Texting each other onboard

[GMomKassie]

Please help me settle confusion re texting family onboard.   A.  We need to put our phones on Airplane mode to avoid charges, correct?

B.  To text family onboard, we need to sign up for 1.99 per day/ per phone to text correct? 
C.  The Royal free app, does not give free texting.  It is for seeing activities, menus, etc onboard, Correct?

[smokeybandit]

A: yes, though often phones default international data to "off"

B: You can do this, but the RC mesaging app is pretty clunky. 

C: Correct

Edited June 23, 2022 by smokeybandit

[Ashland]

Works easy for us..We all have iPhones and the Voom internet pkg.

We put our phones in airplane mode and turn on WiFi calling.

We can text each other and those not onboard with us.

[rudeney]

Note that the $1.99/day fee is not for "texting" - it is for using the "chat" feature in the RCI app.  It does let you message each other, but it does not alert you to new messages - you have to check them periodically.  You can only message others on the ship who have also paid the $1.99/day fee for the service.  

[Honeyroastedmelnut]

When did they start charging for this?  I’ll be on my first Oasis class ship next month and heard (many moons ago, preCOVID) that this was free.  All of my other RC cruises were on the much smaller ships (Majesty/Mariner) that didn’t have this feature.

[pstone1]

19 hours ago, Ashland said:

Works easy for us..We all have iPhones and the Voom internet pkg.

We put our phones in airplane mode and turn on WiFi calling.

We can text each other and those not onboard with us.

Have you made phones calls this way too?  I’m trying to figure that out too!

[Ashland]

3 hours ago, pstone1 said:

Have you made phones calls this way too?  I’m trying to figure that out too!

Yes...we have.

[Qextor]

I read in a post one couple who said they could use iMessage without the Voom package, just the ship's wifi (no internet of course, just iMessage).  Is anybody currently onboard willing to try this out?

Edited June 24, 2022 by Qextor

[joally]

6 hours ago, Qextor said:

I read in a post one couple who said they could use iMessage without the Voom package, just the ship's wifi (no internet of course, just iMessage).  Is anybody currently onboard willing to try this out?

I noticed this occasionally on our January Explorer OTS cruise. It worked most just after sailaway from each port. Then it was definitely turned off. I could even iMessage friends not on the ship during those times without buying Voom. (And it wasn't data, because it was on my iPad, which doesn't have data.) Not frequent enough to rely on, for sure. 
 

And the $2/day Royal App chat feature isn't set up correctly in the Apple App Store as a "direct messaging" app, so you won't get notifications unless the app is open. So it was useless. 

[pstone1]

13 hours ago, Ashland said:

Yes...we have.

Great!  Thanks for responding!

[Liljo22]

Chat function is very clunky.  You will only get the message once you have the app open.  If you go this route, I would have your family always send out where they are going so that once someone opens the app they will see it.  Better than asking where they are and hoping they open the app soon.