FaceTime on Regal Princess

[jtjosh02]

My wife and I took a break from cruising with having a baby at home, but now that she is older, we are looking at getting back to taking some cruises alone. We have never used WiFi on any of our previous cruises as we always want to disconnect, but with a toddler at home, are looking to FaceTime throughout the trip.

 

We are looking at getting back on the Regal again, and noticed that the WiFi was improved throughout the ship. Does anyone have any recent experience on the Regal with FaceTime? When we are docked, I am sure we can use cellular, but really looking to be able to stay in touch during sea days.

 

Josh

[zahav1]

We were on the Regal in March and once you log into the ship's wifi you can then use your Facebook messenger or even text messages. We had free internet due to our level, but for those who paid it was not expensive. We even Face Timed with our family, sent photos via text messages and made cell phone calls. It was great for us since we like to stay in touch with family.

[Colo Cruiser]

IMO no way to tell until you are onboard.

[firecrewcapt]

We got off the Regal 2 weeks ago and no problem Face Timing , texting, sending photos or posting on FB. We do have free internet when we cruise though.

[hllwdcruiser]

We were on the Regal 1 1/2 years ago and were facetiming the family then so I can't see you having any issues with the wifi now that it is so improved.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

we were on Regal last Nov, and FB and FB messenger were free to use. We didn't buy any internet.

My DH's Galaxy S7 was just fine, loading FB fully, but my Galaxy S4 didn't load any FB pictures, so I got text only. FB messenger worked fine on both phones.

 

 

P.S. We chose to cruise without an infant (left DS with grandparents twice), but once DS turned 3 and was potty trained, he started cruising with us.

[Colo Cruiser]

we were on Regal last Nov, and FB and FB messenger were free to use. We didn't buy any internet.

 

 

At sea? No internet? No cell service? How did you log on FB with no internet or cell service?

Free? :o

Please tell me more...........

[Hlitner]

Ok, so we have lots of great news for the OP :). We were recently on the Regal (just disembarked on Sept 22 after a 14 day cruise) and the Regal now has excellent "Medallion Net" which means we had fast internet throughout the ship and it worked well. The onboard packages are sold for unlimited internet for either 1 or 4 devices (Platinum and Elite get unlimited for 1 device for free). We Face Timed every day (with our new Grandson) as we crossed that Atlantic and had no problems. I think there was one time out of 14 days when our signal was briefly dropped, but otherwise Facetime worked as good as at home.

 

Hank

[BigGuy25]

We also were on the recently concluded transatlantic on the Regal. WiFi was up and running fast all 14 days. No problem using FaceTime (audio and video). Even worked well all 5 days at sea.

[Colo Cruiser]

Ok, so we have lots of great news for the OP :). We were recently on the Regal (just disembarked on Sept 22 after a 14 day cruise) and the Regal now has excellent "Medallion Net" which means we had fast internet throughout the ship and it worked well. The onboard packages are sold for unlimited internet for either 1 or 4 devices (Platinum and Elite get unlimited for 1 device for free). We Face Timed every day (with our new Grandson) as we crossed that Atlantic and had no problems. I think there was one time out of 14 days when our signal was briefly dropped, but otherwise Facetime worked as good as at home.

 

Hank

 

We also were on the recently concluded transatlantic on the Regal. WiFi was up and running fast all 14 days. No problem using FaceTime (audio and video). Even worked well all 5 days at sea.

 

 

So its free. Thats great to know! :)

[Hlitner]

So its free. Thats great to know! :)

 

It was only free for Platinum and Elite folks. They only sold two different packages which were a 1 device unlimited and a 4 device unlimited. When we initially logged on to the cruise ship's Intranet we were given the choice of taking that single device package for free or paying (I do not remember the cost) for the 4 device package. Since both DW and I are Elite we each got a single device for free which was a terrific benefit.

 

Hank

[Host CJSKIDS]

Used FaceTime frequently in Dec 2017 on the Regal and it worked really well. The new medallion net was amazing.

