can you get wifi in room with intrnet package, use facetime?

[scott4020]

In any event, if I have paid my good money for an internet package or earned the right to it through loyalty to a cruiseline, why should I refrain from using that internet package, in any way allowed by the cruiseline, so that someone else can access their emails more swiftly. My rights are every bit as valid as anyone else's.

 

It's called common courtesy.

[Dorset Cruiser]

It's called common courtesy.

 

Well that works both ways in far more situations than logging on to Facetime.

 

I will still continue to use the internet, as I wish, until I am told by the CRUISELINE, not a group of other cruise passengers, that it is not allowed.

 

 

 

 

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[Lovetocruiseprincess]

Well that works both ways in far more situations than logging on to Facetime.

 

I will still continue to use the internet, as I wish, until I am told by the CRUISELINE, not a group of other cruise passengers, that it is not allowed.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

If the ship didn't want it used they would block it so why worry about what others say?;)

[sherryf]

Well that works both ways in far more situations than logging on to Facetime.

 

I will still continue to use the internet, as I wish, until I am told by the CRUISELINE, not a group of other cruise passengers, that it is not allowed.

 

 

And if enough people like you continue to hog all the bandwidth using Facetime, then Princess will be forced to block it. You are shooting yourself in the foot.

 

I don't see why anyone needs to keep in touch with family via Facetime or Skype. Send a text or email, make a voice call if absolutely necessary. :rolleyes:

[PhoneGoddess]

I see that you are sailing on the Caribbean Princess. When we sailed on her last month the Internet only worked in the "public areas" - pretty much just in the 3 levels of the piazza. Could never get it to connect in the theater or anywhere outside or in my cabin. I could get some reception in the hall outside my cabin but who wants to sit in the hall. I noticed one of my neighbors blocked his door open so he could get reception.

 

I was just on the Caribbean Princess this month and got excellent reception in my cabin - Emerald Deck mid-ship. The only place that I had a problem getting a signal was out on the Lido deck or in the deck 16 smoking area. It worked fine everywhere else.

[Dorset Cruiser]

And if enough people like you continue to hog all the bandwidth using Facetime, then Princess will be forced to block it. You are shooting yourself in the foot.

 

I don't see why anyone needs to keep in touch with family via Facetime or Skype. Send a text or email, make a voice call if absolutely necessary. :rolleyes:

 

Not shooting myself in the foot at all. I will continue to use Facetime while Princess (or any other cruiseline) lets me - and it is my right to do so. If they block it, so be it - it would obviously please at least 4 people on this thread alone who could then check their emails at the speed of light - as if that is ever going to happen any time soon - internet packages are a cash cow for the cruiselines and they are unlikely to be in a hurry to improve the band width.

 

You may not see why we like to keep in touch by Facetime - in fact its not only us who likes to see our grandchildren but every bit as much the other way round - they love seeing their grandparents. We do not live near them in the UK and us Facetiming them is now a normal weekly event. On a cruise we are not contacting them every day but I reserve the right to Facetime them as and when I want to.

 

Why are some people so rude on these threads?

 

 

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[A1A]

I see that you are sailing on the Caribbean Princess. When we sailed on her last month the Internet only worked in the "public areas" - pretty much just in the 3 levels of the piazza. Could never get it to connect in the theater or anywhere outside or in my cabin. I could get some reception in the hall outside my cabin but who wants to sit in the hall. I noticed one of my neighbors blocked his door open so he could get reception.

 

My iPad did fit in the safe, although a little awkwardly. I feel very strongly about always putting my valuables in the safe. If somehow the valuables were to disappear, my cabin attendant would be suspect and I don't feel it's fair to put their jobs at risk just because I didn't put my stuff away.

 

Agree.

You can not get a signal in many of the cabins on the Caribbean Princess. You can, however, get a signal in many of the cabins on the Royal Princess. Have a blast!

