App & internet?

[GORDONCHICK]

I am one that likes to get away - like REALLY get away when we go on cruises.  No email, social media, etc.  However, it looks like there's so much on the X app that we may have to buy the internet package to use it?  Is that correct?  

[pl281]

The Celebrity App itself is free to use without a wifi package - this is for doing things on the ship and seeing the schedule / etc

[GORDONCHICK]

4 minutes ago, pl281 said:

The Celebrity App itself is free to use without a wifi package - this is for doing things on the ship and seeing the schedule / etc

Perfect!  That's what I was hoping for - because I really don't want to be connected!

[DCPIV]

You don't really -need- the app, but I've actually found it rather useful.  As mentioned, you do not need an internet package to use it.

[canderson]

If you get the app, you also can place over and under bets with a traveling companion each day on how many differences between the app and the printed Daily you can find.  🙄

[GORDONCHICK]

1 minute ago, canderson said:

If you get the app, you also can place over and under bets with a traveling companion each day on how many differences between the app and the printed Daily you can find.  🙄

I thought they weren't printing the dailies?  My husband won't do the app, so he'd definitely like a printed one.  I would use the app mainly for menus on board and preboarding stuff.

[canderson]

1 minute ago, GORDONCHICK said:

I thought they weren't printing the dailies?  My husband won't do the app, so he'd definitely like a printed one.  I would use the app mainly for menus on board and preboarding stuff.

Our last cruises have been post-restart, and we got a Daily every evening.  They're not printing the multi-lingial news sheets that were always available in the box near GR, though.

Edited September 19, 2022 by canderson

[cruisestitch]

Gordonchick , I don’t know who told you that they aren’t printing the dailies but they certainly are as evidenced by the number of people who are actually posting pictures of theirs from recent cruises.

 

 

Edited September 19, 2022 by cruisestitch

[RichYak]

2 minutes ago, GORDONCHICK said:

I thought they weren't printing the dailies?  My husband won't do the app, so he'd definitely like a printed one.  I would use the app mainly for menus on board and preboarding stuff.

AFAIK, dailies are still being printed. FYI, I think you can also use your favorite internet browser to surf Celebrity's website and book a new cruise without paying for a WiFi package. Isn't that nice of Celebrity to allow that? 😇

[cruisestitch]

There have always been a number of so-called “free website  links” you could access without buying internet.  Celebrity, Royal, and even as I recall Reidel glassware among others 

[stellarose]

we sailed carnival in January and used the hub app without signing up for the internet package. hope the same for celebrity. 

[CNSfromHI]

1 hour ago, DCPIV said:

You don't really -need- the app, but I've actually found it rather useful.  As mentioned, you do not need an internet package to use it.

I agree with @DCPIV -- the app is actually quite useful, both pre-cruise and once onboard our recent cruise. Far more than I expected.

 

Pre-cruise, we were able to almost entirely check-in prior to boarding just through the app. I think all we had to do onboard was walk to our muster spot.

 

But once at sea, I found the app very handy/easy to use to find restaurant/bar availability, check on stuff to do, locate places using the floor maps, etc. We did have the Basic internet package, but I'd read the app works onboard without a package.

 

We always received a printed daily thing (usually left in the evening with the turn down service). If you leave 'em in your stateroom at the end of the cruise, Celebrity will recycle them.

 

cjr

[DCPIV]

1 hour ago, CNSfromHI said:

But once at sea, I found the app very handy/easy to use to find restaurant/bar availability, check on stuff to do, locate places using the floor maps, etc.

 

It's also good for looking at menus (more once onboard than before).

[Jim_Iain]

5 hours ago, GORDONCHICK said:

I am one that likes to get away - like REALLY get away when we go on cruises.  No email, social media, etc.  However, it looks like there's so much on the X app that we may have to buy the internet package to use it?  Is that correct?  

you do not need an internet package to use the app.   It works for free over the ships wifi.

[Terre]

5 hours ago, GORDONCHICK said:

Perfect!  That's what I was hoping for - because I really don't want to be connected!

