When you step on a cruise ship, certain things you can easily do on land become hard, or even impossible.
Cruise ship internet has improved with the addition of Starlink service from Elon Musk's SpaceX. That improvement enables you to attend a Zoom meeting (usually) or watch YouTube videos with only a little buffering.
Related: Carnival Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean bet big on megaships
Starlink offers a much-improved experience, but you can't be a competitive gamer using it on board and you probably would not want to broadcast live. Still, on-board internet can do a lot more than it used to do, and that means cruise ship passengers no longer miss out on things like the day tickets go on sale.
Your connection may not be as fast as that of someone on land, but the one you'll get from Royal Caribbean, Carnival and Norwegian, which have all added Starlink across their fleets, will generally be stable enough to complete the ticket-buying process.
Not every passenger, however, pays for the internet. Some are actively looking to disconnect and see no need to pay for WiFi. That creates a problem when one of the biggest bands in the world unexpectedly decides to reunite, with tickets going on sale just a few days after the band shared plans for a massive tour.
Royal Caribbean, in a bit of a publicity stunt, will make it easier for passengers on one aptly named ship to have a chance to buy tickets to this very unlikely reunion.
Sign up for the Come Cruise With Me newsletter to save money on your next (or your first) cruise.
Oasis of the Seas welcomes back Oasis
While most bands that break up get back together — there's usually too much money involved to stop that from happening — Oasis seemed like it might be an outlier. The band, founded by Liam and Noel Gallagher, stopped playing together because the brothers seemed to truly hate each other.
That's not uncommon in bands featuring siblings, but this rift seemed deep enough that money might not solve the problem. In this case, however, something (probably money) has put the band back together.
"Oasis end years of feverish speculation with the confirmation of a long-awaited run of UK and Ireland shows forming the domestic leg of their Oasis Live '25 world tour. Oasis will hit Cardiff, Manchester, London, Edinburgh, and Dublin in the summer of 2025," the band said on its website.
Tickets for the UK dates go on sale from 9 a.m. local time on Saturday, Aug. 31, and will be available from ticketmaster.co.uk, gigsandtours.com, and seetickets.com. Dublin tickets will be available from 8 a.m. that same day from ticketmaster.ie.
Oasis of the Seas, which is not named after the band, has been sailing out of Barcelona. That means that many of the passengers on board would be European and might want a chance at what's likely to be a tour that sells out quickly.
Royal Caribbean is making that effort easier for them.
Want the latest cruise news and deals? Sign up for the Come Cruise With Me newsletter.
Royal Caribbean offers free internet
Sailings in Europe are port-intensive, so many passengers opt not to pay for internet because they can access it through their providers when they're on land. The current 7-day sailing has only one sea day, Aug. 31, the day Oasis tickets will go on sale.
That means that anyone onboard Oasis of the Seas who did not buy a Voom internet package would not be able to try to buy Oasis tickets. And the cruise line is taking a big step to correct that situation.
Fans of the band Oasis who happen to be on board Royal Caribbean International’s ship of the same name have been promised free Wi-Fi when tour tickets go on sale on Saturday morning. Royal Caribbean has told passengers on Oasis of the Seas that free WiFi will be available between 8.30 a.m. and 11 a.m. BST on Aug. 31, Travel Gossip UK reported.
ALSO READ: Top travel agents share how to get the best price on your cruise
It's hard to not see this as a playful publicity stunt because a number of other Royal Caribbean ships are currently sailing in Europe.
Related: Royal Caribbean quietly adds a new free dining option
“With Oasis tour dates set to light up Cardiff, Manchester, London, Edinburgh, and Dublin next summer, this unique opportunity means that Royal Caribbean International guests won’t miss out on the chance of securing tickets, despite being on holiday,” the cruise line wrote.
Are you taking a cruise or thinking about taking one? Visit our Come Cruise With Me website to have all your questions answered.