The Best Cruise Wi-Fi I’ve Ever Used Wasn’t On A Mega Ship

When I recently sailed on Windstar Cruises’ Star Pride, I was stunned by the speed of the WiFi.

Cruise ship WiFi is often thought of as slow and unreliable, and often that is the case.

I’m normally impressed if cruise Wi-Fi reaches around 15 Mbps, but sometimes I am lucky to get even 1.5 Mbps. This slow speed can make it virtually useless when I am trying to work from the ship.

Windstar’s internet speeds were the fastest I have ever seen on a ship and I’ve been on 86 cruises.

Star Pride is a small luxury yacht built in 1988, not a giant new mega ship. It left me wondering why, if this can be achieved on such an old ship, I often find myself struggling to use WiFi on a newer 6,000-passenger mega ship.

What Wi-Fi Is Normally Like On Cruise Ships

I often work from cruise ships, so for me, buying the top internet package is an unavoidable business expense.

I often find the whole experience really frustrating.

• Loading websites can take forever, and pictures often won’t load at all.
• Messages fail to send – which is very annoying when I am trying to work.
• Video calls freeze
• I have trouble uploading photos or videos to Instagram, Facebook and YouTube
• The internet often slows down during sea days as everyone onboard is online.
  • This can mean I have to do the bulk of my work on port days, when I would rather be off the ship, exploring like everyone else.

I remember I took a Northern Europe cruise on one of P&O’S newest ships, Iona. We weren’t sailing anywhere remote – France, The Netherlands, Belgium – but the WiFi was completely unusable.

At a cost of up to £30 a day (on a pay-as-you-go basis), I wasn’t surprised to see that, when I went to reception, there was a long line of passengers before me demanding a refund!

I can only assume that, as it was a school holiday sailing, the ship was full to capacity (over 6,260 passengers) and the WiFi was unable to cope.

It was still disappointing though, as the ship was only a few years old at that point.

Testing Windstar’s Wi-Fi

I tested the speeds at sea between France and England.

It was always very fast, no dead spots or any buffering. Speeds were consistent throughout the whole cruise.

What Could Actually Be Done With The Internet

If I am at home, I usually get about 40 Mbps.

If I have speeds of over 2 Mbps on a cruise, I might try to do a live stream from the ship. I would expect to get on average between 2 and 5 Mbps.

At these speeds, I am able to:

• Upload videos and photos
• Browse social media
• Stream video
• Use video calls for work meetings.
• Work remotely
• Use cloud services

I do prefer to do my livestreams when we are docked in port, as I can use the 4G data on my phone, which is far more reliable.

How Does It Compare To A Hotel On Land?

The WiFi onboard feels similar to the speeds you would find at a chain hotel on land if you had paid for it.

For example, if you were using free WiFi at one of Britain’s biggest hotel chains, Premier Inn, you could expect speeds of 0.3 to 1.0 Mbps.

This is suitable only for light web browsing and checking emails. It would struggle with streaming or heavier tasks.

If you buy their “Ultimate Wi-Fi”, it costs around £5 for 24 hours. You can then expect speeds of 10 to 15 Mbps. This is far better for streaming video and downloading larger files.

Why The Wi-Fi May Have Been So Good

Star Pride is a smaller ship, so it has fewer passengers sharing bandwidth.

Windstar Cruises added SpaceX Starlink Maritime Internet to all its global sea-going vessels in mid-2023.

I hadn’t researched Windstar’s internet speeds, so I was stunned by how good it was!

Star Pride was actually the first ship in the fleet to receive this upgrade.

Any cruise ship can have WiFi that drops out in highly remote regions or certain parts of the world. That is to be expected, and is beyond the Cruise Line’s control

How It Compares To Other Cruise Lines

Basic cruise line internet averages speeds of anywhere between 1 and 10 Mbps.

Many cruisers still expect cruise Wi-Fi to be almost unusable, and if it is towards the lower end of that average, it might be.

For me, the worst WiFi experiences are on ships that sell internet by the Mbps. (Megabits per second)

Marella Cruises do this. 1 hour or 75MB costs around £8 (£10.66 per 100MB)

At the other end of the scale, 15 days or 2400MB costs around £90 (£3.75 per 100MB)

Even then, the Wifi is one of the worst I have ever used at sea.

The Marella ships, although lovely, are older and don’t have the most up-to-date technology.

Their website says:

Is Wi-Fi available onboard my Marella Cruise?
We have Wi-Fi on all of our ships and is only available in some public areas and is not available in your cabin. Internet access is charged to your cabin account at the rate advertised on board. Mobiles can be used, too, and there are telephones in each cabin, so it’s easy to stay in touch with people back home.

Marella Cruises

Is Windstar’s Wi-Fi Included In The Fare?

Windstar doesn’t include internet as standard unless you book their “All-Inclusive Fare” or one of their frequent promotional upgrades. This is what I booked when I sailed.

If not, there is a charge for WiFi.

Make it an all-inclusive voyage for just $99 per guest per day with our All-Inclusive Fares and enjoy the ultimate in convenience and value with Wi-Fi, unlimited select beer, wine by the glass, cocktails, and gratuities or just purchase a la carte. It’s YOUR cruise and it’s your choice!

Windstar Cruises

At the time of writing (May 2026), the charges were as follows:

Unlimited Internet Package
-7 Day Cost $245
-8 Day Cost $280
-9 Day Cost $315
-10 Day Cost $350
-11 Day Cost $385
-14 Day Cost $490
-15 Day Cost $525

I would recommend, when booking, to look out for promotions which include the “All -Inclusive” package.

If you do pay for WiFi separately, at least you can be confident of getting decent speeds – unless you are sailing to some remote area of the world, of course.

Who Would Appreciate This Most

I think Windstar’s fast internet speeds would be appreciated by:

• Remote workers
• Digital nomads
• People who want to stay in touch with family
• Content creators
• Guests who are nervous about disconnecting completely while cruising

This Windstar ship was pretty amazing: it was literally sliced in two, and an extra section was added in the middle.

My cabin was built in 2020, but the ship was built in the 1980’s!

Have a look at that amazing process here:

Before You Go

You might be wondering whether it is better to book last-minute or in advance to get the best price. Read this article to find out which would be best for you:

Booking A Cruise Last Minute Vs Early – Which Is Actually Cheaper?

Find out why some people feel like they are still moving when they get off the cruise ship here:

Why Do Some People Get Land Sickness After A Cruise?