Guests sailing onboard Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Jubilee experienced a cruise industry first in 2024: they were able to access 5G cellular connectivity at sea. The offering, which the cruise line said “literally raised the connectivity bar” for its guests and the wider industry, was enabled by remote wireless solutions provider WMS.
The 5G service is the latest in a long line of innovations delivered by WMS, which engineers, designs, installs, manages and monitors wireless networks and provides cellular connectivity for cruise operators.
“We’re the premier global provider of remote wireless solutions that connect people and businesses in hard-to-reach places around the world,” says Pramod Arora, president and CEO of WMS. “We installed the first-ever commercial cellular network on a cruise ship in 2004 and we were also first in the industry to deliver 2G, 3G, 4G LTE and 5G connectivity over geostationary and medium Earth orbit (MEO) satellite constellations. And in 2024, we became the first to integrate cruise ship cellular connectivity services with Starlink’s low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation.”
WMS works with all satellite providers and is well positioned to capitalise on new LEO satellite services as they become available. Today, it operates mobile networks on more than 200 ships belonging to 26 cruise lines, providing one million hours of network connectivity and over 226 terabytes of data annually.
“More than 80 per cent of ocean-going cruise ships use our networks,” says Arora. “We led the evolution of at-sea cellular connectivity services and experiences, taking them from basic voice calls and text in the early 2000s to a full broadband experience with the introduction of 5G in 2024. But we’re not stopping there. We’re developing more innovative solutions, working with cruise lines to explore other connectivity use cases, and partnering with more roaming carriers and satellite providers worldwide to ensure we can provide more predictable, affordable, faster and more reliable connectivity wherever ships are sailing.”
WMS worked with Carnival Cruise Line to introduce the first 5G cellular connectivity services at sea onboard Carnival Jubilee in 2024
Arora attributes WMS’s ability to constantly innovate to the skills and experience of its employees. “We’ve always had the best engineers in the industry,” he says. “They come from diverse work environments – including the maritime, cruise and military sectors – and many of them have been with us since our inception, so their mobility engineering knowledge, skills and experience are unrivalled in the passenger vessel sector.
“These capabilities have been vital in helping us to overcome the unique challenges of installing very complex radio-frequency environments onboard passenger ships, where steel hulls and bulkheads, multiple decks and hundreds of staterooms and corridors make it difficult to propagate signals. Our engineers have also developed solutions to enable us to deliver reliable, high-speed cellular connectivity via any satellite backhaul connection, including geostationary, MEO and LEO satellite constellations such as Starlink, which is the current service provider on many of our ships.”
In addition, WMS provides 24/7 remote network monitoring and management services, as well as a team of global field service technicians that can install systems without causing disruptions to cruise line operations, optimise networks, execute hardware or software upgrades, and repair any issues. “Our people are our biggest asset,” says Arora. “Their skills, expertise and teamwork enable us to continuously improve our technologies and processes, enhance our customer support services, and increase our capacity to deliver the optimal connectivity experiences at sea.”
Arora explains that these factors make it possible for WMS to adapt its services to help cruise operators meet and exceed guest and crew expectations as their connectivity demands continue to evolve.
“In the past, travellers wanted to disconnect while cruising but connectivity is now a fundamental part of the vacation experience,” he says. “Our surveys show that most guests want to stay in touch with family, friends and co-workers while at sea, and they expect to have seamless, uninterrupted access to applications they use at home. While cruise ship Wi-Fi is great for heavy data usage – such as video streaming, constant social media and large file transfers – cellular is ideal for moderate data usage, like talking, texting, email and sporadic internet browsing. Cellular services are also end-to-end encrypted, so they are preferred by guests wanting to access sensitive or personal data, such as banking or medical information.
“A sizeable portion of cruise passengers use both Wi-Fi and cellular, sometimes on the same device for different applications, and occasionally on multiple devices (for example phone and laptop). There has also been a rise in the number of people working remotely from ships since the pandemic, so they need secure access to corporate systems and communication platforms.”
Cruise and ferry passengers now expect uninterrupted access to high-speed connectivity so they can continue using their devices wherever they are sailing
Crucially, both cellular and Wi-Fi connectivity must be affordable too. “Cost is a fundamental part of the overall connectivity experience and one of WMS’s biggest accomplishments is revolutionising the pricing model,” says Arora. “Historically, passengers have paid for every megabyte of data they use but this meant they often avoided using connectivity services due to fears of unexpectedly expensive bills. In 2013, we worked with AT&T to introduce the cruise industry’s first connectivity packages where guests paid a set price for a certain amount of calls, texts and data. This predictable pricing helped change their mindset, increased their satisfaction and opened up new revenue opportunities for cruise lines.”
Since 2013, WMS has collaborated with more than 400 global carriers to introduce similar connectivity packages. In 2024, for example, it collaborated with Verizon to introduce a first-of-its-kind plan that enables cruise passengers to use their cellular device for talk, text and data for a fixed daily price. It is now available to Verizon customers sailing on more than 200 cruise ships.
“Guests only pay for the days they use cellular services, which has greatly increased affordability, predictability and the quality of their connectivity experience,” says Arora. “We’re now looking to develop this type of offering with other carriers for both guests and crew, who also need access to better and global connectivity options. We want to make it as easy as possible for everyone to seamlessly connect to our networks and continue using their devices from the moment they board their ship.”
“Our solutions, engineering expertise, partnerships with mobile carriers and satellite providers are helping cruise partners meet the ever-growing demand for connectivity. I’m immensely proud of our accomplishments to date, but we’ll continue advancing our solutions, introducing more predictable and affordable pricing models, and driving greater value for our partners, customers, guests and crew.”
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