A How-to Guide Part III: Internet

So you've saved up enough money for your new life at sea, chosen your preferred cruise line, and starting to book some itineraries. But how do you ACTUALLY live your life at sea? Where do you wash your clothes? How do you get your mail? Is there good internet access? Do you take your passport? In this multipart series, we'll explore the ins and outs of living on a cruise ship! Make sure to check out our other how-to guides on laundry and mail!

Internet

Staying connected at sea has gotten magnitudes better over the past few decades now that all cruise ships in the world are outfitted with faster and more reliable internet. The prices have plummeted on a per/megabyte basis but you still need to balance it with our ever-growing need of more bandwidth. Here are some tips and tricks to help you stay connected.

Wi-Fi on board

On cruises, the most convenient option is always the most expensive: Getting your Wi-fi straight from the cruise line. These days, cruise lines provide pricing based on a daily rate and may restrict what you can do based on the plan you purchase. For example, cheaper plans won't be able to stream videos while more expensive plans can. It's usually a good idea to buy a lot of offerings before sailing but it might pay to wait until you've set sail. If you happen to work for a company that wants you connected during your vacation, you should be able to expense that. For the rest of us, especially those on the ship for the long term, there are much cheaper options with their own individual tradeoffs.

Wi-Fi on land

The second easiest option to getting free Wi-Fi is to just wait until you find a free hotspot on land. Be sure to only connect to safe networks and use a VPN (see internet safety below). The cruise staff always knows the best place to get a few bars so they can communicate with those back home. You'll sometimes see a few cruise workers huddled a few hundred feet from the boat grabbing a few minutes of screen time. Some cafes and restaurants on land are known to have free Wi-Fi, like McDonalds and Starbucks. Additionally, most port terminals have free Wi-Fi these days.

Asynchronous Apps vs. Live Apps

If you don't pay up for the onboard access, be strategic in the software you use to stay connected. Some apps are known to have great syncing capabilities which come in handy when you are constantly on and off the network. We recommend these programs, amongst others, that are known to excel at syncing between online and offline activity, especially when it's just a blip here and there. WhatsApp for messaging, Dropbox for cloud storage, Google Drive for collaboration, Gmail for email, Google Maps for maps (be sure to download your maps offline), YouTube (Premium only) and Netflix (Paid) for videos, Spotify for Music (Premium only), Kindle for e-books, Audible for audiobooks, Wikipedia for encyclopedia, Google Photos for pictures, and Evernote for note taking. By no means is this list exhaustive but these apps will get you started on a path towards seamless syncing with the cloud. 

Google Fi

In 2015, Google launched Google Fi, a cell phone service that can be used is over 170 countries with incredibly simple pricing. There are currently two plans that include unlimited minutes and texts: one that starts at $20/month + $10/GB (max charge is $60) and an unlimited plan for $70/month. While there is no service on the ships, you'll be able to instantly connect as soon as the cruise docks. You don't need to worry about roaming (which we strongly discourage) with your day-to-day carrier. If you're mainly sailing between one or two countries, consider buying a local SIM card. Some phones now have two slots for SIM cards which can come in handy. However, the general industry is moving towards eSIM cards which don't require a physical card at all.

Internet Safety

The internet has become a much safer place in recent years but you should remain vigilant in the networks and sites you connect with. We recommend a VPN to mask your traffic in case your network is compromised. If you're at sea for a long time, we recommend purchasing an authentication device such as YubiKey and connecting it with compatible services. This gives you an extra layer of security for logging into sensitive sites around the world. And a good practice for everyone regardless of location (running Windows): click "Start", type in "Check for updates" and confirm your machine is up to date. 

Cloud Computing

This one is only for the very technically inclined: Cloud Computing. If you need a computer running all the time or to run network intensive processes, feel free to spin up an instance on Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, or Microsoft Azure. The cost is pennies per hour (or less!) and you can keep it running as long as want. To connect, simply SSH into the instance to get into your virtual machine. An SSH connection uses minimal bandwidth in case you are being charged per megabyte. We only recommend this for those who have the need but just know it's an option.

Using the cloud to your advantage can help you save!

The 20-Minute Hack

To our knowledge, this hack is still available on most ships on most cruise lines. The cruise lines want to interact with you through their apps for everything: dinner reservations, room service, book excursions, information kiosk, customer service, boat maps, etc. Therefore, when you try to connect to the Wi-Fi, they give you the option to download the app through the App/Play Store. When you click the link to download the app, the Wi-Fi unlocks your device to the rest of the internet for about 10-20 minutes. You can do this a couple of times a day which should be enough for most people to sync up to the outside world and go enjoy the activities onboard.

The Hacker Hack

This one definitely still works but is questionably unethical and illegal but hey, the budget is tight after ordering those drinks last night. Every cruise ship these days has a business center, a place where you can use overpriced computers and printers. We didn't even cover it here, it's rarely a good option with insane markups. You need to bring $40 worth of electronics onboard with you: a short ethernet cable, an ethernet splitter and travel router (Amazon Affiliate links). Simply unplug the ethernet cable from the business center computer, plug it into the splitter, connect one of the splits to the router, the other the computer and power the router (the one we recommend uses USB power which can also be plugged into the computer). Congrats! You now have your own hotspot on a cruise! Yeah, don't do this. But if you do and it lasts longer than 2 days, you're ahead of the game.

Conclusion

You're going on a cruise so take the time to unplug and disconnect. However, if you're on a budget or sailing for a long time, be open to alternative connections outside of the costly options provided directly by the line. With the provided options above, you're now prepared to stay connected at sea!