GigSky is now providing mobile data services on many cruise ships, using the Cellular at Sea service on the Wireless Maritime Services (WMS) network. WMS operates cellular networks on cruise ships that use satellite links to connect to the internet. If you are traveling on a cruise ship that supports the Cellular at Sea service, you will be able to use a GigSky plan onboard while using one of our exclusive Cruise + Land plans. You can find more information about the plans here: https://www.gigsky.com/data-cruises.

Important information about our "Cruise + Land" and "Sea-Only" plans

• To use our service on your cruise ship, turn off Airplane mode on your device. You may also need to turn off Wi-Fi, depending on whether or not your device allows you to connect to and use a cellular network when Wi-Fi is turned on.
• If your Cruise + Land plan includes coverage in your home country, note that your plan will activate in your home country as soon as the eSIM is downloaded. For example, a Cruise + Americas/Caribbean plan will work in Canada and the United States. So, if you're based in Canada or the US, and you buy a Cruise + Americas/Caribbean plan, it will activate when your eSIM is downloaded and installed. To avoid using data from your plan, make sure that the GigSky SIM is turned off until you need it.
• All cruise ships disable their cellular service when they are within 12 nautical miles of land so as not to interfere with the land-based networks. This means that there will be periods of time when the ship nears the coast of any country where there will be no signal at all, as the ship's cellular service is turned off and the signal from the land-based networks won't reach the ship.
• As the ship approaches land, the GigSky eSIM will switch to connect to one of the land-based networks. If your plan includes coverage in that country, your internet access will be restored.
• If the ship is passing by a country, it may pass within 12 nautical miles of land several times. Each time will cause the cellular network on the ship to be turned off, making the connectivity intermittent. Sea-only plans may lose connectivity while porting or near land or islands.
• Cellular service might suffer degradation because of bad weather or Radio Frequency interference.
• At extreme latitudes, either northern or southern, the line of sight to the satellite network will get low to the horizon. In some cases, depending on the position of the ship, this line of sight may be blocked by cliffs or mountains, cutting off internet connectivity.
• Typically, as soon as the network is activated at 12 nautical miles from the coast, it can get congested due to a high number of mobile devices trying to connect at the same time. This usually subsides over a period of around 20 minutes. A typical cruise ship can accommodate around 3,000 passengers. Every one of these passengers who is using Wi-Fi or Cellular At Sea to access the internet is sharing the same satellite link.
• The latency of the data connection varies depending on which satellite network the ship is using for internet connectivity at the time It will vary from 80-90ms (when on Starlink) to 700ms (when on VSAT).
• WMS provides GSM (2G), UMTS (3G) and LTE (4G) on most ships. If your mobile device is set to 5G only, you won’t be able to connect to the ship's cellular network.
• You may see data speeds from 700 Kbps to 4 Mbps.
• VISA complimentary plans are not compatible with WMS Cellular at Sea service. These plans will work when porting or landing at a location included in your plan only.
• For pricing, compatibility and cruise availability please go to: https://www.gigsky.com/data-cruises