Which cruise lines offer the best WiFi at sea? Frontier Communications reached out to 20 cruise lines to find out which one offered the best WiFi on their cruise ships. This study included emails, phones calls, and tweets recorded over the course of 3 weeks.
The ranking for regular users compared the speeds and prices needed for daily access to social media on a 5 day cruise, or for one hour per day where daily rates were not available. Price was valued over speed. Here is a list of rankings that were ordered by comparing which cruise lines offered the easiest social media access and highest photo-sharing speeds for the best prices.
The top 10 cruise lines with the best WiFi for social media access prioritized by cost:
- Viking Ocean Cruises
- Regent Seven Seas Cruises
- Hapag-Lloyd Cruises
- Silversea Cruises
- Crystal Cruises
- Carnival Cruise Line
- Seabourn Cruise Line
- Royal Caribbean
- Azamara Club Cruises
- Disney Cruise Line
The ranking for business users compared the speeds and prices needed for daily video streaming on a 5 day cruise, or for 4 hours per day where daily rates were not available. Where 5 day prices were not available, 7 day prices were used. Speed was valued over price.
The top 10 cruise lines for streaming voice and video on their cruise ships prioritized by speeds are:
- Viking Ocean Cruises
- Azamara Club Cruises
- Regent Seven Seas Cruises
- Disney Cruise Line
- Seabourn Cruise Line
- Carnival Cruise Line
- Hapag-Lloyd Cruises
- Royal Caribbean
- Silversea Cruises
- Crystal Cruises
Speeds were based on information provided by each company, respectively. Actual Wi-Fi speeds will vary by many factors, including but not limited to weather conditions and cruise ship locations.
Note: The 11 cruise lines included in this study are those that both responded to inquiries and provided all of the requested information. Of the 20 cruise lines originally included in the outreach process, only 17 responded. Of those responses, 6 offered internet pricing plans but would not provide any specific speed information. The complete study can be seen here.
What about Princess? We did a 49 day cruise on the Royal Princess around the horn of South America and had AWESOME high-speed internet all the way capable of FaceTime, video and everything. Why don’t you even have Princess in your evaluation?