Starlink High-Speed Wi-Fi
By Anne Kalosh
Updated May 30, 2023
More small cruise ships, from river vessels to yachts to expedition ships, are improving their Wi-Fi by adding SpaceX’s Starlink service.
Among the small ship lines implementing Starlink are SeaDream Yacht Club, Silversea Cruises, Hurtigruten Expeditions, Windstar Cruises, American Cruise Lines and American Queen Voyages. And also Lindblad Expeditions and Coral Expeditions.
All these lines include Wi-Fi in the fare, so you can be fairly confident of good Internet service and no extra charges at check-out.
Now it’s possible to stream from your SeaDream yacht, for business or pleasure. Here, SeaDream II. * Photo: SeaDream Yacht Club
Low Earth Orbit Satellites
Starlink is powered by a constellation of low Earth orbit satellites operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Because these satellites are closer to the Earth, that reduces latency — the time it takes for data to travel between the sender and the receiver.
Latency is measured in milliseconds. According to Everstream, a business-only fiber network, just 50 milliseconds of latency — less than one-tenth of a second — can result in poor network and application performance.
High latency makes it nearly impossible to support video streaming, online gaming, video calls and other high data rate activities.
Starlink’s constellation of thousands of satellites orbit the Earth at about 550 kilometers, and cover the globe. Because these satellites are in a low orbit, latency is significantly lower, around 20 milliseconds versus 600 milliseconds or more, according to Starlink, for a conventional geostationary satellite that’s further away.
One caveat: Starlink is not available everywhere yet. This map shows its current maritime coverage and planned rollout.
Starlink’s maritime coverage. * Photo: Starlink
Windstar, for example, launched the new technology on Star Pride in the Caribbean and plans to implement it across most of the fleet by mid-2023. Star Legend will offer the service this spring, followed by Wind Surf, Wind Star and Star Breeze. Wind Spirit will activate Starlink as soon as it’s available in French Polynesia.
“Starlink is yet to be available worldwide, but Windstar Cruises is excited to be among the first in the cruise industry to offer this cutting-edge technology,” said Gregg Wagner, technology director, Windstar. “When the ships are inside the service area, faster speeds will alleviate much of the frustration felt at peak use times.”
Starlink will be offered on Windstar voyages where the service is active. Global coverage isn’t available yet. * Photo: Windstar Cruises
Domestic U.S. Cruises
A few years ago, while sailing on the Mississippi River, I was astonished that I couldn’t get reliable Internet or cellular service — in the middle of the United States! Usually this was only a problem when traveling on ocean cruises in remote areas.
I’m encouraged now that river and coastal operators like American Cruise Lines and American Queen Voyages are adding Starlink.
According to American Cruise Lines, this will make for better connectivity and faster upload speeds nearly everywhere its small vessels operate — from Glacier Bay, Alaska to the Florida Keys, from California’s Napa Valley wine country to the Northeast’s Hudson River, and from the Mississippi to the Columbia and Snake rivers.
American Cruise Lines is offering Starlink service aboard its fleet of small ships throughout the U.S. Here, American Constellation in Alaska. * Photo: American Cruise Lines
American Queen Voyages is implementing Starlink upgrades, along with 5G cellular backup. The plan is for all seven of its vessels to have this service in time for their 2023 season starts.
Expedition Operators
At Hurtigruten Expeditions, Starlink is supplementing traditional geostationary satellite coverage and 4G/5G.
Last November when I sailed to Antarctica aboard Silversea’s Silver Endeavour, I was very pleasantly surprised at the quality of the Wi-Fi. Most of the time, working from my suite, I was able to check email, upload photos, use social media sites and access online newspaper subscriptions as usual.
There were some patches where things were slow or no signal was available, but in my experience those were short-lived.
RELATED: Enjoy Anne’s review of her Silver Endeavour Antarctica adventure.
Work Remotely
SeaDream implemented Starlink in 2022 so travelers can “stream their favorite entertainment, work remotely and connect with friends and family back home,” EVP Andreas Brynestad said. He described the feedback from passengers and crew as “remarkable.”
Nobody wants to think about work on a cruise. But, for many travelers, it wouldn’t be possible to get away on a ship without at least being able to keep tabs on work.
And some people (like me, a journalist) do have to work on cruises — I can’t go if there’s no reliable Internet.
So I’m extremely grateful that Wi-Fi at sea is improving, and getting less costly.
We’ll update this story as more small ship cruise lines sign on to Starlink.
Two cruise perks! Breakfast in bed and, now, high-speed Wi-Fi. * Photo: Pexels:Pixabay
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