Photo: Beau Hudspeth, Creative Commons
Carnival Corporation, operator of the world’s largest cruise line, has deployed SpaceX’s Starlink Internet service to all ninety of their ships across all of their brands.
In addition to their eponymous line of ships, Carnival also owns and operates the Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Seabourn, P&O Cruises (Australia), Costa Cruises, P&O Cruises (UK), and Cunard lines globally. In Florida, Carnival sails from Jacksonville, Tampa, Miami and Port Canaveral, not far from where SpaceX launches new Starlink satellites regularly.
Carnival CEO Comments
“Starlink has been a game-changer for the onboard connectivity experience our cruise lines deliver to their guests, and we’ve already seen a surge in guest satisfaction and positive feedback from the super-fast and reliable Wi-Fi service we provide onboard,” said Josh Weinstein, CEO of Carnival Corporation. “We see this technology as a win-win-win – it provides our guests with more flexibility to stay as connected as they’d like on vacation, it allows our crew to stay in touch with friends and loved ones, and it enhances our onboard operational systems.”
Carnival Internet access plans currently start at $15.31 per day per passenger, with additional access levels and higher speeds. Their Premium plan starts at $18.75 per day and promises Skype, Zoom and Teams video calling in addition to normal Internet access to e-mail, news, sports, weather, banking and finance. Notably, Carnival does not mention streaming services, such as Spotify, Netflix or ESPN+ in its Premium offering, suggesting that using those services on their Wi-Fi network is not permitted.
Starlink Service
Photo: Charles Boyer / FMN
Starlink offers broadband Internet access largely to underserved areas, or those where broadband service is unavailable: rural areas not served by terrestrial fiber or cable Internet, cruise ships at sea, and passenger aircraft flying to their destinations. SpaceX began building the Starlink network in May 2019, and since that time, they have added approximately 2.7 million customers located in 75 countries.
Currently, SpaceX has 5,999 operational Starlink satellites in its low-Earth orbit, a number that will likely increase as soon as this Friday, May 17th, when the company will launch another set of the satellites from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
Eventually, SpaceX plans to have as many as 42,000 satellites in orbit to provide Starlink service to its customers, with each satellite lasting up to five years. At the end of the service life for a given Starlink satellite, it is commanded to a lower orbit where drag from Earth’s atmosphere will cause it to re-enter and burn up in the atmosphere.
