I’m on the Stena Line ferry right now heading from Hoek Van Holland to Harwich, England. They have wireless!
Kinda.
As is common in captive-audience no-competition environments, (read: airports) wireless goes for outrageous prices. But even given that peer set, this is ridiculous. The only logical justification I’ve been able to come up with for charging this much for access is to purposely limit the number of users so that the satellite link doesn’t get clogged. But I doubt that’s the case. I’m willing to bet 100 bucks (and my pride) that they’re off the ‘maximum profit peak’ (I dunno econ) by at least a factor of two.
As an end-user, you have two choices:
- One device, one hour: 6 euro (~8.50 USD)
- One device, three hours: 9 euro (~13 USD)
I have two devices (a phone/camera and a laptop) I need to both be connected to the internet to publish content effectively. I want to be connected the whole trip. It’s a 6.5 hour ride. I arrived an hour early. So for internet access, I need:
Two devices, three three hour segments each, for a total cost of… 2×3x9 = 54 euro (~77 USD). Are you on crack?! I paid 33 euro for this trip! I have a sneaking suspicion that the person/people making the decisions here know about as much about the internet and computing as John McCain…
So, hello VIP lounge!
Only 16 euro, and for the whole trip I get as much bandwidth as a I can drain, free drinks, plush seats, and no screaming kids and drunk guys. Except maybe me. Rock n’ roll. This could get addicting…
Baja Ferries…. that’s funny. I could swear there was a more common term for ‘Ferry’ in Spanish.
It’s an 18 hour ferry ride from La Paz over to the mainland. The ferry doesn’t actually leave from La Paz proper, rather Pichilingue. It’s a 20 peso (~$2 USD) and 20 min bus ride from the Camionera del Centro (dwnt bus station) to Pichilingue. A seat on the ferry will cost you 800 pesos. It’s an overnight ride; 250 extra for a bed.
The whole operation is relatively professional, with security guards and random searches, assigned seating, the whole deal. Kinda like flying, except really slow and wet.
Leaving Pichiligue circa 4pm el lunes….
Yours truly…
Sunset over baja…
Sunrise!
And… coming into the Mazatlán Ferry terminal at around 9am the next day.
I should mention that sleeping in the ‘Salon’ was refugee-camp style. Choose what’s of most value to you, tie it to your body or put it under you, find a good spot on the linoleum floor, and enjoy the sound of babies taking turns crying all night long (hence why there’s that picture of sunrise). So unless you’re on some silly journey of self-deprivation, pay the extra 250 pesos and get a bed.
Cena y Desayuno are included in your ticket, and actually aren’t all that bad. There’s a bar on the ferry with your standard fare of light Mexican Cervezas.
It’s good to be moving on from La Paz! It’s a nice small city, but too small for 9 days…. 4 would have been enough for me. Oh! and no picture, but there were some dolphins jumping along next to the ferry on the baja side of the Sea of Cortez. Very cool.