Does the chat feature on the Hub app work well?

[Carleeb12]

The iTunes app store says it is often really sketchy. I just don't know if I should pay the $ if it isn't going to work very well.

[MarvelMania]

The Carnival App is free. The chat feature is $5 for the whole cruise. But you can still use the app to look at the Funtimes and other stuff for free. Just when you get on the cruise,put your phone on airplane mode and connect to their wifi. :)

[coevan]

2 weeks on the Magic it worked perfectly. We loved the app and yes it is free. the app has ship maps, restaurant hours, deck layouts, and the fun times is also on the app.

[Carleeb12]

Mostly just need to know if the chat feature works well. We were planning on using it to keep in contact with our party.

[sk8rmomof3]

I have the app but from what I heard, the person has to basically be staring at their phone logged in waiting for the message. I thought it was more like a text where I could message my husband and say "Where are you" or "meet me in the buffet" and he would get a notification. From my understanding, this is not the case. He'd have to have it open and looking at it to receive the message. Now, I haven't tried it yet, this is just what I have heard, so I could totally be wrong! For me, it sounded like doing FB messenger would be easier and pay for the internet package for $5 a day. Then I could upload pictures as well. I guess we'll see!

[coevan]

no, not true, the app does not have to be open and your phone bings just like IM. The HUB app was extremely useful. The one caveat is the person you want to message has to have the app and chat feature as well. Our roll call group stayed in touch about meeting, slot pulls, and pub crawls.

[TomCruise48]

We have used it six times on three different ships and it worked pretty well. A problem we had on one cruise was that my wife was getting my messages, but I wasn't getting hers. After a couple of days, we figured out the problem. For each cruise, you receive a unique 4-digit chat ID, and the ID changes from cruise to cruise. At the end of the cruise, the app is supposed to clear out your chat ID, but it did not do this on my wife's phone. She had my old chat ID from the previous cruise, which of course was different from the ID for the current cruise. She manually cleared the old chat ID and started using the new one, and all was well.

[Fidfam]

no, not true, the app does not have to be open and your phone bings just like IM. The HUB app was extremely useful. The one caveat is the person you want to message has to have the app and chat feature as well. Our roll call group stayed in touch about meeting, slot pulls, and pub crawls.

Sounds great. So, did everyone in your party need to have an access code to the group in order to chat? Or were your accounts all linked from a group booking? Also, were you able to chat individually with specific people, or only to the group? We leave on the Breeze this weekend and are hoping the HUB is a convenient way to keep tabs on our group.

Does anyone know if the Camp Carnival is able to send a message via HUB to parents if needed?

[Gtownmom]

We used it on the Breeze in February. The chat feature worked sporadically. You can set your preference for sounds etc when you get a message. We had 4 couples with our bookings linked for dinner. When I went into chat, they were all listed to be activated.

[Organized Chaos]

Also, were you able to chat individually with specific people, or only to the group?

I was told by another forum user just the other day that it gives you the option to chat with a single person or multiple people at the same time. I'm hoping that's true because it would be perfect for our group of 8 on our next cruise, but it'd also be nice to message individuals too. That's the only time I've been told it does both so I'm hoping others can corroborate.

[coevan]

they assign you a code, its on your phone, then get your friends and enter a phone list i,e; Tom 1234, Nancy 2468, its very easy, lots of fun

[pe4all]

Best $5 x 2 I ever spent on a Carnival cruise! Worked great on Splendor.

[nchikk]

We sailed on and used the chat feature on the Valor in September. It did not work well for us. We would receive the other's texts only about a third of the time. They refunded our $5 charges on the 3rd day of the 8-day cruise and told us to continue using the feature. When it did work, it was great, but it really never got any better than that. I say pay the $5 and use it. If it doesn't work, tell GS about it.

[Organized Chaos]

We sailed on and used the chat feature on the Valor in September. It did not work well for us. We would receive the other's texts only about a third of the time. They refunded our $5 charges on the 3rd day of the 8-day cruise and told us to continue using the feature. When it did work, it was great, but it really never got any better than that. I say pay the $5 and use it. If it doesn't work, tell GS about it.

Experiences similar to this are what I've been hearing more than those who say it worked well. We each bought the Social plan last year just to be able to communicate via iMessage (Hub app wasn't available at the time). We really don't need an internet plan for anything else, so it'd be nice to save the money and just buy the Hub chat feature. We found that using iMessage on the Social plan was pretty reliable. Wonder why Hub chat is less so? :confused: Network congestion is typically the culprit, but the bandwidth needed for messaging is minimal. So it might boil down to the quality of a particular ship's networking equipment.

