Wi-Fi Calling Still Work on Surf since the change in Internet Packages?

[Crew News]

Just now, Toad said:

Well that’s not good, so basically the plan I got when purchasing the cruise, $11 limit on drinks and basic Wi-Fi are not too good😣

It gave you a big discount on the regular price of the Premium Plan.

[auggiemom]

Where on the ship do you go to upgrade or can you do it before boarding?  

[Crew News]

25 minutes ago, auggiemom said:

Where on the ship do you go to upgrade or can you do it before boarding?  

When you login after boarding, you will see the option to upgrade in the Navigator app.

[cfgrandma]

32 minutes ago, Crew News said:

When you login after boarding, you will see the option to upgrade in the Navigator app.

Does FaceTime calls work with the Surf plan?

 

Carolyn

[*Miss G*]

So, for clarity, these are the choices when you don’t have the HIA package.  Basically, it’s either Stream or Premium.  Surf is not an option.  

 

From the posts in this thread, it seems that Premium will suit my needs.  Do the plans actually cost 20% more if you wait until you board?

 

Edited March 19 by *Miss G*

[Crew News]

5 minutes ago, *Miss G* said:

So, for clarity, these are the choices when you don’t have the HIA package.  Basically, it’s either Stream or Premium.  Surf is not an option.  

 

From the posts in this thread, it seems that Premium will suit my needs.  Do the plans actually cost 20% more if you wait until you board?

 

Yes.  Here is a table of internet costs that I created based on tables that I received from Ship Services:  Internet Pricing Plans 2024

Edited March 19 by Crew News

[*Miss G*]

3 minutes ago, Crew News said:

Yes.  Here is a table of internet costs that I created based on tables that I received from Ship Services:  Internet Pricing Plans 2024

 

Oh, great!  So a savings of $52 if I buy it now, which breaks down to $15/day for a 14 day cruise.  Thank you, Roger!

[Crew News]

58 minutes ago, cfgrandma said:

Does FaceTime calls work with the Surf plan?

 

Carolyn

Others have reported that it does not.  As a WhatApp user, I need the Premium Plan to place and receive calls. 

 

Nothing beats a Spam Call while on a cruise even while your phone is in airplane mode.

[YourWorldWithBill]

Although this point has been addressed many times, I'm trying for once more after seeing Roger's table (thanks for that @Crew News!), and having seen many different opinions.

 

If I don't need streaming, getting services such as Netflix, etc., but want to be able watch YouTube videos, Premium should be enough. Is that correct?

 

I've used WhatsApp very well on previous cruises when I just had whatever wi-fi came with the HIA, but don't remember what the term was.

 

One other out-of-left-field question: A week or so ago CC stopped sending me email notifications of message boards that I follow. I tried unfollowing, signing out, coming back, etc. Any suggestions? 

[Crew News]

23 minutes ago, YourWorldWithBill said:

Although this point has been addressed many times, I'm trying for once more after seeing Roger's table (thanks for that @Crew News!), and having seen many different opinions.

 

If I don't need streaming, getting services such as Netflix, etc., but want to be able watch YouTube videos, Premium should be enough. Is that correct?

 

One other out-of-left-field question: A week or so ago CC stopped sending me email notifications of message boards that I follow. I tried unfollowing, signing out, coming back, etc. Any suggestions? 

 

The internet Streaming Plan lists several well-known streaming accounts but then adds "and other accounts."  All that I have been reading is that YouTube is a streaming service.  For getting a quick answer, this might be a question to pose on a current live thread for someone using the Premium Plan.

 

As far as notifications, perhaps the notifications under your account settings might show a cause.

[POA1]

5 hours ago, Crew News said:

Yes.  Here is a table of internet costs that I created based on tables that I received from Ship Services:  Internet Pricing Plans 2024

Thanks for the chart! Now we need an upgrade pricing column or two. 😄 I'll report on the 9 day once I board.

[Crew News]

2 minutes ago, POA1 said:

Thanks for the chart! Now we need an upgrade pricing column or two. 😄 I'll report on the 9 day once I board.

Here is a link to the upgrade chart I posted earlier in this thread:  Internet Update from HIA Surf Plan 2024

[POA1]

36 minutes ago, Crew News said:

Here is a link to the upgrade chart I posted earlier in this thread:  Internet Update from HIA Surf Plan 2024

Wow, you're good! I missed that post.

