The Internet/Wifi Situation on Semester at Sea… Is There Wifi? How much? How Can I Contact People?

[@tysonparker8617]

Great summary of the internet for your voyage. We have made some improvements to WIFI onboard, TV content in rooms, seamail has changed a bit as well. Seachat is 1000% more functional now! Looking forward to SP22! Thanks for your great Q/A Jess!

[@jessshorst]

that’s incredible news!!! especially the seachat part :)

[@emmaklicker5734]

What year of college would you recommend going on semester at sea? It sounds so much fun but I don’t know if it would be best to go freshman year.

[@jessshorst]

i talk about this more in this video kzbin.info/www/bejne/p2qtaIN8jdSbqck but the majority of people go when they are juniors! i would say that going as a sophomore or junior would be best (or in the 19-21 age range) because it’ll be easier to make friends and connect with people :)

[@jessshorst]

and i wouldn’t necessarily recommend going as a freshman (unless that’s your only option of course!) because then you have to take a specific freshman seminar course, and you’ll miss out on a great year at your home university. also, if you’re under 18 you’ll probably be left out of some plans because people like to hang out at bars sometimes, and if you’re under 18 you won’t be able to join them.

[@yasminebensai7876]

Does Sea mail work at all times ?

[@jessshorst]

yep! it’s the best!!

[@cupcakes4girls]

Even though you can't really send pictures through the seamail, can you receive them?

[@jessshorst]

yes! they take a little bit to load, so if you’re sending them or someone else is sending them to you try and keep it 3 to an email or less.

[@jessshorst]

and you can send some photos, but it would take a while to send like *all* of them to your mom or someone back home! but sending a few would work for sure.

[@alicialee8773]

Hi again! I was wondering how a student would apply for SAS if they're in grade 12 and want to apply early for a voyage that will sail 2 years later (ex. apply in 2022 as high school student, sail in 2024 as undergraduate student). Because I want to apply for the 2024 spring voyage when I'm in grade 12, but I wouldn't be going as a gap student and I don't have the requirements for an undergraduate student (I hope that made sense lol). Thanks!

[@jessshorst]

Applying at that time, you’ll follow the application process as if you were a gap year student! Then after you complete you first semester at your university you’ll send them your transcript, and your status will be switched to sailing as an undergraduate student!

[@jessshorst]

And haha yes I think your question made sense... lmk if I answered what you were asking!

[@ziyle5238]

Great video , I am so excited my mom says I can go on the 2024 voyage , just a question is it better to go on the voyage in spring or fall?

[@jessshorst]

Neither is better than the other, but if I could go again I’d probably choose spring! I was sad to miss holidays at home like halloween and thanksgiving, and we got back 2 days before christmas so that was crazy as well! But either is fun :) you’ll just have to check out the itineraries once they’re posted and decide which sounds better to you!

[@ziyle5238]

@@jessshorst ok thank you so much 😊

[@alicialee8773]

omg same! Hope to see you in like 4 years haha :)

[@ziyle5238]

@@alicialee8773 yes, I am so excited.

[@bellaelles8658]

Same! I want to go Spring 2024 as a sophomore

[@shellyhorst5361]

I loved sending you letters in every port! And it is true - there were three ports where your letters just vanished. I would suggest people take pictures of the letters they send - in case they do not arrive. And I never heard the story about the Internet scandal! Thank you for sharing!

[@jessshorst]

I loved getting letters :)

[@larissamara2380]

Does the computers work 24hrs? I'm currently watching all of your SAS videos lol but you're literally THE ONE that tells everything that I need to know. I'm thinking about going in 2023 or maybe 2024... Sorry for the English! Learning how to communicate better with english is going to be a little bit of a challenge for me but I think I got it😂💗

[@jessshorst]

your english is great! don’t worry about it, you’re doing just fine :))

[@jessshorst]

and yes! i’m pretty sure the computers are available at all hours!

[@larissamara2380]

@@jessshorst thank youu!!!

[@jasminecastelan5970]

Are you always able to email your family or does this count towards your wifi usage?

[@jessshorst]

You are always able to email your fam!! Which is great, it won't be through an account right now, but through a specifc semester at sea account called your "seamail" (lol), but emailing does not count towards you using wifi!

[@shannona8525]

I have a question! I'm supposed to be going on the spring 2022 voyage and was wondering about the tv situation. Assuming Netflix and Hulu are completely out of the question, can I bring DVDs? Do the TVs in the cabins have an HDMI port that I can hook up a DVD player or a PlayStation to in order to watch movies or play video games in my downtime? It's what I usually do before bed lol

[@jessshorst]

the tv situation is diiiifficult! there definitely isn’t a dvd player available in the rooms, and i think there probably have to be HDMI plug ins, but no one did that on my voyage so i’m not sure if it’d work! the main thing to know about the TV’s is that throughout the voyage the ship plays some movies on the first 8 or so channels, and has them on “loop”... so they automatically start over once they finish. these movies could be for classes (so educational ones) or movies that are played in the movie theater one night. but they don’t switch out very often so you might get bored of them pretty quickly!

