Well, the reality is that Internet at sea, especially wifi, is satellite based and extremely slow. At certain times of the day, particularly just before the ship leaves port when everyone is back on board after a day ashore and is uploading photos, we might not even be able to get online. We are almost always kicked off at least a couple of times per 10 minute session. Even composing emails and blog posts offline, and then posting them once online can take 10 or 15 minutes for a few posts. Couple all that with the fact that I need to save a bunch of Internet time for the business, and you can see where we are constantly in search of free wifi. Not just free, but in a cool, shady location, so we can read our iPhone screens. Cool, shady and quiet. Trying to use internet with a steel drum band playing a few feet away is not easy.
On St Thomas and in Fort Lauderdale, we can access the internet on our iPhones for free over the 3G network, and make cell phone calls for free. This is a huge benefit to doing these 10 night itineraries over a World Cruise. Two days out of every 10, we can easily connect to the cyberworld. We know that there is usually free wifi in certain other ports- Antigua and Grenada, for example. Sometimes I can even make a Skype phone call for a penny a minute if the wifi speed is high enough. But, right now, on Dominica, the rainy day has provided us the best of everything. We're dry, in a cool and shaded spot, sitting on the shore side of the Promenade Deck, and are picking up a wifi signal from a nearby hotel.
Whoops, I spoke too fast. They've just announced a crew drill is going to take place right where we're sitting. Usually, most passengers are off the ship when these take place. But today's rain has a lot of us on board. No matter, this was nice while it lasted. Signing off for now...
