Onboard texting or messaging with fellow passengers?

I'm sure this is addressed elsewhere a dozen times so forgive the redundancy. I can't phrase it in a way to find the answers! How do you keep in touch with your fellow cruisers on the ship? I've always gone with just my DH so we would just have planned check in times. We're doing Alaska on the Infinity in July with extended family and I want to know how we can keep tabs on each other to check in while not being together the whole time. We all have iPhones. Is there an app people use? Do they text since Alaska is part of the US?

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Off the ship, no problem. On the ship you need to have an internet package to use your apps.

So if I have the wifi it works all over the ship, not just in my room?

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Will you all have unlimited wifi as a perk or a purchase?

You can text each other, or call each other while on land, but calls on the ship are expensive.

If you have wifi, you can send each other emails, and may be able to use "call over wifi" on your phone.

We will have wifi as a perk. I think I get it now. I feel like such a silly Luddite asking this. Thanks for your help!

We never bought the internet because being unplugged was a perk of being on a cruise. Ha!

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If you all have the free wifi, put your phones in airplane mode, turn on the wifi, and imessage and facetime each other till your batteries go dead! I know for verizon wifi calling works too.

But be sure to turn airplane mode off when you are off the ship.....there is regular cell service on shore. Always ask questions, the only dumb ones are the ones we don't ask and end up costing us....

We have used our iPhone to send text messages using IMessage instead of SMS. Should not be problem with the ship's wifi.

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Lessons learned for us: ( ala Mr Click, some 'dumb' unasked questions cost us money!)

Background: first time unlimited wifi on board. Texting onboard to keep in touch with my traveler DH was a goal.

Outcome: $120 charge from AT&T due to unintended Cellular-at-Sea connections!!! [emoji31]

How it happened: the unlimited wifi disconnects automatically if not in use. So apparently on the two port days where we had at&t service (Juneau & Ketchikan) we forgot to turn back on airplane mode. While we used wifi during the evening, when I woke up I noticed the 'cellular at sea' service. No active internet use but the passive behind the scene activities cost us $! ( actually, I protested to AT&T while in ship and $100 credited to account [emoji847])

Additional steps to prevent cellular at sea from automatically connecting: ( iPhone steps)

BEFORE BOARDING:

1) turn off roaming ( new information learned from AT&T)

2) turn off cellular for each app ( so apps don't refresh or track your location )

3) if you need to use an app while off ship, you may have to turn these back on. But hopefully your muscle memory will help you to remember to turn them off when you get back on ship

4) yes, these are redundant and doing both is overkill. But helpful just in case you have vacation brain and forget to do one or the other!

WHILE ON SHIP: ( do this every time when returning from port)

5) put in airplane mode

6) turn back on wifi (reconnecting to wifi sometimes doesn't happen automatically. You have to go to the ship web internet log in and reconnect)

7) for OCD security, double check roaming is off. ( in case you had to turn it on in ports)

8) yes, if airplane mode is on and wifi is on you don't need to do #1 or 2 or 7 But, refer to # 4. Hopefully you are having a good time and not slavishly worrying about your phone settings!

9) if your are [slavishly worrying about your phone settings], then pay attention to the type of service your phone is connected to ( wifi, 4g, LTE, or [emoji31] cellular at sea)

All will be good! And texting to keep in touch onboard is great. Also love sending iMessage wifi text pics to share the adventure with family and friends.

Happy sailing!

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Hmmm...an interesting thought just occurred. We in the UK (& possibly elsewhere in Europe??) have recently discovered that Roaming In the EU is now free and included in our mobile (cell) phone package.

If we text each other whilst on board in EU waters does this mean it will use the Ship's data (for want of a better word) and charges will apply. ??

I suspect yes so is it best to follow the tips above ??

Sorry - but I'm not that savvy on such things.😶

We found that Facebook messenger worked the best. Skype, gchat, etc all had issues or latency at one point or another.

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Hmmm...an interesting thought just occurred. We in the UK (& possibly elsewhere in Europe??) have recently discovered that Roaming In the EU is now free and included in our mobile (cell) phone package.

If we text each other whilst on board in EU waters does this mean it will use the Ship's data (for want of a better word) and charges will apply. ??

I suspect yes so is it best to follow the tips above ??

Sorry - but I'm not that savvy on such things.😶

Yes.. while onboard you will be on ship's data.. except while docked

We found that Facebook messenger worked the best. Skype, gchat, etc all had issues or latency at one point or another.

I was wondering about messenger. Does that avoid data and roaming charges using the protocols listed above?

I was wondering about messenger. Does that avoid data and roaming charges using the protocols listed above?

Yes.

When you are in airplane mode the phone's radios are turned off so you won't connect to any cell towers.

Turning on wifi with airplane mode enabled ensures that the only connection to the world the phone has is through the wifi, so this will work for any app you use.

Yes.

When you are in airplane mode the phone's radios are turned off so you won't connect to any cell towers.

Turning on wifi with airplane mode enabled ensures that the only connection to the world the phone has is through the wifi, so this will work for any app you use.

Thanks for your answer.

You can also use the ship phones, in cabins and in public spaces, to call each other without any concerns about fees, and without having to carry anything around with you. That's what we do.