Princess Cruises is now offering two tiers of WiFi service onboard its ships, with the higher tier strong enough to support video game streaming.
The new higher tier, MedallionNet Max, is up to three times faster than the next-fastest internet service, Princess said.
As a demonstration of the new tier, Princess hosted a United Gaming Community (UGC) competition featuring 32 gamers competing aboard the Enchanted Princess Wednesday against 24 gamers playing from home.
Princess' bandwidth has not changed with the new tiers, but the cruise line will give guests with the Max service "prioritized access" to the bandwidth.
The lower tier, rebranded to MedallionNet Classic, offers the same performance, reliability and global coverage that guests experience today, according to the line.
Access to the higher-tier bandwidth is included in the Princess Plus and Princess Premier bundles. A la carte pricing for Medallion Net Class will remain at $24.99 per day for a single device and $44.99 per day for a multiple-device plan.
The bandwidth is provided by geostationary satellites, low Earth satellites, medium Earth orbit satellites, and 5G terrestrial.