Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

I recently went on a cruise with Royal Caribbean. The broadband service was relatively slow, but quite usable at 40 cents a minute.

In late February 2012, I went on a cruise with my wife and 16 in laws. We took a seven-day western Caribbean cruise with Royal Caribbean cruise lines. I enjoyed the cruise and the fine service provided by Royal Caribbean.

A "Writing Desk" on Deck 11 (click to enlarge)

I could review the cruise and the line and all that, but their are such reviews everywhere. Instead, I’ll write about the broadband service on the cruise ship.

• I was on the ship Voyager of the Seas.
• I pre-paid $100 dollars for the week (40 cents a minute). That gave me about 35 minutes a day online.
• The broadband was usable, but relatively slow with download speeds of 1 megabit per second.
• The Internet library was unmanned.
• I couldn’t print in the Internet library as promised. The guest relations desk, however, went out of their way to help me with printing, scanning, and faxing.
• I couldn’t find any good writing desks on the ship. The chair height and table height weren’t good for writing.
• The views, however, were excellent (see photo).
• I performed almost all the Internet-based tasks I wanted during the week.
• There are plenty of nice places on the ship to sit, browse the Internet, and write. See the photo above for one such writing places on deck 11. No, that was not in my cabin.

Recommendation:

Bring your laptop or tablet with you on Royal Caribbean. Use one of their pre-paid plans to reduce the per-minute cost of using the Internet.