Need help with internet onboard!

So excited! Only another week and a half until we are onboard the Dream!!!! First Disney cruise!!! :D I have a question about the internet - I use an iphone and I want to be able to imessage while onboard as well as check FB and email now and again. I understand that Disney deals in gigabytes and megabytes, but I have no idea how that translates into usage? I will not be watching video's or uploading photos. What package do you think I should purchase?

So excited! Only another week and a half until we are onboard the Dream!!!! First Disney cruise!!! :D I have a question about the internet - I use an iphone and I want to be able to imessage while onboard as well as check FB and email now and again. I understand that Disney deals in gigabytes and megabytes, but I have no idea how that translates into usage? I will not be watching video's or uploading photos. What package do you think I should purchase?

Well, for starters, I'd suggest you sign up for the 50MB free offer. That's only available until midnight on embarkation day. Once you get close to using that up, you'll have a better idea of how much more you might need for the remainder of your cruise and what package to purchase.

Your biggest problem will be with photos. iMessages are very very low memory wise, as long as you are not sending a picture which can be several megabytes a piece.

An easy test while you are at home and using cellular data:

Go to settings>cellular> scroll to the very bottom and hit the red reset statistics button.

Go to Facebook and browse around, do a few posts and send an iMessage or two and check back in that same section under Cellular Data Usage and look at the Current Period. This is exactly how much data you just used doing those activities. This will give you a good idea of what you will use.

Also make sure while on board that mail is set to manually download and not on a time interval or once you have an Internet connection it will download all your email. Settings>Mail, Contacts, Calendar> Fetch New Data> Turn off Push and set to Manual at the bottom.

Turn off Background App Refresh as well Settings>General>Background App Refresh and turn it off.

As always make sure roaming is off Settings>Cellular>Cellular Data Options> roaming is off.

Then you should be good!

I'm with Shmoo--sign up for the 50mb free package on day 1. You MUST sign up before midnight on embarkation day to get this. This will enable you to see how much you really use as well as being sure that all data eating apps are turned off.

E-mail uses very little. FB can take more because of the photos. I bought my daughter a 1 gig package for a 14 night cruise. She spent A LOT of time on some chat program--she said it was skype without the video component, and still had plenty left on the last day.

Depending on what you do, the 50mb may last the entire cruise. On the other hand, it will allow you to see what you are using and purchase accordingly.

Wow! Thanks so much for the very informative responses - greatly appreciated.

Is the 50mb of free internet available to everyone, even first time Disney cruisers? If so, that's awesome.

I will not be uploading pictures or watching video's - mainly I want to be able to message my folks (they are seniors) while I am away.

Thanks for giving me the tips on iphone settings, I will definitely remember to do all of those things, in fact I just took a screen shot of the page!!:p

E-mail uses very little.

You're right for the most part but you have to be careful with attachments and what not (which will be highly dependent on the individual user). It's an easy thing to prevent from automatically downloading and eating up data usage when you're trying to watch your use, especially if you stick with the free 50 mb.

The free 50 mb is available to anyone who signs up for it. Yes, it is for first time cruisers. I believe it is limited to one freebie per cabin, but I won't swear to that.

BUT remember that you must sign up for it on embarkation day. Otherwise, the offer is gone!

The free 50 mb is available to anyone who signs up for it. Yes' date=' it is for first time cruisers. I believe it is limited to one freebie per cabin, but I won't swear to that.

 

BUT remember that you must sign up for it on embarkation day. Otherwise, the offer is gone![/quote']

 

Absolutely - it's on my list of things to do on day 1 :)

How do you sign up for it do you do it at guest services or just on your device ?

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

How do you sign up for it do you do it at guest services or just on your device ?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

You can sign up on your device. There is a designated person at GS (Dream and Fantasy) or internet cafe (Magic and Wonder) who will assist you in making sure any apps are off or any other needs. A package is limited to you/your password, not to a single device.

The free 50 mb is available to anyone who signs up for it. Yes' date=' it is for first time cruisers. I believe it is limited to one freebie per cabin, but I won't swear to that.

 

BUT remember that you must sign up for it on embarkation day. Otherwise, the offer is gone![/quote']

 

We thought that too but 3 of us all signed up for it on our phones, each with different emails and we all got it.

