Carnival Cruise Line Installs Starlink Internet on Every Ship
It’s another massive milestone for SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
On Tuesday, Carnival Cruises announced that 100% of its ships have officially installed high-speed internet from Musk’s Starlink.
The installation took place on 90-plus ships in Carnival’s global fleet and allows for more reliable Wi-Fi when onboard (especially during remote parts of the route) for passengers and helps the ship’s staff with improving “operational and communications capabilities,” per a release from Carnival.
Related: New Jersey Man Accused of Trafficking 675 Starlink Terminals
“Starlink has been a game-changer for the onboard connectivity experience our cruise lines deliver to their guests, and we’ve already seen a surge in guest satisfaction and positive feedback from the super-fast and reliable Wi-Fi service we provide onboard,” said Josh Weinstein, CEO of Carnival Corporation in a release. “We see this technology as a win-win-win – it provides our guests with more flexibility to stay as connected as they’d like on vacation, it allows our crew to stay in touch with friends and loved ones, and it enhances our onboard operational systems.”
The installment of Starlink on Carnival ships began in December 2022 and has now expanded to all of Carnival’s smaller companies, including Princess Cruises and Holland America Line.
Musk reposted the news with one word to share his sentiments: “Cool.”
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 14, 2024
Royal Caribbean started installing Starlink on its ships in 2022 and as of February 2024, said that it was “currently in the process of upgrading more vessels” from VOOM internet to Starlink.
Carnival is coming off a strong Q1 2024, setting the record for first-quarter revenue at $5.4 billion, while bookings hit a record high — despite higher prices.
“This has been a fantastic start to the year. We delivered another strong quarter that outperformed guidance on every measure, while concluding a monumental wave season that achieved all-time high booking volumes at considerably higher prices,” Weinstein said at the time. “These results are a continuation of the strong demand we have been generating across our brands and all core deployments, leading to an upward revision of full year expectations by more than a point of incremental yield improvement and setting us up nicely to deliver a nearly double-digit improvement in net yields.”
Carnival was up nearly 41% year over year as of Tuesday afternoon.
