Many people sail away on a cruise ship in order to get away from it all: to disconnect completely, kick back, and relax. However, for an increasing number of vacationers, “getting away from it all” doesn’t mean getting away from reliable Internet access. This is especially true of the younger “Millennial” generation of cruisers who have grown up with Internet technology at their fingertips. These twentysomething customers, after all, are the future of the cruise business, according to cruise line executives.
More ocean-going passengers have voiced a desire to stay connected with friends, family, and even work while at sea. Cruise companies, of course, have been eager to upgrade ship technology to accommodate their customers’ wishes.
Earlier this month, Carnival announced a new initiative to boost Internet connectivity on ships across all of its brands’ fleets. Called WiFi@Sea, the program promises speeds up to 10 times faster than what is currently available on cruise ships. Functioning much like cell phone service, the system will use land-based communication when near shore and rely on satellites when farther out to sea. The system, which is already deployed on select ships in the Caribbean, will expand to Alaska next summer and then on to Europe and Asia by the end of 2016.
Of course, Carnival is not the only cruise company hopping aboard the bandwidth wagon. Royal Caribbean International’s (RCI) brand-new Quantum of the Seas set sail for the first time in the last few weeks, and has been hailed for its technological innovations, including ultra-fast Internet. In a partnership with Ob3 Networks, RCI has tapped into a state-of-the-art satellite system that will give passengers high-speed Internet comparable to what they might expect on shore.
The end result of cruise industry initiatives such as these will be an Internet experience that allows passengers at sea to enjoy real-time applications like FaceTime and Skype, as well as streaming services such as YouTube.
