Portable Wifi for Cruises: How to Stay Connected at Sea

A cruise can be a lot of fun, but maintaining a good internet connection can be challenging. On cruise ships, internet connections rely on satellite-based internet, which is typically slow and expensive.

Then, there is the cruise ship WiFi, which often comes with limited bandwidth, which isn’t great for regular usage. However, portable WiFi devices could provide a more efficient and budget-friendly solution for staying connected on your next cruise.

Summary

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• Why Portable WiFi Hotspots Are a Better Alternative for Cruises?
• Cruises WiFi Plans Are Expensive and Slow
• A Pocket WiFi Offers a Cheaper, Faster, and More Reliable Connection
• Key Features to Look For in a Portable WiFi Device
• Tips To Stay Connected At Sea

Why Portable WiFi Hotspots Are a Better Alternative for Cruises?

Cruise lines offer guests WiFi plans, but the services are often slow and overpriced. It’s not uncommon for cruise ship passengers to complain about the quality of the internet connections available on board.

Enter pocket WiFi or MiFi. This can be used in certain situations to provide a more reliable and affordable alternative. It’s usually much better than cruise ship WiFi plans, especially once you dock.

So why should you take a pocket WiFi device on your next cruise?

Cruises WiFi Plans Are Expensive and Slow

If you’re on a cruise ship, you’ll likely have to use the satellite-powered internet connections that are available. Suppose you’re used to fast and reliable internet on land. In that case, you’ll have to get used to much slower and more expensive internet connections at sea.

Supply and demand are certainly at play here. There’s only one provider (the cruise line) and a lot of demand (every passenger who wants to connect). You can pay anywhere between $15 and $30 per day for internet.

Take Royal Caribbean’s “VOOM” WiFi. This is considered one of the fastest for cruise lines, but still costs between $20 and $25 per day. On a 7-night cruise, that would be $175. Carnival Cruise Line charges between $13 and $18, depending on your chosen package.

Even premium internet packages on cruises can struggle with bandwidth issues when far from the shore. It’s simply an unavoidable issue of sailing far away from most of the land-based internet infrastructure to which most of our devices usually connect.

A Pocket WiFi Offers a Cheaper, Faster, and More Reliable Connection

Portable WiFi hotspots offer a more reliable and faster data connection. However, this option still won’t work while you’re out at sea.

Portable WiFi hotspots like HippocketWiFi use the land-based mobile networks we mentioned earlier. Still, they’re far cheaper than the onboard options for internet access.

At port and while visiting destinations, you’ll have all the internet you could want. A reliable high-speed connection for a fraction of the price of the connections offered by the cruise lines.

HippocketWiFi offers solutions for closer to $5 per day (actual prices vary according to chosen speeds and rental periods). You could save close to $140 on a week-long cruise.

Add this to the fact that a pocket WiFi can connect multiple devices simultaneously. If you’re traveling with friends, family, or loved ones, everybody can connect their phone, tablets, and other WiFi-enabled devices to the pocket WiFi device; you pay for one device.

HippocketWifi’s 4G device can connect up to 10 devices simultaneously. The 5G devices support even more connected devices simultaneously.

Key Features to Look For in a Portable WiFi Device

If you’re thinking that pocket WiFi sounds like a pretty good solution, there are a few things that you’ll need to think about:

• Battery Life: Onboard, you won’t need to worry about battery life. You can always return to your cabin to charge your device, which will likely be unable to find a connection anyway. However, when visiting destinations on your cruise, you’ll likely be away from your cabin all day and will want your fast and stable connection to last the day.
• Number of Device Connections: Earlier, we mentioned that HippocketWiFi can connect up to 10 devices simultaneously. Other devices may offer fewer simultaneous connections, while premium devices offer more. Consider how many devices you’ll likely connect simultaneously, including smartphones, tablets, and laptop computers.
• Coverage: The coverage issue at sea is moot, but back on land, you’ll want to ensure that your pocket WiFi will connect as soon as you’re close to the shore, no matter what country you’re in. With cruises throughout the Americas, Asia, or Europe, you’ll want to look for a device that covers several regions for a seamless experience.
• Speed: WiFi speed is a crucial factor for most users. HippocketWiFi’s devices support 4G and 5G connections (depending on your chosen model). Speed is essential for making video calls, downloading large files, or streaming movies and series.
• Data Plans and Costs: Portable WiFi will likely be cheaper and faster than onboard WiFi (though not available at sea). However, you should still carefully read any provider’s terms and conditions. Ensure that you’re not going to incur costs for breaching fair use policies or exceeding data limits (if you have them).

Tips To Stay Connected At Sea

The key thing to remember is that if you choose a pocket WiFi solution, you won’t have a data connection at sea. Your connection will return as you approach the shore, and your device will connect to a land-based mobile network.

That said, you can still stay connected during your trip. Here are our best tips and advice for getting the most out of this alternative to onboard WiFi on a cruise ship:

• Download Content Before Your Cruise: When at port or before you even go on your trip, download any large files you need. Whether this is stuff for work (if you still have to do some work on your cruise) or movies and series, it’s much quicker and easier to download when using WiFi at home or a pocket WiFi connection at port or on land.
• Catch Up During Port Days: In the same way, cruise ships use ports to refuel and take onboard supplies, they use these days to take advantage of cheaper and faster internet. This is when all your high-data tasks should be done. Big downloads, sharing files, and even synchronizing cloud storage should be done when you’re at port.
• Turn Off Automatic Updates and Background Apps: If you have any data limits or just want to get as much out of your bandwidth as possible, we recommend turning off automatic updates and background apps. If you’ve been at sea for a while and your devices haven’t had a connection for some time, many apps, updates, and background tasks will all try to use your data connection when you have it. Turn unnecessary ones off to save time once you have a connection.
• Work Out the Limitations of Pocket WiFi When at Sea: As you head out to sea, your pocket WiFi will eventually be out of reach of a land-based mobile data connection and stop working. Work out when this stops working so you know when to avoid using the slow and costly ship WiFi for high-data tasks.

Be smart about how you use your pocket WiFi. Limit how much you use the internet provided by the cruise line (or avoid it altogether). This will allow you to focus on enjoying the amenities on board while at sea. Maximize your high-speed internet use when back on land to make the most of the places you can visit.