Cruise ship wifi: how it works and what it costs

A ship's internet comes from satellites, is shared between several thousand people, and is sold per device for the voyage. Joining the ship's own network is usually free; getting it to carry you out to the internet is the part you pay for. That distinction is where most of the money is wasted.

Two different things, both called "the wifi"

This is the single most useful thing on this page.

The ship's network is free to join on nearly every line. It runs the line's own app or web page — the daily programme, dining and theatre bookings, virtual queues, your onboard account — and on several lines it carries guest-to-guest chat as well. None of that touches the internet, so none of it costs anything.

The internet is the satellite link out to the rest of the world. That is the package. What is genuinely free, and where people miss it.

Why it behaves the way it does

• It comes from space. Older systems sit 36,000 km up and add a delay that makes calls awkward. Newer low-orbit services fixed most of that. What Starlink actually changed.
• It is shared. A big ship is a small town on one connection. Mornings and port days are fine; evenings and sea days are not. The three reasons it feels slow.
• It is sold per device. Not per cabin, not per booking. This is the detail that decides what a family pays.

The mistake that costs the most

A family of four buys four packages, and spends most of them messaging each other. Every one of those messages goes up to a satellite and back down to reach somebody two decks away.

Almost everyone needs one package — for whoever might genuinely be needed at home — and something local for reaching each other onboard. Worked through by what you actually need it for.

Before buying anything, check whether your fare or loyalty tier already includes a package. A great many do, and people buy a second one without realising.

The detail, page by page

Only P&O has a page of its own so far. The rest answer the questions that apply whatever line you are on, because the arrangement is broadly the same across all of them.

• P&O Cruises wifi: the cost, and what you can skipWhat P&O charges, in tiers, per device.
• Cruise ship roaming charges: how the big bills happenHow phones run up bills in a pocket, untouched.
• Do eSIMs work on a cruise ship?Brilliant in port. Useless at sea, whatever the seller says.
• Is there free wifi on a cruise ship?The free network, and the internet that is not. Where people miss it.
• Is cruise ship wifi worth it?Four reasons people buy it. Only two of them hold up.
• Starlink on cruise ships: what actually changedLow-orbit satellites fixed the delay. They did not make it free.
• Airplane mode on a cruise: what still worksThe one setting that prevents all of it, and what you keep.
• Why is cruise ship wifi so slow?Three causes, and only one of them is the cruise line's.
• MSC Cruises wifi: how the packages actually workOne device at a time, but you can switch. And the price is hidden until you book.

Keep the phone in airplane mode

Separately from the wifi, your phone can find the ship's own mobile mast and bill you maritime roaming without being touched. Airplane mode stops it, and you can switch wifi back on by itself. How, and what still works. Why the bills happen.

The thing you should not buy wifi for

Finding your own family. CruiseLink passes messages straight between the phones in your group over Bluetooth and the ship's local network — no package, no account, free, and it works in airplane mode.

It reaches only the group you set up, everyone needs it installed before you sail, and a message travels when phones come near enough rather than instantly across a whole ship. For "we've got a table, come up", that is enough, and it costs nothing.

Get CruiseLink

Free, no account, nothing to set up beyond your group. On iPhone and Android, and the two work together.