FaceTime, Google Chat, Skype using ship internet...

[MakeItCount]

My wife and I will be on Riviera's Italian Escapade at the end of August for a 10 year anniversary celebration...very excited! We'll be leaving two little ones in the States with grandparents and other family members for the two weeks we'll be away. When we've been away from them in the past, we have become accustomed to using Apple's "FaceTime" each evening to check in for a 10 or 15 minute chat.

 

So here are my questions:

 

1) Are the internet speeds/capabilities (specifically on Riviera) now capable of handling such an application?

 

2) Isn't there an unlimited internet package available for purchase? If not, what would be the appropriate one to purchase? Our TA has informed us that we get a discount on any internet package because we're booked in an Oceania Suite.

 

3) Does anyone have the present costs for these packages with the OS discount? Perhaps we've missed them on the website, but we have looked several times and do not find the pricing. (I'm sure this has been discussed on one of the thousands of threads here, but I've missed it. Your willingness to repeat yourself will be greatly appreciated.)

 

I ask all of this because I've been following the boards for about a year and a half since we booked our cruise. Initially every post I read detailed complaints of how horrible the internet speeds were on all Oceania ships, and that it was just about useless to even worry with. In more recent threads, I've read of people very satisfied with connection speeds; indicating that they have had great success with connectivity. Having read this we became hopeful that it might be possible to use Facetime while on board. No one has specifically mentioned successfully using a video chat application as one of the things they've tried to accomplish that I recall.

 

Our children are young and we would very much like being able to use the ship internet to make these connections and spend less time searching for wireless connections in every port city and then coordinating the video chats in a less private environment. (For our peace of mind more than that of our children, probably!!!)

 

Sorry for long post....thanks for any experiences any of you can share!

[computerworks]

I haven't tried Face Time or the like, but I have cruised for years with the need for Internet while I travel (business-related).

 

Almost across the board, any streaming video or high bandwidth app is port-blocked by the onboard internet system. That includes Skype and other sites.

The onboard speeds may vary by time and location, but that doesn't relate to the use of video streaming...it is just programmed to be prohibited.

 

Recently on the Riviera, I even encountered Flickr as a blocked site, with read-access allowed but uploads disabled.

 

If you need video chat, it really must be done at an onshore hot spot.

 

Unlimited internet on Oceania is about $27 per day, with a discount down to about $22 per day if you are in an upper cabin category.

[ededmd]

Almost across the board, any streaming video or high bandwidth app is port-blocked by the onboard internet system. That includes Skype and other sites.

The onboard speeds may vary by time and location, but that doesn't relate to the use of video streaming...it is just programmed to be prohibited.

 

This has been my experience / understanding for all the cruise lines upon which I've been.

 

Though expensive and without the visual stimulus, the ship to shore phone can serve for a brief check in with the children as needed and on sea days.

[MakeItCount]

I haven't tried Face Time or the like, but I have cruised for years with the need for Internet while I travel (business-related).

 

Almost across the board, any streaming video or high bandwidth app is port-blocked by the onboard internet system. That includes Skype and other sites.

The onboard speeds may vary by time and location, but that doesn't relate to the use of video streaming...it is just programmed to be prohibited.

 

Recently on the Riviera, I even encountered Flickr as a blocked site, with read-access allowed but uploads disabled.

 

If you need video chat, it really must be done at an onshore hot spot.

 

Unlimited internet on Oceania is about $27 per day, with a discount down to about $22 per day if you are in an upper cabin category.

 

That's pretty disappointing...guess I'm missing the technological challenges to this, or what the risks might be to the cruise line of allowing such an application (especially if the ship is still docked at port). They should probably start getting with the program and change some of their protocols since these sorts of applications are in wide use world-wide to communicate. The issue is our kids are 4 and under, so phone chat doesn't really work well...the video chat works best.

 

Only a few years ago none of this would have even been something we'd contemplate. Wonder what we'll be doing in 5 to 10 years???

[Andromeda93]

 

If you need video chat, it really must be done at an onshore hot spot.

 

Unlimited internet on Oceania is about $27 per day, with a discount down to about $22 per day if you are in an upper cabin category.

 

Congrats on your upcoming anniversary cruise! FYI on our recent sailing on Marina there was a special on unlimited Internet for $22 per day; as suite guests we received a small discount to just under $20 per day.

 

Service was generally slowest in the am, slow during the day and faster during dinnertime and late at night. We were able to send daily emails w/ a few photos attached, but could not do any high-bandwith communication.

If you want to plan ahead, some cruise terminals have websites with info about their facilities, including free wifi access. But be prepared to get there early or go just before sailing time. When a lot of people were off the ship and in the terminals, download speeds were worse than on the ship, and any high-bandwith activity impossible.

