Cruise-ship passengers' expectations change over time.
A cruise used to be an escape from the world, where it was accepted that communication with anyone left at home would be minimal. In fact, not all that long ago using a cellphone at sea was impossible, and service in ports was unreliable and expensive.
For the past few years, cruise-line passengers have demanded more. Parents want to stay in touch with kids who aren't cruising with them, people want to be able to use their phones as they do on land, and some people even work from cruise ships.
All these have been enabled as the cruise lines have offered internet packages. In a broad sense, Royal Caribbean Group (RCL) and Carnival Cruise Line's (CCL) various brands sell internet packages. Generally, but varying by both company and brand, these packages are sold on a per-day, per-device basis.
Prices for these services have been relatively stable because the cruise lines know that onboard internet ranges from decent to useless. Royal Caribbean calls its Voom service the "fastest internet at sea," but that's sort of like having the best gas station sushi or being the best basketball player in the Ivy League -- it's relative.
Now, Carnival and Royal Caribbean have taken steps to improve their internet speeds with Royal Caribbean adding Starlink on its namesake brand and Celebrity and Carnival making its own efforts to improve speeds as well.
So far, those changes have not come with price increases, but a recent move by Carnival's Princess line suggests that that won't be the case for long.
Shutterstock
Carnival's Princess Posts Huge Internet Price Increase
Carnival's Princess line caters to an older clientele compared with the family audience served by the company's namesake brand. The line has generally been considered to offer higher-quality internet than most cruise lines, but it's possible that was a function of demand.
Older passengers may have purchased internet less often and used it less when they logged in. That has likely changed over time as smartphones have become ubiquitous and work/vacation barriers have eroded, making internet more essential for more people.
No matter the reason, Carnival's Princess line has decided to dramatically lift its WiFi prices.
"Currently costing just $9.99 per day for the single-device plan, which can be used for 24 hours of unlimited use, guests will pay $15 per day from Feb. 20. That means a massive $50 extra for a 10-day cruise," CruiseHive reported.
And passengers buying a four-device plan will see a proportionally bigger price hike.
"The most significant price increase is for the four-device plan. Currently costing just $14.99 per day, the new price will go up to $40 per plan. For one cabin, the price difference is a staggering $250 for a 10-day cruise," the website reported.
Princess customers can escape the increase by buying a bundled fare that includes WiFi. Those fares often, but not always, come with a significant discount over the a la carte price.
Carnival and Royal Caribbean May Follow
Royal Caribbean has begun adding Elon Musk's SpaceX's Starlink internet to all ships in its namesake and Celebrity fleets.
The service has been deployed on select ships and the company is still using the Voom brand name. The cruise line has not increased prices despite the new service generally performing much faster than one it is replacing.
Carnival has opted not to install Starlink, but it has taken steps to improve its internet offering, according to Vice President Luis Terife, Cruise Industry News reported.
“We have seen a significant increase in guest utilization, across the board, but especially with a higher emphasis on our premium plans,” he said. “We are adjusting to guest-usage patterns by allowing a more balanced upload versus download experience.”
Better experiences generally involve higher prices. In a broad sense, the cruise industry tends to be a copycat business, where one brand doing something leads others to follow. We saw that recently as a wave of cruise lines followed each other in raising onboard daily-gratuity prices.
Carnival may effectively be sending out a test by raising prices on Princess. If customers don't balk, higher WiFi prices are likely to follow on other brands.
Royal Caribbean has not said much about its Starlink rollout and may be waiting until it's complete to disclose any pricing changes.
It's also possible, albeit not that likely, that since Starlink costs the cruise lines less than its previous service, the cruise line holds prices steady, raising profits while giving customers a better product at the original price.
