Skype

[Howie74]

Has anyone ever used Skype from a cruise ship? We were thinking of bringing our laptop to try and use this to say hi to our daughter who is staying behind with the grandparents. Will this work, or will it be better (cheaper) to just to get an international plan on a cell phone?

[bluegirlum]

It's my understanding that the ship disables/doesn't allow you to access Skype from the ship. I know when I tried it it didn't work. Depending on where you're stopping, you can probably find an internet cafe where you can do it, but I wouldn't expect to be able to do it from the ship.

[ehfl]

It's very expensive....you're much better off using your cell phone in port. Check with your provider to see if they have an international roaming plan that may be even cheaper.

[ahawco]

I was hoping to be able to Skype as well as we are also leaving our young son home with a grandparent. That would be sad if we couldn't :(

[FLACRUISER99]

This is what I use - http://www.mobal.com/international-cell-phone

works great on ship & all over the world.

[jmezmom]

They do disable Skype.

 

We bought a Magic Jack and use it in ports at the internet cafes or Starbucks.

 

We have used the magic jack on the ship while in some ports, when we could pick up an unsecured network signal from a local business.

[loeytalldog]

They do disable Skype.

 

 

I hope this doesn't sound like a silly question ... why do they disable Skype?

[esther e]

We were on Regent and I was able to use SKYPE anytime I wanted, land or sea. So, I think it depends on the ship. Regent offers unlimited, complimentary internet to Gold members, so that may be why it was available all the time.

[madforcruising]

I hope this doesn't sound like a silly question ... why do they disable Skype?

 

Because Skype uses up a lot of badwidth and you are on shared bandwidth with everybody onboard wanting to access the internet, which all has to go through a satellite signal.

[bluegirlum]

We were on Regent and I was able to use SKYPE anytime I wanted, land or sea. So, I think it depends on the ship. Regent offers unlimited, complimentary internet to Gold members, so that may be why it was available all the time.

 

Regent also has much smaller ships, doesn't it? That probably is why. RCI ships are huge and have many more users.

[loeytalldog]

Because Skype uses up a lot of badwidth and you are on shared bandwidth with everybody onboard wanting to access the internet, which all has to go through a satellite signal.

 

Thanks, that makes sense!

[elliemaej]

How about oovoo? I assume if they block skype, they would block oovoo too.

Does anyone know?