On Board the Carnival Victory: The Search for Cheap Internet Access

Before we embarked on the cruise, we went around putting notices on Facebook and Twitter that we will be incognito for 8 days, because we had heard that internet on the cruise is pretty expensive.

A few days later, one of my primary school friends remarked that we can't seem to stay offline, and that if SHE were traveling, she would have really been quite unreachable.

Ah well, she didn't have an email interview with the Straits Times to look forward to. We did!

But honestly speaking, we really did have a hard time staying offline, so every port of call we made, we made it with our laptops in our backpacks.

Here are some details that may be useful to others who may eventually take the same cruise as we did!

In Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas
Our quest for internet connection in the ports of call instead of on board the ship started really well. Once we disembarked, we went through the shophouses that encircle the dock and went to the main road. Right across the main road was a standalone building called The Fiesta.

Searching for signal...

The Fiesta does most of its business as a place for Filipinos to buy phone cards and call home. It's secondary business is that of a cafe. For those who bring in their own laptops, you can get unlimited WiFi at USD 2 each. Just bring your laptop to the shop owner to key in the password, and you're set!


In Roseau, Dominica
Like St Thomas, Dominica seems to have sprung a small town to support the appetites of cruise tourists. Just stroll into Roseau, along the waterfront, and you have a few choices of internet cafes.

We had first gone into the coffee chain Rituals Coffee, because the waitress said that there was free internet as long as you buy some food or a drink. Though we were already stuffed from the buffets on the ship, we did need a drink, so we accepted the offer. Unfortunately, it was only after we had paid for the drink that the waitress said that they had run out of passwords for their internet. A guy comes to their shop every day with new randomly generated passwords, but he was sick today, she said. Ah well.

You can surf on their icky computer and play pool on their aged tables, but we didn't

We went on to a cafe next door and got our WiFi for at USD 4 for the price of one password, half day use.


In Bridgetown, Barbados
The dock at Bridgetown is pretty far removed from the town. You could either use an internet station at the dock for USD 5 per half hour, but we decided to head into town. A taxi ride to town costs USD 2 per person, per way.

But what we found when we reached town was pretty horrible. There were shops selling gold, clothes, toys (those masak-masak kind) but not a single shop that offered internet services! Shocking. We walked along 2 or 3 streets, going into some of their malls (which was really a building with a long narrow corridor and shops on both sides, mostly closed) but to no avail.

We were just about to give up when we saw this innocous sign at a traffic junction, saying 'Internet Access'. We went right to the sign, and looked up and down, left and right and all around, but did not see any internet cafes or anything. Strange.

Ah well, I whipped out my iPod to see if there was a network available, and voila! There it was!

We almost expected to find a Wireless@BD SSID...

We both quickly checked our emails and facebook accounts while standing right at the corner. But it was not satisfying enough. Besides, I was all primed to post a blog entry on that day too, and did not want to lose my muse.

Stepping back, I studied the building carefully, just like a good Jedi. Then, I noticed something that we missed before. In one of the ground level shops, there was a stairway tucked to the side, with some signs that indicated that other shops were available upstairs! Whoo hoo!

We scooted upstairs and found the shop offering WiFi services, only to be quoted USD 2 per 10 minutes. WTF?!?!

Mumbling and grumbling, we decided to risk a trip to the Dark Side. We hid on the stairs next to the shop and continued using their unsecured network. DuH.

Don't disturb. I'm telling the world about traveling in the USA

It wasn't the most comfortable of places, though. Dirty as a stairs would be, with people walking up and down periodically. But I did finish my blog entry on that day, so all's good.

The cruisers after us might wish to consider taking a taxi to the beach instead, where there -may- be internet cafes. Just don't bother going into town!


In Castries, St Lucia
With the aforementioned email interviews and follow-up questions cleared in Dominica and Barbados, we told ourselves that we would only go online at St Lucia for awhile, just to clear mails - nothing heavy.

We had to take a water taxi to town across from where the Carnival Victory was berthed. Walked through the so-called Visitor's Centre and we found a small yellow building across the street, with a shop named The Business Centre.

Internet rates were USD 2 per half hour. That's alright, we told ourselves. We should be done by then! So we agreed. Next thing we knew, with all the emails, comments to reply, Facebooking and for me, MyBruting, one hour was up!

Ended up paying USD 8 for the use of internet. Can you see how our costs just escalate? :p


In St John's, Antigua
We were greeted by a welcome sign the moment we got off the gangway onto the dock at St John's.

Mai tu liao!

We followed the arrow (lead us to slave traders we also dunno) and came to a bar. Okay, great! We picked a table and plonked our stuff into a chair, prepared to order a drink so as to be 'allowed' to go online.