 

So, for a mere $5.56 a day on my upcoming cruise, I can be assured of learning about the latest deals in hurricane glass windows, and never have to worry about my car's warranty running out?  Sign me up! (I still plan to see if Wi-Fi calling works on surf. I suppose they could be blocking the SIP port, but it's a pretty low bandwidth service. I doubt they'd block the TCP or UDP ports. It would break things for regular web surfing.

 

 

Edited March 19 by POA1

[oakridger]

My good friend was just on the Eurodam last week on the Western Caribbean cruise and she called me several times on WhatsApp. She had the Surf Wi-Fi. One call did drop after about 2 minutes, but she called right back, and it was okay. The longest call was 38 minutes.

 

Just reporting current info.  

 

~Nancy

[POA1]

2 hours ago, oakridger said:

My good friend was just on the Eurodam last week on the Western Caribbean cruise and she called me several times on WhatsApp. She had the Surf Wi-Fi. One call did drop after about 2 minutes, but she called right back, and it was okay. The longest call was 38 minutes.

 

Just reporting current info.  

 

~Nancy

Thanks, Nancy! Hopefully we'll be able euse the phone on Surf. We just want to be reachable in case of emergency.

 

Also, it's an election year, and I'd hate to miss out surveys about issues that are important to the country. (Just kidding. It's calls vinyl siding that I don't want to miss.)

[0106]

14 hours ago, HermmyGranger said:

If you can't text, what is the point of the surf package in the first place? What else can you do with it? I don't ever make calls, but I do send lots of photos by text back to my husband so he can live vicariously through me while I'm traveling.

 

14 hours ago, jinpasco said:

Reading all this makes more sense to me now. We had surf and expected to be able to use What's App but after about 5 seconds calls would drop.

 

9 hours ago, Crew News said:

As a WhatApp user, I need the Premium Plan to place and receive calls. 

I am an iPhone user. I had HIA which included the basic “surf” internet on three recent cruises: the Rotterdam in October, the Oosterdam in February and the Nieuw Statendam this month, I was able to FaceTime, iMessage and send pictures to other Apple users.  I was able to do the same on WhatsApp to non-Apple users.  Actually had a 30 minutes WhatsApp call while in Antarctica where internet is sometimes spotty regardless of the package. 
 

YMMV: Last week, my roommate struggled with her Android phone but eventually found several good connection locations on the ship to use WhatsApp with the included basic Surf internet.

[jinpasco]

2 minutes ago, 0106 said:

 

 

I am an iPhone user. I had HIA which included the basic “surf” internet on three recent cruises: the Rotterdam in October, the Oosterdam in February and the Nieuw Statendam this month, I was able to FaceTime, iMessage and send pictures to other Apple users.  I was able to do the same on WhatsApp to non-Apple users.  Actually had a 30 minutes WhatsApp call while in Antarctica where internet is sometimes spotty regardless of the package. 
 

YMMV: Last week, my roommate struggled with her Android phone but eventually found several good connection locations on the ship to use WhatsApp with the included basic Surf internet.

You may be on to something. Our phones are Android. 

[terrydtx]

11 hours ago, cfgrandma said:

Does FaceTime calls work with the Surf plan?

 

Carolyn

No you will need premium and use WiFi calling on your phone to FaceTime. 

[POA1]

This is important. Remember it. It's OS agnostic.

 

When you connect to an access point, your device is going to try to keep that established connection up - even if you move into range of another AP. So, when you move around the ship, and you see your connection getting worse, just turn Wi-Fi off and then back on after a couple of seconds.

 

If you already know how to do this from the Wi-Fi connectoid/applet, do it that way. (Of course, if you know how to do it, you probably don't need this advice.)

 

I highly recommend Ubiquiti's WiFiman. It's lightweight, fast and free. It's from the hardware maker Ubiquiti and is ad free. Available for ios, Android and even Windows and MacOS, it's an excellent tool.

 

 

[jinpasco]

1 hour ago, 0106 said:

 

 

I am an iPhone user. I had HIA which included the basic “surf” internet on three recent cruises: the Rotterdam in October, the Oosterdam in February and the Nieuw Statendam this month, I was able to FaceTime, iMessage and send pictures to other Apple users.  I was able to do the same on WhatsApp to non-Apple users.  Actually had a 30 minutes WhatsApp call while in Antarctica where internet is sometimes spotty regardless of the package. 
 

