Royal Caribbean is cracking down on passengers who bring portable WiFi routers on board to avoid paying for the ship’s Starlink WiFi.
The cruise line has added the following information under its list of prohibited items: “Satellite dishes, routers, and other networking equipment”. According to the cruise line, these items are prohibited because of the threats they pose to cybersecurity.
According to the cruise industry website Cruise Hub, the ban was put in place quietly in the last two weeks.
A portable travel router can be used to connect to the Internet using a SIM or eSIM card and a data plan. Passengers would then have a private WiFi network without needing to pay for the cruise line’s Internet package.
Royal Caribbean claims it has the fastest Internet available at sea: Royal Caribbean VOOM. It is six times faster than the WiFi on any other cruise ship, according to the cruise line.