You do not need to purchase the X app.  It has things like entertainment, menus, etc. that you will need.  Download that for sure.  You get a certain amount of wifi free so no need to purchase more.

[NutsAboutGolf]

The app also has a free chat feature.

 

Was on the fifth US X sailing after the restart (July '21), we received daily printouts, don't think they ever stopped.  Was on CCL this past March, you had to request funtime printouts and request menus in the MDR yet they were handed out at specialty restaurants.

[Alakegirl]

2 hours ago, Terre said:

You do not need to purchase the X app.  It has things like entertainment, menus, etc. that you will need.  Download that for sure.  You get a certain amount of wifi free so no need to purchase more.

It doesn’t appear that the OP has any wifi included, froom post 1

[CNSfromHI]

18 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

The app also has a free chat feature.

I posted about this somewhere else here, but during our recent cruise, the Celebrity in-app chat feature didn't work like I expected. Unlike iPhone messages, for example, users don't receive a mobile notification -- visually on their lockscreen or homescreen, or by a sound.

 

Instead, I only saw a notification in the upper-right corner of the Celebrity app once I launched it. (The "text bubble" turned red.) There, I could click on the message and then reply -- but my wife (in my case) had to be using the app to see the same upper-right-corner notification arrive.

 

I'm not knocking this app feature at all. My bride and I traveled together most of the time; for others, and larger groups of family, friends, people you "connect with" onboard, etc., this chat feature will likely prove useful to find each other, connect at a meeting point, coordinate plans, etc.

 

cjr

[Jim_Iain]

2 hours ago, CNSfromHI said:

I posted about this somewhere else here, but during our recent cruise, the Celebrity in-app chat feature didn't work like I expected. Unlike iPhone messages, for example, users don't receive a mobile notification -- visually on their lockscreen or homescreen, or by a sound.

 

Instead, I only saw a notification in the upper-right corner of the Celebrity app once I launched it. (The "text bubble" turned red.) There, I could click on the message and then reply -- but my wife (in my case) had to be using the app to see the same upper-right-corner notification arrive.

 

I'm not knocking this app feature at all. My bride and I traveled together most of the time; for others, and larger groups of family, friends, people you "connect with" onboard, etc., this chat feature will likely prove useful to find each other, connect at a meeting point, coordinate plans, etc.

 

cjr

I tried it on Summit and it did make a ping sound on the phone I sent the message to.   No notification on screen and could easily have been missed.

[CNSfromHI]

18 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

I tried it on Summit and it did make a ping sound on the phone I sent the message to.   No notification on screen and could easily have been missed.

That's very interesting, @Jim_Iain! My wife usually keeps her phone in silent mode; while I'm not sure I ever used the in-app text thing while she had the app open (or even if she didn't), I now wonder if her phone would have dinged?

 

That said, I didn't receive hear a sound when she texted me. Definitely something to check out on our next cruise!

 

cjr

[Jim_Iain]

4 hours ago, CNSfromHI said:

That's very interesting, @Jim_Iain! My wife usually keeps her phone in silent mode; while I'm not sure I ever used the in-app text thing while she had the app open (or even if she didn't), I now wonder if her phone would have dinged?

 

That said, I didn't receive hear a sound when she texted me. Definitely something to check out on our next cruise!

 

cjr

I'll try it again on next cruise.   Also wonder if it responds different on iPhones vs Androids

My also be that on my iPhone I went into Notifications and turned Notifications on for Celebrity App with both a Banner and Sound. 

 

We usually just use the regular messaging function on our iPhones but rarely even do that.

[CNSfromHI]

5 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

My also be that on my iPhone I went into Notifications and turned Notifications on for Celebrity App with both a Banner and Sound.

After I posted, I wondered if I'd done the same thing on my iPhone. I'm a bit of a nut about minimizing sounds, banners, etc., unless I specifically want something. Too much pocket-chaos otherwise 😆

 

Thank you,

 

cjr