The real decision between GigSky and Maya isn’t which provider is “better” — it’s how you want to buy your data. Guess an amount and pay less if you’re right, or pay a premium to stop worrying about it entirely. Here’s what that actually looks like, from using both at sea.
This post contains affiliate links for GigSky and Maya.
Table of Contents
How GigSky Prices Data: Buy a Bucket, Hope You Guessed Right
GigSky sells data in fixed buckets — pick a size and duration upfront, and once it’s gone, it’s gone. A 1GB plan for a week runs about £25; step up to 3GB over a fortnight and it’s around £48; a 5GB plan for a month is around £76; go bigger still to 10GB and you’re around £141.
Here’s the bit worth knowing: buying data this way rewards guessing right the first time. Five separate 1GB top-ups would cost you close to £125 in total — against roughly £76 for one 5GB plan bought upfront. Same amount of data, nearly £50 more expensive, just for guessing low and topping up piecemeal. Which is exactly what I did, first time out — underestimated how much I’d need, ran out partway through the trip, and had to buy more. After that I spent the rest of the holiday half-monitoring my usage, genuinely unsure whether it was my teenager’s TikTok or my own Facebook scrolling eating through what was left.
(GigSky also sells an “Essentials” tier worth a mention: unlimited data, but restricted to a set list of apps — WhatsApp, iMessage, Maps, email, a few others — rather than general browsing. A week of Essentials is around £33. It won’t cover general scrolling or photo uploads, but it might genuinely be the smart, cheap option for a teenager’s phone if messaging and maps are really all they need.)
How Maya Prices Data: Pay for Your Trip Length, Not a Guess
Maya skips the data-guessing entirely — plans are priced by how many days you’re away, with genuinely unlimited data throughout. A week is around £80, two weeks around £118, a full month around £219.
Honestly, this was just relaxed. I didn’t check a data counter once. It’s the version where you stop thinking about the phone and get on with the cruise — you’re paying for peace of mind, not a specific amount of data.
A Closer Look: Roughly Two Weeks at Sea
| GigSky (3GB Fixed) | Maya (Unlimited) | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | ~£48 | ~£118 |
| Data | Capped at 3GB — could run out | Genuinely unlimited |
| If it doesn’t work | No refund | 100% money-back if it fails to connect |
Worth flagging: prices like these shift fairly often — both providers run regular discount codes and promotions — so treat the figures here as a guide to the size of the gap rather than gospel, and check current pricing before you buy.
Verdict
For me, Maya wins — even though it’s genuinely the pricier option here, not having to think about data usage at all was worth the premium. If you’d rather save the money, GigSky works out cheaper — just buy a bigger bucket than you think you’ll need rather than topping up in small amounts, and it’s worth genuinely considering the Essentials tier if it’s a teenager’s phone you’re sorting out rather than your own.
If you’re travelling with the whole family and want the fuller picture on keeping everyone connected, Can I Message My Family Around the Ship? covers what actually works ship to ship.
Last updated August 2026. This post contains affiliate links for GigSky and Maya — I get a small commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. More on how that works →
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