From the Travel Desk: More cruise lines head to Asia, offer cheap Wi-Fi

Some people long for the elusive vacation spot that will leave them entirely unplugged: no ringing phones, no pressure to get the perfect shot to post on Facebook or Instagram or Twitter. That place used to be at sea. Cruise passengers who wanted to stay connected paid high prices to do so, in part because it's a challenge connecting to satellites when you're on a speck of a vessel floating in a vast ocean. But it turns out cruisers want to stay plugged in, and cruise lines are responding.

Carnival Corp., whose 10 cruise lines include Carnival Cruise Line and Holland American Line, is expanding its Wi-Fi networks and offering more affordable plans. The new high-bandwidth system should be available on most of the company's ships by 2016. Access packages vary by cruise line, but Carnival Cruise Line will introduce $5-per-day unlimited access to popular social media sites in spring 2016. Other plans that offer wider access will cost as much as $25 a day.

Royal Caribbean offers Wi-Fi for as little as $15 a day. Norwegian Cruise Lines is expanding Wi-Fi capability on its fleet, too, as cruise lines vie to attract travelers who want to stay in touch. Viking River Cruises, which can connect via land-based systems, offers free Wi-Fi.

In other cruise news, more ships will be sailing Asian waters. Norwegian Cruise Line is building a vessel specifically for the Asian cruise market. The 4,200-passenger ship should be ready to sail in spring 2017.

Carnival Cruise Line and AIDA, both owned by Carnival Corp., plan to have ships in China by 2017. The parent company's Costa Cruises and Princess Cruises are already operating ships in the region. Royal Caribbean's Quantum of the Seas moved to Shanghai earlier this year.

Send questions or tips to travel editor Kerri Westenberg at travel@startribune.com, and follow her on twitter @kerriwestenberg.