P&O Cruises Wi-Fi: Prices and What You Actually Get

P&O sells Wi-Fi as a daily package, and there are two of them. What you pay depends as much on when you buy as on which one you choose.

This guide sets out both prices, the device limit that catches people out, and what the Starlink connection behind it does and does not deliver.

What It Costs

There are two packages and two prices for each. Buying for the length of the holiday is cheaper than paying by the day as you go.

1. Essential Wi-Fi, £14 per day. That is the rate when you buy it for the length of your holiday. Bought day by day it is £20.
2. Ultimate Wi-Fi, £20 per day. Again for the whole holiday. Day by day it rises to £30.
3. The gap is the whole point. Pay as you go costs half as much again on Ultimate and about 43% more on Essential. Deciding before you sail is worth real money.

Essential or Ultimate

Both packages work on your own devices and both reach every part of the ship, cabins included. The difference is what the connection carries, not where it reaches.

Data is unlimited on either package. What changes is which services you can use, and that is the thing to get right before you buy.

• Ultimate covers the lot. Web browsing, email, social media including video, texts and images, music and video streaming, and voice and video calls. This is the tier to buy if you intend to watch anything or make a video call home.
• Essential is the lighter tier. Browsing, messaging and email. High-data activities such as streaming may be limited or excluded, so do not buy it expecting a nightly film.
• Neither is capped. Data use within each package is unlimited. You are buying access to a set of services, not an allowance to run down.

Where and When to Buy

Where you buy the package changes what it costs, and the cheaper option closes before you travel.

1. Before you sail, through My P&O Cruises. Available up to four days before departure, and buying ahead saves 10% or more against the onboard price. This is the cheaper route and the one that needs remembering, because the window closes before you travel.
2. On board, through the My Holiday app. Connect to the ship’s network and follow the on-screen steps. Straightforward, but it is the pay-as-you-go rate unless you take a whole-holiday package.
3. Bundled into an all-inclusive upgrade. P&O sells an all-inclusive package from around £49 per person per day that rolls drinks, Wi-Fi and speciality dining credit together. Worth pricing against buying the three separately if you were going to buy all three anyway.

One Device at a Time

The advertised prices cover one device, and this is the detail most people miss until they are on board.

You can use a package on several devices, but only one at a time. Signing in on a tablet logs the phone out. To have two things connected at once you need a multi-device package, which costs more.

The price also moves with the length of the cruise and the number of devices. A couple who each want a phone online are not paying the headline figure, and a family with tablets is a long way from it.

What Starlink Changed

P&O connects its ships to the internet through Starlink rather than the older satellite systems most lines used until a few years ago. Starlink’s satellites orbit much closer to earth, and that’s the main reason speeds and responsiveness have improved so much.

That doesn’t make it home broadband. Everyone on board shares the same connection, so how it feels depends on how many people are online and what they’re doing. Mid-morning, with fewer people logged on, it can feel quick. By 8pm, with half the ship in its cabin streaming something, it can feel a lot slower.

• Messaging, email and browsing. These hold up well most of the day, on either package.
• Social media and photo uploads. Fine too, though a big batch of photos can take a while to send.
• Music streaming. Usually reliable on either package.
• Video streaming and video calls. Possible on Ultimate, but treat it as a bonus rather than a guarantee. Evenings are when it’s most likely to stutter.
• Large downloads and gaming. This is where a shared satellite connection shows its limits, whichever package you’re on.

Getting Connected

The process is the same on any ship in the fleet and takes a minute.

Put your device into airplane mode, then connect to the ship’s free Wi-Fi network. From there you sign in and activate whichever package you have bought. Turning airplane mode on first is what stops the phone reaching for a mobile signal and running up roaming charges at sea.

When It Runs Slowly

Speeds vary with the weather and the signal, and a satellite connection on a moving ship will never be as steady as a home broadband line.

If it slows down, the first two things to try take a minute:

1. Refresh the page. A stalled page often reconnects on its own once the ship has a clearer line to the satellite.
2. Close what is running behind. Background apps updating themselves eat the bandwidth you are paying for. Closing them frees the connection for whatever you actually wanted to do.
3. Then ask Reception. If it keeps happening, Reception is the place to raise it rather than the app. They can see whether it is your device or the ship.

What Works Without a Package

Plenty of people sail without buying Wi-Fi at all, and more works than you would expect.

• The My Holiday app is free to use on board. You connect to the ship’s network but need no package, so your daily programme, menus and bookings all work without paying.
• Library computers are free to use on some ships, with limited printing for documents such as boarding passes.
• Your package keeps working on the morning you disembark, right up until you leave the ship.
• Packages do not work ashore. In port you are on local networks or your own mobile data, and neither is covered by what you bought.

Frequently Asked Questions