WiFi / FaceTime on Dawn

Hi folks! Hubby and I are leaving in 2 weeks to Bermuda and leaving the kids home (EEEEEK!). One of our kiddos is 3 and we want to be able to FaceTime with her a few times. I'm considering pre-purchasing the unlimited WiFi plan but want to hear that FaceTime will work....

I have an iPhone 7....

Thanks!

Bermuda, our favorite island in the middle of the big Atlantic ... each crossing itself is an adventure, always prepared for rough seas, gale force wind & waves - beautiful & always discover something new.

Yes, FaceTime did and will work - on the Breakaway ?

Ship's paid WiFi is one of the strongest & best for the NCL fleet ... on both 2.4 Ghz and 5 Ghz (less congested)

Do you need unlimited WiFi for all 6 or 7 days, including the 2.5 days docked - as you would be going ashore, I assume, and not staying onboard to FaceTime around the clock ... Do you have the "free" 250 WiFi internet minutes as the promotion ? If so, here's the best kept secret - it's really 1,000 MB or 1 GB worth of data to use, roughly equivalent in actual usage of about 1,000 minutes of airtime. That's correct, not a typo. If can split or allocate that for about 150+ minutes of daily use over 6 days ... more, if you have home carrier plan that allows for roaming international data while docked on the island, as it is often less expensive than ship's WiFi. That's 2.5 hours of daily Facetime, email & web browsing - should be plentiful. If purchased, it was $125 and there's bonus MB/data minutes if done on Day 1 vs. spending $210 for 7 days of "unlimited" WiFi.

Dockyard has a 3 day WiFi pass, should still be $15 - a bargain, although the signal will only reach the lower decks of the ship, sitting on the Waterfront facing the pier, the signal is usable - deck 15 at the buffet ... not so much, barely "connect" & not usable.

From your description, a few times doing FT will not need the unlimited WiFi for the week - save that & treat yourself to something else instead. If you follow my signature link below, expand & click under 2016 BA review - there are plenty of tips & info about how we stay connected, etc.

Assumed you are familiar enough with your iPhone 7 like switching into Airplane Mode, disabled roaming cellular data, turn on WiFi only - and, use that for FaceTime (also, Skype & Hangouts/Google Voice) ... still, plenty of time to learn & ask questions. Enjoy your cruise !

Yes, FaceTime did and will work - on the Breakaway ?

!

The title of the thread is the Dawn.

BT, oops - thanks, what was I thinking - didn't catch the title ... reading/answering off the tablet.

Dawn's WiFi, would likely be "slower" ... like the Gem recently; and, will not have the bonus data by MB - still charging by the minutes used. Video bandwidth works fine on 3G (256k) connections - faster being obviously better, the sluggish response is from high latency due to satellite tech.

On our backup iPhone (AT&T instead of T-Mobile & Project Fi signals) - we had good results with Hangouts video calling (or "Duo" with 1-to-1 connection) as it works across O.S. platforms on tight bandwidth ... worst case scenerio, switch to audio only (also, true with Skype ... don't that from the hotel in mainland China, around the firewall - it was choppy & still "functional")

Doing just a few FaceTime sessions, 250 minutes might suffice as that's all they will need, supplemented by using cellular roaming/island tower's data while docked - or, getting the $15 WiFi data pass. They would get about 1 hour's worth of airtime daily on sea days.