Hi there!
Your experience with wifi on a Princess cruise ship may vary!
This is based on my experience and understanding!
I am just a fellow cruiser!
I once got the Princess wifi package for a 25-day cruise that was in February and March 2023.
I bought the 1-device wifi package, and it was easy to switch between devices, my phone and my laptop.
I then had Princess cruises in April and May 2023, and I did not buy wifi on either one of the cruises.
I did not get the wifi package or the day-by-day wifi.
But I did look for cruises on princess.com ð so I did use the wifi.
You can browse future cruises at princess.com for free when you are on the cruise ship! And if you know you will be taking another Princess cruise, you will want to do the future cruise deposit when you are on the cruise ship. You will get free onboard spending money.
Then I had Princess cruises in September 2023, and I did buy wifi by the day during those cruises.
ð You can get internet on a Princess cruise ship on a day-by-day basis, or you can by the Princess wifi package before your cruise begins or on the first day of your cruise.
ð Medaillion net is what the Princess cruise ship wifi is called! You will look for this in the Princess app to see how much the wifi package costs for your Princess cruise.
ð How to use wifi once you are on the cruise ship: switch to airplane mode, turn on wifi, use internet!
ð Note on the Princess daily activity schedule during an Alaska cruise on the glacier sea day of Hubbard Glacier about internet and live TV on the cruise ship: Due to the geographic position, satellite transmission may be impacted causing internet delays and/or broadcast quality issues.
You don’t need to buy the wifi to use the Princess app on the cruise ship.
But you do need to download the app before you get on the cruise ship.
You will want everyone in your family to download the app before you get on the cruise ship.
I have also read that imessage works without buying wifi if you have an iphone. I don’t have an iphone so I can’t personally confirm that though.
You can buy a wifi package for the whole cruise before you get on the cruise ship, and you can buy it individually every day of the cruise ship that you want it.
For my April 2023 cruise, I did notice that the cost to buy the wifi package before I got on the cruise ship and the cost to buy it on the day I got on the cruise ship was the same.
On a per-day basis, buying the wifi package for the whole cruise is cheaper than buying wifi individually every day.
If you skip using wifi just a few days, it might be cheaper to buy wifi day-by-day instead of buying the wifi package before you leave for your cruise.
You’ll want to calculate it out based on how many days you think you will be fine using the wifi during your cruise.
If your cruise has tons of port days, you may decide that you will be just fine using the data from your phone in port and skip getting online on the sea days on the cruise ship.
During the day on sea days will tend to be the slowest days to use the internet since lots more people will be online at once.
You can see my experience with t-mobile in Alaska cruise ports.
The cost of the wifi package on a Princess cruise ship if you buy it ahead of time is $15 a day. You would be buying wifi for every day of the cruise.
The cost of wifi on a Princess cruise ship if you buy it on a day-to-day basis is $20 a day. You will buy this once on the cruise ship on the day you want the internet.
The cost of Princess wifi can change, but this is my experience for my September cruises in 2023.
It was cheaper for the cruise that started in February.
You also have the option of buying wifi for just 1 device, or for 4 devices.
Even if you buy wifi for just 1 device, you can use it on multiple devices.
It’s just that you can only use it for one device at a time.
ð The cost of the Princess cruise ship wifi package on a 7-day cruise is $105. This means the cruise ship internet costs $15 a day. This is the Princess app for my future cruise that starts in September 2023.
ð The cost of the Princess cruise ship wifi package on a 14-day cruise is $210. This means the cruise ship internet costs $15 a day. This is the Princess app for my future cruise that starts in September 2023.
ð The cost of the Princess cruise ship wifi is $20 per day if you do not buy the wifi package. This is the Princess app when I was on a cruise that started in April 2023. I did not buy the wifi package, so instead I was given the option to buy wifi on individual days as wanted.
If you are at the loyalty level of platinum or elite, wifi is 50% off. (pdf)
If you get the Princess plus package or Princess premier package, wifi is a part of your package, so you can check that for details.
ð Is wifi included in the Princess Plus package? Yes, you get wifi for 1 device included in the Princess Plus package.
ð Is wifi included in the Princess premier package? Yes, you get wifi for 4 devices included in the Princess Premier package.
Trouble shooting: How to connect to the Princess wifi on a laptop
- Connect to the free Princess medallionnet wifi, and click where it says you might need to sign in.