[luckyinpa]

i read thru this post and its not clear. what services do you get if you dont pay for nor get free internet on board?

[voljeep]

On ‎10‎/‎4‎/‎2018 at 11:50 PM, Host CJSKIDS said:

Used FaceTime frequently in Dec 2017 on the Regal and it worked really well. The new medallion net was amazing.

worked great on the Regal in March ... Platinum unlimited then ... wife Facetimed and gave a ship tour to our 3 year old granddaughter and got a lot of smiles...

[jennybenny]

On 10/4/2018 at 2:53 PM, Hlitner said:

Ok, so we have lots of great news for the OP :). We were recently on the Regal (just disembarked on Sept 22 after a 14 day cruise) and the Regal now has excellent "Medallion Net" which means we had fast internet throughout the ship and it worked well. The onboard packages are sold for unlimited internet for either 1 or 4 devices (Platinum and Elite get unlimited for 1 device for free). We Face Timed every day (with our new Grandson) as we crossed that Atlantic and had no problems. I think there was one time out of 14 days when our signal was briefly dropped, but otherwise Facetime worked as good as at home.

 

Hank

Hank, Thanks for sharing that positive experience!!  Where did you FaceTime from?  Your cabin?  Close to the Internet Cafe?  Just curious as to how "quiet" it can be for FaceTime.  Were you careful about the hours your did it?  I have not had the luxury of the new and advanced "Medallion Net", but I'm hearing good things!

Thank you!

Edited October 18, 2018 by jennybenny

[Itchy&Scratchy]

On ‎10‎/‎4‎/‎2018 at 5:13 PM, Colo Cruiser said:

 

 

At sea? No internet? No cell service? How did you log on FB with no internet or cell service?

Free? :o

Please tell me more...........

on Regal, only Facebook and Facebook messenger are free to use. Your devices can remain in airplane mode, but they'll still catch the ship's wifi needed for FB and FB messenger. Internet packages aren't free.

P.S. We didn't know about free FB until the 4th day of the cruise. It wasn't communicated at all, but when we inquired about still getting FB notifications on our phones while they were in airplane mode, the Regal Customer service staff informed us that it was free!

Edited October 18, 2018 by Itchy&Scratchy

[WisCruiser2]

1 hour ago, luckyinpa said:

i read thru this post and its not clear. what services do you get if you dont pay for nor get free internet on board?

 

I think that if you don't get the free internet minutes or pay for them you can still access the "Intranet" Princess@Sea for ship info, patters, and their messenger system with others on the ship.

[Hlitner]

2 hours ago, jennybenny said:

Hank, Thanks for sharing that positive experience!!  Where did you FaceTime from?  Your cabin?  Close to the Internet Cafe?  Just curious as to how "quiet" it can be for FaceTime.  Were you careful about the hours your did it?  I have not had the luxury of the new and advanced "Medallion Net", but I'm hearing good things!

Thank you!

While on the Regal we found that our Internet service was nearly flawless everywhere on the ship.  Most of our Facetime stuff was done in our cabin although we did use our phone freely throughout the ship.  As a very long time cruiser (for over forty years) what we experienced on the Regal with its Internet was a quantum leap forward.  We will be back on the Regal in 2 weeks and expect to use Facetime on a daily basis.   I should also add that we have T-Mobile as our cell provider so I cannot say with 100% certainty that things will work as well with other providers.  T-Mobile allows one to activate "WiFi Calling" within the iPhone settings.  When connected to the Regal's Wifi system our phone would show "T-Mobile WiFi" which effectively let us do just about anything over the WiFi including Facetime and phone calls (with no fees).   If your provider does not allow WiFi calling then it could be a different story.  I believe I left our phone in airplane mode (so there is no way it could accidentally connect to the ship's own cell network (this can get very expensive).

For any non-believers we just got our monthly T-Mobile cell phone bill and there not a single penny added to our bill for our service on the ship.   

Hank