Question about texting from ship

[jimbri]

Me again.  I wanted to know if anyone had experience texting from the ship to home.  I want to send and receive a few texts while I'm on board the Sunrise.  I get different answers from Verizon and Carnival.  I know it's 50 cents to send and 5 cents to receive but how do I set up my phone?  One person said keep roaming on.  Another said keep it off etc.  Very confusing.  Would appreciate any information.

[jbethel11]

18 minutes ago, jimbri said:

Me again.  I wanted to know if anyone had experience texting from the ship to home.  I want to send and receive a few texts while I'm on board the Sunrise.  I get different answers from Verizon and Carnival.  I know it's 50 cents to send and 5 cents to receive but how do I set up my phone?  One person said keep roaming on.  Another said keep it off etc.  Very confusing.  Would appreciate any information.

I would advise against keeping roaming on as those could stack up tremendous fees even without texting! Have you considered WhatsApp? I heard that works in select ports too, so that could be another cheaper option.

[coevan]

you would need a wifi package with whatsapp

[jbethel11]

6 minutes ago, coevan said:

you would need a wifi package with whatsapp

Not in port, no. A mother I spoke to in June on the Horizon after leaving Bermuda said they were able to contact her loved-one while in port.

[coevan]

37 minutes ago, jimbri said:

I wanted to know if anyone had experience texting from the ship to home.  I want to send and receive a few texts while I'm on board the Sunrise. 

 

 

He did not ask about ports.

[jbethel11]

1 minute ago, coevan said:

 

 

He did not ask about ports.

Well, he never mentioned at sea either, however I won't go back and forth. You could buy the wifi package for a specific duration, and then text, right? I personally think that would be cheaper that way...

[bingomamma19]

56 minutes ago, jimbri said:

Me again.  I wanted to know if anyone had experience texting from the ship to home.  I want to send and receive a few texts while I'm on board the Sunrise.  I get different answers from Verizon and Carnival.  I know it's 50 cents to send and 5 cents to receive but how do I set up my phone?  One person said keep roaming on.  Another said keep it off etc.  Very confusing.  Would appreciate any information.

I would be very cautious on this.   Every carrier is different and everyone thinks they know, but even carnival and verizon are giving you different answers.

 

Is it vitally necessary to send/receive texts?   There is a phone in the room that charges 1.99 a minute (might be cheaper, that was the last time i used it).  At least that way you can control your costs. 

 

You can also get the social media package on board (i think it was 5 dollars a day) and use your facebook messenger to send and receive messages to people

 

Leaving your phone in anything but airplane mode can lead to hundreds of dollars in unwanted charges...i have seen too many horror stories.

Edited June 18, 2019 by bingomamma19

[Schoifmom]

1 hour ago, jimbri said:

Me again.  I wanted to know if anyone had experience texting from the ship to home.  I want to send and receive a few texts while I'm on board the Sunrise.  I get different answers from Verizon and Carnival.  I know it's 50 cents to send and 5 cents to receive but how do I set up my phone?  One person said keep roaming on.  Another said keep it off etc.  Very confusing.  Would appreciate any information.

 

In order to text using wifi, you will need at least the value internet package on Carnival.  I WOULD NOT recommend simply leaving your phone on ($$$$$$$).  Put it in airplane mode and either purchase an internet package or use free wifi in the ports to text.  Alternatively, purchase the social media package and use FB messaging or Whatsapp to message home.

[dak1960]

Verizon has an international plan, its just 10$ per 24 hours, you are only charged if you turn the phone on, so you dont need to be charge each day

I use it all the time I cruise

Its called travel pass

[Mrs CruisinCritter]

We have Verizon and I am able to text anyone no matter what carrier they have over Wifi. Easy peasy.. that's how I was able to help my co-worker do payroll for me without messing it up too badly so it didn't create too much stress on me when I returned to work and he had AT&T service. I just pre-pay for the value internet plan before the cruise so I can save some money on the price and then I keep my phone logged in to the internet when on the ship. With Verizon you can also make and take phone calls via Wifi too if you need to. 

