iPad On Queen Mary 2 Transatlantic

[MimiDo]

My husband and I set up a special email account that we only use when we're traveling; we tell our family to use this account to stay in touch, plus tell our work colleagues to use it for "work emergencies.". We also switch our airline, hotel, cruise, etc. notifications to this account prior to the trip. Having a dedicated travel email account reduces our download time considerably!

[transatlantic fan]

I gather it is not as good as it could or should be. I was privileged to see some of the plans for the refit so can assure peeps it isn't a rumour.

So what are the other plans for the refit?

[Terrence Richards]

No you don't. Normally anyone who purchases a plan on day 1 or perhaps 2 will receive bonus minutes. It has absolutely nothing to do with your status. You will get your free 8 hours of Internet plus any bonus on offer.

 

Hi Capnpguwash,

 

This is what is written in the World Club Membership Benefits Guide for diamond members:

"Complimentary Internet Time Plan**: Enjoy an additional four hours of Internet time, giving you up to eight hours in total."

 

** "Internet time plan does not apply to Cunard Cruisemail"

 

How do you interpret this?

 

Terrence

[voyagerdreamer224]

As a Diamond member of CWC, you can receive a refund on a package purchased up to eight hours per trip. You must purchase the package, in order to get the refund. If, even though a Diamond member, you only purchase a package for four hours, you will be refunded the amount of that purchase (four hours). You must purchase a package of eight hours (or a multiple of packages adding up to eight hours) in order to have the refund of eight hours, making that a "free" perk of the club. ;)

 

As the Capn has mentioned, on the first and sometimes second day of a trip, you may be offered a "kicker" of additional minutes for signing up for a plan early in the voyage. These minutes are not calculated in to the above purchase/refund, but they are of course yours to use and enjoy. :)

 

This works just the way it did for you when you were a platinum member, except that your maximum amount of minutes purchased that can be refunded is now 8 hours, where it was previously four. :eek:

[Andiamo]

As a Diamond member of CWC, you can receive a refund on a package purchased up to eight hours per trip. You must purchase the package, in order to get the refund. If, even though a Diamond member, you only purchase a package for four hours, you will be refunded the amount of that purchase (four hours). You must purchase a package of eight hours (or a multiple of packages adding up to eight hours) in order to have the refund of eight hours, making that a "free" perk of the club. ;)

 

As the Capn has mentioned, on the first and sometimes second day of a trip, you may be offered a "kicker" of additional minutes for signing up for a plan early in the voyage. These minutes are not calculated in to the above purchase/refund, but they are of course yours to use and enjoy. :)

 

This works just the way it did for you when you were a platinum member, except that your maximum amount of minutes purchased that can be refunded is now 8 hours, where it was previously four. :eek:

 

 

Thanks Jane. Remind me in December please.

 

Regards,

 

Jeanne

[voyagerdreamer224]

Thanks Jane. Remind me in December please.

 

Regards,

 

Jeanne

 

 

With pleasure. Over a drink in the Commodore Club! :D Will that be your first Diamond trip? Monday starts mine. Looking forward to it. And looking forward to seeing you in December onboard!!

 

Best wishes,

 

Jane ;)

[Andiamo]

With pleasure. Over a drink in the Commodore Club! :D Will that be your first Diamond trip? Monday starts mine. Looking forward to it. And looking forward to seeing you in December onboard!!

 

Best wishes,

 

Jane ;)

 

Hi Jane.

 

You bet about that drink in Commodore, and we won't wait until your birthday this time.

 

I'm hoping to learn my way around the I-pad by then. Well, at least how to turn it on.

 

No, not Diamond, yet. Congrats on achieving yours next week.

 

Now, start packing for Monday.

 

Regards,

 

Jeanne

[Terrence Richards]

Hi Jane.

 

You bet about that drink in Commodore, and we won't wait until your birthday this time.

 

I'm hoping to learn my way around the I-pad by then. Well, at least how to turn it on.

 

No, not Diamond, yet. Congrats on achieving yours next week.