 

If you go to the terminal building less than an hour before 'all aboard' the service will start getting faster. With less than 30 minutes to the cutoff it was quite speedy, with just a few pax and some crew using the service. But the times you will be in port many not align with the time you would want to call home. And wouldn't you rather be out touring anyway?

 

The ship-to-shore phone might be the best; no video but at least the little ones could hear your voices (and vice versa) at the time convenient for you. But, very expensive.

 

You might try calling your cell provider to find out what international roaming services they offer via the ship's satellite. Whatever you do, if you have a smart phone/iPad, DON'T FORGET to turn off your data service or you may have an unpleasant surprise on your next bill. Someone on CC said they got an $800 :eek: roaming bill; guess their apps kept trying to update while they were sailing.

[Earl Rosebery]

My wife and I will be on Riviera's Italian Escapade at the end of August for a 10 year anniversary celebration...very excited! We'll be leaving two little ones in the States with grandparents and other family members for the two weeks we'll be away. When we've been away from them in the past, we have become accustomed to using Apple's "FaceTime" each evening to check in for a 10 or 15 minute chat.

 

So here are my questions:

 

1) Are the internet speeds/capabilities (specifically on Riviera) now capable of handling such an application?

 

2) Isn't there an unlimited internet package available for purchase? If not, what would be the appropriate one to purchase? Our TA has informed us that we get a discount on any internet package because we're booked in an Oceania Suite.

 

3) Does anyone have the present costs for these packages with the OS discount? Perhaps we've missed them on the website, but we have looked several times and do not find the pricing. (I'm sure this has been discussed on one of the thousands of threads here, but I've missed it. Your willingness to repeat yourself will be greatly appreciated.)

 

I ask all of this because I've been following the boards for about a year and a half since we booked our cruise. Initially every post I read detailed complaints of how horrible the internet speeds were on all Oceania ships, and that it was just about useless to even worry with. In more recent threads, I've read of people very satisfied with connection speeds; indicating that they have had great success with connectivity. Having read this we became hopeful that it might be possible to use Facetime while on board. No one has specifically mentioned successfully using a video chat application as one of the things they've tried to accomplish that I recall.

 

Our children are young and we would very much like being able to use the ship internet to make these connections and spend less time searching for wireless connections in every port city and then coordinating the video chats in a less private environment. (For our peace of mind more than that of our children, probably!!!)

 

Sorry for long post....thanks for any experiences any of you can share!

 

We had reasonable luck with facetime from Nautica between barcelona and Copenhagen last yr. Sometimes it was broken up but generally better than nothing.

[cutiepie43]

I had fairly good luck with facetime on our Pacific Mysteries cruise onboard Marina. A little bit of lag at times but not too bad considering we were between Tahiti and Easter Island.

[potterhill]

And we did FT on our Asia cruise in March. Worked a treat!

 

Mo

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[MakeItCount]

I had fairly good luck with facetime on our Pacific Mysteries cruise onboard Marina. A little bit of lag at times but not too bad considering we were between Tahiti and Easter Island.

 

And we did FT on our Asia cruise in March. Worked a treat!

 

Mo

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

Ok...this is encouraging!!!

[potterhill]

Just thought of something else. My daughter works in DRC and when she was home last summer went out to buy herself an iPad.

 

She called me and said "Guess who bought her Mommy a treat?"

 

I assumed she was bringing me a latte from Starbucks.

 

In she walked with two iPads, two cases and two keyboards. No Starbucks, but I forgave her!

 

Her explanation was that the Internet was terribly unreliable there ( if you think Oceania used to be bad, it was TOL compared to DRC), and now we could FT.

 

Apparently FT takes hardly any bandwidth, and indeed, we have had many lovely chats over the last year. She even attended her sister's civil wedding over FT after it had to be delayed and couldn't happen while she was here.

 

I really don't think you will have a problem.

 

Mo

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[MakeItCount]

Just thought of something else. My daughter works in DRC and when she was home last summer went out to buy herself an iPad.

 

She called me and said "Guess who bought her Mommy a treat?"

 

I assumed she was bringing me a latte from Starbucks.

 

In she walked with two iPads, two cases and two keyboards. No Starbucks, but I forgave her!

 

Her explanation was that the Internet was terribly unreliable there ( if you think Oceania used to be bad, it was TOL compared to DRC), and now we could FT.

 

Apparently FT takes hardly any bandwidth, and indeed, we have had many lovely chats over the last year. She even attended her sister's civil wedding over FT after it had to be delayed and couldn't happen while she was here.

 

I really don't think you will have a problem.

 

Mo

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

Excellent news! I certainly hope there will be no problem...your experience is very encouraging. Incidentally, I just got back from nearly 2 weeks in India on a business trip and used it everyday to check in with my family.