 

Just be sure to put your phone into airplane mode first then turn on Wifi only so only the Wifi antenna is active. 

[Harriskathym]

49 minutes ago, jbethel11 said:

I would advise against keeping roaming on as those could stack up tremendous fees even without texting! Have you considered WhatsApp? I heard that works in select ports too, so that could be another cheaper option.

We use the Carnival Hub and I can access Facebook to send Messenger messages to my dog sitter and my kids.

[jbethel11]

And since you are going to Mexico, Verizon charges $5 for TravelPass.

[Schoifmom]

2 minutes ago, Harriskathym said:

We use the Carnival Hub and I can access Facebook to send Messenger messages to my dog sitter and my kids.

 

I'm sure you meant the social media plan.  The HUB app doesn't allow anything other than messaging to others on the ship for the $5 per cruise fee.

[jimbri]

Sorry, I did mean at sea.  Thanks for all the replies.  I know to keep phone on airplane mode while on the ship.  I won't bother with texting while on board.  I got the $10 a day from Verizon for ports and will just do that.  If I really need to I will use the phone and make the shortest call in history . In an emergency they will be able to contact me.  Thanks again.  I really appreciate your replies.

[Schoifmom]

2 minutes ago, jbethel11 said:

And since you are going to Mexico, Verizon charges $5 for TravelPass.

 

Yes.  You should check, though, as my Verizon plan includes Mexico and the Caribbean.  Do remember that there are no cell towers at sea, and you will incur charges from Cellular At Sea ($$$$$$$) in addition to your cell phone bill.

[jimbri]

3 minutes ago, jbethel11 said:

And since you are going to Mexico, Verizon charges $5 for TravelPass.

Going to Bermuda, maybe try Mexico one day . The travel Pass in Bermuda is $10 which I think is reasonable.

[purplephenom]

Don't leave roaming on.  Really, don't, your bill will be crazy.  Buy a wifi package. Do you have an iphone?  iMessage sometimes works with the social media package.  I say sometimes, because we had it on the Sunshine, and we were able to send/receive about 80% of texts.  Otherwise, FB messenger/What's app/etc will work.

 

If the person/people you'll be texting don't want to download apps or use Facebook, would you be open to calling to check in- if you were just hoping to send a quick "is everything ok" type text?  The cabin phone is about $1 a minute (I think) and could be your cheapest option if a call can work instead of a text, and it's just once or twice thru the cruise.

 

You didn't mention which ports you were going to, but if you have an iphone and are sending iMessages, wifi will work and is easy enough to find.  Also, some plans include Canada/Mexico and you can turn your phone on and use it as normal.  I know T-mobile includes different countries, but not sure about Verizon.  At&T has a $10 a day plan that works in ports, but wouldn't work on the ship.  If you need to know more about this option, I can google for you- just let me know. 

 

But please, don't leave roaming on.  When you get on the ship, put your phone on airplane mode.  And then if you buy wifi, go manually turn on wifi, leaving airplane mode on.

[jbethel11]

1 minute ago, jimbri said:

Going to Bermuda, maybe try Mexico one day . The travel Pass in Bermuda is $10 which I think is reasonable.

My mistake! I thought I read you were going on a 6 day to Mexico, but turns out that was another thread! That is perfect, WhatsApp should work in Bermuda with the Travelpass!

[sanger727]

Ok. So you will NOT be able to call or text at sea without WiFi unless you have roaming on. Certainly do not leave it on. But if you want to send a text, check for a return text or make a phone call you will have to turn roaming on. Now, there is voice roaming and data roaming. If you have an iPhone it’s easy to turn one on and keep the other off. You will definitely want to turn data roaming off before you leave. You can then just turn voice roaming on if you want to send a text or make a phone call. If you are not comfortable with turning roaming on and off I wouldn’t mess with this option since roaming charges can be substantial if you leave roaming on the whole trip or turn data roaming on at all.