But I guess that the bartender really doesn't take well to stinginess. He gruffly told us that the tables were for customers who were ordering food. Those who were only ordering drinks had to go to the bar, under his watchful eye. Fine, we went, and maybe just out of spite (the Dark Side is seductive), decided to order one drink to share instead of two.

Too bad her laptop can't be charged up with a megawatt smile

But, like I said, stinginess is probably not appreciated here. When the wife wanted to plug in her laptop to the power socket, the bartender told her that our purchases do not qualify us to use his electricity! Bleah.

Since my laptop battery was still going strong, I let the wife use my laptop when I was done. A preview of the disaster to follow, perhaps?


In Basseterre, St Kitts & Nevis
We got off the ship at Basseterre and went under the archway that identified Port Zante. I guess there were many more cruisers who were familiar with the place, because all along the sides of the walls, we could see people on laptops, some even plugged in for electricity!

Disdaining to sit in such a musty, dusty place, we decided to take a walk around town first to see if there were any other options. After all, we have already whet our appetites for free internet...

There is a tour company simply named 'The Tour Shop" right outside Port Zante, that offers internet on its premises. I think it was around USD 6 per half hour, but again, on an unsecured network. With nowhere to hide and secretly go online, we quickly just checked our mails on our iPhone/iPod and moved on.

Just beyond the main throughfare, we found a restaurant that offered free internet as long as you purchase something. Again, fair enough. We bought a couple of drinks and conch fritters and settled down to make our presences felt by our friends in Singapore and elsewhere again.

I was halfway through this post when the connection dropped completely. It's a good thing that there were a couple of other unsecured networks nearby that I could use!

Argh! I lost the network!

Unfortunately, we can't remember the name of the restaurant, but the directions are pretty simple. At the eleven o'clock direction from Port Zante, there is a circus (in the USA, they call it a rotary) called, well, The Circus. The restaurant is at the one o'clock point of the circus. It's a small entrance, and you need to head up to the second floor to find the restaurants and bar proper.

And... that's it! Our budget guide to good internet services while you are on the Carnival Victory! Of course, the opportunity cost is that sometimes, you end up missing some of the sights that others are going for, but with the costs of these shore excursions, I think we were quite happy.

In total, we spent less than USD 30 going online during this cruise. Considering that the Carnival Victory charges USD 0.40 to USD 0.75 per minute, depending on the plan you sign up for (don't forget that internet on the ship is via satellite, and is very slow!), I think we did pretty great!

Oh, and this entry is also the last of the 'On Board the Carnival Victory' series. Next post, new destination!

On Board the Carnival Victory: That's Entertainment!

Part of what makes cruising fun is the entertainment that is already "built into" the price that you pay. At least, this is the case for our cruise on Carnival Victory. I have some vague memory of paying for a topless revue on Superstar Virgo many moons ago, and falling asleep. Yes, yes, surprising tidbit, but true. Topless revues make me sleepy. Ask the wife who bought me birthday tickets for the (now defunct) Crazy Horse show at Clarke Quay, and she'd tell you the same.

With a multitude of activities going on on various parts of the ship at all times, it's really hard to be present for all the entertainment and activities and yet have time for food, excursions, and quiet time.

Here are a few of the activities we enjoyed over the 7N cruise:

1) Early morning movie screening on the pool deck.
Other than the day of the Michael Jackson memorial, there was a movie screening on the giant screen at the pool deck every morning. One in particular was a thrill for me - the Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie!


I had actually caught this movie when it first hit the screens with my colleagues from IATA. But the thrill of watching lightsabre fights never ceases. Oh, and an added bonus was that I managed to identify the special scene where R2-KT was featured! Coolness and kudos to the Star Wars team for adding this special droid in the movie.

2) Mini-Golf
The wife, of course, is not as big a Star Wars fan as I am. So while I was watching the movie while having breakfast on the pool deck, she was first stoning, then looking downright bored. That's when I tore myself from the movie, to challenge her in a game of mini-golf.


To be honest, we are NOT fans of golf. Sacrilege to many people, I know, but it's not for lack of trying. We did take lessons, but got totally bored with the technicality of the game. I guess we just prefer "active excitement", like diving, wakeboarding and rock-climbing.

Mini-golf is pretty different from golf though. Just hit the ball, and wish for a bit of luck! The nine holes on the ship were pretty crowded, but we had fun all the same, manuvering our golf balls through logs and tunnels, and using the walls to rebound the balls into the cup.

I won the first game, but the wife won the second. Because I let her.