Ken

[star65]

FaceTime and the Internet work best at least popular times like early morning and dinner time when less people are online.

 

 

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Thank you, I will keep this in mind. I want to facetime because it is 2.50 per minute for a phone call so this seems better, and we are fine with doing just facetime audio if that alleviates bandwith issues but I will honestly want to 'see' my kids occasionally.

[Dorset Cruiser]

Thank you, I will keep this in mind. I want to facetime because it is 2.50 per minute for a phone call so this seems better, and we are fine with doing just facetime audio if that alleviates bandwith issues but I will honestly want to 'see' my kids occasionally.

 

Don't let anyone 'bully' you into not Facetiming your kids if you need to see them. If Princess thinks people who use Facetime are blocking up the bandwidth, then they will bar it as other cruiselines have done.

 

I have had a few nasty responses on this thread and I would just like to tell these 'bullies' that in actual fact I have never Facetimed on a Princess ship but I have used it on other cruiselines on a few occasions. I would usually Facetime in a port and use the free internet facilities depending on time differences but I will not be told what I should or should not do. It is none of their business.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[pablo222]

i agree with Bob and Pam on this….the opinion stated in quote above is just another example of why we ask for a table for 2 at dinner….

 

Gee, I think the opposite is true.

 

Princess has some rules and restrictions they ask people to follow.

That is fine.

 

I wouldn't want to sit with someone who thinks they are the ultimate

authority on everything, including what I can, and can not do -- far

beyond what princess asks.

[pablo222]

Not shooting myself in the foot at all. I will continue to use Facetime while Princess (or any other cruiseline) lets me - and it is my right to do so. If they block it, so be it

 

Princess has onboard IT folks, both a computer officer, and a person

from the satellite vendor.

 

They have the tools and ability to analyze network traffic, and make

decisions about which services to block, and which services to allow.

 

What I don't understand -- what sort of protocol sniffers / packet

analyzers are the power posters here using onboard, that makes

their opinion more important than the Princess IT department?

[Mom33]

And if enough people like you continue to hog all the bandwidth using Facetime, then Princess will be forced to block it. You are shooting yourself in the foot.

I don't see why anyone needs to keep in touch with family via Facetime or Skype. Send a text or email, make a voice call if absolutely necessary. :rolleyes:

 

I wish to respond to those here that consider us bandwidth hogs if we contact family using wifi either by Facetime or Skype for a few minutes out of our day.

 

Princess supplies satellite wifi, a notoriously slow and uneven service. Sometimes I can't get email because the service is down or we aren't in range of the satellite signal. Sometimes the signal is weak and it takes a long time to download mail. Sometimes, when I keep my blog of the cruise, I can actually upload pictures to add to the blog because the signal is strong.

The fact that 3 cruises ago, I could actually Facetime told me that Princess has a higher speed wifi than we had on previous cruises.

 

At home, we had poor speed DSL and I could not Facetime. Last year the community got a new supplier and we have high speed internet. Now I get Facetime with my family. So I am assuming that high speed internet=Facetime capability.

 

The bandwidth eaters are gaming and streaming movies on wifi. Facetime and Skype are not interfering with your daily use of email. Consider that I still get email to work fine on the ship when others are Facetiming. When Facetiming is possible on the ship, we all are getting better speeds.

 

I would think that Facetime and Skype are permitted activities for crew, far from their families, as the cost is only for the wifi. We get free minutes as Platinum customers. It would be wasteful to spend money on a long distance international call when we can do so on wifi at no charge.

 

No one here is being inconsiderate of anyone else by using these two features on the ship. We are not hogging bandwidth. When you can't get email, none of us can. Blame it on the satellite service and its spotty availability.

Edited October 29, 2014 by Mom33

[Dorset Cruiser]

I wish to respond to those here that consider us bandwidth hogs if we contact family using wifi either by Facetime or Skype for a few minutes out of our day.

