Taking 1st RC on Harmony soon - Wifi packages ?? - will my phone's WiFi hotspot work?

[fl-girl]

I've done 2 short cruises before (Carnival and Norwegian) but will be going on RC Harmony at the beginning of the summer for my first weeklong and first RC cruise! We're taking the kids for the first time ever too. We have a million questions, but I'm focusing on wifi here :)

 

We're looking at the WiFi packages and it seems that for about $11 per phone per day we can get internet access on a phone. Problem is we'd love to be able to communicate with the kids (11 and 13) while on the ship since we were told not to bring walkie-talkies and we want to give them a little freedom. So then we'd need 4 phones with wifi which is over $40 a day (x 7 days adds a LOT to our bill). I wondered if at least in our room or when we're together if the adults could get wifi on their phones and the kids could access the internet using our wifi hot spots on our iPhones. Does anyone know if the ship's wifi will allow for this?

[Clarea]

WiFi hotspots on phones only work when the phone is getting internet via cellular.

[Wildcatfish]

We a get a package for 2 that the three of us share, and use Instant Messenger to communicate while onboard. You can use you package on multiple devices, however, you can only use two at any given time.

[Jerseygirl1416]

You could all download the Royal IQ app and pay $7.95 per phone and message each other through the app. I don't know if you have iPhones but people have reported that they were able to iMessage once the downloaded the app. but I wouldn't count on that.

[Biker19]

+1 for the texting option inside Royal IQ app.

[fl-girl]

Seriously?? I hadn't even heard of this app and I've been reading these message boards obsessively lately. I will totally look into that. Thanks so much for the tip!!!!! OK - just googled this - this totally solves all of our problems! I can't thank you enough for the tip!

Edited March 12, 2017 by fl-girl

[Biker19]

Realize that the app won't work until you connect to the ship's WiFi and you buy the texting option from within the app.

[fl-girl]

Realize that the app won't work until you connect to the ship's WiFi and you buy the texting option from within the app.

 

Being new at this sucks LOL. I had no clue that Royal IQ thing would require the wifi package too! That doesn't help with the cost :loudcry:

 

Ugh.

 

Thanks for pointing that out.

[Biker19]

You connect to the ships WiFi but DO NOT BUY the VOOM package - not needed for the Royal IQ app, nor the texting option within.

[teecee89]

You could all download the Royal IQ app and pay $7.95 per phone and message each other through the app. I don't know if you have iPhones but people have reported that they were able to iMessage once the downloaded the app. but I wouldn't count on that.

 

Is this per phone or per day?

[Clarea]

Is this per phone or per day?

Per phone per cruise.

[Cyclone99]

I realize this is a month old thread, but as to the question of sharing a phone's wifi connection: you can't hotspot, but you can use bluetooth tethering (if your phones support it), to share a wifi connection on two devices simultaneously.

[bradsnana]

I went to the Google play store to read the reviews in the Royal IQ app.

Whoa! They say it's trash, it won't load, the messaging app didn't work 90% of the time. Constantly had to exit the app and go back in..kept crashing and says you aren't connected when you are.

 

Has anyone used it recently that can give us some feedback before we waste our money?

[Roliver]

We just got off Harmony, iq app worked well for us. The only thing I wished is that it would send notifications, had to look at the phone every so often. As they say in Jamica, "no problem, only situation ".

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[Biker19]

Has anyone used it recently that can give us some feedback before we waste our money?

If it's as bad as the reviews state for you, you can request a refund at GS.