Edited June 18, 2019 by sanger727

[redrider73]

IMHO, I would download WhatsApp. Its free (unless you opt for the deluxe stuff) and it does not have to use a cell carrier - all you need is a wireless internet connection. Will work at sea or land and cost nothing - not even your normal cell carrier minutes. You can decide which ship WiFi plan is best for your needs. That way you can text whenever you wish while at sea and find a WiFi hotspot when on land. Biggest drawback is that who ever you call has to have installed the App as well.  I agree with all the previous comments - definitely keep your cell off roaming.

[jimbri]

Thank you all so much!!

[Organized Chaos]

5 hours ago, jimbri said:

Sorry, I did mean at sea.  Thanks for all the replies.  I know to keep phone on airplane mode while on the ship.  I won't bother with texting while on board.  I got the $10 a day from Verizon for ports and will just do that.  If I really need to I will use the phone and make the shortest call in history . In an emergency they will be able to contact me.  Thanks again.  I really appreciate your replies.

 

Verizon offers a cruising plan and Carnival is covered. It's $2.99/min for phone calls, .50/sent text and .05/received text. Maybe that's what you were originally referring to? That allows you to connect to the ship's Cellular At Sea network. In other words, it works while out to sea. But you don't put your phone in Airplane Mode for that because it needs to connect to the ship's cellular network.

 

Or you can do what Mrs CruisinCritter suggested. Somewhere within your phone's settings, you'll be able to turn Wifi Calling on. Then if you buy the 2nd or 3rd tier internet plans, you could text over wifi. I doubt it'd work on the minimal Social plan. By the way, someone mentioned purchasing an internet plan for a limited time, but the Social plan is not available on a 24-hour basis. It has to be purchased for the entire cruise. The other two plans can be purchased for 24 hours. For any of them, you do need to put your phone in Airplane Mode (with wifi on). And if you have one of the internet plans, you could also use a messaging app, like others have suggested.

 

A lot of ports have places with free wifi to connect to. If you wait till you get to port and do that, you could use these options without having to purchase one of the internet plans. The crew often know where there's free wifi at different ports.

[ggtjr]

8 hours ago, jimbri said:

Me again.  I wanted to know if anyone had experience texting from the ship to home.  I want to send and receive a few texts while I'm on board the Sunrise.  I get different answers from Verizon and Carnival.  I know it's 50 cents to send and 5 cents to receive but how do I set up my phone?  One person said keep roaming on.  Another said keep it off etc.  Very confusing.  Would appreciate any information.

We get the WiFi package, turn on WiFi calling on cell phones, and put phone on airplane mode. We can call and text each other on our cell phones. We also can do the same to those at home.

[bingo3]

On ‎6‎/‎18‎/‎2019 at 1:00 PM, Mrs CruisinCritter said:

We have Verizon and I am able to text anyone no matter what carrier they have over Wifi. Easy peasy.. that's how I was able to help my co-worker do payroll for me without messing it up too badly so it didn't create too much stress on me when I returned to work and he had AT&T service. I just pre-pay for the value internet plan before the cruise so I can save some money on the price and then I keep my phone logged in to the internet when on the ship. With Verizon you can also make and take phone calls via Wifi too if you need to. 

 

Just be sure to put your phone into airplane mode first then turn on Wifi only so only the Wifi antenna is active. 

The current plan descriptions on carnival.com says none of the plans support texting or wifi calling, but it sounds like you were able to do that??? That would be great for my husband if true. We will be on Sunshine, they offer social, value and premium plans.

[Organized Chaos]

On 6/19/2019 at 6:42 PM, bingo3 said:

The current plan descriptions on carnival.com says none of the plans support texting or wifi calling, but it sounds like you were able to do that??? That would be great for my husband if true. We will be on Sunshine, they offer social, value and premium plans.

 

There are certain things that Carnival officially doesn’t support, but they do sometimes work. No guarantees, though, they’re just covering their rears in case people have problems. 

 

In regards to the Social plan, it’s the most limited, so it pretty much only allows social media and popular messaging apps. So you’re less likely to get more out of that plan.