 

Princess supplies satellite wifi, a notoriously slow and uneven service. Sometimes I can't get email because the service is down or we aren't in range of the satellite signal. Sometimes the signal is weak and it takes a long time to download mail. Sometimes, when I keep my blog of the cruise, I can actually upload pictures to add to the blog because the signal is strong.

The fact that 3 cruises ago, I could actually Facetime told me that Princess has a higher speed wifi than we had on previous cruises.

 

At home, we had poor speed DSL and I could not Facetime. Last year the community got a new supplier and we have high speed internet. Now I get Facetime with my family. So I am assuming that high speed internet=Facetime capability.

 

The bandwidth eaters are gaming and streaming movies on wifi. Facetime and Skype are not interfering with your daily use of email. Consider that I still get email to work fine on the ship when others are Facetiming. When Facetiming is possible on the ship, we all are getting better speeds.

 

I would think that Facetime and Skype are permitted activities for crew, far from their families, as the cost is only for the wifi. We get free minutes as Platinum customers. It would be wasteful to spend money on a long distance international call when we can do so on wifi at no charge.

 

No one here is being inconsiderate of anyone else by using these two features on the ship. We are not hogging bandwidth. When you can't get email, none of us can. Blame it on the satellite service and its spotty availability.

 

Thank you :)

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[Dorset Cruiser]

Gee, I think the opposite is true.

 

Princess has some rules and restrictions they ask people to follow.

That is fine.

 

I wouldn't want to sit with someone who thinks they are the ultimate

authority on everything, including what I can, and can not do -- far

beyond what princess asks.

 

Thank you :)

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[Marknga]

We were just on the Caribbean Princess a couple of weeks ago... the internet is slow. Real slow. You can burn thru some minutes in a hurry, Just saying.

No problem for those with unlimited wi-fi but if you are purchasing a package...................

[Mom33]

Thank you :)

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

Your welcome....

[Mom33]

Princess has onboard IT folks, both a computer officer, and a person

from the satellite vendor.

 

They have the tools and ability to analyze network traffic, and make

decisions about which services to block, and which services to allow.

 

What I don't understand -- what sort of protocol sniffers / packet

analyzers are the power posters here using onboard, that makes

their opinion more important than the Princess IT department?

 

[pablo222]

I wish to respond to those here that consider us bandwidth hogs if we contact family using wifi either by Facetime or Skype for a few minutes out of our day.

 

I have found the best time to use the internet to

be around 04:00; or during dinner service -- crew

are all working, and passengers are either eating or

in a show.

[Mommypig]

Wow. All I can say is that if you insist on using FaceTime and Skype, please don't complain is the internet is slow or the app keeps timing out and uses up your minutes. Or crashing when you haven't logged out yet and you can't get back in. The timer keeps going even though you can't connect. Then you have to hope the manager is in the Internet cafe.

 

I haven't face timed on cruises because we go on long cruises, and the free minutes would run out. I also have 19 grandkids out of 7 of 11 kids. I have a facebook group that I use for our cruises. Quick login and logout. It's a closed group that only friends and family are members of. I post pictures and we can send messages. I generally post photos in the wee small hours.

 

For conversations I have a T-Mobile simple plan international phone that I can text free, and it has 4gb of data that I can use in port. Calls are .20 per minute.

 

We had 5 days in a row between Easter Island and Tahiti where we had no satellite service at all. The ship could connect to navigation satellites, but no public communication. The oceans are pretty vast.

 

Currently we are in Ireland on a land tour. Halloween is coming so we will post photos of us dressed as Where's Waldo for the grands. There's are ways to make it fun for the grands that are inexpensive and use less Internet time.

 

On Pacific Princess the best wifi was on the fantail deck behind the Panorama Buffet. The early risers would all be out there watching the sunrise on the water and enjoy relatively fast internet. Wee small hours was good too.

