Your next cruise’s internet package might be a whole lot better, thanks to satellites

If you’ve taken a cruise in the past, I don’t know, ever? You’ll know that internet connection is spotty at best. I mean you are floating out in the ocean. However, thanks to advancements in internet services via satellites, your next cruise might get much better internet and this partnership between SpaceX and SES might make it happen.

SpaceX and SES partner to provide internet to cruises

Two of the biggest providers of satellite based internet are planning on teaming up to provide internet on cruise ships while out at sea. SpaceX, with its massive constellation of low Earth orbit Starlink satellites can provide high speed internet connection to almost anywhere in the world.

Where it can, Luxembourg-based SES will be able to provide service using its medium Earth and geostationary orbiting satellites. The company will also be in charge of the software for cruise lines to use to manage the internet connection between the two provider’s networks and sell the service, of which SpaceX will get a cut of.

The service would mostly rely on Starlink satellites to provide up to 3.0 Gbps on internet to a ship, with a lower speed option of 1.5 Gbps. Okay, so that spread across a few hundred people might not mean you’ll be able to stream from Netflix or Disney+ but it sounds like this will be a much more stable connection for light usage. This in contrast to the expensive spotty and painfully slow service currently available.

The “Pro” 1.5 Gbps tier would require each cruise ship to have 10 high throughput Starlink panels with the “Premium” 3.0 Gbps tier needing 18. Each tier would also feature the ship installing two to three SES terminals. Yes, even though the two companies are partnering to provide the service, there will not be a joint terminal that is compatible with both Starlink and SES satellites.

Last year Royal Caribbean, a SES customer, was the first to make the switch to Starlink. Carnival Cruise Lines adopted the service earlier this year as well. SES has five of the six largest cruise lines as partners and they are all now using Starlink in some sort of capacity.

Neither SES or SpaceX shared when the higher speed internet connections would go live.

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An unlikely partnership for a company that doesn’t partner

It’s rather shocking to see a company that has been notorious for integrating their services in-house partner with an outsider. Although this sounds like a pretty sweet deal for SpaceX as they likely have little hands-on duty in the service other than providing the terminals and satellites, which it would be doing anyways.

Starlink seems to be different than SpaceX proper (the launch service provider side of the business). The division of the company not only has this partnership but also partnered with T-Mobile to provide data coverage to mobile phones worldwide.

Satellite internet has become much more mainstream in recent years with Starlink offering a much more friendly entry into the scene. YouTubers, RVers, and frequent movers who once struggled to find reliable internet service while on the go can now just get Starlink for, somewhat reliable and fast internet.