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For a little bit more bang for your buck, the benefits of the Basic Surf plan include the capability to access email, surf the web, send and receive photos, and check the weather. Of course, you can also access all your favorite social media sites. Using the app is complimentary to all guests regardless of whether or not you purchase an internet package. Disney Cruise Line’s transition to usage type based internet plans over per megabyte (MB) is nearly complete. In this article I will share an overview of the plans, my thoughts, and answer some of your questions about the usage type internet offerings based on two sailings aboard the Disney Wish. Hello, I'm Alison a Disney Cruise and Travel Blogger with over 40 cruises and more than 30 years of Disney travel experience.
Updated Pricing for Onboard Internet Packages
If you drop your child off at a kids club, you need to have a way to be contacted and the wave phone is a perfect choice. Plus, this saves on any Disney cruise wifi you may have purchased. Disney provides each stateroom with wave phones that can be used onboard or at Castaway Cay.
Disney Cruise Stay Connected Plan Cost
I gladly check bags on a plane just so I can feel lighter and not have to deal with carrying anything in the airport. There is a $250 fee that will be charged to your stateroom if it’s not turned in on debarkation day. This is yet another option of how to stay in touch with members of your party, especially if you don’t have an iPhone that can utilize the free iMessaging. Use this time to your advantage if you are just shopping around in the port and have a few moments to use their internet. The Navigator app tells you everything about your cruise. From where you are having dinner that night to where you can find Disney character appearances.
Premium Surf Package – Best Overall Value
Just remember you can only use it at a port (in a participating country) and not when at sea. Your cell phone provider can let you know which countries are part of this program. You’ll need to have it activated on your phone before using it. Multiple-device plans are also offered; choosing one of these will save you a bit of money versus the cost of purchasing two separate plans. If you want to truly unplug during your cruise vacation, the WiFi access you get through the Navigator app may be all the internet you need during your Disney cruise. The app is powered by a free WiFi network (DCL-GUEST) that’s only available onboard the ship.
Premium Surf
Do cruise ships have Wi-Fi? A line-by-line guide to internet access at sea - The Points Guy
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We do this for every trip, especially traveling to international ports. However, beware that making calls or texting at sea through your cell provider will likely incur additional charges for international roaming. It's wise to check with your service provider about rates if you don’t like surprises.
My Thoughts on the Internet Plans
I was usually able to load web pages, if I was patient for long enough. I successfully read almost the entire Saturday Six that posted before our sailing. I could go seek out the “lite” version of CNN if I felt like news was important. I could use google to search for trivia answers (I kid, I kid) or whatever else I needed to know, if I could wait the 30 seconds it would take to load. Ok, this just may be me, but I hate carrying around things.
If I’m going on a 4 night sailing or longer, and I will be gone from home over multiple weekdays, I will probably buy it again. When it’s all said and done, yes, I will purchase the Disney Cruise Line Internet package for future vacations. BUT I think I will limit it based on how long my voyage is, and what time of year it’s in. I also found the connection to be very slow when I was in common areas with a lot of people trying to log on at the same time. Only once or twice did I have issues connecting from my stateroom when I was not trying to log on at a peak usage time (ie right before dinner).
Simply tap the ‘i’ next to DCL-GUEST in your wifi settings and click the slider for the low-data mode. The Navigator app still works on this island, though, so you can stay up to date on what’s happening throughout the day. This enabled me to keep in touch with family and friends back home without using any data as most of them have iPhones. Pictures, however, would not send nor could they be received. In addition, there is a chat feature that lets you text anyone once you have their chat id. Truthfully, this is a little clunky, but once it’s set up, it does work.
Do you HAVE to purchase an internet package for the cruise?
The desire for, or necessity of internet connectivity on a vacation, specifically a cruise vacation, is HIGHLY SUBJECTIVE, and depends a number of external and personal factors. There are folks who take vacations and disconnect, some want to remain reachable by friends and family at home, some want to share their trip on social media. Then there are some, like it or not, which have responsibilities that necessitate going online for work or school. Thankfully, there are plans plans available to satisfy everyone from NO INTERNET to Premium Surf. The highest internet Disney cruise WiFi plan gives you all the access included in the Stay Connected and Basic Surf plans (with faster connection speeds).
Teams connectivity had a slightly better success rate, because it refreshed appropriately about 75% of the time. And Slack almost always kept itself updated, but really struggled with marking things as “read”. If you know anything about internet connectivity, you know that those results are really sad. And this was the best speed I got the entire length of the cruise. Immediately I knew that most of my checklist was going to be pointless, and I questioned how the other packages would function at all if this was the speed they were giving the premium users. I expected that there would be a similar price break for connecting with multiple devices compared to having individual log-ins for each device.
Furthermore, the premium surf tier was provided to me for the duration of the Christening Cruise aboard the Disney Wish. I paid for the plan for the duration of the Maiden Voyage. When selecting a plan tier, you are presented with a per cruise voyage price, or 24-hour a-la-carte price. Additionally, you can select the number of concurrent devices you wish to connect using the selected plan. More on this later, but you can login and logout of the plan on multiple devices, the device option is currently only limited to concurrent device usage.
Actually, you can get 50MB of Disney Cruise Line wifi for free. There is a catch, you have to claim this data before midnight on embarkation day (your first day on the ship). It’s up to you how much you need, or want, to remain connected.
If you have not already done so, be sure to download the Disney Cruise Line Navigator app and log in on your mobile device before your cruise. If you’re boarding the ship from Port Canaveral, we know from experience that there is Wi-Fi in the port that you can access while waiting to board the ship. You can also access the Navigator app while you wait to book things as if you are onboard.
Otherwise, you’ll save money by getting an entire length of cruise package rather than purchasing daily individual 24-hour packages. There are three levels of packages on the Disney Cruise Line. These are the Stay Connected, the Basic Surf, and the Premium Surf.
Take heart, Connect at Sea allows you to plug into your Disney cruise wifi. Here are some important details along with how to use it. In order to use this method, simply put your iPhone in airplane mode and turn on the Wi-Fi. When you send messages to another iPhone, you should not (in theory) be charged for internet usage.
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