Internet & cell phone service.

I will check with T-Mobile about my cell phone, but I haven't read anything about internet packages onboard. Plan to bring my laptop, and think our granddaughter will enjoy being in touch with her parents. Any advice will be appreciated.

The Internet packages are by MB, not time. They were reasonable for a ship.

As for cell phone, make sure all international data roaming is turned off on the phone before leaving (better yet--tun it off or put in airplane mode). I know Disney is not part of Cellular at Sea for AT&T, but see if T Mobile has any program with them.

Cell phone calls from the ship would be very expensive (even with a package through cell carrier). Email would be your best bet at sea.

As far as calls in ports go, it totally depends on where you are going. Check with your carrier with your itinerary in front of you. Some have packages that reduce the per minute rates for calls (make sure to keep any data roaming off throughout your trip).

AT&T considers Puerto Rico & St Thomas domestic since they are part of the US do we did calls from those ports at no additional fee, but I've heard that not all cell companies treat those destinations the same.

Also, for some time Disney was offering 50MB free if you signed up the first day. When I was on in December 2014 this was offered. I had heard they did it and I read it in my navigator. We just sent a few emails to family, but we had quite a bit leftover.

I am not sure this is still happening, but definitely check the navigator on day one. :D

Also, for some time Disney was offering 50MB free if you signed up the first day. When I was on in December 2014 this was offered. I had heard they did it and I read it in my navigator. We just sent a few emails to family, but we had quite a bit leftover.

 

I am not sure this is still happening, but definitely check the navigator on day one. :D

Yes, they offered the free 50 MB for the first day. We were just on the Fantasy 3 weeks ago. We use internet on the cruise daily as we cannot seem to escape from work. I would definitely say that the internet speed is definitely faster than the previous 'dial-up' speeds that we encountered in the past years. I cannot recall the price but Disney is charging by the MB and instead of time. I think the price is $89 for 1 GB use. I did notice that the internet was fastest early morning at around 7 am. Speeds are also faster on the top deck over the adult section. We stayed on the front deck 9 last cruise and the speed was acceptable.

AS for the cellular service, we could not get any service signal at all unless we were close to port. We used Viber via internet and the calls were as clear as a whistle.

I will check with T-Mobile about my cell phone, but I haven't read anything about internet packages onboard. Plan to bring my laptop, and think our granddaughter will enjoy being in touch with her parents. Any advice will be appreciated.

Direct from DCL's mouth (well, website):

http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/ships-activities/ships/services/internet-phone-services/

As noted, there is a free 50mb package, but you must sign up by midnight on embarkation day for it.

We did this and, basically, turned off all mb-eating processes. The 50mb was plenty for us, as we only check e-mails every couple of days.

is the 50 free MB per cabin or per device?

is the 50 free MB per cabin or per device?

Per stateroom, but it can be shared.

We used FaceTime audio and video to chat with the parents who couldn't go on the cruise. This didn't require any phone service, only a wifi package from DCL. We put the phones in airplane mode and turned off all data. I highly recommend it.

We used FaceTime audio and video to chat with the parents who couldn't go on the cruise. This didn't require any phone service, only a wifi package from DCL. We put the phones in airplane mode and turned off all data. I highly recommend it.

How many MB did you use, how much did this cost? I will have young adult kids at home that I would like to be able to keep in touch with, and was thinking facebook messenger was probably the easiest way. We do have stops in St. Thomas and San Juan so that helps.

Again, check with your carrier...but AT&T definitely recognized all US territories as part of the US for our domestic coverage--no roaming or international charges.

My daughter did some sort of a chat thru skype that did not involve video to keep in touch with friends. I bought a 1 gig package which was more than enough for a 14 night cruise. And she was on line a great deal. Obviously, she wasn't downloading videos, but she was chatting and various forms of communication.

Again' date=' check with your carrier...but AT&T definitely recognized all US territories as part of the US for our domestic coverage--no roaming or international charges.

 

My daughter did some sort of a chat thru skype that did not involve video to keep in touch with friends. I bought a 1 gig package which was more than enough for a 14 night cruise. And she was on line a great deal. Obviously, she wasn't downloading videos, but she was chatting and various forms of communication.[/quote']

 

We do have AT&T, thanks.

