Is Voom Worth it for Diamond?

[baltodave]

My wife and I are both "Diamond" and trying to figure out if it's worth it to prepay for Voom Internet for our 2 upcoming 8-night cruises.  Both cruises are out of Florida and they each stop at Perfect Day.  I know that one of the perks of Diamond is 1 free day of Voom so I'm trying to figure out if it makes sense to prepay for it ahead of time or get in on the ship (to take advantage of the free day for Diamond C&A members). 

Thoughts?

[smokeybandit]

The free day is technically a credit towards onboard internet purchases. If you want internet every day, it'll always be cheaper on longer cruise to just pre-purchase a package.

[FionaMG]

At diamond level, on an 8-night cruise it is definitely cheaper to buy ahead of time if you need to be connected for the whole cruise. This does not prevent from using your free diamond days on board. What DH and I do is get 1-device package ahead of time (which I mostly monopolise) and then he uses the two free days on sea days. They don't need to be used consecutively and you will need to visit the voom person on board to get the day belonging to the "package owner" switched over to the other person, as the package prevents you from accessing it unaided.

[Ampurp85]

If you need the internet and the cruise is over 5N, then the pre-purchased price will always be a better deal. Its only one day or $29.99, the cost of one day on board, off. 

[Traveling Mike]

You need to ask yourself... how much do I need internet.  I just got off a 4-day cruise.  The first day we had our phone most of the day.  We used one day on our second day that was a sea day.  The third day was a port day, and we used our phones most of the day in port.  We used our second fee day on our fourth day and the fifth day we went home.  

Now on an 8-day cruise what do you need internet for?  Do you want to be disconnected?  How many ports are on your cruise?

Now remember you have one free day, and your wife has one free day.  

Now with all that said... I almost always pre-purchase internet for my entire cruise because I work while on the ship.  I use my free day for friends and family that are with me.

[Matt]

For an 8-night cruise, you're better off prepaying.

There's an old thread where @twangster did the math, and only on 3 or 4 (and maybe 5?) night cruises are you better off waiting to book onboard with the Diamond discount

[twangster]

It depends on your needs and the itinerary.

Some people have cell plans that include many foreign destinations.  Mexico is commonly included for US cell phone plans, some cell carriers include most common cruise destinations while other cell providers offer reasonable international plans.  

Some people just want to check in with the baby or dog sitter every few days.

Some people want to be connected 24 x 7 every day.  

There is no wrong way to be connected, or not, while cruising.  It all depends on you.  

[Crown&AnchorEsq]

+1 to @twangster Check your current coverage or how much it would cost to get data coverage for your port days.  St. Thomas, Mexico and Canada are covered by most at&t, tmobile and sprint plans (check your contract/plan before going nuts though) Almost everyone, including verizon has a $5-10/per day pass/plan that you can buy that will get you coverage just about everywhere else (on land).That really just leaves your sea days.  If you can share a device with your wife that probably means you have maybe 0-2 days where you may not have any internet.  If you have back to back sea-days you can soften that a bit further by starting your 24 hour diamond clock mid-day so it carries part way through the next.  

[whitsmom]

We are cruise our First "Diamond" cruise in October (10 night) so we will do the VOOM.  Since we own our own business, we need to be available at all times.  Honestly, I would probably still want it even when we retire (2ish years from now). 

[Mike.s]

1 hour ago, twangster said:

It depends on your needs and the itinerary.

Some people have cell plans that include many foreign destinations.  Mexico is commonly included for US cell phone plans, some cell carriers include most common cruise destinations while other cell providers offer reasonable international plans.  

Some people just want to check in with the baby or dog sitter every few days.

Some people want to be connected 24 x 7 every day.  

There is no wrong way to be connected, or not, while cruising.  It all depends on you.  

Spot on, we're on a 7 night Adriatic cruise next month with 2 sea days. We'll share our free diamond day on those days and use our European roaming on each of the port days, no need for a wi-fi package, it's saved us enough for a couple of excurisons.