PHOTO: Now you'll be able to have wi-fi at sea as fast as you do at home (Courtesy Royal Caribbean)
One of the biggest challenges for passengers when they are on a cruise is staying connected to work, or loved ones at home, or even relaxing and watching their favorite movies in their cabin after a long day at sea.
But sometimes, the internet speed leaves a bit to be desired and the connectivity charges can add up quite quickly.
Royal Caribbean looks to change all of this and make their passengers Internet happy with the use of VOOM, considered to be the fastest internet connection speed at sea. As of this year, VOOM will be available on all 24 of the Royal Caribbean ships.
"VOOM is revolutionizing the onboard experience for our guests as well as for our crew and it is truly a game-changer for the industry," said Michael Bayley, President and CEO, Royal Caribbean International. "Everything our guests and crew can do online at home, they will now be able to do from onboard all of our ships around the world."
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Passengers can purchase one of two Internet VOOM packages. The Surf package allows guests to surf the web, stay in touch via email, and share their Royal Caribbean vacation photos on social media for $12.99 per device per day with additional devices added at a discounted cost. For families who have five device or more, a package deal of $8.99 per device per day is available.
If you or the kids can't be without your favorite movies on the trip, the Surf and Stream package allows passengers to connect to Netflix and Spotify and stream movies and music, or call the family back home with Skype. This package is available for $17.99 per device per day. Additional streaming packages for bigger families with more devices can start as low as $11.99 per device per day.
These package deals are much more affordable compared to the per-minute offerings that cell phone providers and other cruise ships offer.
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The use of VOOM allows the Royal Caribbean to deliver more overall bandwidth fleetwide than any other cruise line. The enhancements will provide speeds at least twice as fast as before and also have enabled the cruise line to provide service at prices that are less expensive than ever before - comparable to most land-based resorts.
The internet packages are now part of Royal Caribbean's new smart cruises, which include the use of the RFID WOWBAND on their Harmony of the Seas cruise, and allows you to use your state room key card as a way to pay for dinner, drinks and souvenirs. In addition, Royal Caribbean also uses robotic bartenders.
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