App and communications onboard

[BVILady]

I am a total looser when it comes to IT. Since my son lives in the same Building as I and works for IT I just have not kept up with anything and when I have a problem it is so easy to let him fix it. Now going on a world cruise I have some things to consider and need your assistance. Ships now have apps to see the daily activities so how is that going to work. Is that going to eat up data? I will have to go and buy a new chip for my phone because my small island provider doesn't provide world wide service. What chip do I need to pick up in Venice best suitable for our needs. Also what app to install? That is from one of the app-sites:

 

"Frequent cruisers know that one of the first orders of business after you click “book” is to launch the app for your specific cruise line. Each app is different, of course, but they feature a lot of commonalities. For starters, you can book excursions, reservations, and other services directly on the app, as well as contact customer service. You can also peruse restaurant menus to decide where to fill up your plate, and check your account balance so you know what you owe on that round of margaritas from last night. Plus, most apps aim to solve the conundrum of communicating with friends and family members while onboard by installing a built-in messaging tool that doesn’t require data or Wi-Fi."

 

I urgently need your help. I am currently using an IPhone. Thanks.

[kremerlorraine]

I'm a bit of a loser with tech as well, but I know that the app doesn't use up data when you use it to book restaurants and excursions. I believe that the daily journal is also now available on the app. And you can indeed communicate with other passengers.

[Stefan_Varong]

The Costa app is free to use, data traffic that remains on the ship itself (bookings, menus, communication with other guests and so on) is free. You don’t need a sim card for that, this is done through the ship’s wifi connection. Sending mails, reading facebook and other internet use leaving the ship is not for free, you can buy either packages for x GB data or a social media package (mycosta.com). Some I travelled with, who had no relevant traffic, used free wifi somewhere on shore. BTW internet on the ship is along an often pretty bad satellite connection - from a moving vessel. Seen the price ask your son to disable automatic updates, otherwise you run out of data without knowing why (I had an automatic windows update once). A sim card you need for calling and sms, for data only when you have no wifi. Emergency calls generally work even if no sim card is in the phone. Purchase of a sim card depends on you, whether you need that and if it would offer something additional value for you. Not all countries allow the use of foreign sim cards (India for example), the networks just reject them.