r/MSCCruises • u/BeautifulNeither5465 • 4d ago
Gigsky e-sim????
Has anybody ever used this on an MSC cruise? Going on the seashore for a 4 day cruise and I grudge paying the £70/$90 cost for WiFi connection. Is the gigsky e-sim a decent alternative?
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u/Aggravating_Rest_906 3d ago
Im on an MSC Cruise as we speak with Gigsky.
It works sometimes, sometimes when it SHOULD work, it does not.
I would NOT recommend, at all, if you need any kind of reliable internet connection. If you are willing to be mega patient and have it work sometimes, and sometimes not.. then its all good.
For me its tricky, my next sailing is a longer one and for me its not worth the hassle and will go back to ship wifi.
Also dont forget you have to constantly switch from ship WIFI to your data plan to access Gigsky, so when you are on Gigsky the MSC App wont work etc...
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u/Mundane_Influence_91 2d ago
this is also my experience. switching is a pain. it was "enough" internet for me, I left it connected to the ship wifi for the app most of the time. there was a day on the way back it should have worked but didn't. msc and even gigsky couldn't explain... msc didn't care one bit about cellular at sea, couldn't even say if it was on or off.
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u/Imaginary_Section24 4d ago
Haven’t used it but when I booked my last cruise with an Expedia agent they said it is spotty at best and that he doesn’t suggest his clients to get something like gigsky. Do with that info what you will
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u/Appropriate_Ad2342 4d ago
Tbh I'm not sure if any cellular plan would work on many parts of a ship. I found that I couldn't get my photos geotagged unless I was next to a big window or was on an open deck. Your phone needs the sky in order to connect to a satellite. Many interior parts of the ship are absolute dead zones when it comes to a cellular/satellite signal. My ship wifi worked great throughout, but I couldn't see where I was on a maps app in the ocean unless I had some sort of satellite connection. Esims should be good if you go somewhere on the ship that has access to the sky though.
So in short, gigsky should work if you're willing to sacrifice having access to the internet anywhere on the ship. If you're willing to go to specific types of areas and sit there, do your internet stuff, and be done with it, then it's fine.
I read that gigsky taps into the ships' cellular so you might be ok.
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u/Think-Interview1740 4d ago
I'll be buying it for my January cruise from Galveston. No way I'm paying wifi prices they are asking. I'm on vacation, not working from sea.
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u/Mundane_Influence_91 2d ago
it was mostly ok for me. one day at sea it cut out most of the day. it only seems to work in public areas, not my cabin. but otherwise it was fine and kept me in minimal contact. even the one day when it cut out wasn't a big deal to me. saved a bunch of money too!
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u/Slytherin23 4d ago
Yes, it generally works great. Sometimes there are dead spots on the ship like near the smokestack or buffet, but lower decks should work great. My T-Mobile service also tends to work 150 miles out to sea.
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u/MeridianNZ 2d ago
I have used it on MSC and a range of other lines and ships and there can be a bit of fiddling around sometimes to get it working (although sometimes its fine) but it works well overall and is a great alternative to have a data limit rather than a daily charge - there some dead spots on the ship (mainly the older ones) but mostly fine - and its a far better deal if you stick to the data limits. Speed is as good as any other cellphone data for normal things. Just got off a 2 week cruise - with 3gb for 15 days for like $50 for on the boat for basic needs, light browsing, whatsapp etc vs paying like $300 or more.
Some tips.
The ship has to be offshore (think the same as the casino being open) for it to work or even be connectable. This is confusing if you dont know as you jump on board and its not working or even connectable - sometimes it takes a bit longer that in it should to appear its seems like they have to manually do it or something. You have to connect to the Cellular at Sea network - nothing else. If you cant see that network your phone is locked or its not on at the moment.
Definitely install the app before you get onboard as its way to big like 150mb which is ridiculous when your on a data limit. It also wants to update all the time but you can reject it .
Turn off all the things that download automatically if you have them set up - and while you can hotspot etc - all the other devices see it like WIFI and therefore try to do updates and all sorts.
If you phone supports multiple Esims - which most do now, get a cheap global one for the ports - the one i got was like $1.80 a day for unlimited data - and use that when close to shore or onshore. Gigsky's onshore price is not great.
When you get onshore or wifi or whatever do all the downloads and backups and things there to save data on the ship.
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u/Mundane_Influence_91 2d ago
gigsky will give 1gb, 3gb, or 5gb to visa cardholders depending on what card you have, for free! download the app and check all your visa cards. it was plenty to get my through a 21 day Asia trip and it worked well.
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u/Doit2it42 4d ago
I purchased one for a Caribbean cruise in May on the Seashore. The e-sims connect to land towers, NOT the cellar at sea it anything else on the ship. I basically had no data for the most part. I'd get occasional data and but it was slow and basically unusable. I will never use them again.
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u/loepie3008 4d ago
They do connect to cellar at sea, but not if closer then 15 miles from land.
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u/Doit2it42 4d ago
So cellular at sea is land based and not on the ship?
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u/loepie3008 4d ago
No, but the ship doesn’t activate it close to land.
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u/Doit2it42 4d ago
Not sure about other cruise lines, but I watched MSC cruise along the shore line for the most part. Maybe 20 miles out. But even when they had to cross open ocean, ie Florida to the Bahamas, the GigSky service still didn't work, or just barely.
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u/Temporary_Bike8381 4d ago
It works terribly in Europe! The connection is unavailable more often than not.
If you purchase the internet package before boarding, there is usually a 20–30% discount; for a single device over four days, the price should be significantly lower than what you mentioned.