Funville Forum while onboard?

[GirlsClub4]

Can anyone tell me how the Funville Forum works? Is is fast/slow? Anyone used it to stay in touch with family? Good? Bad? Also, is there a way to upload iPhone pics via bluetooth or wifi or ...? I'm not interested in purchasing the wifi plan - I would just like to know how far I can take this concept while on the Carnival Dream. Thank you!

[codeblue0827]

I have used it to stay in touch...the internet on ship (Triumph) was sloooow. But heck it worked fine to send a message to my in-laws to check on the little one we left with them. I never tried to do anything with pictures, so hopefully someone else can help you there!5

[Ocean Dancer]

Can anyone tell me how the Funville Forum works? Is is fast/slow? Anyone used it to stay in touch with family? Good? Bad? Also, is there a way to upload iPhone pics via bluetooth or wifi or ...? I'm not interested in purchasing the wifi plan - I would just like to know how far I can take this concept while on the Carnival Dream. Thank you!

 

We did a 49 day cruise around the Horn of South America, and it was a Godsend to keep in touch with our son and home, my 90 year old mother........no she is not on line, but our son and I ping ponged back and forth each day. We did have a time difference, and their wifi was sooooooooooooo slow that at times I had to do it in the middle of the night............but it worked for us for 7 weeks. I did use the cabin phone to call home at $1.99 per minute once a week to talk to Mom. All pictures were downloaded on our laptop, not the internet, don't think you can do that on Funville, but you do have access to the entire Carnival site. Hope this helps.

[Babyblue]

Like Ocean dancer said it works but very slow and not able to upload pics via funville. It was a pain to get it to post from home I heard from family but I wrote to family from on the Magic and the Triumph before.

[wrigley80]

Hopefully your cruise is longer than a 3-day because that's how long it seemed to take...

[keywest1]

Just a reminder that they are public forums and anyone can read what you write.

[Georgiagolfer]

Just a reminder that they are public forums and anyone can read what you write.

 

Good advice, only post something you don't mind others reading.

[what to go here and there]

used fun ville on a 2 week cruise, it was great to communicate with those at home. I did set up the thread for us before I left home so those at home knew how to get to it and tested it out.

 

It is a public forum as other have said so everyone can read it.

 

did not do any pictures

 

put your thread on the correct forum ( I believe it is under sailing now)

Edited November 19, 2013 by what to go here and there

[Nightstarzz]

How does the funville forum differ on a cruise vs home computer?

 

3rd cruise: Carnival Legend, January 26th - February 2nd, 2014

[MinnesotaCruiser423]

We use it to contact home as well. It is a tad slow but definitely doable. Write your responses in a word doc or notepad if on a tablet so that way if the upload fails you do not have to re-write everything. Copy paste it into the forum and hit submit. We have done this on 3 cruises and is a fantastic way to contact home for free. Each we write about what we have been up too so our family can tell our young daughter what Mommy and Daddy are doing each day.

 

I recommend creating the thread before you leave on the trip and email the link to anyone you want to follow you. That way they can easily locate the thread each day. It worked well for my father in law who is not computer savy. I created him a username and password and told him to just click the link. He was our most frequent poster!

 

The forum on the cruise is identical to the forum at home. It is exactly the same webpage. They have just opened that part of the website to be free of charge.

 

Good luck and enjoy the cruise!

 

Matt

Edited November 19, 2013 by MinnesotaCruiser423

[keywest1]

used fun ville on a 2 week cruise, it was great to communicate with those at home. I did set up the thread for us before I left home so those at home knew how to get to it and tested it out.

 

It is a public forum as other have said so everyone can read it.

 

did not do any pictures

 

put your thread on the correct forum ( I believe it is under sailing now)

It's actually "Currently Onboard". :)

[jandjtexas]

Last time on the Triumph I had a very hard time getting on the site using the computers there. I tried 3 times and never was able to connect and post on Currently Onboard. Then I tried my Nook and was able to connect quickly. I was able to post and read others posts with no problems. The best connection was in the Rome Lounge, but was able to connect just about everywhere, even down in my cabin on 2.

