Messaging other members of party onboard?

[mspink98]

What's the best way to message other members of your party onboard? It's just my husband and I sailing, but we often split off for a while during the day and now that we have internet included it would be nice to be able to check in. Can we message through the Celebrity app? If so, do we each need to have an account? Right now only I do, but I can easily just sign him up beforehand if that's the way to go. Or is another app more preferable? Unfortunately we're on different platforms, so the simple iMessage solution won't work for us. 

[-Lew-]

Although I have not used the Celebrity app for communicating with other guests it appears to be an option.  We have used WhatsApp in the past...no longer...now use Signal for better privacy.  With Signal, we're using the same app on and off the ship.  The Celebrity app works only onboard for communications.

[WestLakeGirl]

Messaging through the Celebrity app has a distinct limitation and that it has not paying the recipient— you actually have to look for messages

[mfs2k]

i still have walkie talkies from the 90's you can borrow,  they work great on cruise ships and really annoy fellow passengers

[LGW59]

5 hours ago, mspink98 said:

What's the best way to message other members of your party onboard? It's just my husband and I sailing, but we often split off for a while during the day and now that we have internet included it would be nice to be able to check in. Can we message through the Celebrity app? If so, do we each need to have an account? Right now only I do, but I can easily just sign him up beforehand if that's the way to go. Or is another app more preferable? Unfortunately we're on different platforms, so the simple iMessage solution won't work for us. 

you could also just say, hey honey, I will meet you at 2:00 at XXXX

[PTC DAWG]

Notes on door.  Or not, you’ll catch up sooner or later. 🙂

[PTC DAWG]

4 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

you could also just say, hey honey, I will meet you at 2:00 at XXXX

Even simpler…works for me. 

[Denny01]

5 hours ago, mfs2k said:

i still have walkie talkies from the 90's you can borrow,  they work great on cruise ships and really annoy fellow passengers

Yes, they worked soooooo well. I ‘loved’ listening to someone yelling into their handset with no response, standing in the middle of a metal ship. And I think it may have been getting through especially with the help of them yelling to push the electrons faster, but the person receiving it ignored them. 
 

too bad we couldn’t!  
 

This texting and posting to each other should Really drive those who think it’s odd people email and check the internet on cruises. 
 

den

[mfs2k]

I get it.

I generally wake up at 7am on a cruise ship and have major FOMO so I want to get out of the cabin and enjoy my vacay.

My wife, on the other hand, likes to sleep as late as she wants to, without me waking her up, so it's helpful if she can let me know when she's up and ready to go to a pool and find my location. 

[mspink98]

6 hours ago, mfs2k said:

i still have walkie talkies from the 90's you can borrow,  they work great on cruise ships and really annoy fellow passengers

How much do we all miss those days? 1500 people shouting into walkie talkies all over the place, lol.

[mspink98]

14 minutes ago, mfs2k said:

I get it.

I generally wake up at 7am on a cruise ship and have major FOMO so I want to get out of the cabin and enjoy my vacay.

My wife, on the other hand, likes to sleep as late as she wants to, without me waking her up, so it's helpful if she can let me know when she's up and ready to go to a pool and find my location. 

That's us! I'm sometimes up before sunrise and will go grab a cup of tea and a snack and keep myself out of our cabin so my husband can sleep. Conversely, I'll hit the sack early while he goes out to play, but sometimes I can't sleep and end up wanting to join him wherever he is. Makes it difficult to just meet up at a set place and time, although we do that plenty too. 

[Team Stag]

With the AI package, we were able to use our iphones & imessage over the internet.  We would have to look at our phone to see the message (we wouldn't always get alerts if the phone lost the wifi signal) but we could update each other with enough info to track each other down.

[WestLakeGirl]

Since the OP and spouse are on different platform s, iMessage won’t work.

[-Lew-]

3 minutes ago, WestLakeGirl said:

Since the OP and spouse are on different platform s, iMessage won’t work.

 

It should.  I text with non-iPhone users all the time.

