Virgin Voyages and SES Networks have just launched a new connectivity system for guests and crew.
With this new system, those on board will benefit from SES's medium Earth orbit (MEO) satellites combined with Starlink's low Earth orbit (LEO) system and the newly launched SES Cruise mPOWERED + Starlink PRO system.
“This allows us to offer more capacity to our sailors and crew,” said Steve Worling, senior director of technology operations at Virgin Voyages.
Each ship has been equipped with 10 Starlink antennas on the roof of an aft deck, and in some cases, capacity has been tripled. Discussions and planning began in the second quarter of 2023.
Gregory Martin, Vice President of Marine Market at SES: “Virgin ships would use both MEO and LEO simultaneously. With the SES system, it helps the cruise operator overcome the complexity of using and switching traffic between both connections.”
This new system will be immediately noticeable to sailors, as speeds and responsiveness should be faster. All Virgin sailors receive free Wi-Fi on board and can pay for an upgraded premium package.
Virgin's team can decide which traffic goes where. Voice calls, such as those made by the crew to contact their loved ones, go through the MEO connection.
“It is guaranteed and prioritized,” added Worling, who also noted that the package SES put on the table was cost-effective.
“Working in collaboration with the SES team, we analyzed traffic needs. If someone is watching Netflix, we direct them more towards the LEO side because it offers low latency and high speed“.
According to Gregory Martin, bandwidth continued to require active management as customer needs changed, and there was a difference in needs during sea days versus port days.
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