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Texting while at sea on Insignia

Roccaforte

By Roccaforte,
in Oceania Cruises

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Roccaforte

Roccaforte

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Posted

I usually turn off my iPhone and keep it locked in the room safe.  This time we’ll be traveling with others and would like to be able to communicate by text.    Do I need to contact my carrier the find out about charges?  Has anyone tried this?  I don’t want a big surprise bill when I get home.

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ricka47

ricka47

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I'm not sure how it worked a few weeks ago on the Insignia.  But, while in airplane mode we were able to send texts via our iPhones to each other and to those at home even when not logged into the ship's WiFi.   There were no extra charges since we had the cell service off.

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Darspurs

Darspurs

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I am on the insignia now, as I am from the uk I don’t use texts when on a cruise. The internet is so good on here in any part of the ship that WhatsApp or messenger work perfectly and I have had no delay whatsoever in sending or receiving messages, photos or videos. 

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roothy123

roothy123

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6 hours ago, Darspurs said:

I am on the insignia now, as I am from the uk I don’t use texts when on a cruise. The internet is so good on here in any part of the ship that WhatsApp or messenger work perfectly and I have had no delay whatsoever in sending or receiving messages, photos or videos. 

That's wonderful; glad to hear it.  What part of the world are you in right now?  Some remote places may be shaky, or at least that used to be the case before Oceania upgraded their service. What about when at sea - still good reception?  Thanks. 

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Darspurs

Darspurs

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8 hours ago, roothy123 said:

That's wonderful; glad to hear it.  What part of the world are you in right now?  Some remote places may be shaky, or at least that used to be the case before Oceania upgraded their service. What about when at sea - still good reception?  Thanks. 

We are in the Caribbean from Miami we went as far as Saint Lucia - we have now been onboard for a week and never once has my connection dropped nor have I been unable to send/receive photos/videos either using WhatsApp or email. 
I honestly and truly think that those that are saying it is bad are not using their devices properly because it cannot be just my IPhone X which has a perfect signal. 
 

What does happen is that whenever you go on shore when you get back it looks like you have Internet set up on your device but you have to log on again to make it work properly. 

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ATSEAMYLIFE

ATSEAMYLIFE

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I haven't been on Insignia yet.  But have cruised several times on RCCL in the last five years and my IPhone has worked just like at home when on WiFi.  I have texted, FaceTime, voice calls, set photos and videos, and surfed the net.  I only did this on the ship as I didn't really trust any shore WiFi.  I put my phone in Airplane mode and have to separately turn off Cel Data Roaming.  Then just connect only to the WiFi.  You might have to enable WiFi Calling at home before you sail.  The only issue I had was missed calls and voicemail left on my phone sometimes won't show up until we got back to the US and rebooted my phone to cellular.  I could call in and get them, but they wouldn't show up on the phone icon.    

I'm not sure how people got their texting to work without being connected to WiFi.  That might be something specific to Oceania.  

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roothy123

roothy123

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14 minutes ago, ATSEAMYLIFE said:

I haven't been on Insignia yet.  But have cruised several times on RCCL in the last five years and my IPhone has worked just like at home when on WiFi.  I have texted, FaceTime, voice calls, set photos and videos, and surfed the net.  I only did this on the ship as I didn't really trust any shore WiFi.  I put my phone in Airplane mode and have to separately turn off Cel Data Roaming.  Then just connect only to the WiFi.  You might have to enable WiFi Calling at home before you sail.  The only issue I had was missed calls and voicemail left on my phone sometimes won't show up until we got back to the US and rebooted my phone to cellular.  I could call in and get them, but they wouldn't show up on the phone icon.    

I'm not sure how people got their texting to work without being connected to WiFi.  That might be something specific to Oceania.  

Thank you.  I don't have an iPhone, but I do have WiFi calling, and whatapp, so I can probably figure out what works and what doesn't.

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Tansy Mews

Tansy Mews

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On 11/5/2019 at 10:09 AM, ricka47 said:

I'm not sure how it worked a few weeks ago on the Insignia.  But, while in airplane mode we were able to send texts via our iPhones to each other and to those at home even when not logged into the ship's WiFi.   There were no extra charges since we had the cell service off.

 

What area of the world were you in?

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ricka47

ricka47

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5 hours ago, Tansy Mews said:

 

What area of the world were you in?

 

11-night Eastern Caribbean.  Not sure how it could work since I was online with my laptop but my wife could still text with her iPhone.

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PaulMCO Holiday Sharing Rare

PaulMCO

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On 11/5/2019 at 8:32 AM, Roccaforte said:

I usually turn off my iPhone and keep it locked in the room safe.  This time we’ll be traveling with others and would like to be able to communicate by text.    Do I need to contact my carrier the find out about charges?  Has anyone tried this?  I don’t want a big surprise bill when I get home.

 

To the OPs original question --  yes.  Most have charges that are reasonable for texts.  But of course while phone is on, you are subject to receiving phone calls, including those that from infamous spammers.  Even if you do not answer them, you will be charged.

 

Suggest you use other APPs that are WiFi accessible (since WiFi is free) like WhatsApp or Messenger.

 

 

4 hours ago, ricka47 said:

 

11-night Eastern Caribbean.  Not sure how it could work since I was online with my laptop but my wife could still text with her iPhone.

Probably Apple Message....

 

 

Edited by PaulMCO
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ricka47

ricka47

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33 minutes ago, PaulMCO said:

 

To the OPs original question --  yes.  Most have charges that are reasonable for texts.  But of course while phone is on, you are subject to receiving phone calls, including those that from infamous spammers.  Even if you do not answer them, you will be charged.

 

Suggest you use other APPs that are WiFi accessible (since WiFi is free) like WhatsApp or Messenger.

 

 

Probably Apple Message....

 

 

 

But, don't you still need an active Internet connection for that?

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