Edited November 16, 2021 by -Lew-

[Jim_Iain]

The app does have a messaging feature and you will be linked with your husband by default.  As others said their is NO NOTIFICATION by pin or other sound when you receive a message.   You just have to look at the app to see if you have a message.    That's a real miss from the standpoint of a programmer.

 

If you both carry your smart phones you can use messaging like Facebook, WhatsApp or iMessage.   Just make sure you set  your phones to airplane mode while at sea.   Messages come though via internet almost instantly.

 

Someone above said that the OP doesn't have the same platform.   That should be no problem  as if it is not a iPhone to iPhone call it is automatically sent SMS -  may be a slight delay but can also be done over the free wifi.

 

Another option I often see is a grease board on the door  and the occupants leave message like - I'm at al Baccio  etc.

[WestLakeGirl]

It isn’t that they can’t text, it’s that they can’t iMessage

[Jim_Iain]

16 minutes ago, WestLakeGirl said:

It isn’t that they can’t text, it’s that they can’t iMessage

You of course technically correct but to most users when you open the iMessaging app you don't know when it goes out i Message or SMS.    The only difference you will notice is if it went iMessage it is Blue and if SMS it is Green.   Maybe it is better to  just say one can text message between iPhones and Android.    Messaging only via SMS but if both have MMS you can also send photos.

[jagoffee]

9 hours ago, mspink98 said:

What's the best way to message other members of your party onboard? It's just my husband and I sailing, but we often split off for a while during the day and now that we have internet included it would be nice to be able to check in. Can we message through the Celebrity app? If so, do we each need to have an account? Right now only I do, but I can easily just sign him up beforehand if that's the way to go. Or is another app more preferable? Unfortunately we're on different platforms, so the simple iMessage solution won't work for us. 

You will both have your own internet accounts.  You can each use the Celebrity AP independently. 

Edited November 16, 2021 by jagoffee

[keesar]

10 hours ago, mfs2k said:

i still have walkie talkies from the 90's you can borrow,  they work great on cruise ships and really annoy fellow passengers

 

They are really special when traveling in elevators.  A real attention grabber.  Also make sure that everyone on the cruise ship that has the walkie talkies are on the same channel.  

[mfs2k]

3 hours ago, keesar said:

 

They are really special when traveling in elevators.  A real attention grabber.  Also make sure that everyone on the cruise ship that has the walkie talkies are on the same channel.  

Haha. Yes

[Shadow9612]

I have used WhatsApp very successfully and recommend that.

 

@-Lew-, I've never used signal - would you mind commenting on why you think it is even better than WhatsApp for privacy?

[Shadow9612]

5 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

You of course technically correct but to most users when you open the iMessaging app you don't know when it goes out i Message or SMS.    The only difference you will notice is if it went iMessage it is Blue and if SMS it is Green.   Maybe it is better to  just say one can text message between iPhones and Android.    Messaging only via SMS but if both have MMS you can also send photos.

Will all messaging apps be able to send a message over WiFi (eg in Airplane mode)?  I seem to think that my Android native text messaging app did not work for SMS messages when my data was turned off....

 

I may be wrong though, but just something that the OP should ensure works back at home on airplane mode with WiFi only ..so they know ahead of time it'll work onboard.... 

[hrhdhd]

I have never managed to lose my husband on a cruise ship. (Not that I'm actively trying.) He's generally in one of a few spots, or he'll wander back to the cabin eventually.

[Team Stag]

11 hours ago, WestLakeGirl said:

Since the OP and spouse are on different platform s, iMessage won’t work.

I completely missed the last sentence of the post.  Explains why I was surprised no one gave my advice.  LOL 😂

[-Lew-]

8 hours ago, Shadow9612 said:

I have used WhatsApp very successfully and recommend that.

 

@-Lew-, I've never used signal - would you mind commenting on why you think it is even better than WhatsApp for privacy?

 

The fact that WhatsApp is owned by Facebook is enough for me to look elsewhere.  Here are links to two articles regarding how each use users' personal information:

 

     WhatsApp gives users ultimatum – share data with Facebook or lose access

 

     Is Signal safe? We asked three experts if you should download the app