$5 chat plan and regular wifi plans and messages?

[dallasdan]

The chat plan is $5 for the whole cruise.  Just remember, the texts you receive on the hub app don't always get to you in real time.  Sometimes takes up to 20 minutes.  And you are not always notified so unless you are constantly checking the app you might miss a text.  That is why I liked the I phone to I phone messaging better.

[Eli_6]

On 4/10/2023 at 7:54 AM, dropbackandpunt said:

And yet it worked just fine without a paid wifi plan for our Android devices.  YMMV but neither my wife nor daughter had a paid wifi plan and could text and send pictures in Google Messages with no issue at all.  

How did you get this to work?  My family and I all have android devices.

[dropbackandpunt]

2 minutes ago, Eli_6 said:

How did you get this to work?  My family and I all have android devices.

Use Google Messages as your texting app with RCS chat enabled on everyone's device.  If it is going to work then that's all you should need.

[FastShip24]

On 3/27/2023 at 2:24 PM, Thenagers said:

My friend who is traveling with us is planning on just getting the chat feature to communicate on the ship because she wants to disconnect from most technology.  We all have purchased different wifi plans.  Will we have to purchase the chat feature to contact her or does the wifi plans include this feature?  Will she even need it if we can not access?

I found chat to be useless.  

[Thenagers]

So I just got back Saturday from the Mardis Gras. My friend did not get a Wifi plan and just got the chat feature.  Her imessages worked for 50 percent of the cruise.  Then it just quit working.  She used the clat feature to contact the 1 person in our group who added it and then that person texted us.  It was a pain!  The chats were a delay of about 10 minutes?  Not a big deal unless you are contacting people to check in for dinner or something.  10 minutes can make a difference.  We will take up a donation to get her Wifi next time!

[steveknj]

22 hours ago, dallasdan said:

The chat plan is $5 for the whole cruise.  Just remember, the texts you receive on the hub app don't always get to you in real time.  Sometimes takes up to 20 minutes.  And you are not always notified so unless you are constantly checking the app you might miss a text.  That is why I liked the I phone to I phone messaging better.

 

Interesting.  Using the app on NCL it worked like 90% of the time pretty quickly and it allows calls between two cruisers.  So it sounds like the NCL app might be better.  Android user here, I'll have to see how Google Chat might work as a solution here.

[dallasdan]

when ever the I message stopped working I restarted my phone and It would start working again.

[soccermom4]

Hmm. We’re a family of 6 - 4 iPhones and 2 Android. I guess iMessage and Google message will not talk to each other. May have to go old school and use PostIt notes to coordinate dinners etc. 😋

[rcrabb1513]

On 3/27/2023 at 4:24 PM, Thenagers said:

My friend who is traveling with us is planning on just getting the chat feature to communicate on the ship because she wants to disconnect from most technology.  We all have purchased different wifi plans.  Will we have to purchase the chat feature to contact her or does the wifi plans include this feature?  Will she even need it if we can not access?

Yes, all need the Chat plan.  I purchased the Chat plan thinking I would be able to chat with my daughter and son-in-law who had purchased the WiFi package.  Nope!  My daughter also had to purchase the chat package so we could keep in contact.