The world’s largest cruise line, Royal Caribbean, has announced a partnership with SpaceX, the rocket business founded by Elon Musk, in order to provide speedier internet while at sea.
On cruise ships, internet access is often fee-based, but historically connection quality has been subpar.
According to Jason Liberty, CEO of Royal Caribbean, the agreement will “allow more high-bandwidth activities like video streaming.”
Starlink utilises its extensive system of Earth-orbiting satellites.
The installation of Starlink on Royal Caribbean ships will begin immediately and be finished by March 2023, according to a statement released by Mr. Liberty on Tuesday.
According to him, the collaboration represents “the biggest public deployment of Starlink’s high-speed internet in the tourism industry to date.”
According to Mr. Liberty, “this technology will offer revolutionary internet connectivity onboard our ships, increasing the cruise experience for both customers and crew.”
It is reliant on thousands of its satellites that are positioned in a low-earth orbit. This maximises the speed of connections between the satellites and the earth.
After Russian soldiers invaded, shut down internet services in Ukraine, and attempted to ban social media earlier this year, Elon Musk made Starlink accessible in that country. Ukrainian soldiers have also communicated on the battlefield using the network.
The epidemic, which destroyed the worldwide tourism economy, has severely impacted the cruise industry.
However, when Covid-19 limitations were relaxed this year, businesses like Royal Caribbean, which manages the second-largest fleet of cruise ships in the world, witnessed an improvement in earnings.