[@jessshorst]

then on my voyage if you scrolled up far enough in the tv channels you could find some news stations like the bbc. but the main thing that people did (and the smartest) was the buy a hard drive storage system, and download movies onto it to bring with you and plug into your laptop to watch. i knew someone who had like 100 movies downloaded, and tv shows, and they were suuuper glad they did that! it’s also a good way to make friends because you can have people come watch with you, or let them borrow it!

[@HannahMullins14]

Could you do a video on the courses you took during SAS? Would be interested to know how you found them :)

[@jessshorst]

I actually just filmed a video today with everything you need to know about classes/schoolwork on the ship... I didn't say my exact schedule in it but I can be sure to put the classes I took in the description box when I post it!

[@overnightclassic2]

If the internet is good on the PC you can plug a USB wireless adapter in the back and broadcast it to your computer lol

[@avawilkens8604]

Could you also get a different sim card for the phone or does it have to be the international plan?

[@jessshorst]

You could for sure get a sim card, and that’d probably work for the majority of places you go! It’s just with 3-4 different continents sometimes it doesn’t work the best for all of them, and I did an international plan so that’s why I suggested in the video

[@jessshorst]

But check what networks the sim card you’re looking at will work for, and make sure it will work in most countries you’re going to!

[@Adnicul1]

How did you do it in country with wifi or calling on your phone?

[@jessshorst]

i got an international plan (through at&t, but most carriers offer similar plans)! this costs $10 a day, and only charges you the days you turn your data on, but i found it to be super reliable in almost all the countries i went to, except for morocco and ghana where service was spotty/worse than usual. but this international plan let me talk/text unlimitedly, and use google & maps for navigation and instagram and all that :)

[@jessshorst]

so then when i was at sea i would turn off my data and turn my phone on airplane mode to avoid being charged for extra days, and then just turned on my data when i was near/on land, and wanted to be able to use data! based off of what other people did (getting different sd cards or just using wifi on land) this was DEFINITELY the best option!!!

[@dirichijo4424]

So does WhatsApp calling work well on the ship’s wifi or no?

[@jessshorst]

It works alright... it just won’t work for very long! Calling people takes up more time than sending texts do so your conversations might have to be short, like 10 mins, and that’d use up your wifi for the day.

[@jessshorst]

I think buying calling cards really is a good alternative, or waiting to call until you’re on land again!

[@lisamedla]

I'm not sure but try vice messages although 50 MB is not that much. Maybe allocate a day for that

[@addisonswannack]

How do you do your schoolwork then?

[@jessshorst]

I talked about this a bit in the video! You have some sites that work with the ships Intranet (not internet persay), such as moodle, where all assignments are posted. Here you'll find readings and also forums where you'll post responses, and drop boxes for work. You'll also do readings in textbooks for most classes, so no wifi issue there!

[@jessshorst]

Then, also as mentioned in the video, I would recommend having another way to type things up besides google docs, such as microsoft word, downloaded on your computer so you can type without wifi as well. A ton of my assignments were written reflections or essays, so this is super important!

[@esmeraldavega108]

If your a vlogger and you need to upload a video. Do you use your own WiFi that they give you .

[@jessshorst]

I really don’t think video uploads will work on the ship - you might need to wait until you’re in country at a cafe or a place you’re going to stay overnight that has wifi

[@mafaldavalente9803]

If you buy a package of WiFi that works all around the world from a company that operates in your country and then use it on the ship, do you get charged by the ship? I’m not sure if I explained myself in the best away ahaha Great videos!

[@jessshorst]

Yeah you'll still be limited by the wifi available on the ship/have to either use the amount they give you or buy more from them :( No servers from land reach to where we are in the ocean, so the only option is to go through the ship. But then I am sure you can use the package you buy while in country!

[@mafaldavalente9803]

Jess Horst thank you! :)

[@Max-bc6hc]

Did sending snaps always work with the 50 mbs daily wifi? Thanks!

[@jessshorst]

i don’t use snapchat so i can’t answer that question very well 😂 but i would talk to people over instagram dm’s and that would work for like 30 mins per day! usually my actual texts didn’t come in until i was near a country again though.

[@jessshorst]

so i bet snapchat would work about the same :) like as in it would work for a short amount of time 👍🏻

[@HT12703]

If I text of gmail app will that take up a lot of my data?

[@jessshorst]

if you’re doing it on the ship/at sea, it probably will only work for a little bit per day! then it’ll reset and you can do it the next day, and so on

[@spongebobsquarepants7280]

Well she crushed my hopes for wifi

[@jessshorst]

hahahah i am so sorry!

[@jessshorst]

but it’s probably best you know now lol 😂