Princess Cruises and MedallionNet

MedallionNet, right. Everyone online calls it “the best wifi at sea,” but if you dig into cruise forums, you’ll see people raving about speed and then quietly admitting, “except during peak hours.” I met a couple last summer who said video calls worked—unless it was 7–9pm, then forget it. Pricing? $20 to $30 a day, which is more than I pay for fiber at home, and I don’t even get a free coffee.

Princess hypes “next-generation satellite tech,” but what matters is whether you can email your boss or call your kid in the Atlantic. Sometimes I hit 10 Mbps down, sometimes 3 Mbps after lunch. Starlink handovers? Total mystery. Sometimes the app just freezes. Refunds? Nope, even if you spend $200 a week. Bring a backup plan.

Royal Caribbean’s Starlink Rollout

Royal Caribbean brags about “the fastest wifi at sea” with Starlink. I wanted to believe. Sometimes ping rates are as low as 70ms, which is wild for a ship. They say you’ll get 5–15 Mbps, and yeah, sometimes you do. But get close to South America or the poles and things get weird—coverage gaps, random dropouts. I read some cruise ship IT guy on Reddit who basically confirmed it’s still a mess in certain places.

Plans are $25 to $30 per device, per day. You have to log out of one device to use another, which everyone forgets. Crew told me people pay double by accident all the time. Streaming? Still restricted. Netflix? Not really. TikTok and Facebook Reels mostly work—unless you’re in a fjord. Holland America hasn’t finished Starlink installs, and guest services just repeat, “new coverage coming soon!” Meanwhile, I bring a paperback. In 2025, the cloud still can’t get between me and bingo.

Social Media, Streaming, and Connectivity at Sea

Here’s what really drives me nuts: you swipe your card, expecting all-you-can-tweet, and get nothing but connection errors and blocked apps. Everyone wants TikTok, YouTube, WhatsApp at midnight in the middle of nowhere. The Wi-Fi? Doesn’t care.

Access to TikTok, YouTube, and WhatsApp

TikTok bans are the hot gossip at dinner. Somebody’s aunt swore airplane mode would fix it (it won’t, but let her have her dream). Most cruise Wi-Fi splits plans: basic browsing is a time machine to 2005, and only “Premium” lets you try streaming YouTube or making WhatsApp video calls. Princess claims “routinely great” Wi-Fi, but TikTok just spins forever.

MSC’s got some okay price tiers—$13 a day for unlimited social, which isn’t terrible. WhatsApp sometimes works on basic plans, but TikTok and other video apps usually stall unless you pay up. Want to livestream? Forget it. Bandwidth’s throttled so hard you might as well send a pigeon. Here’s what I could (and couldn’t) do:

Social Media Plans and Usage

“Unlimited social,” they say. But the fine print is a novella. Carnival’s Social Media Plan? $15–$20 per day. Instagram crawls, and if you try to stream a story, it dies. Facebook Messenger’s fine for text. Video? Forget it. Data caps pop up out of nowhere and you spend more time reconnecting than actually messaging.

Uploading vlogs to YouTube at sea? Good luck. Data speeds are often slower than my first flip phone. Even the pros admit it—Dave from CruiseCritic ran speed tests and got a median 0.8 Mbps download. WhatsApp DMs work, but stories and reels are pixel soup. My advice: download everything before you board. These plans are for scrolling, not sharing.

I just want to get emergency texts. Not binge TikTok. Even the “streaming” plans barely keep up, so that “unlimited” pitch? Feels like a dad joke after three days at sea.

Bundled Packages: What’s Included Beyond Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi bundles aren’t the only thing they bundle, right? Trying to figure out what’s “included” in these “deluxe” packages sent me down a PDF rabbit hole. Whatever the Wi-Fi price is, you miss a detail on drinks or dining, you pay more than you thought—no matter what the travel agent promises.

Princess Plus vs Princess Premier

This is where everyone gets tripped up: Princess Plus or Princess Premier. Not the same, even if your travel agent acts like they are. I asked a Princess rep last week—she said, “The Premier covers literally double the stuff.” Doubles drink max, covers two specialty dinners instead of one, adds photos and “crew appreciation”—which is either tips or a weird group photo, who knows.

Princess Plus gets you the medallion premium package (Wi-Fi, but only one device—people forget and get burned), the Plus beverage package (capped drinks, no fancy cocktails), and one specialty dining meal. Laundry? Just basic. Want unlimited desserts or fitness classes? You need Premier. And which perks need sign-up at embarkation? Nobody ever agrees—staff explains it differently every time.

The “guest appreciation” thing? Still no clue. I think it’s pre-paid tips. Ask three people, get three answers.

Beverage and Specialty Dining Add-Ons

Here’s what bugs me: you can’t really buy your way into all-inclusiveness, even with the “top” package. Beverage packages sound unlimited—wine, cocktails, spirits, sometimes specialty coffee—but then you hit limits: 15 drinks per day, max value per drink (like $15 cocktails only), and if you want that weird Japanese whiskey, it’s extra. Friends texted me from their cruise: “Did Princess just charge me $3 for espresso when I have Premier?” Sometimes it’s a menu typo, sometimes they just shrug.

Specialty dining? Sushi, steakhouse, chef’s table—all extra. Princess Plus gets you one dinner (good luck booking if you wait), Premier gets you two. Book early—they fill up. And does the “free” meal cover upgrades? Sometimes yes, sometimes you pay $20 extra for a tasting menu because nobody told you the voucher was just for prix fixe. Food’s good if you like variety, but bring snacks—room service isn’t what it was, and late-night pizza isn’t covered.

It’s messier than they admit. Every “included” list has exceptions, and even the veteran cruisers online argue about what actually shows up on your final bill.