 

Now, start packing for Monday.

 

Regards,

 

Jeanne

 

Hi Jeanne, is this the Jeanne that I know and met on the Queen Elizabeth 2?

 

Terrence

[Andiamo]

Hi Jeanne, is this the Jeanne that I know and met on the Queen Elizabeth 2?

 

Terrence

 

Terrence,

 

No, we have never met. We have chatted here on CC. You recommended Allstar Limo service, which I have used and was happy with. I have not used them to go to the Brooklyn pier though.

 

Jeanne

[Terrence Richards]

Terrence,

 

No, we have never met. We have chatted here on CC. You recommended Allstar Limo service, which I have used and was happy with. I have not used them to go to the Brooklyn pier though.

 

Jeanne

 

Thanks for the response. Give All Star Limo a try the next time you need to get to Brooklyn. Mention that you have a coupon that you received in the mail in the "Val Pak" envelope with other coupon offers. You will most likely get the discounted rate and not need to show the coupon to the driver. I will be booking with them in mid September for the October 7 eastbound crossing on the QM2.

 

Terrence (Terry)

[Cruise NH]

Hi, Travel Happy Lady, I hesitate to say for sure that you're already "good to go," but I'll bet you are! The best way to test it now is to simply pick up your iPad, open Mail* in the usual fashion and allow new messages to download into your Inbox. As soon as the stream of incoming new mail has ended, exit Mail, go to your iPad Settings (the gear box) and turn Airplane Mode "on." You've now disabled all connectivity (Wi-Fi and any cellular data service). This mimics your general QM2 situation while not connected to the ship's Wi-Fi. Return to Mail and try opening those new messages. Can you read all of the content? Obviously, you can't follow hyperlinks, and you'll notice that web-based images will not display. But you should be able to see all text and embedded images, as well as any attachments.

 

If this test is successful, while you're still offline, take it one more step and open one of the emails, forward it to yourself with the message "This is a test," and hit Send. Now, return to Settings, turn Airplane Mode "off," open Mail, you should hear/see that message being sent and shortly see that test forward in your Inbox. Voila! You have now mastered composing messages offline and performing a quick logon to send them. (When I need to compose lengthy messages, I find it easier to type them in Pages or other word processor, then copy the text, logon, open a new email message and paste in the text.)

 

*Mail - This discussion assumes you use the native Mail program on your iPad. If, instead, you access a web-based email account via Safari, then I am not sure whether you will enjoy the same success, as I'd guess the downloading and offline viewing behavior could vary from one email client to the next. However, there's an easy way to find out: Put it through the same Airplane Mode test!

 

Hope this helps. :) I have to say, the iPad makes everything so easy, I don't anticipate you'll have a bit of trouble. Just practice patience, as the time lag between logging onto the ship's Wi-Fi and seeing your Inbox come to life with new activity can be several minutes.

 

This is great information for IPAD users but there's one problem with it...going into 'Airplane mode' does not take you off the ship's internet system. They are very specific about logging off their system. You have to type in something (I forget what now but it's easy to do) in order to discontinue using your minutes. There are always people down in the computer office complaining about losing all their minutes because they shut down their computer after a session...but never logged off the system...and used up all their time without realizing it.

 

The computer staff is very helpful and will help anyone, even the least techinical among us, with any problems.

[capnpugwash]

This is great information for IPAD users but there's one problem with it...going into 'Airplane mode' does not take you off the ship's internet system. They are very specific about logging off their system. You have to type in something (I forget what now but it's easy to do) in order to discontinue using your minutes. There are always people down in the computer office complaining about losing all their minutes because they shut down their computer after a session...but never logged off the system...and used up all their time without realizing it.

 

The computer staff is very helpful and will help anyone, even the least techinical among us, with any problems.

 

You can either type logout or 1.1.1.1 in the place for the url, if you don't do that you are still connected.:eek::eek::eek:

[Artemis]

This is great information for IPAD users but there's one problem with it...going into 'Airplane mode' does not take you off the ship's internet system.