[Absolutheada]

I would love to know if this works for the kids club, if they can message me through the app. Trying to figure out for our next cruise (first carnival)

[Organized Chaos]

I would love to know if this works for the kids club, if they can message me through the app. Trying to figure out for our next cruise (first carnival)

I've seen a few people ask this around the forum, but haven't seen anyone answer yet. I don't think they do. But it would actually be a nice feature and, by the sounds of it, probably wouldn't be that hard to do. Each person who uses the chat gets a code to enter, so they could have parents register that code with the club for the person in charge of activities. But if receiving messages is as hit & miss as some have experienced, that could present a problem. Still a good idea, in my opinion.

[bUU]

Wonder why Hub chat is less so? :confused: Network congestion is typically the culprit, but the bandwidth needed for messaging is minimal. So it might boil down to the quality of a particular ship's networking equipment.

Perhaps but Hub Chat has been described to me several different ways (including being unclear about something as basic as whether the other person needs to have the app open when you try to send your message to them), which makes me think that it probably does work more consistently than it seems, but rather the variability depends on how much those reporting the inconsistency understand the specifications and stated limitations of the service.

[MikeMSD]

Perhaps but Hub Chat has been described to me several different ways (including being unclear about something as basic as whether the other person needs to have the app open when you try to send your message to them), which makes me think that it probably does work more consistently than it seems, but rather the variability depends on how much those reporting the inconsistency understand the specifications and stated limitations of the service.

 

 

I'm betting it has to do with not having an internet connection. Messages to iPhones and Androids rely on push notification services. For Apple I know those messages go through Apples servers. I believe it's the same for Android through Google.

 

If there is no Internet access, then you can't receive the push notifications. If they allowed push notifications, then people would be seeing other alerts like Facebook and stuff that use the push service even if they didn't pay for Internet.

 

I'm betting the app stays running in the background and checks every so often to the server for updates using background app refresh. I would think best case to make sure it works is to leave the app running in the background. If you're one of those people that has to swipe up and close every app after you use it, it'll probably break the background refresh and prevent you from getting messages.

 

 

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[Alaskan Joe]

I have the app but from what I heard, the person has to basically be staring at their phone logged in waiting for the message. I thought it was more like a text where I could message my husband and say "Where are you" or "meet me in the buffet" and he would get a notification. From my understanding, this is not the case. He'd have to have it open and looking at it to receive the message. Now, I haven't tried it yet, this is just what I have heard, so I could totally be wrong! For me, it sounded like doing FB messenger would be easier and pay for the internet package for $5 a day. Then I could upload pictures as well. I guess we'll see!

 

I have heard (never used) but on Carnival ships whatever your text ringer is that is what the HUB app will play when you get a message. Now I was just on a princess cruise over Christmas '16, and their app (same idea) did NOT notify you. You did not have to have the app open staring at it, but it did NOT notify you.

[bUU]

For Apple I know those messages go through Apples servers. I believe it's the same for Android through Google.

I would be shocked to learn that Hub chat went through either Apple or Google. I believe the point of the $5 per device per cruise level of service is to provide access to resources that are served from aboard the ship itself.

 

 

 

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[Jenal2]

Do you have to be on the ship to get the $5 messaging feature? Or can we set it up before our cruise?

 

 

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[MikeMSD]

I would be shocked to learn that Hub chat went through either Apple or Google. I believe the point of the $5 per device per cruise level of service is to provide access to resources that are served from aboard the ship itself.

 

 

 

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Yeah, which is why I think some people have an unreliable experience, because it's having to use a background app refresh instead of push notifications which are more reliable.

 

 

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[bUU]

Yes, I agree. That's almost surely the case.

 

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[Organized Chaos]

I would be shocked to learn that Hub chat went through either Apple or Google. I believe the point of the $5 per device per cruise level of service is to provide access to resources that are served from aboard the ship itself.

I don't think they meant Hub chat went through Apple/Google servers. I think they were referring to Apple's proprietary messaging (aka iMessages). Those do go through Apple's servers. I think they were implying that the unreliable nature of Hub chat may have something to do with its inability to use Push Notifications.

[Magus]

So is the chat feature $5 per person for the week, or is it $5 per person per day?