Royal Connect (formerly WOW) Phone Questions

[gcuecruise]

I understand what can be done with them, but:

 

1. Do they work well?

2. I read some older articles that said you can get bracelets (for your kids) that can then be tracked by your Royal Connect Phone. Is that true? If so, does that work well?

3. I have also read that they give out (or offer) phones in Adventure Ocean when you sign up. That I find hard to believe. Is that true?

 

Thanks.

[gcuecruise]

Does anybody have any experience with these gadgets?

[SpringsCruiser]

Does anybody have any experience with these gadgets?

 

 

Yes but I can only answer Question 1: Do they work well?

 

My answer is mostly. The texting was worthless because there is no alert when you receive one. The location portion worked probably 75% of the time, maybe more. Voice worked most of the time, but not always.

 

None of our party was in Adventure Ocean so I can't help you there.

[gcuecruise]

Thanks Springscruiser.

[MouseGirl]

Just wondering if anyone knows if these phones are available on all Royal Caribbean ships...

 

Thanks for anyone who can provide help,

MouseGirl

[dbain]

I just got back from a cruise on Oasis of the Seas and we rented the Royal Connect phones. You get them from a booth on Deck 3 outside of the conference center on embarkation day, not from Guest Services which is where Royal Caribbean tells you. They are $30 per phone for the entire length of the cruise. You have to turn them in by 4 p.m. on the last Friday of the cruise. You must sign a form saying you will pay $1,000 if you lose or destroy it.

 

The phone is a pre-configured i-Phone that runs on the the ships wifi service. You can only make calls inside the ship. When you sign up, you tell them which other passengers you want to be connected to and they configure it for you. Their names then appear in your contact list with several other frequently dialed numbers (guest services, dining reservations, medical facility, etc.). When you select a fellow passengers name you get the option to call, text, or locate them. Select locate and it tells you the deck, and approximate vicinity of the guest along with a deck plan. For instance Deck 5, Opus, Port Side. Select call or text and you can do that.

 

Our group found them to be a total waste of money. We complained but were not offered a refund. The location service would be awesome but it rarely worked or was innacurate. After the third day I gave up using it. I found it more frustrating than helpful. We were told it didn't work well on deck 9 and of course we were staying on deck 9. It is so unreliable that they send you a note every day reminding you to re-boot your phone. That didn't help. When you text someone, it doesn't ring on their end so it is useless. Half the time when someone called I would answer, hear the first two words, and then the call would drop.

 

My phone would not go to sleep so the battery kept draining. It kept coming on in the middle of the night and lighting up the stateroom.

 

The best feature was the instant access to the daily cruise program. I wish it had access to the dining application that told you the wait times and dining locations that were open. It would have been great to see my dinining and show reservations too.

 

I would NOT recommend these devices until Royal works out the bugs, but the cruise employees seemed resigned to the fact that they were as good as it was going to get. They only seemed happy about logging your complaint and nothing else. Great idea but poorly executed.

[Eripoll]

Hello what type of iPhone is it a 3G , 3GS or a ,4?

Also could the case be removed?

And is there a possibility that they could load your iPhone with their app?

Thanks in Advance:)

[tatonkagirl]

I am also curious about these phones as they sound perfect for our group sailing on the Oasis on 1/21/12. Anyone have experience on using the wristband feature with kids?

 

We are hoping to rent these during our week, but I'm now re-thinking that reading the review from above. Anyone have a good experience with them?

[ARCruisinNana]

We were just on Voyager with my 4 year old granddaughter. We were given beepers when we registered at Adventure Ocean. There was no charge.