Cruise operator American Queen Voyages has announced it is upgrading all the vessels in its fleet. All seven cruisers will stay connected through SpaceX’s Starlink. The company claims it is the first cruise line to power its fleet completely using Starlink, with 5G cellular backup.
American Queen revealed the upgrade would be completed on all the vessels before they set sail in 2023. Three vessels have already been outfitted with the maritime dishes and are ready for guests to use.
Each vessel will have multiple Starlink kits to provide enough bandwidth for everybody on board.
“Upgrading our included Wi-Fi to Space X’s Starlink will enhance the guest and crew experience on all of our vessels,” says Cindy D’Aoust, president of American Queen Voyages. “This new internet service will now allow guests to stay connected while deeply discovering North America, enjoying the comforts of at-home Wi-Fi at sea.”
Emmanuel Cotrel, Chief Executive Officer of FMC, commented: “FMC’s innovative solutions integrated with Starlink’s connectivity enables applications and services that require low latency and significant Mbps of bandwidth, that were, until now, considered unrealistic or cost prohibitive. We are pleased to help provide American Queen Voyage passengers and crew with best-in-class internet connectivity wherever they travel.”
While Starlink is rolling out in one country after the other, it is also conquering the open sea. Windstar, another cruise line, announced this week it has added Starlink to its vessels.
