Carnival HUB texting feature

Anyone been on Carnival Magic recently and used the texting feature on the Carnival HUB app? This is the feature that you pay $5/week to be able to text or message others on the ship? In the past we've brought walkie-talkies to communicate with others in our group, but based on what I've read this seems like a great option so we wouldn't have to lug around our walkies. However, I've also read that "it's great when it works." So, I'm curious if anyone's used it on Magic recently, and how well the connectivity is between you and others you are communicating with on the ship. Was it reliable? Was it "quick" enough? Were there any issues using the app at all? Thanks!

We used it on a family cruise on the Magic last June. It worked well most of the time. Occasionally it was "iffy". I think it had to do with the location on the ship. It was a big help finding or meeting up with family members. Yes, it was $5 for the week for each phone that you wanted to be able to text with.

You have to leave your app open. You can’t close it out. You can shut your screen off, just don’t close out of app. If not, then you won’t get any message notifications until you open it back up

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I just got off the Sunshine on Sunday and it did not work for me the entire cruise. I have an iPhone 7Plus 256GB. It worked flawlessly on some friends' iphones, spotty on other friends'. I need to call and get my money back

You have to leave your app open. You can’t close it out. You can shut your screen off, just don’t close out of app. If not, then you won’t get any message notifications until you open it back up

 

 

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Good to know! I hadn't heard that before. Thanks.

I just got off the Sunshine on Sunday and it did not work for me the entire cruise. I have an iPhone 7Plus 256GB. It worked flawlessly on some friends' iphones, spotty on other friends'. I need to call and get my money back

This is the type of thing I keep hearing about. Annoying although maybe if I'm "unreachable" by my party it wouldn't necessarily be such a bad thing. LOL.

I just got off the Sunshine on Sunday and it did not work for me the entire cruise. I have an iPhone 7Plus 256GB. It worked flawlessly on some friends' iphones, spotty on other friends'. I need to call and get my money back

Yeah you get that 5 bucks back!

Used it on the Vista and the Ecstasy - we loved it, beats running back to the cabin for a post-it note. Sure, it doesn't work in elevators and some remote parts of the deck. Walk about 30 ft and you are back in business. We have Motorola phones, running android. We did not have to leave the screen on as mentioned above, worked similar to text messaging.

we used it on the Magic and the Dream, worked all the time. I will never understand someone complaining after the cruise is over. The first day it did not work you should have gone to guest services.

Just got off Magic Saturday. There were 4 of us and it was hit or miss mostly miss. When it worked it was great but when it didn’t it didn’t!!

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If you all have iPhones and don’t mind spending a little more you can get the social media internet plan and simply use iMessage. We found that worked much better.

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For those where the HUB app generally doesn't work: do you have iPhones?

I seem to recall that Apple phones seem to always put "background" apps into a dormant state (to help save battery life, etc), so if that is the case, perhaps you have to have the HUB app as your current app at all times?

To the OP: Assuming the HUB app generally does work for your phone, it should work more reliably than your walkie-talkies, because the phones with HUB app are using the wifi repeaters all over the ship, not trying to communicate through decks of steel. RF-based tech (like walkie talkies) and ship infrastructure do not make for good friends.