Rivers’ wi-fi quest

INTERNET connectivity has become a necessary requirement of passengers, but river cruise operators are facing major challenges in providing services.

Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection local md Fiona Dalton told Cruise360 delegates increasingly connected travellers required greater bandwidth.

“It can be challenging on the rivers with wi-fi, particularly through the main gorges through Europe,” she said.

“It’s crucial and it’s fortunate on the rivers that it’s easier to provide than on ocean cruises, but it’s one of the things we have to keep upgrading to make sure we can deliver.”

Dalton said Uniworld had introduced booster devices for guests to use on shore, allowing internet access for a cost of €8 per day for 200mb of data.

“It’s about the size of a cigarette packet and you can pop it in your backpack and you can be completely online on your shore excursion,” Dalton said.

Tauck national sales manager Nick Coward said ships were subject to changing signals and systems as they travelled on rivers, making the provision of wi-fi services difficult.

“To run the bandwidth that today’s clientele wants is still hugely expensive,” he said.

“On one ship for one given month, you can buy two or three very nice cars for the cost of just one ship’s wi-fi system,” Coward explained.