 

 

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[Mom33]

Wow. All I can say is that if you insist on using FaceTime and Skype, please don't complain is the internet is slow or the app keeps timing out and uses up your minutes. Or crashing when you haven't logged out yet and you can't get back in. The timer keeps going even though you can't connect. Then you have to hope the manager is in the Internet cafe.

 

I haven't face timed on cruises because we go on long cruises, and the free minutes would run out. I also have 19 grandkids out of 7 of 11 kids. I have a facebook group that I use for our cruises. Quick login and logout. It's a closed group that only friends and family are members of. I post pictures and we can send messages. I generally post photos in the wee small hours.

 

For conversations I have a T-Mobile simple plan international phone that I can text free, and it has 4gb of data that I can use in port. Calls are .20 per minute.

 

We had 5 days in a row between Easter Island and Tahiti where we had no satellite service at all. The ship could connect to navigation satellites, but no public communication. The oceans are pretty vast.

 

Currently we are in Ireland on a land tour. Halloween is coming so we will post photos of us dressed as Where's Waldo for the grands. There's are ways to make it fun for the grands that are inexpensive and use less Internet time.

 

On Pacific Princess the best wifi was on the fantail deck behind the Panorama Buffet. The early risers would all be out there watching the sunrise on the water and enjoy relatively fast internet. Wee small hours was good too.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

Has Princess stated anywhere that Facetime and Skyping is not permitted on any cruise ship? NO.

Do they have the ability to do so? Yes

When and if they do, I will find other means to call home.

If they haven't yet, it is because it does not interfere with wifi usage.

The Satellite is the problem.

[star65]

Don't let anyone 'bully' you into not Facetiming your kids if you need to see them. If Princess thinks people who use Facetime are blocking up the bandwidth, then they will bar it as other cruiselines have done.

 

I have had a few nasty responses on this thread and I would just like to tell these 'bullies' that in actual fact I have never Facetimed on a Princess ship but I have used it on other cruiselines on a few occasions. I would usually Facetime in a port and use the free internet facilities depending on time differences but I will not be told what I should or should not do. It is none of their business.

 

 

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Hello, I am sorry that my thread turned into a bullying session for anyone. I have unfortunately seen this happen way to frequently lately on these boards. I will still use facetime as you and others have stated it is my right to do so, and no one can tell me how and when I can contact my children, as long as Princess has no issues than in my opinion it is no one else's concern. Thanks for the info.

[SwissDave]

Facetime app will reduce the video quality or drop video completely if there is not enough bandwidth for it. In that situation it will just switch to voice. On a perfect 56mb wireless router it can use up to 3MB data per minute for top quality video, on a restricted bandwidth network of say 256kbs a 1 minute call will use about 100kb of data, so it is not exactly a 'hog'.

 

People who insist on uploading photos from their cameras or phones dont realise that most pictures are between 3 & 5MB each and the software does not compensate for slow links and so grabs as much bandwidth as possible.

 

If Princess allows facetime then they obviously have no issues with people using it and it is therefore not for anyone else to say it should not be used. It is Princess's system, they set the rules, not anyone else.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone. Please excuse tryping orrers.

[Mommypig]

I apologize if you felt I was bullying. Not my intention. I was actually repeating a bit of a conversation between two of our tablemates on a cruise of French Polynesia in 2013. Wife used up all their minutes trying to skype, unsuccessfully, and couldn't get back on when it crashed. She wanted more minutes and hubs said no and to quit complaining, only so much satellite to go around.

 

Anyway, go ahead and FaceTime if that is your preferred method of communication. To each his own.

 

 

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[scott4020]

So people who have a different opinion than you are bullies?

 

I think that says it all.

[shredie]

If the ship didn't want it used they would block it so why worry about what others say?;)

 

You and I seem to be in agreement! :eek: I think by picking times carefully in order to avoid the crowds, FT could be done and still not infringe on others. Granted, the best way to do it is to find some wifi on shore, but that might not always be possible. I think FT and Skype are wonderful, and I wish something similar had been around when I lived far away from my grandparents.