Hot Tip for Cruise Ship Internet and WiFi - use a Travel Router

Hot Tip for Cruise Ship Internet and WiFi - use a Travel Router


Travel Tech playlist:

Difficulty Level: Beginner
Prerequisites: basic understanding of networking

In this video we will look at using a travel router on a cruise ship so that you can have multiple devices connected at the same time.

Video timeline
00:00 intro
01:20 Travel Routers
03:20 TP-Link AC750 intro
04:41 TP-Link AC750 setup
06:45 Speed comparison between ship and home

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* DO NOT hack the ship! *
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🔨 Gear mentioned in this video:

DISCLAIMER: Links in this video description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service using one of these links, I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for watching!

#travelrouter #cruisetips #cruisehacks

[Kittysoftpaws]

This is excellent. Thank you for this. It's $39.99/day per Device on Norwegian Cruise line. I'm traveling with a 19 yr old. This will be saving us.

[mozoiboy]

Worked like a charm last cruise on Princess . Used a cell phone usb power battery brick when out of the cabin . Had enough power for 5 ish hours of usage .

[TheresaForino]

On our last cruise my husband set up his cellphone, a Google Pixel phone with VPN, as a hotspot so I conected my cellphone, a Galaxy A53, to his and as long as we were within 30 feet of each other we both had full service as long as the WiFi was working properly. At night, he would then connect his gaming laptop to play his games or watch anime. We never had any issues with all three devices on the one WiFi plan, and we didn't have to buy any extra devices that needed setting up and could only be used in the cabin.

[pianoetudes]

Use powerbank to power the router and take it anywhere in the ship

[BabylonBaller]

Just wanted to help others out here. No need for an extra device! Im on an MSC cruise to Bahamas right now. I purchased the Cheapest wifi package (Email and basic browse, no streaming) and simply turned on the VPN on my phone ( im using surf shark but others may work). Not only did the VPN allow me to get full speed internet but By turning on the Hot Spot on my phone Im also able to share that Internet with my son and my laptop. And yes, airplane mode is on so this is strictly through wifi.
So yes, they maybe ripped me off at $120 for basic wifi for 1 device for 8 days, at least they didnt screw me times three.

[DaveM-FFB]

Interesting alternative. I cruise frequently, and I have different needs. I use a Solis global 4G hotspot for wifi in 130 countries. It's tiny and portable (like a hockey puck). Just put it in a fanny pack or backpack. All my devices are connected to the local tower whenever the ship is docked (usually 6 am to 6 pm). I get much faster internet than the ship provides. Its rechargeable battery lasts all day. It supports up to 10 devices, and an unlimited global day pass is cheaper than the ship's fee for one device per day, and the data doesn't expire. Best of all, I can use it off the ship as well. There is no need to buy SIM cards in every country, since I can make calls over WiFi. The only downside is that it won't work overnight or on sea days (because it needs a cell tower). Ship activities usually keep me busy from dinner until bedtime anyway. It will test all the local networks and automatically connect to the strongest signal. I can always purchase one day of wifi from the cruise line on sea days if necessary for emergencies.

[walkerjulian]

Brilliant and very funny. Testing my wife’s patience had me in giggle.

Here is a 👍 to boost your Ego

[johnwalterc]

Just got off Royal Carb Serenade of the Sea. Paid 25$ a day for internet. It was the fastest speed I have ever used. I tested my phone by dialing my home number (wifi calling). From off the coast of Guatemala my home phone rang instantly. I can connect at home this fast. My lap top was lightning fast.

[CloudSportracer]

One perk of having a travel router is that you can always use it to connect all your devices to no matter where you go. This would include Fire sticks, echo dots, game consoles, etc. So no need to reconnect every device everywhere you go.

My experience with the TP Link is that it lacked VPN support - I bought it and returned it due to its lack of feature set. The other travel router displayed in the video was the gl.iNET Beryl. I suggest this one since it comes built with more features and especially VPN. The thought here is that your connection will always be encrypted so anyone listening on the wifi cannot see your browsing details. It supports multiple types of VPN services from many different providers - including your own VPN to home if you have it set up.

[philipbeck]

I you have an android phone (I know nothing about iphones) then you can set up a hotspot from your phone, click on network name, click on advanced setings, then scroll down to Wi-fi sharing and click On to share your phone's wifi connection iin addition to mobile data. It may ask you if you have the network's permission to do this. Yeah, who's gonna know ? Switch off mobile data first. Worked a treat on both Royal Caribbean and Princess.

[bengtbulander]

A tip is that you could bring a powerbank next time. The travel router doesn't use much power. Just keep the router and the powerbank connected in a small bag and you will have wifi everywhere on the ship. Then load the powerbank when you're back in the cabin.

[evolution]

I'm currently on Royal Caribbean "Wonder Of The Seas" ship, out in the middle of the ocean, and I have the same AX750 (TP-WR902AC) with me. Unfortunately, the ships now use a captive portal with a distinct username and password that you setup once you get onboard and connect to their Voom system. This means that your video is no longer applicable (at least on this ship and presumably the Icon Of The Seas as these are their newest ships). Specifically, the AX750 doesn't have the options to pass both a username and password authentication to their captive portal.
And as you said, the speed isn't that good to begin with, so splitting a 'barely there' internet signal isn't going to net you much improvement. So, in the same conclusion you came to, we have paid for 1 account w/ 3 devices. (As opposed to 3 accounts w/ one device, which costs a bit more for the same internet)

[jodlpxs]

Was on Princess and they give internet traffic priority by program, so Messenger is lightning fast (even in camera conferencing), Facebook the same… but like you said, regular browser surfing is very very slow…. waiting for your neighbor on Netflix to give you a chance…

[dirkaloha]

Royal Caribbean uses starlink and it has been fast for streaming. Only problem is on the older ships, the wifi ship's routers are usually in the hallways and wifi signal weakens the farther you move away from the cabin door. I was planning to bring my travel router on the next trip and I'm glad I found your post. I will probably continue to have two accounts because I like being connected while we are out and about on the ship. But, at least this method using the travel router might help by placing the travel router near the door to provide better wifi coverage within the cabin. Thanks!

[rdmriir]

i think on Celebrity (and RCL owned in general) it's faster because its on starlink. Was superfast, could not complain - i was watching my home cameras the entire time.

[MarkRobertsBlog]

Great video. I have that travel router and it never works for me. Not in any hotels at least. I'll try it on my next cruise.

[jannarkiewicz]

All modern devices can service as hotspots. On PAL flying to Manila I make my laptop a hot spot and share with my cell or my Kindle. If I have a nice seatmate, I will share with him/her. I use travel routers but for other reasons.

[richardlee]

Great, will try this next time. Even though cruise ship wifi isn’t the best, good to know you can use multiple devices on one! 👍

[inscop]

The various cruise lines should understand that we are NOT prisoners until we actually board. We have choices. For those of us for whom the internet is very important (I am one), we might have to cruise other lines that offer free wifi. It costs the ship essentially nothing. I am going on a Japan cruise in a month or so, and I am getting sim cards for all my devices. I also have a cabin that faces land, so we will see how that works out. My question for this device is: Do you log out of the device or log out of YOUR individual phones etc to not charge your account for unused minutes?

[Sky]

Ha! I used the wifi package and using voip provider in Airplane mode was able to make calls while walking around the ship