3) Karaoke
During a couple of the evenings, we sauntered into the karaoke lounge after our full-service dinner just to check it out. Now, as far as karaoke is concerned, we pretty much suck. My singing is passable only when I'm singing along to the iPod in the car, and the wife only comes alive at songs that she can totally sound cute in (yes, songs like Barbie Girl and Lemon Tree... she and her siblings are famous for singing and dancing to these songs).

Suffice to say, we karaoke only in secure rooms with close friends who constantly assure us that we are not embarassing ourselves. The karaoke lounge on the ship was totally different from what we are used to! Firstly, you sing in public. On a stage. Secondly, there is no music video, cheesy or otherwise, to distract yourself with. Only the lyrics appear on the screen. Thirdly, the songs list is really Americanised. In addition to the standard pop songs, you have gangster rap, country and a whole lot of songs from Broadway.


After much egging, and a quick double-check to ensure that there are no other Singaporeans who would be embarrassed at associating themselves with us, we decided to perform "I'll Cover You", from the musical Rent. I think we did pretty well, considering we DID screw up our parts. Well, some people clapped anyway. As the compere absent-mindedly said after our performance,"We need more people to choose your songs and come up to sing. As you can see, this is really just for fun. There's no need for you to be good."

Ouch. :p

4) Nightly entertainment in the theatre
There are 2 live shows every night in the main theatre, except for the first and last nights of the cruise. On the first night, the cruise director himself took the stage, and did a pretty decent stand-up routine. The point of all that, of course, was to introduce himself and his team to us, and to assure us that "What's done on the ship... stays on the internet".


On the other nights, there were other stand-up routines, jazzy song and dance acts, and even magic shows. We skipped all of those due to fatigue from our shore excursions and double daily gym visits.

On the last night, though, we had some guests who had outstanding performances in the karaoke perform for us. This show, called the Carnival Legends, we just had to watch! And to tell the truth, these guys were was pretty good! James Brown even did his funky jerky legs dance while singing "I Feel Good"!

5) Latin music bar
I'm a little ashamed to mention this, but then again, I'm one of those who like to speak his mind whenever possible. For about 3 months last year, the wife and I took salsa classes, up to intermediate level. But since then, we have scarcely practiced our moves, and all the tricks and patterns have now been forgotten.

We went to the Latin music bar, hoping that the beat of the music will help us remember some, but to no avail. As the live band scrolled through salsa, cha cha and bachata tunes, we were left doing the basic one-two-three, four-five-six steps with a couple of spins and cross body turns thrown in. Sad.

Ah well, we're headed to Latin America almost immediately after the cruise anyway. Where better to pick it up again? In the land where salsa originated, it should be as easy as one-two-three, four-five-six.

We hope! :)

On Board the Carnival Victory: Looking for Lost Muscles

Friends who have been following our adventures know that other than when we are splurging on IHOP and Ben & Jerry's, or when the wife's family was around, we are generally very miserly with our food budget.

Unfortunately, all the good deals for food have always been for fast food, like tacos from Taco Bell at USD 0.89, or USD 5 for a foot-long from Subway (which we would share), or even buying a whole chicken from Wal-Mart at USd 4.68 and having that as a meal!

Unfortunately, these meals were neither deeply satisfying for our palate, nor very healthy. But this blog entry is not about food. Rather, it is an entry about the consequences for suddenly being able to go for buffets all day.

Carnival Victory offers a staggering total 8 meals a day. And that's not counting the 24-hour free flow pizza and ice-cream! Knowing that we would be pretty much gorging ourselves silly (especially after starving ourselves silly in expensive Bahamas), we made a pact to hit the gym at least twice a day - once before breakfast and exploring our ports of call, and the other after returning to the ship.


We almost met our target.

Twice a day on most days saw us on the treadmill or elliptical machines, doing weights, and resistance training, as well as stretching and toning. But we only saw the gym once on days 4, 6 and 7, and we have to confess our sins, and ask ourselves for forgiveness.

Starting with the most reasonable excuse...

Day 7 - We could not gym in the evening of Day 7, because we received a notification from the crew that all bags had to be packed and left outside the room between 2000hrs and 2300hrs. With dinner at 1830hrs and the finale Legends of the Sea show at 2230hrs, we convinced ourselves that there was no way we could digest our dinner, gym, shower and pack before 2230hrs.

Day 6 - We had spent an amazingly humid and hot day on a beach in Antigua (that post will be out shortly) and had felt dehydrated and totally sunned out. There was no more energy left for gym.

Day 4 - This one was totally my bad. I convinced the wife that multiple screaming orgasms constitutes a good workout. So we worked out in the cabin instead!


Come to think of it, I have no regrets! :)