We purchased the premium Wi-Fi package on Celebrity Cruises during our Solstice cruise, but it was practically unusable the entire journey.

View other posts in this series:

• Trip Introduction: Cruising the Last Frontier
• Review: WestJet 737-800MAX Economy Class LAX-YVR
• Superb Service and Surprisingly Good Food: The Hyatt Regency Vancouver
• Vancouver with Kids: Fun in the Great Outdoors
• Family Dining in Vancouver: The Best of What We Ate
• Review: Celebrity Solstice Alaska Cruise – Part 1 – Booking and Room
• Review: Celebrity Solstice Alaska Cruise – Part 2 – Dining
• Review: Celebrity Solstice Alaska Cruise – Part 3 – Onboard Entertainment
• Review: Celebrity Solstice Alaska Cruise – Part 4 – Ship Features
• Disappointing Wi-Fi on Celebrity Solstice (this post)
• PSA: Do Not Waste Money on Celebrity Cruises Drink Packages
• Pro Tip: Celebrity Cruises Gives Free Parking at MGM Resorts
• Icy Strait Point: A Simple Alaskan Port Town
• Skagway: A Small But Enjoyable Port
• A Brief Encounter at Dawes Glacier
• Juneau: Full of Outdoors Experiences
• Ketchikan: Home to Salmon and Lumberjacks
• Review: Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge YVR (Transborder / US Flights)
• Review: Air Canada 737-800MAX Business Class YVR-LAX

Cost of Internet

Prior to setting sail on our Celebrity Cruises journey, I had purchased the Premium Wi-Fi option from the Celebrity website when there was a sale. For our seven-night cruise, the cost came out to about $133 for one device. While I normally want to disconnect from the real world and relax on a cruise, I wanted to blog during off-hours and also respond to others at my normal day job during a critical time (I changed roles at work and the timing now conflicted with this pre-booked cruise). From the Celebrity website, the Premium Wi-Fi package sounded like the ideal option for what I needed. There were references to checking email, sharing memories, and plenty of advertising for Starlink, so how bad could it be?

Connecting to Internet

It was relatively simple to connect to the internet once onboard the ship. Just connect to the WiFi-Guest-Solstice server, and follow the prompts to access the internet. Note that if you purchased internet, do not choose the “use our app for free” option. Doing so will allow you to chat with others onboard the ship without needing to purchase internet, but it will disable your ability to come back to this screen where you can access full internet (necessitating a trip to the IT wizards at the Photo Center).

From there, choose the Premium Full Cruise option. You should then see that there is no cost for the service if you’ve pre-paid for your internet. You’ll need to create a login account in this process, but otherwise, that’s it.

Internet Speeds Onboard the Ship

Naturally, one of the first things I did was to check out what it was that I purchased. After all, I spent an average of $19/night for internet, so I wanted to make sure I get my money’s worth. But everything took forever to load, prompting me to perform a speed test that returned a download speed of 0.6 Mbps (a lackluster 10 times the speed of a 56k modem from the turn of the century). How Celebrity Cruises considers this a “premium” Wi-Fi connection, I have no idea. And, yes, I did attempt checking out the internet speeds at different times of the day (including at 3AM because I am that eager), and the speeds were consistently terrible.

Checking in with IT

As there’s no way the internet could be this miserable, I stopped by the Photo Center along with everyone else having Wi-Fi issues to have a chat with IT. They had to check over the settings of my phone to ensure it was optimal (the only thing they ended up doing was add an unnecessary shortcut on my phone to their website). Finding no problems, IT said the only other thing that could be done is reset the Wi-Fi node closest to our room. Later that day, we found a new device in our room. I’m not sure if that is admission that the speeds were indeed slow in our stateroom, or if it’s just standard procedure to give when someone complains of the speeds, but it showed up.

After getting this new node in the room, what did the speeds end up maxing out at? We got a still-very-weak 5.7 Mbps. Yes, I did try this throughout the ship and the speeds were too slow for the VPN needs on my work computer, meaning I could not do my actual day job. Normally I might think that would be a blessing, but with regulatory deadlines looming the business day after returning from the trip, this caused an exceedingly high amount of stress. Additionally, upload speeds (far slower than download speeds) meant I couldn’t upload my photos in any efficient manner, and thus I couldn’t blog either. I did try going to different places around the ship, but nothing changed–I never got more than 6 Mbps.

Final Thoughts

Don’t purchase internet from Celebrity Cruises assuming you will be able to do much when working on a laptop. Internet speeds are simply not fast enough. I was hopeful that the Starlink name would have given fast enough speeds to make it work for my needs, but that isn’t the case. I wish they would advertise expected or average internet speeds when purchasing the package so I would have known not to waste my money. Internet speeds (including the “premium” option) are really just fast enough for casual internet users, trying to play mobile games, doomscrolling on social media, or other things on your mobile device. Either way, you might need to complain to IT first if speeds are not sufficient so that a device can be placed in your room to make it functional (even basic mobile apps would not work properly in the room prior to complaining).

If the internet package is only good for mobile devices, I’d recommend instead checking with your normal cellular provider for a special cruise package. As an example, AT&T provides a cheaper internet package than the Celebrity Cruises offers directly. Verizon offers a package that could be cheaper, depending on your usage patterns. However, if you go this route, be careful about potentially amassing hefty roaming charges at foreign ports.

Have you purchased an internet package on your cruise? Did you have better luck that we had?