Does Carnival's HUB app have a way to message other family members?

[oyme]

Can we message family members on board using the HUB app, if so is it reliable? Is there another way? We have GoogleFi and our son will have StraightTalk, that could be an option but could get expensive. I want a way to find my other family members, the tweens/teens will likely lose track of time. I doubt post-its or white boards are going to work! If all else fails we can try it. I did post on Family Cruising, so far no suggestions. I feel like people outside of the family cruising bunch still may have answers as friend groups may also be messaging each other. Thanks!

[groundloop]

YES.  Carnival charges $5 per person to use Hub App messaging, but you don't need to purchase an internet package.  We've used messaging with the Hub App before and it seemed to work well.

[oyme]

Thank you so much, totally reasonable cost!

[arctickitty]

On the Splendor last week the $5 messaging on the Hub app sometimes worked and sometimes didn’t.  For whatever reason, iMessage kept working (we didn’t pay for internet and had our phones in airplane mode) and was more

reliable.

[Schoifmom]

Just remember to keep the Hub app open in the background to get notifications.  I won't work unless it's open.

[bar1068]

6 hours ago, arctickitty said:

On the Splendor last week the $5 messaging on the Hub app sometimes worked and sometimes didn’t.  For whatever reason, iMessage kept working (we didn’t pay for internet and had our phones in airplane mode) and was more

reliable.

We had a similar situation on our Horizon cruise last week. My wife and I did share a value package throughout the cruise, and it did not matter which one of us was logged into the internet plan, we could still send and receive iMessages. We would also get various other alerts from other apps as well as Ring alerts. I must have checked at least a dozen times to be sure our phones were in airplane mode, all cellular data and roaming turned off. Was odd. But yes, chat feature of Hub app worked well when it worked, but we did have times it didn't.

[nlktx49]

Close the HUB app when you go to bed, otherwise you might get a notification at 5 a.m. to let you know about the Lightning Art Auction at 1 that afternoon! Happened to me last month on the Dream.

[greenie082756]

Question: When do you purchase the $5 messaging?

 

I am not familiar with Carnival cruise line and am doing a ton of investigating and reading.

[cyclist_guy1]

34 minutes ago, greenie082756 said:

Question: When do you purchase the $5 messaging?

 

I am not familiar with Carnival cruise line and am doing a ton of investigating and reading.

i believe you purchase the $5 messaging once youre onboard and you activate the hub app. the $5 will be charged to your sign&sail card.

[jcfcruise]

15 hours ago, groundloop said:

YES.  Carnival charges $5 per person to use Hub App messaging, but you don't need to purchase an internet package.  We've used messaging with the Hub App before and it seemed to work well.

Is it $5 for whole cruise or per day?

[Schoifmom]

2 minutes ago, jcfcruise said:

Is it $5 for whole cruise or per day?

It is per device for the entire cruise.

[Bostwick girl]

$5 per device per cruise, regardless of the length of the cruise.

 

[jcfcruise]

1 minute ago, Schoifmom said:

It is per device for the entire cruise.

THX  we have 16 in our group from 9 to 84.  Will be good to have.  

[oyme]

Thank you all for your responses. I don't have an iPhone, so I couldn't use imessage. I could proabbly just use my regular messenger on my Android phone but I'm a little worried about all the charges that it could incur.

[Wanna_Cruize]

I cruised with a large family group, and we spent some time on the Lido the first afternoon getting everyone logged in and connected. Here are my hints to make this process go smoother:

 

1. Make sure everyone downloads the Hub app BEFORE the trip.

 

2. After it is downloaded, they can go in and enter their booking number and last name to activate it. If you do this step beforehand, it functions as a countdown, lets you check-in from the app, and also just have to click that you're onboard as soon as you connect to Carnival WiFi. You don't need to know your folio number if you do it this way.

 

3. Once onboard you have to connect with each family member individually. That's to ensure privacy, that you don't connect to strangers. Each person has to accept the invitation from each member. That's why it's easier to do as you're sitting somewhere, in the lido, having a Fun Ship, while you're waiting for the cabins to be ready. 

 

4. If you're already connected your reservations in Carnival's system, the above step is a little easier, as they are already listed, and you don't have to search for them. 

 

5. Every once in a while, it doesn't hurt to exit the Hub app completely and restart it. You'll get a message that you wont' get messages while you're logged out. That is true. But once you log back in, any messages that hadn't been delivered will come right away. If the app seems to be wonky, reset it.

 

6. One great thing about the app when you're connected, you can go through the activities planned for each day, and mark the ones you are interested in as favorites. You can see who else is interested in the activity. So, if you are looking for where someone might be, that can help. 

 

7. One flaw in the app is that you can't put in your own activities (spa appts, shore excursions, etc.) 

 

These notes are completely from my recollection, and may be slightly off. I'm going onboard again in 27 days, 2 hours and 10 minutes (just glanced at my Hub app) so I'll try and verify these instructions and add any more that might be helpful. 

Edited May 14, 2022 by Wanna_Cruize
clarity

[Itried4498]

When we were on the Panorama, we did not purchase an Internet package but we received many push notifications anyway (including my work email, fun).  We did not receive any iMessages and our phones in fact logged us out of our iMessage accounts.

[BayGirl22]

Good info, my question is similar to the OP's and I also have a tween and teen. I read somewhere you need to be 13 to have an account on the Hub app and use the messaging. Can anyone confirm? 
Sounds like my 13 year old can use the app but my 10 year old won't. I assume it only works on phones and not Apple Watches? 

TIA
 

[dallasdan]

I was on the Panorama last week.  We purchased the $5 chat but sometimes messages don't show up in real time.  For some reason though our I message worked so I was able to just send text messages to those in our groups with I phones.  First time ever this worked without an internet plan.  

[peteandpris]

Thanks good information.

 

[ashkir]

The hub app uses the same ports as iMessage so iMessage (not counting photos) will usually work for free shipwide. 

[Itried4498]

1 hour ago, ashkir said:

The hub app uses the same ports as iMessage so iMessage (not counting photos) will usually work for free shipwide. 

 

It always logs us out of iMessage, although we get other push notifications, so very much a YMMV.

[ashkir]

1 hour ago, Itried4498 said:

 

It always logs us out of iMessage, although we get other push notifications, so very much a YMMV.

oh I've never had to log into iMessage do you have a Mac? My iPad, iPhones, and everyone else's iPhoners worked fine without paying for internet. 

[Itried4498]

12 minutes ago, ashkir said:

oh I've never had to log into iMessage do you have a Mac? My iPad, iPhones, and everyone else's iPhoners worked fine without paying for internet. 

 

It's our cell phones.  We don't log-in either, but after a few hours connected to the WiFi (on airplane mode) we each got a message saying that we had been logged out of iMessage.  Tons more push notifications came through, including my work e-mails (yay), so it's a YMMV situation.

[fwbgirlie]

I was on the Mardi Gras last week and received iMessages and notifications. On the last sea day it signed me out but I was still getting them on my Apple Watch. My sister had the value plan so I used it to sign back in on my iPhone and it worked the rest of the cruise. Now if she wasn’t on the cruise, I wouldn’t have been able to sign back in. I kept having my husband check our AT&T account (as he was at home)  to ensure we weren’t being charged as this is the first time I experienced it. We cruised on the Mardi Gras last November and it didn’t work that way. 

[greenie082756]

On 5/13/2022 at 11:22 AM, cyclist_guy1 said:

i believe you purchase the $5 messaging once youre onboard and you activate the hub app. the $5 will be charged to your sign&sail card.

Thanks for answering.