Cruising with Passion

Cruising with Passion

A global tour operator markets and conducts fabulous holidays on water to marvelous destinations such as the Mediterranean and Caribbean.

Challenge

As a worldwide operator, VSAT has been used as the primary source of connectivity on the move. However, high costs and slow speeds do not offer a great user experience for their paying customers who expect internet connectivity to be within usable limits, which is particularly challenging when the passenger count can be in the thousands.

They looked into the use of cellular connectivity, but were unsure where to begin and how to implement this solution.

Solution

Working with one of our passion-driven partners in Europe, RebelRoam, we knew they would be in good hands. Their working knowledge of Peplink and transparency when it comes to global requirements is second-to-none.

Each cruise ship was deployed with ten HD2 Dome routers in five different locations. The built-in antennas and IP67 enclosure allow for optimal positioning to obtain the best cellular reception with minimal cable loss.

Additionally, an SDX Pro was installed, with two expansion slots which allows for upgrading to specific technologies as and when required. In this case, two 8x port GE PoE Modules were used to connect to the HD2 Domes which means power and data can be transmitted through one cable. Two separate SIM Injectors were used to provide an additional 16 SIM cards to their pool of carriers.

These Domes were linked back to their data centers which host two Balance 2500 in high availability mode to ensure session persistence and ultimate flexibility.

Result

The complete ecosystem of Peplink provides unrivaled advantages to the cruise line, especially as they required wireless WAN connections to revamp their setup. The HD2 Domes provided an IP67 rated enclosure and certifications of protection against different weather conditions. Additionally, the minimal cable loss from HD2 Domes in different locations on board has shown to be very effective for up to 3000+ passengers on some of their larger cruise ships.

By linking the cruise ship to the data center, a SpeedFusion tunnel could be formed to utilize various algorithms to meet their demands and requirements, resulting in unbreakable connectivity.

With multiple cruise ships to continue with, they could use Peplink’s cloud based management platform, InControl 2, to remotely monitor and manage the entire fleet. This in itself saves a lot of manpower, provides ultimate visibility, and eliminates the need for any truck rolls.

Overall, the performance was said to be stable and amazing, generating lower costs in comparison to using massive amounts of data via a single unreliable VSAT connection.