Ship "WiFi" Versus Zoom?

[AnnaP]

I am sailing on the Allure in April with my husband, son, and my son's best friend. We have two separate cabins. So I think I was naïve and under the impression that if I did not purchase WIFI for all of us we would not be able to text one another one the ship. But reading now I am starting to get the impression we would have been able to contact one another via the RC app when we are connected to the ship's WiFi. Is that accurate? Or do we need to purchase internet to reliably text each other?

[HappyTexan44]

The Chat within App became free at the start of this year.  

[crzndeb]

Yes, you can text via the app, without an internet package. It’s not super reliable, but if you turn on notifications for the app, sometimes texts will pop up on phone and sometimes not. You may need to check app occasionally to make sure you are seeing texts.

Edited January 25, 2023 by crzndeb

[Toddcan]

You don't need the wifi package (Voom) to use the new chat feature.  Just like you don't need the wifi package to use the Royal app.  It actually uses wifi, but it's provided automatically at no cost to you - just for those apps/features. As a user - it's invisible to you

[pittnh]

someone mentioned in a previous thread that this would also work on Coco Cay but not Labadee

[twangster]

54 minutes ago, pittnh said:

someone mentioned in a previous thread that this would also work on Coco Cay but not Labadee

 

At CocoCay the ship wifi is extended onto the island.  

 

That is not currently available at Labadee so without ship wifi at Labadee the free chat in the app won't work at Labadee.  

[AnnaP]

Man I wish I would have known! Ae the WiFi packages refundable at all? I can see leaving my husband with one since he plays a lot of chess at night but I probably don't need it then.

[Ourusualbeach]

8 minutes ago, AnnaP said:

Man I wish I would have known! Ae the WiFi packages refundable at all? I can see leaving my husband with one since he plays a lot of chess at night but I probably don't need it then.

Yes you can cancel it and get a refund

[Morecruisesplz]

11 hours ago, HappyTexan44 said:

The Chat within App became free at the start of this year.  

Free because it's pretty useless. No notices of messages (ding) and unreliable. 

[Ret MP]

11 hours ago, HappyTexan44 said:

The Chat within App became free at the start of this year.  

Yep, they just upgraded their whole computer system at the mothership and all ships so they can offer texting for free.  This is their latest and greatest computer system:

 

[Ourusualbeach]

14 minutes ago, fredmdcruisers said:

Free because it's pretty useless. No notices of messages (ding) and unreliable. 

Go to app settings and turn on notifications.  All 12 of us at Christmas received notifications.

[Morecruisesplz]

9 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Go to app settings and turn on notifications.  All 12 of us at Christmas received notifications.

What ship? 

[Ourusualbeach]

10 minutes ago, fredmdcruisers said:

What ship? 

Wonder 

[Morecruisesplz]

16 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Wonder 

There you go. Newer ships/better wifi so app works better.

[crzndeb]

26 minutes ago, fredmdcruisers said:

There you go. Newer ships/better wifi so app works better.

Also worked on the Navigator over New Years.

[Biker19]

8 hours ago, fredmdcruisers said:

There you go. Newer ships/better wifi so app works better.

The app works the same across the fleet and wifi coverage on most ships in common areas is pretty good. As long as you have a wifi connection, the app works the same, regardless of ship. Sometimes, the issue is the setup on the individual phone, not the app.

[Scottdalfonso]

9 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Go to app settings and turn on notifications.  All 12 of us at Christmas received notifications.

This is what I keep hearing...people aren't getting notifications because they need to turn them on in the app setting AND on the phone permissions. 

[lovesthebeach2]

34 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

The app works the same across the fleet and wifi coverage on most ships in common areas is pretty good. As long as you have a wifi connection, the app works the same, regardless of ship. Sometimes, the issue is the setup on the individual phone, not the app.

For us with our iPhones, we both had notifications on, but never received any at all.  We had to open the app and check.  So it’s not working for everyone.

[DaKahuna]

13 hours ago, Ret MP said:

Yep, they just upgraded their whole computer system at the mothership and all ships so they can offer texting for free.  This is their latest and greatest computer system:

 

 

 

 You realize those look more like a telephone relay / switching racks than a computer system right?   LoL 

[Ret MP]

4 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 You realize those look more like a telephone relay / switching racks than a computer system right?   LoL 

Well, the caption from the website I stole the picture from said it was the first computer.  I don't know, I wasn't there.  Once again, I got it from the Internet, it's got to be true.  Don't question it!

 

[Morecruisesplz]

4 hours ago, Biker19 said:

The app works the same across the fleet and wifi coverage on most ships in common areas is pretty good. As long as you have a wifi connection, the app works the same, regardless of ship. Sometimes, the issue is the setup on the individual phone, not the app.

Wifi connection went in and out during 21 days on Explorer. Not the phone but the problem but the wifi strenght. 

[Morecruisesplz]

1 hour ago, Ret MP said:

Well, the caption from the website I stole the picture from said it was the first computer.  I don't know, I wasn't there.  Once again, I got it from the Internet, it's got to be true.  Don't question it!

 

And why would it matter? Why bring it up? Just to say gotcha!

[Husky1987]

13 hours ago, fredmdcruisers said:

There you go. Newer ships/better wifi so app works better.

Worked for us on Voyager a couple weeks ago.

 

There you go.

[Ret MP]

1 hour ago, fredmdcruisers said:

And why would it matter? Why bring it up? Just to say gotcha!

Come on Fred, you know, or should know, its humor, nothing more. 

 

Are you always on the lookout for controversy?  

[jean87510]

7 hours ago, Biker19 said:

The app works the same across the fleet and wifi coverage on most ships in common areas is pretty good. As long as you have a wifi connection, the app works the same, regardless of ship. Sometimes, the issue is the setup on the individual phone, not the app.

Exactly