 

Hi, Cruise NH, thanks so much for clarifying that while on board, Cunard will give you a specific logout routine that must be followed to end your Internet connection. This applies to everyone, not just iPad users.

 

The entirety of my post was meant to be an at home test using Airplone Mode to mimic the state of being offline while on QM2. Sorry for injecting confusion. :(

[Rockbird]

Well I can report a reasonably successful FaceTime session on the iPad if anyone is interested. As I sat, lonely and abandoned at home, I was treated to the rest of my family waving and grinning at me from the middle of the North Atlantic! Very strange (but nice) to be sitting in Surrey and looking into a cabin and the Grand Lobby :D

 

The connection was a bit patchy and dropped occasionally but it was good enough to serve the purpose and we were able to have a pretty decent conversation.

[Lake Barcroft Sailor]

 

*Mail - This discussion assumes you use the native Mail program on your iPad. If, instead, you access a web-based email account via Safari, then I am not sure whether you will enjoy the same success, as I'd guess the downloading and offline viewing behavior could vary from one email client to the next. However, there's an easy way to find out: Put it through the same Airplane Mode test!

 

Hope this helps. :) I have to say, the iPad makes everything so easy, I don't anticipate you'll have a bit of trouble. Just practice patience, as the time lag between logging onto the ship's Wi-Fi and seeing your Inbox come to life with new activity can be several minutes.

 

One of the advantages of CC is that you can benefit from questions and advice given by others. I just got a new IPad2 and did the test for myself. It is great. I sent an e-mail from my Verizon account to a Hotmail account and the sending and receiving both worked.

 

Re Host Sharon's comments on the QM2 drydock (I'd originally written QE2--wishful thinking must have been), Peter Shanks has indicated he is going to discuss it on his blog shortly. Don't know whether he will get into such minutiae as WIFI, but, if not, perhaps a question in the "comments" section of the blog post will elicit an answer.

 

Have a great voyage and I hope you enjoy your IPad. It will be a while before we are back on board a ship, but we just traveled on land and it worked wonderfully in WIFI hot spots. It is absolutely wonderful not to have to lug a laptop or netbook around everywhere.

[Alohaaa]

Thanks. That email test worked fine.

 

Alohaaa

 

 

As a Diamond member of CWC, you can receive a refund on a package purchased up to eight hours per trip. You must purchase the package, in order to get the refund. If, even though a Diamond member, you only purchase a package for four hours, you will be refunded the amount of that purchase (four hours). You must purchase a package of eight hours (or a multiple of packages adding up to eight hours) in order to have the refund of eight hours, making that a "free" perk of the club. ;)

 

As the Capn has mentioned, on the first and sometimes second day of a trip, you may be offered a "kicker" of additional minutes for signing up for a plan early in the voyage. These minutes are not calculated in to the above purchase/refund, but they are of course yours to use and enjoy. :)

 

This works just the way it did for you when you were a platinum member, except that your maximum amount of minutes purchased that can be refunded is now 8 hours, where it was previously four. :eek:

[Alohaaa]

I am still not clear about billing when using the I Pad via ATT's roaming package. If I use the IPad 3G roaming would I also be billed by Cunard for useage? Given a choice I would choose ATT roaming. I just don't want to pay both.

 

Any clarification would be appreciated.

 

Alohaaa

[fishywood]

I am still not clear about billing when using the I Pad via ATT's roaming package. If I use the IPad 3G roaming would I also be billed by Cunard for useage? Given a choice I would choose ATT roaming. I just don't want to pay both.

 

Any clarification would be appreciated.

 

Alohaaa

 

https://ask.cunard.com/help/cunard/life-on-board/mobile_onboard

 

In a nutshell, if you wish to access your carrier's voice, text or data service it will be automatically be routed through the ship's International Maritime Roaming even if access to your carrier's preferred network is available mid-Atlantic. Contact them to find out what the roaming charge at sea is; it will be higher than normal, easily $2/minute more (which is what Verizon would charge me should I ever choose to use mine onboard). All of the combined per minute charge will be on your bill when you return home. There is no charge on your shipboard account unless you log on via the ship's wi-fi internet service.