[GirlsClub4]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. First time we're leaving our four very tech-savvy daughters. And it's a repositioning cruise, so over a week! I know they will want to hear all about it, but I would rather do it on my own terms... Time differences, the 4YO sitting on the phone silently, the 11YO going on for 20 m$n$tes about the cat... You get the picture.

 

I'm a little confused about the slowness. If I am using the "fun hub" to access, is it still that slow? Or we're these references to using a laptop and the ship wifi package? In that case, is it still possible to compose and transfer? That was a very good suggestion.

 

Thanks for mentioning the public nature. I poked around and decided this shouldn't be a problem. I anticipate spending a little time in port doing FaceTime or Skype, but using the Forum for the more mundane "this is what Daddy & I did today."

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[Lisa0719]

I did a test try on my Splendor cruise last week. It was so slow and many times would freeze when I only had a word or two written. I was working from my ipad though. All week I was going to try the computer at the internet cafe to see if it was any better but I never got there.

[MicksMom]

Have used it several times with no connecting issues. Yes, it is slow but I, too typed my message out on my iPad & then copied it once I was on the Currently Onboard page. You can log onto the Carnival site from any device for free.

 

Only issue we ran into was DD had major vehicle issues while we were gone & I didn't like everyone seeing what all she was posting so we switched to texting while solving her problem.

 

It's a great way to stay in touch.

[SadieN]

Just off a B2B on the Conquest (11/3-11/16) and the internet was horrible. About the 5th day Carnival changed it's website and hid the forums. Used to be able to click on Community and get to the forums. Now you have to go thru several menus.

 

We experienced the same issues as Lisa0719 did. One time it posted mid-word. Other times it would not load at all. DH had to do some work (solo practioner) and it was extremely painful to downlaod emails. Attachments couldn't be opened at all. We have used the Carnival site and internet on the West Coast and never had these problems. We used the ship's computers and our iPad.

 

It was easy to access the schedule (Fun Hub) and such but actual internet use was slower than dial-up.

 

FWIW the FCC gal was also having problems. Before we booked I spent 20 minutes checking out the price for a specific cabin category on a specific cruise. At home it takes about a minute to do the same keystrokes.

[GirlsClub4]

So if I understand it correctly, I could in theory type out my daily saga on my iPad, trot on over to the Fun Hubs, access the Forum site via wifi, log in and post from my iPad? (While taking a nap, presumably?) And this is without having the wifi package? Alternately, I could sit down at a Fun Hub computer and monopolize it while I update? I am pretty computer literate, but how does using the mobile site fit in with all of this?

 

 

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[Ocean Dancer]

I'm not as computer savvy as you but I do strongly suggest that this is set up prior to your cruise. This will give you and family a direct link to your forum without any extra keystrokes. That is what we did. We had my laptop and stayed forward on the Riveria deck, if that mattered. As others said, half the time I was frozen off and had to re do everything, sometimes it went faster than others, like 2am. We "talked in code" a lot as I had others on the ship following me, and people were asking me how my dog was!! Actually it was more like took Granny to the DR and..........., but since this was not anyone's business, our son wrote that he took the dog to the vet. ;) We were pretty boring and used initals for peoples names, just be creative........the criminals are lurking!!!:cool:

[GirlsClub4]

Creepers reading your posts?! Good to know.

[SteelerCruiser]

have used it in the past and worked great.....could not get it to work hardly at all on our Dream Cruise last week.....from home or the boat...so hopefully it is working better when you cruise.......a lot of ports will have internet cafes that may have a phone to call home on at a cheaper rate than ship rate.

[missdebi]

I used my iPad mini in my room and accessed the Carnival site. We had set up our "currently onboard" link before we sailed so our family could keep in touch. It was extremely slow and sporadic but I could easily read what they wrote but it usually took several tries to reply.