Several years ago I had the chance to help bring a 37-foot sailboat back to Los Angeles from Honolulu. As we neared the coast of California, a giant cruise ship passed us in the middle of the night. We had been eating our own cooking for about 2 weeks and not really had the chance to shower. Even though the ship never got closer than a few miles away, it was lit up like a Christmas tree and we could smell the wonderful food on board. Since then I have wanted to do a cruise but worried about all the weight I would gain from a multi-day eat-a-thon.
This year I decided that my wife and I should try to do a cruise. We looked for the shortest and easiest one available just in case we didn't like it. On Friday we flew to Los Angeles and caught an Uber to the Long Beach terminal where we easily boarded the cruise ship: Carnival Radiance. In doing my research I learned that you should make the upgrade to a balcony room if you can afford it, so we did. Then we toured our weekend home waiting for the ship to leave port.
Having never been on a cruise, I didn't know what to expect. No matter how much research I did, I still had questions and so I just waited to get on board to see what the experience would be like. One big question I had revolved around Internet connectivity. We would be sailing over the weekend and being disconnected didn't bother me. Up to 2 days before boarding the ship I had the option of purchasing a discounted Internet package but I didn't think I would need it. Instead I would rely on my mobile phone. It worked well while in port and I could take care of any late-Friday e-mails.
Carnival Cruise line has an app for your phone that they recommended be installed before boarding the ship and so we did. When we got to our room, we connected to the ship's WiFi and let the app know we boarded. It then became our go-to source for information about our cruise. As we left port, I put my phone into airplane mode but kept the WiFi connected as instructed. It didn't take long to realize I could still receive text messages. That allowed me to keep up with family comments even outside the sight of land. In reality that is the only connection I needed during the weekend trip.
On Saturday I sat down next to the pool and saw a couple watching a large smartphone. Naturally I asked about it. They purchased a day-use Internet package so they could watch their favorite college football team play. Carnival has 3 levels of Internet speed you can purchase: Basic, Mid-Level, and Fast-Enough-for-Video-Calls. I'm not sure which package this couple got but it was not fast enough to stream a live football game. I'm glad I didn't need to try and work while on vacation as I am not sure the Internet speeds would have been fast enough for me.
On Sunday we arrived in Ensenada, Mexico and I just took my phone out of airplane mode. T-Mobile immediately sent me a text welcoming me to a new country and telling me that I had free 5GB of data per month along with unlimited calling and texting while in Mexico or Canada. I used my phone to navigate the city and catch up with my kids and their families via FaceTime and phone calls. Once the ship left port, my phone went back into airplane mode.
The Internet connection allowing me to send and receive text messages worked sufficiently well that it is all I needed on my weekend cruise. I think if I had gone for a longer time, I might have purchased a basic package to read my e-mail and stay abreast of important work events. For this vacation, it would have been overkill.
