Shipboard Communications

I am hoping for some clarification on shipboard communication. This is our first cruise and I am somewhat confused as to the best methods/options. We will have the need for an occasional email and phone call to check on a family member. We have free shipboard internet and are planning on adding AT&T Passport for our iPhone and iPad to cover the ship and land portions of the trip. Do we need to also add Oceania's Connect@Sea? Will Oceania charge us as well as AT&T or are we just using the ship WMS? I have heard horror stories if you don't get this right. Thanks

I am hoping for some clarification on shipboard communication. This is our first cruise and I am somewhat confused as to the best methods/options. We will have the need for an occasional email and phone call to check on a family member. We have free shipboard internet and are planning on adding AT&T Passport for our iPhone and iPad to cover the ship and land portions of the trip. Do we need to also add Oceania's Connect@Sea? Will Oceania charge us as well as AT&T or are we just using the ship WMS? I have heard horror stories if you don't get this right. Thanks

I would make phone calls when in port . On board use email . If an emergency have the party on shore call you on the ship or arrange a call when you het to the next port . If there is an emergency at home. There isn't much you can do from the ship except worry.

I am hoping for some clarification on shipboard communication. This is our first cruise and I am somewhat confused as to the best methods/options. We will have the need for an occasional email and phone call to check on a family member. We have free shipboard internet and are planning on adding AT&T Passport for our iPhone and iPad to cover the ship and land portions of the trip. Do we need to also add Oceania's Connect@Sea? Will Oceania charge us as well as AT&T or are we just using the ship WMS? I have heard horror stories if you don't get this right. Thanks

Don't know about Connect@Sea since I would only expect calls to and from the ship in extreme emergencies. E-mail with the O Life included internet works fine for keeping in touch. Nonetheless, I assume Connect@Sea would be an extra charge for the ability to use voice services away from ports.

As for AT&T Passport, we use it for longer cruises or in situations where we expect internet will be important while "on the go" in port. However, before doing Passport, make sure that the discounted voice rates are in effect in the countries you intend to visit. On our recent 18 day Marina cruise from Valparaiso to Papeete (mostly sea days), only Valpo had the Passport discounted voice rates. And with free internet at the per and post cruise hotels (as well as on the ship), there was no real value to paying for AT&T Passport.

I would make phone calls when in port . On board use email . If an emergency have the party on shore call you on the ship or arrange a call when you het to the next port . If there is an emergency at home. There isn't much you can do from the ship except worry.

There are phone apps that require wifi. Some of them work amazingly well. We have used these apps in the middle of the ocean and some of them are very clear, some less so. And, if you are using an Apple product, there is always FaceTime.

There are phone apps that require wifi. Some of them work amazingly well. We have used these apps in the middle of the ocean and some of them are very clear, some less so. And, if you are using an Apple product, there is always FaceTime.

The internet/WiFi on some ships doesn't support Facetime or any video communications programs. These programs take to much of the traffic space allocated for passengers.

Last time we were on Oceania, FaceTime worked fine. If you just use the audio portion it takes less bandwidth. Skype is also an alternative.

We were also able to get text through iMessage on our iPhone and iPad while onboard using our included wifi.

Don't count on the internet while on board. It's incredibly slow. You'll have better luck with free wifi in ports.

MTN the satellite provider that runs O's Internet has been increasingly blocking sites and apps that hog bandwidth. Example last cruise could not access my Comcast mail account. They had Comcast blocked fearing people would stream videos from Xfinity.