Ship-to shore communication while at sea. (Iphone, texting, calling etc)

[mbrown572097]

Hey guys, 

It's been a few years since I have cruised, and I will need to be able to communicate with family (back home) while sailing.  We will have the limited internet package so I assume that I will be able to email or text while connected.  Do you all have any other suggestions or tips that I can try?

[phoenix1181]

You can text iPhone to iPhone while in airplane mode without using internet minutes.  No photos, just text.  It worked great this past December while on an LA to Miami cruise.

[mbrown572097]

Wow, really.  I had no idea.  So I could text family, not on ship, without using my wifi time?

 

[karl_nj]

1 minute ago, mbrown572097 said:

Wow, really.  I had no idea.  So I could text family, not on ship, without using my wifi time?

 

 

You can't exactly text, but on some ships you may be able to iMessage (which looks like a text in the iPhone iOS "Message" app, but colored blue and not green) another iPhone when connected to the ships wifi, but not using your internet minutes. That other iPhone could be anywhere, doesn't have to be on the ship.  You would not be able to send a message to someone using an android phone.

 

This is how it worked on Royal Carribean for years, but eventually their IT people figured out how to block this "loophole".  I guess it still may work on some NCL ships?

 

I don't want to get too technical, but it seems to have something to do with iMessage using the same protocol and TCP/IP ports as iOS notification messages. 

 

 

[sanger727]

31 minutes ago, mbrown572097 said:

Wow, really.  I had no idea.  So I could text family, not on ship, without using my wifi time?

 

 

This is definitely an IT glitch, not intended design. So you MAY be able to, but don't count on it.

 

The internet plan will allow e-mail and imessaging to other iphones. You won't be able to "text" non-iphones like your normally would. That uses cell service only, not internet. You could use whatsapp or facebook messenger instead.

[phoenix1181]

Love the things I can learn here!

 

I was able to send & receive iMessages with no problem throughout my Bliss cruise.  Didn't try facebook messenger but I'll give that a shot at the end of the month when I head to Bermuda.  

[Ramblin and Gamblin]

Just to clarify a few comments:

You won't be able to communicate in airplane mode.  That disables all data flow to and from the device.

Instead, you connect to the ship wifi, but don't activate your internet minutes.  When you are connected to the ship wifi, you can use the NCL app, but you are blocked from the internet unless you activate your plan.

 

However, as some have commented, there has historically been a hole in the technology that allows iPhone iMessages (blue boxes).  So if both you and the other party use iPhones, you can communicate without using your minutes.  If you are an Android user, or the other person is an Android user, then you will have to burn minutes.

 

[insidecabin]

9 hours ago, Ramblin and Gamblin said:

Just to clarify a few comments:

You won't be able to communicate in airplane mode.  That disables all data flow to and from the device.

Instead, you connect to the ship wifi, but don't activate your internet minutes.  When you are connected to the ship wifi, you can use the NCL app, but you are blocked from the internet unless you activate your plan.

 

However, as some have commented, there has historically been a hole in the technology that allows iPhone iMessages (blue boxes).  So if both you and the other party use iPhones, you can communicate without using your minutes.  If you are an Android user, or the other person is an Android user, then you will have to burn minutes.

 

Notifications still leak in with Android.

 

NCL.com, cruisecritic and Google have been working(Slow) without internet

[js]

I don't understand any of this but have a question.

I have an iphone and my adult kids and mom at home have an iphone.

I have the internet minutes that come with our FAS but we really won't be using it and reading this thread that doesn't matter anyway.

So, with everyone with an iphone is there an actual way for me to text my mom or adult kids while out at sea or do I need to wait to Bermuda, where my dh just calls Verizon before we leave and does the $10 a day thing for call/text.

 

Thank you very much.

[Maleficent's Dad]

You can use the ship’s free Wi-Fi - meaning you don’t log in - and iPhone to iPhone works great.  At least it did for us on the Joy last week.  Same as if texting from home.  No pics or vids though.

[Ramblin and Gamblin]

When texting with an iPhone, look at the color of the text bubble after you hit send.  If the bubble is blue, your text was delivered via iMessage, which slips through without using your minutes.  If it is green, then it probably won't slip through.

[js]

22 hours ago, Maleficent's Dad said:

You can use the ship’s free Wi-Fi - meaning you don’t log in - and iPhone to iPhone works great.  At least it did for us on the Joy last week.  Same as if texting from home.  No pics or vids though.

 

21 hours ago, Ramblin and Gamblin said:

When texting with an iPhone, look at the color of the text bubble after you hit send.  If the bubble is blue, your text was delivered via iMessage, which slips through without using your minutes.  If it is green, then it probably won't slip through.

