Question about texting from ship

[beachgal58]

I wait until I get to port, seems to always be places with free wifi. 

[sir-magoo]

The way that I have done this in the past is to have international roaming turned on at your carrier but data roaming (mobile data) turned off on your phone.  This allows you to send/receive calls/SMS's through your phone at fairly high, but still manageable rates, but not incur ridiculous data charges.  The rates that I have seem are similar to what you mentioned, but just a little higher for SMS messages as I am usually billed in $AUD.

 

What usually happens is your phone will latch onto the ships local services that will allow basic cellular services over their satellite link to get calls and sms's.  Your phone usually shows something like maritime where you would usually see the cellular symbol.

 

If you have iMessage on, that will may work over the ships wifi too, but I am not sure as I usually have that off.

 

I agree with what others have mentioned, definitely turn off mobile data or it could cost you a lot on the ship.

[PinkShirlee]

I have an iPhone.  I bought one of on-ship the wireless plans.  Sometimes iMessage worked, most of the times it did not. Wireless was hit or miss. The ship (Freedom) was having massive connectivity problems and they were refunding wireless packages left and right.

 

If you have an Android or other non-Apple type phone you will need to buy a cruise package from your cellular provider.

[Erik101]

My family and I are iPhone users. I bought the internet package and I was able to text then while at sea. 

[coevan]

3 hours ago, PinkShirlee said:

If you have an Android or other non-Apple type phone you will need to buy a cruise package from your cellular provider.

 

 

The ships wifi will work with Androids

[#1cruiseaholic]

Does anyone know the cost of using the telephone in the cabin on Royal? I thought it was very expensive per minute.

[Organized Chaos]

On 6/24/2019 at 7:21 AM, PinkShirlee said:

I have an iPhone.  I bought one of on-ship the wireless plans.  Sometimes iMessage worked, most of the times it did not. Wireless was hit or miss. The ship (Freedom) was having massive connectivity problems and they were refunding wireless packages left and right.

 

If you have an Android or other non-Apple type phone you will need to buy a cruise package from your cellular provider.

 

While Android phones obviously don't have iMessage, Android users don't necessarily have to buy a cruise package from a cellular provider. iMessage is simply a messaging service, albeit one proprietary to Apple. But it's similar to apps like WhatsApp and FB Messenger. Android users can use any number of messaging apps that work over wifi.

[PinkShirlee]

On 6/24/2019 at 11:14 AM, coevan said:

 

 

The ships wifi will work with Androids

 

Does Android have texting that works over wifi or does texting work over cellular?  iMessage can work over wife.  Regular SMS texting does not.  If memory serves me correctly Android uses SMS texting, hence the ships wifi will not working for Android texting.  Full disclosure - I am not a Whatsapp or other messaging user.  We tried Whatsapp from another Android phone on the ship July 10th and it did not work.

[ProgRockCruiser]

35 minutes ago, PinkShirlee said:

 

Does Android have texting that works over wifi or does texting work over cellular?  iMessage can work over wife.  Regular SMS texting does not.  If memory serves me correctly Android uses SMS texting, hence the ships wifi will not working for Android texting.  Full disclosure - I am not a Whatsapp or other messaging user.  We tried Whatsapp from another Android phone on the ship July 10th and it did not work.

 

SMS texting is one of many options for sending messages, with Android or other OSs.  Just like your iPhone has "iMessage", the Android world has options.

 

An Android phone user could use FB's Messaging app via a ship-hosted Internet package, for example, or What'sApp, or some other ones I have read about by not used like Telegram.  I have no idea if the typical Carnival internet plan can handle such apps, so it may be trial and error.

Edited June 26, 2019 by ProgRockCruiser

[Organized Chaos]

43 minutes ago, PinkShirlee said:

Does Android have texting that works over wifi or does texting work over cellular?  iMessage can work over wife.  Regular SMS texting does not.  If memory serves me correctly Android uses SMS texting, hence the ships wifi will not working for Android texting.  Full disclosure - I am not a Whatsapp or other messaging user.  We tried Whatsapp from another Android phone on the ship July 10th and it did not work.

 

iMessage happens to be a single texting/messaging app that handles both SMS and messaging over wifi (routed through Apple's servers, in that case). I don't use Android, but if the native texting app on Android can't handle both, then those users can use a number of third-party messaging apps that would work with one of the onboard internet plans. I think Carnival mentioned fb messenger, whatsapp, & snapchat specifically, but there are probably others that work, as ProgRockCruiser suggested.

 

Additionally, in many cases turning on Wifi Calling on phones that have this feature will allow you to send SMS texts over wifi. Carnival's official policy is that it's not supported, but it does work...at least sometimes.