Internet on a cruise used to be an expensive luxury.
It was sold by the hour, or even by the minute, at high prices because it cost the cruise lines significant money to provide connectivity.
Even a few years ago, before Elon Musk's Starlink became the cruise industry's standard, on-board internet ranged from unusable to barely serviceable.
Royal Caribbean called its Voom package the "fastest cruise internet at sea," which may have been true, but that distinction was closer to "this is the most edible item on a $7.99 buffet" rather than a true statement of quality.
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In the era of Starlink, a product of Musk's SpaceX brand, it's fair to say that the reliability bar for internet services has moved up to decent.
Your experience will vary based on where you are on the ship and how many people are using the internet. At mid-afternoon on a sea day, when lots of passengers are watching YouTube videos or trying to post their own, the service can suffer. But generally Starlink has been a massive improvement.
Carnival Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean both have completed the rollout of Starlink across their fleets, but neither has created a new internet product aimed at business travelers.
Carnival's Princess Cruises, however, has tried to fill that niche.
Image source: Princess Cruises.
Princess Cruises eyes business internet users
More Americans have work-from-home jobs than at any time in history. In addition, the line between work and home has blurred. Many people need to stay connected even when they go on vacation.
Some passengers, of course, don't travel with a laptop or tablet and lock their phone in the safe as soon as they get on board. Another large group likes to stay connected, but they're using the internet for social media and entertainment.
A growing third group, however, does at least some work when they're on a cruise ship. That can be frustrating because while internet service has improved, it's still nowhere close to the experience you get in pretty much any coffee shop on land.
Princess Cruises has decided to go after the work-at-sea audience with a new premium internet product.
The cruise line, which calls itself "the world's most iconic cruise brand," has launched MedallionNet Max, "a new level of onboard Wi-Fi service that will meet the growing demands of today’s intensively digitally connected travelers."
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Princess Cruises offers new premium internet
The cruise line did not specify people working while cruising, Instead, it said that MedallionNet Max was an effort to continue to expand the market for cruise vacations.
"Since 2018, Princess has led the industry on high-performance, onboard Wi-Fi aggressively adopting service new satellite constellations, including a Wi-Fi access point in every stateroom on every ship and ensuring that Wi-Fi service access is simple and hassle-free," the cruise line says on its website.
"Princess is the only cruise operator that has adopted every source of bandwidth spanning the globally deployed fleet including LEO (Starlink), MEO, GEO satellite constellations as well as 5G terrestrial."
Princess now offers two tiers of Wi-Fi service — MedallionNet Classic and MedallionNet Max.
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"MedallionNet Classic will offer the same service performance, reliability, and global coverage that Princess guests enjoy today. MedallionNet Max will now be the highest-performing service tier with prioritized access to the highest quality and highest performance bandwidth available anywhere in the world which is typically Starlink," it added.
The new service will be available exclusively in Princess Plus and Princess Premier packages, bundles that include a beverage package, complimentary room service, crew gratuities, and other perks.
Princess Cruises did not make any specific speed promises for MedallionNet Max, which will not be offered on an a la carte basis.
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