Sunshine Texting Question

I currently have Verizon cell service. I would like to be able to text or what's app my children when we travel on the Sunshine and I'm looking for advice.

Do I need to get the cruise package with Verizon or just use the internet package on the ship? Can I use regular texting or do I need to get a special app?

Thanks in advance for any help!!!:)

You can just download the Carnival Fun Hub app, for use ONLY on the ship and message through that. Also available on the Sunshine. See below:

Carnival Hub

For no extra cost, Carnival Hub provides passengers with a day-by-day schedule of all onboard events, from nightly shows to sporting events on the big screen at the Seaside Theatre to Seuss at Sea daily fun, and more; real-time balances for passengers' Sail & Sign accounts; information on alternative, casual dining venues including Guy's Burger Joint, BlueIguana Cantina, RedFrog Pub and other spots; searchable deck plans with key areas highlighted; and itinerary details, including the ship's current time, as well as estimated arrival/departure times for upcoming ports.

Users can favorite onboard events and activities to share with their traveling party.

For $5 per cruise, app users can "chat" with other passengers on Breeze. The chat works just like text messaging and receivers get a notification when a new message has been received. It also has a group chat feature so multiple people can communicate at once.

Carnival Hub is available for iPhone and Android users. It will be rolled out to the rest of the Carnival fleet within the next 18 to 24 months. During this time, Carnival will add more functionality to the app, including the ability to purchase shore excursions and view photos taken by the ship's photographers.

Is this also available on Sunshine? The reply states Breeze? Has anyone used this with iPhones on Sunshine?

It's only on the breeze right now. My dad I think is going to pay the $25 for the week for wifi and use Imessaging to keep track of my baby sister

To use Verizon you have to sign up for a Global Plan, but the Texting rate on board is $.50 to send a text, $.05 to receive a text, $2.49/Min for calls, $.02/KB for data ($20.48 / MB). Rates can get a lot cheaper in the ports, especially Mexico.

I currently have Verizon cell service. I would like to be able to text or what's app my children when we travel on the Sunshine and I'm looking for advice.

 

Do I need to get the cruise package with Verizon or just use the internet package on the ship? Can I use regular texting or do I need to get a special app?

 

Thanks in advance for any help!!!:)

I will be on the Sunshine and plan on signing up for the $25 unlimited wifi Social Plan - this allows for Face Book and FB messenger and whatsapp and a few others like Twitter etc. This will be excellent for me as I will be able to chat with family and dog sitter via Facebook. You may want to install whatsapp on your phone. I just did and experimented with it. It uses your phone number and you text over wifi and not your cell phone provider. So your texts are free! The person you are texting will have to have the app installed on their phone too. So if you can't use Facebook to chat whatsapp will work. The best part is you have unlimited wifi AT SEA or in ports where you can't use Verizon (I never had the international plan so don't know how that works). You can share it among your devices but only one at a time.

I currently have Verizon cell service. I would like to be able to text or what's app my children when we travel on the Sunshine and I'm looking for advice.

 

Do I need to get the cruise package with Verizon or just use the internet package on the ship? Can I use regular texting or do I need to get a special app?

 

Thanks in advance for any help!!!:)

Verizon Wireless' website shows if you have their More Everything plan, international texting is included at no extra cost. If you have a different plan, international texting rates apply.

http://www.verizonwireless.com/support/international-messaging-faqs/

http://www.verizonwireless.com/landingpages/long-distance/?tab=messaging

I was on the Sunshine 3 weeks ago and they did NOT have the Fun Hub. Maybe they do now, but not then. We did the $25 Social Media plan and it worked out great for keeping in touch. We used the Instant Messenger and if you have iPhones you can also use iMessage. You may have also been able to use What's App with it but not sure since we don't use that one.

Is this $25 Social Media Plan fee a one-time charge or per day?

Thank you.

Is this $25 Social Media Plan fee a one-time charge or per day?

 

Thank you.

It's $25 per cruise - or from what I understand $5 per day if you only want a couple days! I'm trying it out tonight - sailing on the Sunshine today!

Can I use FaceTime with the $25 package?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I was wondering about Facetime too.

