Best Emergency Contact Info for Family - iConcierge?

[iloveislands24]

Hello! My husband and I are going on our first ever cruise this Saturday - SO excited! When leaving a contact number for our families in case of emergency, what is the best number to leave? Is there a general number, and then they just need our ship name and stateroom number?

 

AND/OR - would it be better to give them our personal number from the iConcierge app? I just downloaded the app and it seems like it will be useful. Am I understanding correctly that we won't know our phone number through the app until we get on the ship and access their Wifi? So we would need to text that number to our families once already on board the ship? Also am I understanding correctly that it is free to use the app, you are just charged by the minute to make calls incoming or outgoing to the mainland? And then there is around a $10 fee for each person if we want to use the app to text/call each other while on the cruise?

 

Thanks for any help/advice on this! :):):)

[ColinIllinois]

From the NCL Frequently Asked Questions:

 

 

https://www.ncl.com/faq#staying-in-touch

 

 

Enjoy your cruise, I'm sure you'll have a great time.

[VideoTech]

iConcierge will NOT work for this purpose. It only works on the ship, between phones running iConcierge.

 

Every ship has a land based phone number you can give out as an emergency number. This allows someone on land to call your ship directly and at least get a message through to you. This is typically given somewhere in your Edocs and I think it's also on the website.

 

Hello! My husband and I are going on our first ever cruise this Saturday - SO excited! When leaving a contact number for our families in case of emergency, what is the best number to leave? Is there a general number, and then they just need our ship name and stateroom number?

 

AND/OR - would it be better to give them our personal number from the iConcierge app? I just downloaded the app and it seems like it will be useful. Am I understanding correctly that we won't know our phone number through the app until we get on the ship and access their Wifi? So we would need to text that number to our families once already on board the ship? Also am I understanding correctly that it is free to use the app, you are just charged by the minute to make calls incoming or outgoing to the mainland? And then there is around a $10 fee for each person if we want to use the app to text/call each other while on the cruise?

 

Thanks for any help/advice on this! :):):)

[VideoTech]

Further re: iConcierge. This app does not give you a new phone number. It is only used on the ship, using the ship's wifi (NOT the internet). It allows texting between other phones running the iConcierge app (you enter them in the iConcierge app contacts) and calling from your iConcierge phone to the cabin phone numbers of your contacts.

 

It also allows you to check your reservations, make new reservations, and it will deliver a lot of NCL promotional messages to your phone.

 

Hello! My husband and I are going on our first ever cruise this Saturday - SO excited! When leaving a contact number for our families in case of emergency, what is the best number to leave? Is there a general number, and then they just need our ship name and stateroom number?

 

AND/OR - would it be better to give them our personal number from the iConcierge app? I just downloaded the app and it seems like it will be useful. Am I understanding correctly that we won't know our phone number through the app until we get on the ship and access their Wifi? So we would need to text that number to our families once already on board the ship? Also am I understanding correctly that it is free to use the app, you are just charged by the minute to make calls incoming or outgoing to the mainland? And then there is around a $10 fee for each person if we want to use the app to text/call each other while on the cruise?

 

Thanks for any help/advice on this! :):):)

[ColinIllinois]

iConcierge will NOT work for this purpose. It only works on the ship, between phones running iConcierge.

 

Every ship has a land based phone number you can give out as an emergency number. This allows someone on land to call your ship directly and at least get a message through to you. This is typically given somewhere in your Edocs and I think it's also on the website.

 

 

That number is the link I provided earlier.

[zqvol]

Use e-mail, and if you have iPhones use iMessage.

[forgotmyCCname]

OP- make sure that the people at home know that if they call the the ship -they will need a credit card to place the call.

We were in port last fall and there was an emergency at our home . Our friend was trying to reach us via cell but we had no service .

She called the # listed under “ Staying in Touch” and was asked for credit card info. She was not carrying one so had to borrow a card from a co-worker.

She got through with the credit card but the process was lengthy even if you subtract the time it took to bum a credit card! The phone number is to a clearinghouse that takes the credit card info and then directs your call to another service that connects to the ship that rings your stateroom.

 

Also , I had just assumed that if you received a call in your stateroom that the only charge would be the $4.99/ minute , charged to the cabin. The fee for the caller was pretty steep as well

 

We didn’t realize that our kids had been trying to call as well but had been unable to as they misplaced the card we left with them .

 

This was as we were docked at Costa Maya . It was the only time that we had zero cell service on Verizon and ATT - and that is when the kids needed to contact us. It all worked out and we came home to a lovely , new well -pump.

 

Have a great trip!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[firstimecruiseronncl]

Further re: iConcierge. This app does not give you a new phone number. It is only used on the ship, using the ship's wifi (NOT the internet). It allows texting between other phones running the iConcierge app (you enter them in the iConcierge app contacts) and calling from your iConcierge phone to the cabin phone numbers of your contacts.

 

It also allows you to check your reservations, make new reservations, and it will deliver a lot of NCL promotional messages to your phone.

 

You can use iConcierge to make and receive phone calls from home. There is a phone number provided (877 number) and they will need your ship and room number to call you. I think it was .79 a minute last year when I used it.

This year I bought the unlimited wifi and was able to make phone calls and text using Whatsapp.

[iloveislands24]

Thanks so much for all of your replies! I think I got it now. We can use the NCL iConcierge app to call home - but our families at home cannot call us via that app. They would just need to call the general number, which will ring to our stateroom. We won't have wifi, but perhaps we will have access to wifi for email and such while in port.

 

Thanks again!

[firstimecruiseronncl]

Thanks so much for all of your replies! I think I got it now. We can use the NCL iConcierge app to call home - but our families at home cannot call us via that app. They would just need to call the general number, which will ring to our stateroom. We won't have wifi, but perhaps we will have access to wifi for email and such while in port.

 

Thanks again!

 

No, you can also have them call you. They will be provided with an 877 number and they will choose your ship and your stateroom number and it will ring on your cell phone through the app. This will cost you .79 a minute (unless it has gone up in price since last year). This year I had unlimited wifi so I was able to text and call for free through the Whatsapp App on my phone.