You can just about take a cruise vacation anywhere in the world, but of course, there are a few favorites from the regulars. Many of the best cruises take in the same places, whether it be taking in natural wonders or sun-kissed temperatures.
One thing more and more people are thinking about when away though is their connectivity and access to the world.
Countries across the world have varying levels of censorship, meaning access to our favorite websites require connecting to a VPN is a necessity.
There are a number of reliable free VPN client services around, which can ensure you have full connectivity to the likes of Facebook, streaming sites and even news pages.
Countries like the UAE are particularly stringent, with huge levels of censorship, but what about our favorite cruise destinations?
We took some of the most popular ports of the last year and decided to investigate how well connected you’ll be…
USA
Alaska is actually the world’s most popular cruise destination and if you can get a connection in the State, then you’ll have pretty much free access.
The United States is very liberal when it comes to online censorship, with online expression generally protected by the First Amendment of the constitution.
Naturally, there are laws in place that relate to any crimes, but access to most content is completely open. You may encounter geoblocks if you’re trying to access services, in particular streaming sites, that don’t give access to US users, which again can be bypassed with a VPN.
France
France is another country that promotes freedom of expression both online and off, and you shouldn’t encounter any problems with access that you wouldn’t in your own country.
The country welcomes thousands of cruise passengers every year, with Avignon and Arles particularly popular.
Connectivity is generally not an issue and even in the many cafes and bistros, you’ll be able to connect to Wi-Fi.
If you’re based in Europe, you should also be able to access various streaming sites due to the European Commission’s digital single market strategy, meaning your same Netflix package, for example, can be watched anywhere on the continent.
Canada
As you’d probably expect, Canada has a relatively similar level of internet access and censorship to neighbors USA.
It’s rated as Free by Freedom of the Net and there has been no evidence of any government filtering in the past.
Quebec is one of the country’s main ports and as with any major city, connecting to Wi-Fi hotspots is incredibly easy.
You’ll have no problems right the way across Canada as it continues to be one of the leaders in adopting online technology.
Hungary
Cruises are regularly floating down the Danube and into the historical city of Budapest, a city which very much adopts freedom, just like its internet censorship.
The city itself is a truly astonishing place, with the Parliament building on one side of the river and castle on the other peering down over the waters as you arrive.
Despite once being a satellite state of the Soviet Union, the nation is very free about its access and doesn’t monitor emails, chat rooms or any element of the internet, as some other Eastern and Central European nations do.
All the usual social media channels are accessible and Budapest as a city has good connectivity in many of its bars, restaurants and cafes.
Croatia
Censorship isn’t in place in Croatia, but you generally will find journalists and bloggers generally self-censor. Hate Speech carries a sentence in the country of up to three years, so if you don’t like Dubrovnik, we’d recommend keeping that to yourself.
Generally, the coastal city in Croatia is incredibly welcoming to tourists, with Game of Thrones, of course, being filmed in the city.
That’s been a game changer for the place and connectivity is fantastic so that beautiful shot of the harbor can be uploaded to Instagram dozens upon dozens of times per day.
Russia
St Petersburg welcomes a large number of cruise liners from the Baltic Sea and the former capital of Russia is awash with historic sites and beautiful architecture.
What you will find however is that internet censorship is in existence in the country, with censors tight in political and social areas of the web.
The government employs various strategies to promote pro-establishment material and block anything that states otherwise.
However, you can still access sites such as Facebook and Twitter in the country and shouldn’t find it too difficult to access what you need to.