 

 

Be sure to turn off EVERYTHING in the back ground. On phones stuff is running all the time when you connect. We had a few people use it up in seconds and had to keep going back to get it reset because stuff was trying to load as soon as it connected

I suggest that before you sign up for the free 50MB package that you go to the Connect at Sea desk on deck 4 and have them disable any background apps that are running. I went through 50MB within a few hours because of background apps, icloud wanting to store my photos and my Iphone wanting to install an update. I went to the Connect at Sea desk and they configured my phone and credited my Mega Byte’s after talking with them. The whole process took less than 5 minutes. Another thing that no one mentioned is that when you sign into the data plan you must sign out every time or the Mega Byte’s keep accumulating. They do have a speedometer type of meter that shows how much data you have used so it is easy to track.

And even after you go to the IT person,check yourself to be sure that all is off. AFTER the person did it on my daughter's phone, she went thru something like 5 mb "doing nothing." She found something the IT person had failed to turn off. After that, her usage was very minimal and consistent with her use.

Good to know that the freebie is "per person," not "per cabin!

I was just off the Dream and signed up for the free 50MB. My wife and I checked our emails daily and we only used 10 MBs on the 4 days onboard.

I was just off the Dream and signed up for the free 50MB. My wife and I checked our emails daily and we only used 10 MBs on the 4 days onboard.

Thanks - that is pretty much what I will be doing as well :):)

I have a question on this topic also, sort of.

I heard that you can text with people on the ship through the ship wifi for free through the Disney Cruise App. How does this work? My daughter and I both have iPhone 6s's and my husband has a Samsung, we will all be on the ship together and want to be able to text to keep in touch with each other when we go off on our own, especially daughter to us. Also will she be able to text friends she made on the ship?

I have a question on this topic also, sort of.

 

I heard that you can text with people on the ship through the ship wifi for free through the Disney Cruise App. How does this work? My daughter and I both have iPhone 6s's and my husband has a Samsung, we will all be on the ship together and want to be able to text to keep in touch with each other when we go off on our own, especially daughter to us. Also will she be able to text friends she made on the ship?

You text via the app. When you sign up for that feature it has a code and you give that code to each of the other 2 and then it will connect you so you can see each of them to text to or make a group text.

edit to add...you only need to give them your code and then have them text you and that will input their codes in your phone.

You text via the app. When you sign up for that feature it has a code and you give that code to each of the other 2 and then it will connect you so you can see each of them to text to or make a group text.

 

edit to add...you only need to give them your code and then have them text you and that will input their codes in your phone.

Thanks, and then I guess my daughter can do it and give her code to her friends?

Thanks, and then I guess my daughter can do it and give her code to her friends?

She can text anyone who has her code.

This was very helpful. We did a 3 day cruise in Feb. and I kept having to purchase more internet. We are doing the 14 day Panama Canal cruise in a 10 days and I really want to try and do a better job of managing the data I use.

I just got off yesterday. We bought the 1000 MB package for $89 because my husband thought he would need it for work. He checked his mail 2-3 times a day. I checked my mail once a day and FB messages and iMessages. We had cell service all day in St Thomas so we did a lot of our posting of pictures and such there. 2 days before the end of the cruise we had only used 250 MB so we started letting the kids check FB and Instagram periodically. When we got off the ship we had only used 389 MB of our 1050 available (I had signed up first day). Next time we will get the 300 MB package which was $39 on this sailing since we have one US port mid week again and can upload pics then.

Thanks, and then I guess my daughter can do it and give her code to her friends?

Only if her friends are on the ship.

Its almost impossible to calculate. Depend on what you are doing. Thats why I like NCL internet better. You buy actual minutes of time, not Megabytes.

However this may help:10 MB is approx.

Download a webpage

100 web pages

Check emails

100 emails

Download a song

2 songs

Download a document

100 pages

Download a photo

5 photos

Watch a video

1 minute

Its almost impossible to calculate. Depend on what you are doing. Thats why I like NCL internet better. You buy actual minutes of time, not Megabytes.

• time based internet has peak usage where everything just crawls when everyone wants to use it. Midnight to early morning offers the best performance. Super slow when everyone is back from port in the evening.
  
• quantity based means I can have my smartphone on all time throughout the trip. I can even use email another cruiser on where and when to meet.
  

I'm going to disagree.....

• time based internet has peak usage where everything just crawls when everyone wants to use it. Midnight to early morning offers the best performance. Super slow when everyone is back from port in the evening.
  
• quantity based means I can have my smartphone on all time throughout the trip. I can even use email another cruiser on where and when to meet.
  

Be careful with that. If you are using an iPhone for example it can download a lot of data in the background without you even knowing about it. For example if you forget to close your stock market app and let it run in the background.

Also I have found on every ship, regardless of the billing methods, when everyone gets back on the ship the internet grinds to a glacial pace.