Marc Van Niekerk Posted April 30, 2018 Report Share Posted April 30, 2018 We are on the group cruise to Alaska on Explorer in June and I have a couple of questions for those who have done the same or similar itinerary. 1) Is VOOM functional / worth the price? I have heard that due to the location satellite coverage is quite inconsistent and causes outages. Being Canadian, we will need to use roaming for cellular internet which isn't a showstopper but I an trying to determine if the cost of VOOM will be worth it. 2) Does the cruise change time zones and does the ship generally follow those of the ports? When on caribbean cruises this is somewhat inconsistent and I am looking for peoples experiences on this one. Thanks in advance! Marc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeWhoWaits Posted April 30, 2018 Report Share Posted April 30, 2018 Time zone does change once (for northbound or southbound trips) or twice (for round trips) while at sea. On a one-way trip it happens the first or last night, round trips will be first and last nights. Marc Van Niekerk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitsmom Posted April 30, 2018 Report Share Posted April 30, 2018 We are doing Radiance (Northbound Alaska) in July. I have done VOOM on the Oasis with great success so I got the VOOM for Alaska. I hope it works as good as it did last summer. I was wondering about the time change also. There will be a 4 hour difference for us along with 17 hours of day-light. To say we will have "jet-lag" when we return will be an understatement for sure. Marc Van Niekerk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted May 1, 2018 Report Share Posted May 1, 2018 My Alaska ship internet experience is limited to Celebrity at the moment, until June on Explorer. Since Celebrity is part of the RCCL family I am expecting similar internet on Explorer as I had on Celebrity and I know it will not match Oasis class internet. Oasis uses O3b technology. That technology is available at +/- 50 degrees latitude. Alaska is well outside of this footprint. So far out of the footprint that even normal satellite coverage for the lower 48 is largely fringe coverage up there. On Celebrity I experienced this fringe coverage. Some times it was pretty good, some times it was pretty bad and some times it was just okay. My cell phone worked in all ports so between the two I managed just fine, but make no mistake it's not as good as the coverage in the Caribbean. Unless you are one of those who believes the earth is flat, you'll have the curvature of the earth working against you. Wilson 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Posted May 2, 2018 Report Share Posted May 2, 2018 20 hours ago, twangster said: Unless you are one of those who believes the earth is flat, you'll have the curvature of the earth working against you. What are you trying to say? Marc Van Niekerk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Van Niekerk Posted May 2, 2018 Author Report Share Posted May 2, 2018 17 minutes ago, Matt said: What are you trying to say? All around the world, the flat earth theory is catching on.... Sorry, couldn't resist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Van Niekerk Posted May 2, 2018 Author Report Share Posted May 2, 2018 20 hours ago, twangster said: My Alaska ship internet experience is limited to Celebrity at the moment, until June on Explorer. Since Celebrity is part of the RCCL family I am expecting similar internet on Explorer as I had on Celebrity and I know it will not match Oasis class internet. Oasis uses O3b technology. That technology is available at +/- 50 degrees latitude. Alaska is well outside of this footprint. So far out of the footprint that even normal satellite coverage for the lower 48 is largely fringe coverage up there. On Celebrity I experienced this fringe coverage. Some times it was pretty good, some times it was pretty bad and some times it was just okay. My cell phone worked in all ports so between the two I managed just fine, but make no mistake it's not as good as the coverage in the Caribbean. Unless you are one of those who believes the earth is flat, you'll have the curvature of the earth working against you. Thanks for the response and technical explanation of what the issues are. Very informative. I have already paid for VOOM so I will likely leave it as is. As a Canadian I will have to see what the cellular coverage is like and determine if I want to go that way as I will be charged a daily roaming fee by my provider. I do have a travel data SIM for my phone but not too sure if it is a better deal than my roaming charges which allow me to use my full data plan for $6 a day. Travel SIM is $30 for 2GB over 15 days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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