- If that doesn’t get your to a screen that prompts you to the paid wifi option, type into your browser: login.com
- If that doesn’t work, type into your browser: mnet.ap.ocean.com or mnet.di.ocean.com
- If that doesn’t work, check to make sure it is not defaulting to include the https (For example, it may or may not work as https://mnet.ap.ocean.com)
- If that doesn’t work, then I recommend you go to the Ocean Front desk which is by the photo gallery. They are the medallion people. Check the hours and location for Ocean Front on the back of your Princess Patter (the paper version of the daily activity schedule). You can call guest services to ask where they are located if you’re not sure… and while you are at it, you can ask guest services for help, and maybe they can. But I feel it could be easier to just go and show the Ocean Front people your laptop so they can connect you, especially if there’s a wait at guest services.
I had trouble a couple of times getting the paid Princess wifi on my laptop.
But my troubles hopefully mean easy solutions for you if you are having trouble! (Above!)
More below about my experience with using internet on Princess cruise ships!
ð
Now of course, you also want to know…
How good is the wifi on a Princess cruise ship?
Well, individual experiences vary.
For my first cruises, the wifi on Princess cruise ships was not good enough for me to want to buy a wifi package.
But my most recent cruises have given me more inspiration to buy wifi more!
It’s September 2023, and I’m currently on a Princess cruise ship, and I have been bought wifi on many days, because I have been happy with what I have been able to do with the Princess wifi.
This was NOT the case during my first cruise!
Even at that time when I thought it was terrible, I had read a lot of online reports, and there were people who say they have generally had good wifi experiences on Princess cruise ships.
Your internet experience may or may not depend on what cruise ship you are on, where your cruise ship is sailing (aka how remote you are), and how many people on your cruise ship are using the internet at the same time as you (aka using up tons of resources making your internet slow).
And it depends on what you want to do online!
For the best chance at having “good” internet on the cruise ship, try to think of times when less people will be using the internet and use it then.
“Good” is relative on a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean!
I have read people say that they have been able to watch netflix on a Princess cruise ship.
During that first terrible internet cruise, I never did try netflix, but I tried several times to watch my CBS, NBC, and ABC shows online.
The shows would not start.
Loading… loading…
I finally gave up.
Later on in the cruise I did try again just out of curiosity, and a show did load.
But it’s not something I could count on.
That was the Diamond Princess sailing across the vast Pacific Ocean, so maybe that had something to do with it.
Also it was a transpacific cruise which means lots of sea days which maybe means lots more people are online throughout the day.
There are lots of TV shows on the stateroom TV in your cabin that you can watch if you are without internet! You can binge watch the Love Boat!
For e-mail and general web browsing, I have found the Princess wifi to be just fine.
But personally, I do not care to spend $20 a day on general web browsing.
I’ve read people say they’ve been able to do zoom meetings and video chats.
While it may work for some people, I think it’s important to also manage your expectations and not be surprised if it doesn’t work for you.
Because the cruise that I bought the wifi package on was across the vast and remote Pacific Ocean, I thought maybe it would be unfair to decide my cruise ship wifi usage based on that.
But then my experience using wifi to browse cruises on princess.com on my 7-day cruise on the Majestic Princess did not inspire confidence.
The princess.com website timed out several times.
We can make the excuse that it was also in a very remote area, because it was at sea in the Gulf of Alaska.
It was the last sea day before getting to Whittier. Sea days = more people using the internet!
But it surely didn’t make me want to buy a wifi package!
But then…
My September cruises happened!
Those were also Alaska cruises.
It was on the Grand Princess.
Overall, I am quite happy with how I’ve been able to use internet while sailing around Alaska, including the Gulf of Alaska.
There was a time that it did seem like maybe it was a little slower in one part of the Gulf of Alaska, but overall, I have been quite happy with it.
I also did watch several episodes of netflix (for research of course ðĪĢ) and I was successfully able to watch netflix.
This cruise ship is soon going to be sailing across the Pacific Ocean (and I’m staying on), so we will see how the internet will be at that time!!
Your experience may vary!
Buy Princess wifi at your own risk! ðĪŠ
How to buy the wifi for your Princess cruise
You can buy the cruise ship wifi before you board the cruise ship or once you get on the cruise.
You will look for “medallion net” in the Princess app in order to purchase cruise ship wifi!
ð If you want to buy cruise ship wifi before your cruise starts, you will look in the Princess app for “medallion net” under “ocean ready.”
And that’s a bit about internet on a Princess cruise ship!
More about getting online in ports during your cruise: t-mobile in alaska
HAPPY USING PRINCESS CRUISE SHIP WIFI!
There are partner websites included in this post. I may earn a commission.