YMMV: Last week, my roommate struggled with her Android phone but eventually found several good connection locations on the ship to use WhatsApp with the included basic Surf internet.

Care to share where those secret good spots are 😁.

We are doing a 28 day Greece to Ft Lauderdale on Statendam and will upgrade if need be . One other oddity was we could text our son but our daughter has an Apple phone and the texts would not go thru. So I am thinking having the HIA is not all that good a perk. We have to upgrade the internet, pay for the better drinks and no gratuities. 

[POA1]

40 minutes ago, jinpasco said:

Care to share where those secret good spots are 😁.

We are doing a 28 day Greece to Ft Lauderdale on Statendam and will upgrade if need be . One other oddity was we could text our son but our daughter has an Apple phone and the texts would not go thru. So I am thinking having the HIA is not all that good a perk. We have to upgrade the internet, pay for the better drinks and no gratuities. 

Change your daughter's phone type from iPhone temporarily. That will cause her messages to go via regular SMS instead of Apple proprietary iMessage.

Edited March 19 by POA1

[0106]

1 hour ago, jinpasco said:

1. Care to share where those secret good spots are 😁.

 

2. So I am thinking having the HIA is not all that good a perk. We have to upgrade the internet, pay for the better drinks and no gratuities. 

1. Since I had no problem using my iPhone with the basic surf package, I do not know her “secret good spots” but I do know she frequently sat on the balcony of our deck 8 aft cabin and successfully made WhatsApp calls.

 

2. I did not pay extra for any drinks.  I drank Domaine Ste Michelle Brut and Grey Goose and soda.  Some frozen drinks are $12 in which case you would pay the $1 difference plus 18% gratuity = $1.18.  IMO upgrading to the Elite beverage package is not necessary, just pay the difference.

 

Also, if you book early the HIA package includes the upgrades.  Here is my statement for a 14 day cruise.

[jinpasco]

1 hour ago, 0106 said:

1. Since I had no problem using my iPhone with the basic surf package, I do not know her “secret good spots” but I do know she frequently sat on the balcony of our deck 8 aft cabin and successfully made WhatsApp calls.

 

2. I did not pay extra for any drinks.  I drank Domaine Ste Michelle Brut and Grey Goose and soda.  Some frozen drinks are $12 in which case you would pay the $1 difference plus 18% gratuity = $1.18.  IMO upgrading to the Elite beverage package is not necessary, just pay the difference.

 

Also, if you book early the HIA package includes the upgrades.  Here is my statement for a 14 day cruise.

Thanks, we actually stood on the top deck beneath the big ball thing ( was that for internet ?? ) but calls dropped. Actually it was fine because the kids always seem to be so busy to stop and talk. Texting  and emailing was fine.Just thinking forward to the longer trip and who knows, 6 of those days are at sea across the Atlantic so not sure how the signal would be.

We booked the HIA for our transatlantic a while back before they started to add the early booking promo so no gratuities included. To us that's a big perk. 

As for drinks..on a  recent 7 day  ( no HIA) I had 5 drinks total.  Hubby had more,lol Coffee was great even in the buffet so no need for fancy. One thing on HA, they still had happy hour so 3 pm we could be found in the lounge! Win/win .

End of the cruise we came back with 60.00 in our favor( and it was posted on our CC 3 days later ).

Edited March 19 by jinpasco
Spelling error

[YourWorldWithBill]

Here's an interesting note about the new wifi categories. 

Today I called HAL (casino services) and since the person was very helpful, I asked about a couple of things and asked about the wifi on my upcoming cruise, which is in the "premium" category--that was part of an early booking package and part of the HIA, I guess. The person thought that was the highest category.

 

I told her about "streaming", so she asked her supervisor, who also didn't know there was another category. Nobody knew. After asking others, they researched and found out that there is, indeed, a "streaming" category! So I told them I learned everything I know on CC. 

 

By the way, if you're ever using casino fares, the reality is that there is really no category such as "casino fares." There are just agents who were trained and know about it.  

[Haljo1935]

22 minutes ago, YourWorldWithBill said:

...

Today I called HAL (casino services) and since the person was very helpful, I asked about a couple of things...

By the way, if you're ever using casino fares, the reality is that there is really no category such as "casino fares." There are just agents who were trained and know about it.  

If I may ask, what number did you call to reach "casino services"?