STARLINK AT SEA
Starlink Maritime launched in July 2022. By the end of 2025, virtually every major cruise line had completed fleet-wide installations, and ferries are catching up. This page tracks who's installed, who's mid-rollout, and what speeds passengers actually report.
Rollout timeline
- Jul 2022 — Starlink Maritime announced.
- Mar 2023 — Royal Caribbean signs the largest cruise Starlink deal at the time; VOOM gets a Starlink layer.
- Aug 2023 — Hurtigruten, Brittany Ferries, and the first ferry operators begin trials.
- Late 2023 — Holland America completes fleet-wide install (industry first for a major cruise line).
- 2024 — Carnival, NCL, Celebrity, Viking, Seabourn, Virgin Voyages all complete fleet-wide rollouts.
- 2024–2025 — Princess MedallionNet, MSC, Cunard, and Disney complete or accelerate rollouts.
- 2026 — Industry standard. Lines without Starlink are now the exception.
Cruise lines with Starlink (20)
Ferry operators with Starlink (4)
Why Starlink works at sea
Geostationary satellites sit 35,786 km up. Light takes ~240ms to round-trip — bad for video calls. Starlink's LEO satellites are ~550 km up, so latency drops to 25–50ms.
Geostationary beams are also fixed; ships sailing past polar latitudes or far from the satellite's footprint lose signal. Starlink's mesh of thousands of satellites means there's always one overhead.
The result: cruise WiFi went from "useless for video calls" to "fine for streaming Netflix" in 18 months.
FAQ
Is Starlink really on every cruise ship?
Almost. Royal Caribbean, Carnival, NCL, Princess, Celebrity, MSC, Holland America, Cunard, Virgin Voyages, Viking, Seabourn, and Regent all have fleet-wide Starlink as of 2024–2025. Disney Cruise Line started with Disney Treasure (2024) and is retrofitting older ships.
Which ferry companies have Starlink?
Brittany Ferries, Stena Line, DFDS, Color Line, Irish Ferries, and Washington State Ferries are deploying Starlink on selected vessels. Coverage varies by route — long crossings (Plymouth–Santander, Stockholm–Helsinki, Dover–Calais) are higher priority than short hops.
How fast is Starlink at sea?
Real-world speeds on cruise ships range from 50–200 Mbps, with peaks above 250 Mbps. Latency is typically under 50ms — comparable to land-based broadband. Per-ship throughput is shared across thousands of passengers, so peak times slow down.
Does Starlink work in port?
Yes, but speeds drop because every passenger jumps online. In remote ports (Alaska, Norwegian fjords, Caribbean tenders) Starlink is often the only option.
Is Starlink free on cruise ships?
On the line, no — Starlink is a wholesale connectivity layer. Whether passengers pay depends on the line: Viking, Seabourn, Regent include it free; mainstream lines charge $15–$30/day.
When did Starlink Maritime launch?
SpaceX announced Starlink Maritime in July 2022. Royal Caribbean and Carnival were the largest early adopters in 2023, and the rollout effectively completed industry-wide by mid-2025.
TRACK STARLINK ROLLOUTS
See live Starlink coverage across flights, cruise, and ferry.
Open Starlink Tracker