The appliances are designed to help the cruise line recruit and keep top staff by allowing the crew to communicate by e-mail with family and friends, and read online newspapers from home. Crews are on shipboard often four to eight months at a stretch. Royal Caribbean selected thin clients because of the small size of the units-shipboard cabins are so tiny that the company faced a great need to save space. Also, the thin clients require less maintenance than full-featured PCs. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. In addition to communication from home, the crew can access internal e-mail and scheduling applications, Murphy said.
Internet access is provided through a satellite uplink from the ship.
Crew are charged for Internet access at a rate of a penny a minute currently, with pricing to increase to about 15 cents per minute later. The crew is charged partially to recoup costs, and partially to throttle usage and keep from flooding the satellite link with traffic, Murphy said. In addition to the crew Internet access, passengers can access the Internet through several Internet cafes on the ship. Also, passengers who bring their own notebook computers can hook up to the Internet through high-speed datalinks in their cabins.