Texting on ship

[jaee901]

I am very confused. I'm going on the Breakaway in July and I don't fully understand how texting works on the ship. We are getting 250 wifi minutes. I am going to have the Verizon $10 a day international plan.

 

What can I do off the wifi?

What can I do on the wifi?

 

Can I text w no wifi?

 

I don't understand at all. Lol

 

 

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[easyboy]

On the ship in the middle of the ocean, you need a WiFi for texting. You may also want to check your smart phone's WiFi Calling capability.

 

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[mking8288]

It sounds like, OP, needs Intro 101 to WiFi - beginner's class free @ VZW, scheduled at local retail locations and/or need to enroll in those free online classes.

 

iPhone 101 by Apple, LOL - seriously, the 6's and 7's (including Pluses) and even 5's running iOS 9.x and 10.x have some advanced capabilities, including WiFi calling and VoIP - not knowing & have a basic understanding of how it works and to adjust the settings can result in $$$ billing lessons - VZW's Int'l $10 plan isn't a "blank" check to simply leave the device on.

 

Upon completion, take the intermediate classes (also free, as above)

 

Meanwhile, there are some useful info here on this thread, posted by others - as reference.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2505217

 

As for the comment about slow WiFi on the ship, maybe it's still "somewhat" true on some of ships not yet fully upgraded, but the Breakaway continued to excel with its satellite broadband - it's not quantum tiered fiber optics, but it's functional with a few bumps, here & there. BirdTravels (active CC'er on this board) currently onboard the BA @ Bermuda has been posting nicely with lots of pictures/graphics ... something that was nearly impossible just 4 or 5 years ago onboard any of the NCL ships. Let's give NCL some credits and acknowledgement for the gains & improvements made, granted it is still relatively pricey - it is satellite based.

[BirdTravels]

I am very confused. I'm going on the Breakaway in July and I don't fully understand how texting works on the ship. We are getting 250 wifi minutes. I am going to have the Verizon $10 a day international plan.

 

What can I do off the wifi?

What can I do on the wifi?

 

Can I text w no wifi?

 

I don't understand at all. Lol

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Any time you are at sea, turn your phone to airplane mode. Your Verizon plan does not include the ship. It will only work when you are on land (or at a dock).

 

 

When you are on the ship at sea, you can not do anything off wifi

 

 

To confuse things more, you do not get minutes on the BA, you get MB.

 

 

If you are texting to a non-iPhone (green texts) you can not send/receive message from that person on the ship.

 

 

If you are sending text messages to a blue person, there are ways to do that on and off wifi. But always in airplane mode while you are on the ship at sea.

 

 

The wifi on the BA is fast (much faster than cell service in Bermuda).

[BirdTravels]

I would add a WARNING. If your phone is not set correctly, it will automatically connect to the ship's cell tower. It will look exactly like you were at home,,,,, but every call will cost $3/min and checking email will cost hundreds of dollars charges by Verizon and not NCL. Verizon will eventually disable your phone to protect themselves and you.

 

 

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[cruisinsc1]

When on the ship make sure your phone has Airplane Mode enabled.This will prevent you from connecting to the ships cell tower. When you are in port, then you can turn Airplane Mode off and connect to the local land based carrier.

[Moby0215]

Texting does not work over wifi. If you have an iPhone and the person you are "texting" has an iPhone, that is called iMessage and that does work over wifi. Android may have something comparable but I don't have an android. Additionally there are specialty apps that may allow "texting" over wifi but the people you are texting would need the same app.

 

 

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[rjmols]

On the Gem last week we got free imessage !!! It was great - didn't use up any of the free wifi and we could use imessage to shore and ship - no idea how we got it and didn't ask just in case it was a mistake !!!! But all 8 of us in our group could use it.

[jaee901]

Now I'm really confused, lol!! With the free wifi, you need to connect to it each time, correct?

 

I thought the NCL app allowed you to contact party members and it was free.

 

What I do get is pretty much no texting/phone on the boat to back home.

 

 

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[Cruiser Who Knows Nothing]

The NCL iconcierge app is free, but only free to see your on board account or book a reservation. You pay $10 per device for texting capabilities to those who also bought it on the ship. Up until a few months ago, you were able to text home w that app to another iPhone. It was a glitch and I understand that glitch is gone.

 

 

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[LrgPizza]

Now I'm really confused, lol!! With the free wifi, you need to connect to it each time, correct?

 

I thought the NCL app allowed you to contact party members and it was free.

 

What I do get is pretty much no texting/phone on the boat to back home.

 

 

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You said "with the free wifi", but WHAT free wifi are you talking about? You can pay for wifi access on the ship, or you can pay a flat fee to enable messaging through the ship's iConcierge app, which would allow you to message others on board. If you want to "text" other people, you need to contact Verizon to discuss your options.

[Petals22]

I didn't read everyone's reply so some of what I might say may have already been posted. We used the what's app to send texts to each other while on the ship as well as to communicate with people at home. We have verizon and went to the Verizon store about a week before our cruise and got useful information from them. we did the international plan as well as had the internet package on the ship. the what's app worked well but you can only communicate with other people that have the whats app.

[mark290]

Sprint is so much easier. My plan includes unlimited everything everywhere with only a 2¢ surcharge for any international text. Grandfathered into a very old plan that is no longer available! :)

 

 

So who would benefit from this information ?

 

 

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[LiLBxQt]

On the Gem last week we got free imessage !!! It was great - didn't use up any of the free wifi and we could use imessage to shore and ship - no idea how we got it and didn't ask just in case it was a mistake !!!! But all 8 of us in our group could use it.

