I don’t know if you’ve heard the news yet or not, BUT Disney has upgraded the internet packages offered onboard, and it’s a HUGE improvement! I for one, am thrilled with the changes to the Disney Cruise Line internet offerings.
Starting during the summer of 2022, the Disney Cruise Line slowly started transitioning the internet available on each of its ships. Rather than having the old packages where guests paid by GB used, the new packages now have guests paying by speed provided, and 24 hour time periods.
While I loved how you got a very basic amount of internet via the old system, for me, the 50GB I got for free, as well as the 50MB my husband would get for free, were more than enough for me to survive a 3 night cruise to the Bahamas. Inevitably my husband would do an international package from Verizon that would charge him $10 to use his phone in the Bahamas for a 24 hour period, and if I really needed internet, I could always hotspot off of his phone.
But with these new packages that are now offered by DCL, neither of us bothered activating that on our last cruise.
Do you HAVE to purchase an internet package for the cruise?
Nope, you do NOT need to have Disney Cruise Line internet purchased in order to use the Disney Cruise Line Navigator app. You can have full function of the app solely by connecting your phone to the ship’s wi-fi in airplane mode.
If you need to connect to the internet for something other than using the Disney Cruise Line app, or surfing on the Disney Cruise Line website, then yes, you will need to purchase one of the three tiers of internet packages now offered on the Disney ships. Keep in mind, as of the time of this blog post, the Disney Wonder has not yet transitioned to offering the new internet packages, and only the older/ slower plans are available for purchase.
What tiers are offered?
- “Stay Connected”
- Access to select social media sites, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. (Does NOT include access to check email or read the newspaper.)
- $10/day when you purchase for the full voyage
- $12/ day when you only purchase for 24 hours
- Access to select social media sites, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. (Does NOT include access to check email or read the newspaper.)
- “Basic Surf”
- This will include the “Stay Connected” package offerings, plus, access to the web, email and voice calling.
- $20/day when you purchase for the full voyage
- $24/ day when you only purchase for 24 hours
- This will include the “Stay Connected” package offerings, plus, access to the web, email and voice calling.
- “Premium Surf”
- This will include the “Basic Surf” package offerings, plus, video on YouTube, Snapchat, and TikTok, as well as video calling and music streaming (ie, Pandora and Spotify). Video streaming is NOT available.
- $30/day when you purchase for the full voyage
- $36/day when you only purchase for 24 hours
- This will include the “Basic Surf” package offerings, plus, video on YouTube, Snapchat, and TikTok, as well as video calling and music streaming (ie, Pandora and Spotify). Video streaming is NOT available.
You pay based on 24 hour time blocks, or you can purchase them on the full voyage price, based on the specific day within the cruise that you sign up for the package. For example, if you purchase a package as soon as you get onboard, you’ll pay the full per day cost for the duration of your vacation. If you wait until midnight on the day you get onboard, voila, your cost has decreased by one day of internet.
Are you staying concierge?
Get excited because you’ll get a discount on the internet based on the type of room you’re in!
- Royal Suites and Concierge
- Royal Suites (Cat 1A): All registered Guests in the stateroom receive Premium Surf for the length of the voyage.
- 2-Bedroom Suites (Cat 1B) and 1-Bedroom Suites (Cat. 2A/2B): All registered Guests in the stateroom recieve Basic Surf for the length of the voyage.
- Concierge Staterooms (Cat 3A): All registered Guests in the stateroom receive Basic Surf for 24 hours.
Want to upgrade from the package you get with your stateroom? Don’t worry, you will be able to pay the difference from the package you have, to the package you want!
How was the speed?
Compared to how frustratingly slow the internet was on the old system, I was very happy with it. I have purchased the middle plan “basic surf” on two separate cruises, and both times, I was more or less able to connect when I wanted, and accomplish what needed to be done.
We were able to make wi-fi enabled phone calls, do online check in for a flight, log into multiple TA sites to service and create new bookings, plus log in to my husband’s remote access for his work including the separate 2 factor ID app he needed to get online. I was able to keep up my wordle streak, check the weather, message and text with friends and family at home, and place an online grocery order for when I got back home.
What I could NOT do was upload any photos to my dropbox account, stream any video or music, but again, I was on the middle plan, so I knew going in to it that I had not paid to stream during the trip.
I also found the connection to be very slow when I was in common areas with a lot of people trying to log on at the same time. Only once or twice did I have issues connecting from my stateroom when I was not trying to log on at a peak usage time (ie right before dinner).
Would you purchase it again?
When it’s all said and done, yes, I will purchase the Disney Cruise Line Internet package for future vacations. BUT I think I will limit it based on how long my voyage is, and what time of year it’s in.
If I’m only going on a 3 night sailing, over a normally slow time of year (ie, a holiday weekend), I think I will enjoy the fact that I’m totally going to disconnect and NOT be a slave to my phone and web access.
If I’m going on a 4 night sailing or longer, and I will be gone from home over multiple weekdays, I will probably buy it again. It’s not a horrible deal when you start adding multiple devices, and I liked the fact that I could send out pictures to people at home vs. only being able to text someone words as long as they also had an iPhone.
What about you? Have you experience the new Disney Cruise Line internet packages? Did you think it was an improvement over the old offerings?
Ready to sail on the Disney Cruise Line and check out the internet packages yourself? Contact me today so we can start planning! The earlier you book, the better the pricing and availability will be.
Hey, can you please tell me the total length of the cruise where you took those screenshots? I’m trying to figure out if they include Debarkation Day when they calculate the price of the “whole voyage.” I’m hoping they DON’T since you’re probably in port already when you wake up! Thank you!
Hi, yes, they do count the day you are getting off the ship. Your package is good until midnight of that day, which is great if you’re doing a back to back, but if you’re just going home, a bit of a bummer. I believe those screenshots were from a 7 night cruise. 🙂