Just a few years ago, it was no big deal to go without Internet during your cruise. In fact, many passengers did (and many still do). But Internet packages have become commonplace across cruise lines. Meanwhile, as everyone lives more connected lives, the prospect of being without some sort of connection back home has less appeal.
Of course, the cruise lines are happy to provide Internet as a service on a cruise ship, for a price. Packages across lines can run from as little as $5 per day for some basic functionality to as much as $35 per day to access streaming services and more.
When it comes to Norwegian Cruise Lines, they offer a unique take on the cost of Internet on the ship. While most lines offer it as an additional charge, Norwegian has it as an additional charge, or part of a perk system with its popular “Free at Sea” sale.
With this sale, you get to pick up to six perks to include in the cost of your cruise, including things like free drinks, free specialty restaurants, and free wi-fi. In other words, you could sail on Norwegian and not have to pay extra to get online if you select the free perk.
However, not everyone selects this sale (in fact you can many times save money by foregoing it). Further, not everyone selects free wi-fi as one of the perks even if they do book the sale.
For those passengers, you’ll have to buy Internet on the ship as an additional charge. So how much does it cost?
The Cost of Internet on NCL
If you want to get online during your cruise, then you have two options. First, you can use one of the ship’s computers. There is a small Internet cafe on ships (more likely just a couple of computers) and we also found computers with online access in the game room.
These banks of computers are ideal if you only want to quickly check email and don’t want to pay for continued Internet access.
For those wanting constant access online — and on their own devices — then Norwegian also offers unlimited access of varying levels.
Take a look at the costs you can expect:
As you can see, accessing the Internet you have several choices:
- Pay-as-you-go: $0.99 per minute
- 100 minutes : $75.00
- 250 minutes: $125.00
- Unlimited Social Media (access to social media sites): $14.99 per day
- Unlimited Wi-Fi (access to the web, but no streaming): $29.99 per day
- Unlimited Premium Wi-Fi (access to streaming and VPN): $34.99 per day
Note that the unlimited packages are available for purchase up until 10 p.m. on the first day of the cruise. They also must be bought for the length of the cruise. You can’t just buy it for a single day or wait until halfway through the cruise to purchase. As well, this is the price for only one device in use at a time. If you want to share the access on multiple devices you’ll need to log out of one device and then access with the second one.
If you want to save some money and know you’ll need Internet access, then be sure to book your Internet package ahead of time via the NCL website. Doing so will save you 15% off the prices aboard the ship.
