A Few Hundred Cruise Ships Use or Will Use SpaceX Starlink

SpaceX’s Starlink has been a game changer for cruise lines when it comes to connectivity.

As of December 12, 2023, there are an estimated 454 ocean-worthy cruise ships worldwide.

Starlink Maritime offers three packages as of early 2023.

50 GB    $250 per month, unlimited mobile data inland, and best for low bandwidth applications
1 TB     $1,000 per month, unlimited mobile data inland, and best for vessels that support small crews, cloud applications, and video calling
5 TB     $5,000 per month, best for vessels that support large crews, enterprise applications, IoT, and more

400 Cruise ships paying $60k per year would be $23 million per year.

All plans can only be purchased new with a $2,500 flat HP dish. Starlink also charges a $300 management fee and a $50 activation fee.

As of 2021, there were over 50,000 ocean-going vessels worldwide. This would include yachts and cargo ships.

AIDA Cruises was one of two of the first cruise lines that parent company Carnival Corporation announced they would add Starlink to the entire fleet (Carnival Cruise Line was the other). Roll-out began in December 2022 and was completed by October 2023.

American Queen Voyages was the first cruise line in the U.S. to add Starlink services to all its ships. Guest sailing on any of the line’s seven river, lake, or expedition vessels will have access to the Starlink service.

Eleven Carnival ships currently have Starlink enabled – Mardi Gras, Carnival Celebration, Carnival Panorama, Carnival Elation, Carnival Sunrise, Carnival Valor, Carnival Venezia, Carnival Pride, Carnival Magic, Carnival Sunshine, and Carnival Vista. The cruise line intends to offer Starlink on all of its ships and is rolling out the service in a phased approach.

All Celebrity Cruises ships offer Starlink service onboard.

Cunard began rolling out Starlink fleetwide in Summer 2023. The service will be available on Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria, and Queen Elizabeth by the end of 2023.

In October 2023, Holland America Line announced it had rolled out Starlink on nearly half of its fleet, with plans to incorporate the service on all 11 of its ships. It is currently offered on Koningsdam, and now Oosterdam, Volendam, Westerdam, Zaandam, and Zuiderdam.

Norwegian Crusie Line began offering Starlink in April 2023. The first ship offering the service was Norwegian Breakaway. Since then, the line has been working to add Starlink in a phased approach to all vessels in the fleet.

Oceania Cruises is rolling out Starlink on all its ships, as a part of parent company Norwegian Cruise Line Holding’s efforts to incorporate the service on all vessels. The line offers Starlink on its newest ship, Vista.

At this time, no ships from Princess are confirmed to have Starlink access. However, there are plans from its parent company Carnival Corporation to add the service in the future to all ships in the fleet.

Regent Seven Seas is in the process of rolling out Starlink to all vessels. In October 2023, the line announced it had added the service to Seven Seas Mariner and was in the process of adding it to other ships. RSSC anticipates all six vessels in its fleet to have Starlink offered by the end of 2024.

Royal Caribbean was one of the first lines to add Starlink on its ships. The first ship it was introduced to was Freedom of the Seas in 2022. Since then, the cruise line has worked in a phased approach with the intent to add Starlink to all ships in the fleet.

In May 2023, Seabourn announced two of its expedition ships, Seabourn Venture and Seabourn Pursuit, had incorporated Starlink service. Seabourn will be rolling out the service fleet-wide as a part of parent company Carnival Corporation’s efforts.

Starlink is being added to all of Silversea’s ships as a part of parent company Royal Caribbean Group’s fleetwide rollout of the service.