[Alohaaa]

I'm beginning to get the picture. For ATT there are, I believe, three separate options 1 phone 2 text and 3 for 3G Internet access I think their is a set monthly roaming charge for 3G Internet that is around $200 ish. If I can use that plan it would be less expensive than .25 min Cunard wi fi charges. I'll be on the ship for 108 days so this is an important question for me.

 

Any thoughts?

 

Alohaaa

[Cape Cod Sally]

My husband and I have just returned--were on the round trip NYC -around the British Isles-and back to NYC. Had great success with my iPad! We were gold so each of us got 120 minutes for each segment. I only used it to catch up on e-mails and never went over my time. This was vacation so didn't want to be tied to my computer. The staff member in the computer area named Lee is a gem! What patience! He really helps everyone and some people are VERY demanding! We were in the process of selling our house and he won a gold star with us!!

 

Sally

[Artemis]

Alohaaa, 108 days, wow!

 

I gather you are a US customer, and if so, good news! This summer, ATT dropped international data pkg rates, so the same $200 gets you 800 MB! I don't think unused data allowances rolls over the 30 days, though, so check out lower plans. IIRC there's a $100 for 275 MB deal--I think that's what I will try my next trip. You'll probably have to rely on a mixture of Cunard Internet and cellular because there will be spotty coverage at times. Google for tips on minimizing intentional and background data usage, e.g., turn off push, fetch and sync operations. If you aren't leaving for 30+ days, you could reset your data usage counter and then use your iPad to do everything you expect to do while traveling, but no more. That will give you an idea of your likely burn rate.

 

Have a wonderful journey!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Alohaaa]

Hi Artemis,

 

Yes I am in the US. I will try out you suggestions to get a feel of my data usage. I am just left wondering if Cunard has a 3G blocking system to drive passengers to use their wi-fi instead of ATT coverage. I believe some hotels engage in this practice.

 

Any thoughts?

 

Alohaaa

[Artemis]

Alohaaa, I don't know about tactics to drive folks to use Internt, but the comments upthread about marine cell provider upcharges did concern me. I would contact Cunard in advance to get clarification. Also, I noted today a cruise ship icon on ATT's international travel guide, so I would check things through with them, as well. I had a very satisfactory chat session with an ATT rep today confirming terms for a trip to Australia (on a land trip vs cruising, it is still better to go with local SIM)--she was quite knowledgeable, and chat is so fast compared to telephone prompts and queues.

 

There's always wifi and coffee in every port!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Alohaaa]

Alohaaa, I don't know about tactics to drive folks to use Internt, but the comments upthread about marine cell provider upcharges did concern me. I would contact Cunard in advance to get clarification. Also, I noted today a cruise ship icon on ATT's international travel guide, so I would check things through with them, as well. I had a very satisfactory chat session with an ATT rep today confirming terms for a trip to Australia (on a land trip vs cruising, it is still better to go with local SIM)--she was quite knowledgeable, and chat is so fast compared to telephone prompts and queues.

 

There's always wifi and coffee in every port!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Hi Artemis,

 

Thanks for the ongoing information. I called ATT this morning, while they do have a international travel plan for $200 a month that is only on land. ATT does have a cruise ship plan that would work on Cunard ships however that costs $20 MB. Therefore, I agree with you that using the Cunard wi-fi package ( 32 hrs @ .25 a min) would be the most economical option.

 

Do you know if the Cunard internet package rolls over from one segment to the next if one is on the full WC or does it end after each segment, deleting remaining time?

 

 

Alohaaa

[Artemis]

Thanks for sharing the land vs. sea info. $20 for how many MB? Sorry, haven't had the pleasure of an extended voyage--hope a follow-up call to Cunard will clarify for you. And if you learn the skinny on how that marine cell service impacts pricing, let us know.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk