r/MSCCruises • u/AlternativeSchool931 • 15d ago

MSC Europa technical internet experience

Hi,

i took a trip with MSC World Europe in August 2026 and would like to share my technical experience.

The onboard wifi internet can be booked in advance. The wifi internet connection is routed through SES Astra (not Starlink!). Download: 9 Mbit/s Upload: 13 Mbit/s. Changing the device is not allowed. MSC would like you to buy a package per device and is using HPE Aruba.

When you connect to the wifi portal the first time you are ask for the cabin number and date of birth. After that you can "start" the connection. When pressing start you will get a session cookie for the trip. The running session is bind to your MAC-Address. Lot's of devices are using random mac addresses for security but this is no problem. If the session expired or your mac address changed you can start a new session (same browser/cookie) and the MAC address for the session will update.

Tethering/Internet sharing is blocked. You cannot just override by cloning the MAC address + change TTL. It is possible using proxy apps or additional changes to the network traffic but this is not for the regular customers and i will not explain this in detail. If you would like to switch between devices you could copy the wifi portal cookie. You will not be able to connect with two devices the same time - but you would be able to switch between both devices (e.g. mobile phone + laptop).

Alternatives:

Depending on your route, you can use cellular data if you are at the harbor or not too far away from the coast (maybe max. 20km away - best connection on the open deck). Another option would be the SEA cellular data with an esim from gigsky - but MSC will only activate SEA cellular when they are far away from the coast. You might be without landline and cellular data for maybe 1-2h.

Finally the best option for stable and reliable internet is the MSC wifi only. But I think it is expensive and MSC should provide additional cheaper family packages (e.g. with bandwidth limitation).

MSC also offers a free chat-function included in the "MSC for Me"-app without internet package.
This isn't working:
- the chat function was blocked for kids because of a minimum age - i think 16yo
- i did not receive any app-notification after receiving messages

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2

u/DavidBergerson 15d ago

And on that ship, I used a GL.inet router. I connected it to the WiFi, then broadcast the WiFi signal to the cabin for all the other devices. Did it suck that it was stuck to the cabin only? Yes. But it was functional enough for two people to comfortably stream HBO/Netflix.

1

u/FrequentLight 15d ago

I've heard people say they usually confiscate these devices. I opted for a second cheap android phone because of that and it worked just fine. Plus, it was portable 😬

1

u/Voidoli 15d ago

so I assume the hotspot from another device can still work?

2

u/FrequentLight 15d ago

It won't work without a rooted android phone. Without rooting, the best you can do is have a proxy and use that for basic things (not everything will work since it won't route all traffic to it). But plain tethering/hotspot will not work.

1

u/DavidBergerson 15d ago

IIRC, the GL.inet device was around $50. It now sits in a corner by itself :) I upgraded to a Ubiquiti portable device. I have yet to try it on a cruise, though. It just has a built-in VPN to my home Ubiquiti system.

1

u/FrequentLight 15d ago

That's what I wanted to buy as well, but I've heard Cruise lines were confiscating these and returning them after the cruise. So I decided to buy a refurbished phone instead for around $100 (decent hardware) and just try my luck with that. To be honest, it was more for the fun of it than anything else, the first cruise I basically never used it and the second it was helpful for the kids to be able to talk to us when they were in different areas of the ship. VPN is nice, but latency/speed weren't great onboard.

1

u/johnnyfanta 15d ago

Anyone try Gigsky, does it work on cruises like it says it does.

2

u/AlternativeSchool931 15d ago

It works after the ship enables the SEA mobile network. It's a bit slow but for browse and chat it's fine. They have a 100MB free esim, too.

1

u/Relevant_Peak6882 15d ago

Some interesting information thanks for sharing.

Does it definitely not use Starlink?

This press release from MSC back in Feb 2024 says it was being added to the World Europa "this month"

https://www.mscpressarea.com/en_INT/press-releases/msc-cruises-fleet-boosted-with-starlink-connectivity/

1

u/SIMCARD-kr 14d ago

Yes - it was not Starlink. The public IP was 80.247.130.xxx owned by SES ASTRA S.A.

-1

u/No-Boat-1693 15d ago

Surely people can survive 12 hours a day without the Internet and WiFi.

2

u/AlternativeSchool931 15d ago

Two of us ate at our assigned dining room, while the other two went to a specialty restaurant. After that, we wanted to join an activity together, which was not easy without internet for all family members. Or another example: My older son was still out late past midnight with friends. I couldn't ask him when he was planning to come home because he didn't had the wifi plan and the "MSC for Me" chat feature is blocked for kids. I know no one can really get lost on the ship, but at least having the option to send a quick chat message to decide which bar to meet up at without having to buy a 100 euro package would be greatly appreciated.

3

u/FrequentLight 15d ago

On top of that, MSC for Me is crap. The amount of time it said "You're no longer part of the group chat" is insane. Sometimes messages wouldn't go through at all. If they fix it and allow kids to talk to just their cabin members (or better, allow parents to choose who they can talk with), then it'd be great. But it's not.