I'm on the Sunshine now. I signed up for the $25 social plan and was able to use Facebook Chat and also the iPhone Message app with my iPad for anyone having an iPhone or iPad. It works great in the middle of nowhere! However, I wanted more options so I upgraded to the $60 plan. Now I can surf and send email. I like to read news etc. With the $25 social plan not all the FB features were available (like some of the games I play when I'm taking a break from all the hoopla on the ship and need to get away from the crowds)! Facetime will not work on the $25 plan nor can you upload pictures to FB on that plan. I do not think Facetime will work on the $60 plan BUT if it didn't it should work on the $90 plan which is supposed to be faster and you can stream on it. You are not allowed to use Netflix on the $90 plan. Bottom line the $25 plan is absolutely a deal I think for chatting to your FB friends or texting if that is all you need it for.

I am not electronically savvy so please be patient with me, I have an ipad and will be on the sunshine. My dad has an ipad who will be staying home. If I purchase the social package for $5 a day, I will be able to talk to my dad to check in and make sure everything is fine? I am getting nervous because I am leaving him with a bunch of cats to watch and my mom who is sick and knowing that I won't be able to keep in touch while on the cruise is really making me anxious. I just want to make sure I understand.

Can you play games on the $25 - like words with friends?

I LOVED LOVED LOVED the wifi on the Sunshine. I started out with the $25 plan - that allows you several apps including messenger so you can text back and forth via Facebook YES absolutely on an iPad. However I really recommend upgrading to the $60 plan which you can do if you want more. This allows you to do things such as going to websites and playing games on Facebook (I play a lot of word games to relax when I am tired of all the activities on ship) plus you can also email and upload pictures!That price is for the whole cruise even when you get back until you leave. Worth every penny to me just to check on your pets, kids, older relatives etc. when you are gone so long! I did not do skype or facetime so maybe someone else can chime in if they did - I also did not do streaming - for example I know you can't do Netflix etc. I always had a signal - sometimes it was slower than others - my speedtest.net was like 3 mb NOT BAD! Have fun. :)

Does anyone know how this is regulated? Like how are you only allowed to use certain apps & not get online? (Using an iPhone)

If you are using an iPhone you put it in airplane mode. Then you connect to the $25 (per cruise) plan via your browser (which I never did I always used my iPad or netbook). This allows apps like Facebook and Twitter - I think about 7. If you used your iPhone to get on the internet at home via wifi - the $60 (per cruise) plan would work the same way. You need the $60 plan to email. You can start with the $25 plan and upgrade to the $60 plan which I did. Maybe someone who used it with just their iPhone can explain it better. I LOVED IT!

So can we FaceTime on the $60 plan?

We were on the Sunshine last week...I had the $60 plan...I called and talked to someone using FB messenger....

Hello.

We would really like to "unplug" but also want to keep in touch with our 2 kids (14 & 22), must we have a wifi package for that?

We all have Droid phones thru MetroPCS, so if we switch to airplane mode, can we still text without roaming charges? I am absolutely clueless, so if anyone can help, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks.

PS we're on the Sunshine in July, so I'm pretty sure the Hub app is not available yet.

If you want to text you can get the $25 plan - install whatsapp on your phones (all of them) and text over wifi in airplane mode as that is one of the apps on the $25 plan. Whatsapp uses wifi not your cellphone provider. Another one if Pinger or Textfree I have both but I don't think they can be used on the $25 plan as the apps are limited. You can also use Facebook messenger. Keep your phone in airplane mode as you only want to use wifi. If you find out you want to do more you can upgrade to the $60 plan they just charge you the difference anytime you decide. I did upgrade because in spite of wanting to be unplugged I still wanted to go to my favorite websites when I was relaxing and I also wanted to email. I did this on my iPad so if you only use your phone for texting the $25 plan will work for you best. LOVED IT.

We will be cruising over New Years with our teenagers and have a question about texting.......do the text messages travel from one phone to the next quickly or is there a lag time? Exploring ideas of how to stay in contAct with the kids when on the ship.........so wondering if the 25.00 texting plan would be a good idea for them or not.....thanks in advance.

Thanks ddlb! Was hoping to avoi yet another charge, but it's worth it for safety.

We will be cruising over New Years with our teenagers and have a question about texting.......do the text messages travel from one phone to the next quickly or is there a lag time? Exploring ideas of how to stay in contAct with the kids when on the ship.........so wondering if the 25.00 texting plan would be a good idea for them or not.....thanks in advance.

To text onboard (if you don't have the Hub chat function, currently only on the Breeze), each person you want to text with (onboard) will have to have the $25 wifi plan. Only one person can be logged in to a plan at a time. You can share a plan (you log in using a folio number), but of course you wouldn't be able to text each other that way. It will be expensive to purchase the plan for each person. The service was pretty much instantaneous for us though.