Thank you both!

I will be on the Joy and see if it works. I appreciate your responding!

[omahabob]

As a point of clarification, you can text from any phone to any phone. You can even text to and from non-phone devices using a gateway, but that's more complicated. Texting between phones isn't iPhone specific. But unless you have some special way around using internet minutes like the above mentioned method (I have no idea if that workaround method actually works because I don't have an iPhone), your messages will go out as SMS over your cell service. Using SMS over your cell service will count against your total minutes, but SMS messaging uses FAR less bandwidth and time than a phone call does, so you're still better off. And yes, you can even send pictures over text using MMS sometimes, but that will definitely use more minutes.

 

Edited July 13, 2023 by omahabob

[karl_nj]

11 hours ago, omahabob said:

As a point of clarification, you can text from any phone to any phone. You can even text to and from non-phone devices using a gateway, but that's more complicated. Texting between phones isn't iPhone specific. But unless you have some special way around using internet minutes like the above mentioned method (I have no idea if that workaround method actually works because I don't have an iPhone), your messages will go out as SMS over your cell service. Using SMS over your cell service will count against your total minutes, but SMS messaging uses FAR less bandwidth and time than a phone call does, so you're still better off. And yes, you can even send pictures over text using MMS sometimes, but that will definitely use more minutes.

 

SMS while at sea will likely be $0.50 per msg 

[omahabob]

Didn't cost me a cent.

[insidecabin]

13 hours ago, karl_nj said:

SMS while at sea will likely be $0.50 per msg 

Yep many won't have SMS included in their packages incoming free outgoing $$ through mobile networks..

 

MMS are often separate higher charges.

 

most likely won't be using cell/mobile data as that is also chargeable for most on ship cells.

 

 

The messaging leakage will most probably be through the wifi.

 

iMessage uses push technology.

 

Push messages(notifications) leak though  the wifi on most(all?) devices.

 

 

 

[omahabob]

SMS also goes through the wifi.

Edited July 14, 2023 by omahabob

[karl_nj]

46 minutes ago, omahabob said:

SMS also goes through the wifi.

 

Yes, that also sometimes works—assuming you have WiFi calling enabled. In that case you can also make/receive voice calls (but as you pointed out, that would take longer and use up more of your internet minutes)

 

[omahabob]

Fortunately I had the unlimited plan, so minutes weren't a concern. The wife always insists on unlimited so she can watch the cats on our webcams. I should also caution folks to put their phones in airplane mode when not in port. If your phone automatically switches over to an 'at sea' provider when not in airplane mode, the charges can get very high. Those costs per text definitely kick in there. And if you take your phone out of airplane mode while in port, make sure you cell plan covers you in that location, especially other countries. If it doesn't, those charges can go astronomical too. Older Verizon phones are especially susceptible to this since they use CDMA only, and that isn't directly compatible with many overseas systems. Confirm with your cell provider prior to travel.

[luv2kroooz]

Whatsapp via the ships wifi for quick calls ship to shore.

[omahabob]

My phone will make wifi calls, so I don't need an app. Not all phones will do that though. And many that will don't have it enabled by default.

[insidecabin]

46 minutes ago, omahabob said:

My phone will make wifi calls, so I don't need an app. Not all phones will do that though. And many that will don't have it enabled by default.

WiFi calling is a phone and network combination.

 

The network needs to support WiFi calling on a per device basis.

 

[omahabob]

Very few wireless carriers don't support wifi calling these days. All the major carriers do as far as i know. Wifi calls can be blocked at the port level on local networks, but that would require blocking some common UDP and TCP ports that could also interfere with stuff like Whatsapp and other messaging apps, and possibly lots of other stuff.. I used to do that for a living. Blocking ports is a tricky business, and often comes with unintended consequences. It was a fairly common occurrence to block things you had no intention of blocking. For instance, they all use TCP pot 443. But if you block that, your systems will have major difficulty, because port 443 is used by a ton of stuff. So yes, it's possible they could block it, but not likely.

 

Verizon, T Mobile, Sprint and AT&T support wifi calling, to name just a few, and any phone made since 2018 is most likely able to use it.

Edited July 14, 2023 by omahabob

[BirdTravels]

16 hours ago, omahabob said:

Didn't cost me a cent.

Because you were on your unlimited wifi. 

 

The discussion here is if you do not have wifi, there is a leak in the NCL wifi that allow iMessage messages go from iphone to iphone without being logged on to the NCL wifi internet. 

[omahabob]

Better read the OP again. The discussion is how to communicate with family using unlimited internet.