 

 

Yep same here... I was so nice being able to find others in our group around the ship

using iMessage

 

 

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[cmancol5]

We just came off the Breakaway. We were able to IMSG without a problem. In airplane mode

 

 

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[LrgPizza]

We just came off the Breakaway. We were able to IMSG without a problem. In airplane mode

We were also able to iMessage on our recent Breakaway cruise despite having no wifi package. Phones in airplane mode but with wifi turned on. We iMessaged the entire cruise. I've not been able to do this on other ships (Escape, Epic, Getaway).

[Visigoth]

You do not need WIFI to text at sea. With most phones and most cell plans you may simply text directly over the ships cell. It is not expensive. Most cell plans let you send an SMS text for 50 cents and receive SMS texts for a nickle. This assumes that the text messages are not MMS do not have attached images or videos and that they are not truncated (involving multiple recipients). MMS messages at sea must be sent over the internet and that means it requires the ships WIFI. Be cautious if you are nearing a port, you may inadvertently bounce off a foreign cell tower. This can be expensive and you may even invoke roaming data charges that are outrages. If you plan on using your phone in a port you should consider a plan like Verizon Travel Pass that lets you get by for $10 a day and use your domestic data minutes.

 

All that being said there are many apps available for Android devices that allow peer to peer texting without WIFI or Cell.

[HBCcruiser]

It sounds like, OP, needs Intro 101 to WiFi - beginner's class free @ VZW, scheduled at local retail locations and/or need to enroll in those free online classes.

 

 

 

iPhone 101 by Apple, LOL - seriously, the 6's and 7's (including Pluses) and even 5's running iOS 9.x and 10.x have some advanced capabilities, including WiFi calling and VoIP - not knowing & have a basic understanding of how it works and to adjust the settings can result in $$$ billing lessons - VZW's Int'l $10 plan isn't a "blank" check to simply leave the device on.

 

 

 

Upon completion, take the intermediate classes (also free, as above)

 

 

 

Meanwhile, there are some useful info here on this thread, posted by others - as reference.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2505217

 

 

 

As for the comment about slow WiFi on the ship, maybe it's still "somewhat" true on some of ships not yet fully upgraded, but the Breakaway continued to excel with its satellite broadband - it's not quantum tiered fiber optics, but it's functional with a few bumps, here & there. BirdTravels (active CC'er on this board) currently onboard the BA @ Bermuda has been posting nicely with lots of pictures/graphics ... something that was nearly impossible just 4 or 5 years ago onboard any of the NCL ships. Let's give NCL some credits and acknowledgement for the gains & improvements made, granted it is still relatively pricey - it is satellite based.

 

 

 

I tried doing a live review from the BA three weeks ago. The internet was very slow. Streaming was bad as was uploading photos to this site. Often did not load. In Bermuda many restaurants and businesses offer free wifi which worked great!

 

 

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[mking8288]

I tried doing a live review from the BA three weeks ago. The internet was very slow. Streaming was bad as was uploading photos to this site. Often did not load ...

I am surprised to learn of this for the BA as it worked well enough for us last May on the 1GB/250m plan only offered on this ship ... and, we will get a chance to check it out again later this Fall on her (just won't be streaming unlimited, LOL.)

 

This is the 2nd. NCL promo announcement about a "better" broadband WiFi plan, the fleetwide one last July derailed somehow and this March, a new vendor partnership came along & roll out to the Escape & Getaway ... which "tripled" the fleet's "better" plans to 3 ships from 1 (BA only.) As a pilot, said to roll out fleetwide by this summer & here we are - folks eager to spend money so that NCL can chalk up more revenue to shareholders, in a win-win deal. Eagle Global Entertainment, the partner was (is ??) in trouble shortly after the announcement & seemed to be stalling again ... as is, wondering if and when, etc.

 

Nothing being reported on the Gem or Dawn yet - results based on what's available are, at best, a mixed bag ... YMMV on anything faster.

 

Texting or simple SMS isn't the challenge as it is basic and should work even on narrow bandwidth & over cellular/satellite. The iConcierge App has at least been updated recently as it was long overdue since late 2015 - many non-tech users confused about the various pieces & what's needed to work or how, etc.

 

Unlike Carnival & Royal Caribbean, NCL just seemed unable to put together a solid broadband bundle across its entire fleet of ships ... sailing now in peak/high season, kids & teens onboard would be prime for getting those pricey packages. Some folks insist on having their UBP and SDP while others would seize on unlimited data plans.

[VideoTech]

There's a lot of confusion about all this, and part of it stems from using the terms "wifi," and "internet" interchangeably, even though they are not the same thing.

 

(Disclaimer: I'm an Android user, so what follows is based on Android practices)

 

On the ship, you should put your phone in "airplane" mode, which will turn off the cellular radio that is used to connect the ship's satellite cell phone service, and to make very expensive cell phone calls from the ship to shore based phones. Putting your phone in airplane mode will also turn off the Wifi system on your phone, so:

 

You should then turn ON just the Wifi on your phone. This will allow you to do two things: First, you can connect to the ship's wifi system and use it to connect to the internet. You pay a fee for internet access (not for wifi). You can buy internet access by the minute or in packages of minutes, which is a cheaper way to access the internet. However you do NOT need to buy internet to text between phones.

 

Second, you can text to other phones using the wifi, without a charge from your phone company. To do so, you must install the NCL iConcierge app (install it before you leave on your cruise) and then pay for the access - a one time $10 fee for each phone. You can text as much as you want between any phones that are running the iConcierge app. You also use the app to check your on board account, and make reservations for dining and shows.

 

I understand that certain Apple phones are able to use their built-in texting applications to text to each other over the ship's wifi system, without using the NCL iConcierge app. Again, I'm not an Apple user so I can't confirm that.

 

Hope that helps a little....