 

Your story reminds me of this past Christmas at our home. My brother, sister-in-law, and niece live in Brooklyn, NY. Anyhow, they'd made numerous trips to Mississippi throughout the year and decided to stay in Brooklyn for Christmas this year. This was disappointment, but we understood. So, we mailed our gifts to them and vice/versa. Then on Christmas Day, we set up my MacBook in our living room just under our wide screen television because we have AppleTV and could use the big screen to enlarge the images for everyone to see more clearly. They did the same at their condo in Brooklyn...and, then we proceeded to open our gifts together. The best gift was the one they gave to our mom which was a photo of my niece holding a sign that said, "I'm going to be a big sister!!!" Of course my mom started running around the room in excitement over a new grandchild.

 

It was the next best thing to being there...really neat experience and a great memory.

 

Amazing what we can do these days!

[computerworks]

I did a little research for you on Facetime.

 

As stated above, FT is a low-bandwidth app compared to Skype and Netflix.

 

It is not a matter of the cruise line not having the 'technology' to handle all the streaming apps... it is a matter of cost. In the internet world (especially with satellites) bandwidth costs money. Any host can dial it up to any speed they want (oversimplified), but the money-gauge starts to climb dramatically.

 

Ship-board systems have to find the right balance between an acceptable service level and cost.

 

FT is an app that can even run over a 4G (cellular) connection, which can be as slow as an old dial-up modem. There is a baseline connection speed for it to maintain a connection. It just may function thru the onboard wi-fi, unless the Internet provider for Oceania has decided to block that port.

 

But, it it appears that it would certainly work thru a cellular connection, whether on land or at sea. ...just be aware of the roaming charges, since a data connection abroad is equal or more to a cell call.

 

I would still reserve some time at a wi-fi cafe in port to make the needed connections.

 

Only a few years ago none of this would have even been something we'd contemplate. Wonder what we'll be doing in 5 to 10 years???

 

...probably complaining about what other folks are wearing onboard.

 

( :p - just kidding.) ...have a great trip!

[MakeItCount]

Thanks, Computerworks!

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[MakeItCount]

Been meaning to update this thread since our return from Italian Escapade (which was fabulous, btw).

 

We purchased the unlimited Internet package so we didn't have to count minutes (how mundane a task on vacation ;-)...there was a small discount since we stayed in an Oceania Suite (the discount was almost laughable...like $2 bucks, but every little bit counts..seems a $10 to $15 discount would have been more appropriate outside of it being included with the suite package. Of course, that's neither here nor there, but if any Oceania leader reads, maybe it will resonate. I left this on my feedback as well, I believe.)

 

Anyhow, for anyone who ever has the same question I did concerning Facetime:

 

1) We used my iPad that we brought with us and connected to the ship's wireless Internet.

2) We used Facetime EVERY day...both in port and at sea...at all times of day from middle of the day to late.

3) We experienced NO PROBLEMS connecting anytime we tried.

4) There were no dropped calls or disconnections anytime we tried.

5) There was never any indication from the ship or the Internet service that we couldn't use Facetime. I would assume Skype and Google Chat users would also have no issues.

 

The Internet service on ship IS VERY slow, but it never impacted Facetime. I assume this is because, as Computerworks suggested, Facetime uses low bandwidth. Now, downloading emails? Waste of time. My first attempt involved hours of trying to battle with accessing emails. I gave up which was for the best. Nevertheless our entire goal was simply to be able to communicate back home and this was BY FAR the most economical and least hassle to use. It was a smashing success for us. I add the emphasis because when I searched CC prior to beginning this thread, the comments regarding Internet were a little vague and ran the gamut. I found no specific information regarding video chat applications.

 

Hopefully this information will be helpful for future Oceania cruisers who have a similar question.

 

We had the time of our lives!

[Anna201213]

You might try calling your cell provider to find out what international roaming services they offer via the ship's satellite. Whatever you do, if you have a smart phone/ Ipad DON'T FORGET to turn off your data service or you may have an unpleasant surprise on your next bill. Someone on CC said they got an $800 :eek: roaming bill; guess their apps kept trying to update while they were sailing.

 

On my next cruise I will have free internet and I am always afraid when I read that we can have an unpleasant surprise on my next bill from my internet service company. I have already asked to a clerck in an Apple Store if I use Ipad on a ship if I could have received a bill from my home internet service and he said no because it is not a cellular it is a IPad 2 so I hope the answer was correct.

[corpkid]

Not to pile on here, but yes. Facetime amazingly works fairly (and I mean FAIRLY well). Skype voice only can get the job done if other side doesn't have an Apple device. Skype worked better, just use it as a phone call. And follow the staff! They know where the fast internet is right off the docks. Befriend a bartender and inquire. :)

[brian_uk]

Certainly in the Baltic we were able to use both Facetime and Skype to contact the grandkids in London. Though they were always busy doing their own things and our Number 5 told us to get off the line as he was in the middle of a game !!

 

Brian