currently on Oasis bavk to back  and last week Surf snd stream was pretty good.  Still knocked off of it large amount of times.  This week I have surf only.  I feel like I should communicate with flags.  It’s awful.  On 3 minutes on  and I get bounced and this is only Day 3.  Constantly needing to reconnect.  The only good thing is we can text via the connection  to WiFi through the app. (Not the paid texting plan)

In fact I tried posting this , and it didn’t post.  I went to the Voom desk after dinner tonight, to complain that yet again I am continually booted and the 2 calls I was on (one in the Diamond lounge, one from my cabin) were spotty and disconnected.  There was no legitimate answer from her. I was offered an upgrade for $5 a day or a refund of my Voom package to which I inquired of getting  a free upgrade “no I am not authorized god that”.   She then suggested I just share my 2 Diamond plus days with hubby’s and ditch the package for a refund.  Well that wouldn’t solve the crap service!  So now I’m paying $15 to upgrade for the remainder of the cruise.  
I told Winnie from Voom that service on Surf was good on all my sailings since August, the reply “with the bookings being near full capacity service has slowed”.    She had no explanation as to why the continuous boot Or the inability of a WiFi call to stay connected or texts to go through (apple) Why even sell Voom….I’m looking forward to any improvement 

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