This may be a dumb question, but...

[Skagway]

My naivete may be showing, but what do folks do for internet connections while on cruise. I assume that a dish might work at anchor, but each anchorage would require some adjustments. Otherwise I would assume that sat phones might provide service at much higher cost. Am I missing something? Or do folks just find the nearest Starbucks.

[skipmac]

Depends on what you mean by on cruise. You can get 3G/4G pretty much up and down the whole east coast and most of the west coast, up to 4-6 miles offshore with a standard cell phone. Further out you need a booster.

At anchor you can use a long range wifi and pick up the local Starbucks with having to go in.

Further that this you have to use satellite (very expensive) or shortwave radio (very slow).

If you want to read more there are a dozen threads or so that have covered the subject in great detail.

[robyn-bob]

I answered this on another thread, but here goes.

The cheapest way to always have wifi without any $200 antenna is to use a MiFi like Verizon sells for $49 - Set Your Location

Then you pay the monthly data charge - depending on how many Gb's you want.

This way you don't have to worry about getting close enough to a free signal.