 

With the 1 gig, did you log in and out or did you stay connected?

We do have AT&T, thanks.

 

With the 1 gig, did you log in and out or did you stay connected?

She would log in when she was chatting with friends, then log out when she went to meals or other "stuff." Actually, it was a bit of a rough cruise. She has a chronic illness that acts up sometimes. It did on this trip, so she spent a couple of days mostly in bed texting/chatting with friends.

At the end of the 14 days, she had nearly half of the package left!

How many MB did you use, how much did this cost? I will have young adult kids at home that I would like to be able to keep in touch with, and was thinking facebook messenger was probably the easiest way. We do have stops in St. Thomas and San Juan so that helps.

I'm pretty sure that we had the 100 MB package. We were on a 5 day cruise and it lasted us the week. We didn't use it for anything else but Facetime. No Facebook, nothing. We started out just using voice calling and found that it used so little data that we tried video. I know we made one video call toward the end of our week that was at least 30 minutes long. We made video calls at least 3 days.

I would be worried that Facebook messenger might eat data because of how Facebook tracks everything you do. I would be afraid there was some unseen transference of information that ate my data.

With the package, you can see how much data was used every time you sign off and back on so you'll find out quickly.

If you are using an iphone as your device, be sure that EVERYTHING is turned off. Those pesky apps eat data.

Thanks to all for the helpful info! What did I do before I discovered Cruise Critic Message Boards??? We want to let our granddaughter Skype on our MAC; going on the 4 nt. Bahamas on Disney Dream; thought she could talk to her parents on Skype for 10 minutes on each of the 3 nights we are at sea. Would the free 50 MB package be enough? If not, how much is the 100 MB pkg.?

The 100 MB package is $39 I believe.

You can start with the free 50 if it is available on your cruise, and then add more when needed. By then you'll have a good idea of how far the 50 will go. It has been available on most cruises recently.

Thanks!! I will do that. Do we sign up for the 50MB free and replenish at "Passenger Services"?

Thanks!! I will do that. Do we sign up for the 50MB free and replenish at "Passenger Services"?

The Wonder and Magic have an internet cafe with a person there--that's where we signed up. The person supposedly is an internet "expert," but most young adults know more about their systems than she did. You can replenish from your device. There is also a supposed internet expert at Guest Services on the Fantasy. I would trust there is also on the Dream, but no personal experience with that.

Can you buy less than 100 MB other than paying as you go?

Can you buy less than 100 MB other than paying as you go?

The 100MB package is the smallest (paid) package.

http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/ships-activities/ships/services/internet-phone-services/

Now, currently, DCL is running a "special" (been going on for a while), if you sign up the first day (by midnight) you can get a 50MB package for free.

I used Facetime on my last Disney cruise - very easy: no computer, downloading an app nothing - just dial & go. Of course if you don't have an iPhone then never mind, because Facetime using wireless is only iPhone to iPhone.

I used Facetime on my last Disney cruise - very easy: no computer, downloading an app nothing - just dial & go. Of course if you don't have an iPhone then never mind, because Facetime using wireless is only iPhone to iPhone.

Also iPhone to iPad, iPhone to Macintosh.

Glad to hear FaceTime worked well, I'm planning on using it next month when on the Dream with my son, daughter in law and their three year old.

Any sense of how much data you used in FaceTime? Wondering how much of a data plan I'll need.

Once again, I'd start with the FREE 50 mb that you can get on the first day. You sign up for it the first day, but it can be used over the entire cruise. Each time you log onto your account, it shows you the amount used and amount remaining.

The 50 mb may last the whole cruise. If not, you can see how long it lasts and purchase a package for the remainder of the cruise based on how long the 50 lasted. The smallest package for purchase is 100 mb.

Also, watching your usage on that 50 will confirm that you have EVERYTHING off--no programs running in the background eating usage. That's how my daughter discovered something was still on. It was one of those "MOM, I didn't do anything on line and it used 3 mb in an hour!" It took a while, but between the 20 something and the tech person, they found it and turned it off. From then on, she spent a lot of time on line, but very little usage "spent."

I called my husband 4 times for about 20 minutes each time and was okay...but, I could not tell you how much actual data that used other then under 50mB, Also did about 5 minutes a day to check my email for 4 days