Receiving e-mails

[Sumar76]

Ok Guys....please don't flame me for this...I honestly did try to do a search to find out if it was posted before, but didn't come up with anything.

The question is:

 

Can someone send me a fax or e-mail to the ship in case they are trying to get in touch with me in an emergency and don't want to call the ship?

In the Princess brochure (see, I did try to find out) I know it says that we can log-on to access our e-mail, however I know from experience that the systems don't work all the time. Anyway, I also read that if someone sends an e-mail to us at DiamondPrincess and puts in our name and cabin # will the pursers desk deliver it to our cabin? or how does that work? Also I know they don't want to get a ton of e-mails for passengers but if one was waiting to hear some important news from home, and it is not an emergency, could they still contact you in that manner?

Sorry this question is so long, and confusing. I even confused myself as I was writing it!:o

Thanks for any info, Sue

[Isletime]

I'm leaving on the Caribbean Princess on Sat. I read where they have an internet cafe where you can surf the web. So I set up a hotmail account to email people at home to check in on the kid and such. Hopefully that will work. Maybe you could try the same

[Pam in CA]

Yes, you can have someone email you onboard the ship. The email address is diamondprincess@princesscruises.com and put your Name and Cabin # in the SUBJECT.

 

Your steward will receive it and deliver it directly to your cabin. When you receive it will depend on when you're back in your cabin. They won't announce or notify you that you have an email.

 

I have received emails like this a couple of times when something happened at home. I know it's a big debate whether you want to hear anything but in my case, I was glad since it gave me time to be able to make flight and hotel plans while onboard the ship to go to FL immediately after my cruise and say "Good-bye" to my Dad whose illness was unexpected. Knowing I would see him made a big difference to me.

[enymarsh]

Thanks for asking the question Sumar76! I have been reading and posting on these boards for 4 years and still couldn't remember how it's supposed to be done!

 

 

Thanks for the answer Pam.

[KreinKrunker]

Let's just say that most of the time you'll get the message. Pam is correct about the address, but sometimes you may not get the message. You can access AOL, Yahoo, and MSN using the internet on board ($.35/min or free to Platinum). To be sure, I would set up an account with Yahoo or Hotmail, and have any messages sent to that account, and the ship address. Chances are that you will get the message sent to the ship, but we did not get an important message once. I think some of this depends on the ship.

[teach223]

I always set up an e-mail account with Yahoo. I give my adddress to my children and they can e-mail when they want to or need to do so. I just check my e-mail at my convenience on the ship. It is very easy and really lets you stay in touch with home. Thye also like to know where Mom and Dad are and how we are doing. They have cruised and love to know when we are in one of their favorite ports and what we did there.

[merela]

from something I sent via royalprincess@princess.com (2Years ago).

 

It wasn't an important message at all. I just happen to read on a Princess brochure that you can send an email to passengers on board via this method. Since something came up in my dad's office, I sent him an email. He later told me that he first got a message under his door saying he got an email message and if he wants to retrieve it, it's $5. He didn't know it wasn't an urgent message, so he went and got it. Neither him nor I was happy about that charge, but what can we do?! Now he gets free internet service and is happy with it.

 

I would think if you are expecting something urgent, you can set up a Yahoo email account or Hotmail email account and just check your email once a day. It'll be cheaper than the $5.

[tennisobo]

On our last cruise we received an e-mail from our son. This was not an emergency at all. There was no charge. I didn't know that this was to be used only in an emergency situation. Does it say that somewhere on Princess' website? I understand that Princess doesn't want to be handling hundreds of unimportant e-mails so I will probably not do this again. However it was great to hear from our son who was staying at home by himself for the first time. (He was 18 at the time)

[Pam in CA]

If it's a family emergency or information that you need to know, I doubt they'd charge you. After all, that's what this is for, not a substitute for general email. Both of the times I've had emails sent to me via the ship, they were delivered directly to the cabin. Both were family-related with information I needed to know: one was my daughter in the hospital; the other was that my Dad was terminally ill and going fast. The first was while on the Regal Princess; the other was this past April on the Royal Princess.

 

A "How are you doing? I'm fine" email should be sent via your normal email address. If it's business-related, that would also be sent to your normal email address. Common sense should guide you that the ship's communications system is not a passenger email service.

 

Something else to consider is that there is no guarantee that internet service will even be available. I've been on several cruises where it's been spotty. Not the ship's fault... that's just the way it is when you're far from land. So, it's important to set your family's and business expectations that while you'll try to be in touch, you may not be able to receive or send email. (That's still no excuse to use the ship's communications system as an alternate.)

[Sumar76]

Wow...thanks everyone for the replys and the input. I do already have a hotmail address, so plan to use that to check my e-mails while on the ship. However, like you said Pam, sometimes the internet service is spotty. Just wanted to make sure they could get in touch with me if they had to.

Pam...sorry to hear about the news you had recieved while on aboard. However, like you said better to know......

Thanks again everyone!

Sue

[PescadoAmarillo]

Is the stated intent of this service for emergencies only?

 

I ask because I received a lot of emails in my cabin (probably 15-20) on a 30 night cruise last fall, both from my husband, who was not able to travel with me because he was on active duty in the Army, and my mom. At the time, I didn't yet have free internet on Princess, and only checked my Hotmail account a couple of times a week using the ship's internet (at a cost of at least $8-$10 each time, due to the very slow internet speed). No one from the ship ever said a word about me getting too many emails (I never knew who actually delivered the emails, although our cabin steward was tipped extra and frequently throughout the cruise). In fact, one time, Mom forgot to put my name and cabin number on the Subject line, and someone returned the email to her kindly asking for the information, so that they could direct it to me (instead of simply ignoring the email). I was never made to feel I was abusing the system, although now that I have free internet, I probably won't even give out the Princess address. But, on this one cruise where I needed it, this was a wonderful Princess benefit and certainly made me feel more connected with family members half way around the world.