Q: I am going on a cruise to Norway and want to take my ipad with me. The ship has wifi but I want to make sure I can download the daily newspaper and access email etc. will the wifi on the ship allow this or will I/should I do anything else?

Yes, the ship's WiFi will work just fine. However, be prepared for sticker shock...most ships I've been on charge for WiFi usage & it is not cheap.

Theoretically, yes.  But then, we do not know how fast the ships wifi is and its limitations. Contact the cruise company.

As has been said, the ship's WiFi will allow the access you want, however there are times (such as in-port) where you will not have such access.  Also you should be prepared to toggle some of your phone settings as you cruise.  This is due to some settings that will block Cell Data, but also stop your iMessage from working the way you expect it.  Most ships we have sailed on had better WiFi access pricing if you signed up for a pre-determined number of hours of access.  The standard WiFi pricing on just a per minute basis is expensive, but if your cruise is for quite a number of days, you can estimate your per-day access and buy the cumulative hours as a package.  Don't buy any WiFi package until you know you can actually access the ships WiFi from your specific cabin.  I have been on cruises where I had to go sit near the elevators to have reliable WiFi access.  On the first or second day of the cruise they often have a greatly discounted limited-time access fee.  This would allow you to test how good your access is prior to signing up for the extended WiFi access package.