iConcierge

I have a few questions about the iConcierge app. I apologize if these questions have been asked before; the site will not let me do a search.

 

In reading some of the information on the NCL site, I believe we can use the app to make reservations, get daily information, and talk to other people we are traveling with. Do we have to be connected to the ships wifi in order for this app to work? We will have the "Internet Plan" that we booked as one of our perks, but I am not sure I want to use all my "internet time" using their app. For those of you who have used the app, did you find it worthwhile to have or would you have been fine without it? Any other information on the app that we should know about? Thanks so much.

I have a few questions about the iConcierge app. I apologize if these questions have been asked before; the site will not let me do a search.

 

In reading some of the information on the NCL site, I believe we can use the app to make reservations, get daily information, and talk to other people we are traveling with. Do we have to be connected to the ships wifi in order for this app to work? We will have the "Internet Plan" that we booked as one of our perks, but I am not sure I want to use all my "internet time" using their app. For those of you who have used the app, did you find it worthwhile to have or would you have been fine without it? Any other information on the app that we should know about? Thanks so much.

The app has different features depending on your choice of plans. It does need to be connected to at least the ships free WiFi. Once connected it will provide ship specific information such as the dailies. It will also let you make reservations. If you choose a communication plan (9.99 per person when I was last on a ship), it allows you to call or txt anyone else with an active plan or any storeroom. My family finds it very useful so I ignore the sticker shock, and sign up when we first board.

 

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

you will need to connect to the ship wifi for the app to work. you can view your account balance, the freestyle daily, book tender tickets, book shore excursions on the app

 

it does not use your internet time/minutes. to use the internet time/minutes, that is a sperate login process that you do on the browser.

The iConcierge does not affect the minutes from your Internet plan, it runs on the ship's intranet. The chat and call features require $9.95 to activate per device, but the rest of the features are free to use on board.

Ship's WiFi has 2 basic elements, the inTRAnet side & basically free, unlimited & you stay connected; and, the (paid by the minutes/MB data used) inTERnet side that's firewalled for access to external websites, emails and servers, etc. to use Apps like Facebook, FaceTime, Hangouts, Skype and (mostly blocked, as reported by most) Youtube or similar video streaming sites (as it is bandwidth intensive over high-latency satellite connections on a shared basis)

 

It has very little, if any, to do with your "Free At Sea" and/or similar promotional minutes or MB data, etc. that you can activate and use ... and, the optional (paid) choices to upgrade for an offered fees, which can be deducted against non-refundable OBC available to you.

 

The App as used on the Gem and Breakaway ships this year, allow one to make new specialty dining reservations, once onboard & connected free to ship's WiFi. MDR reservations are now available via this App - but you can inquire & make arrangements at the onboard desk/kiosk or speed dial them at the internal extension (shown on the App)

 

Tendering tickets (if needed, i.e. for GSC) and/or Show reservations can be booked via the App, and, you Guest KeyCard is then swiped to check/confirm for the activities.

 

The other useful (free) feature is to use it to review & keep up with all Onboard Charges posted to your stateroom's account - if there's an error, it is usually zeroed out & adjusted overnight when the systems/servers do its sweep - mirroring largely the functions as displayed in the stateroom's interactive TV system. Messaging from the bridge, special announcements, shorex and photo, CruiseNext, etc. to passengers are displayed & shown free, of course - and you can save or delete them, as it's mostly info-mercials.

 

The Freestyle Dailies are not available on this mobile App, yet, as far as I could tell.

 

You can use it to call others on land (mobile # too, I am quite sure) for 79 cents a minute over the free WiFi - another form of VoIP functions ... no WiFi minutes or MB are deducted against your "pool"

 

InTRAship calling & texting other pax with a registered & activated mobile device are free, once the one-time fee of $9.99 per device are paid/charged, good for the duration of the current sailing.

 

Once installed, the online guide/help pages are fairly good in explaining how it worked. The onboard iCafe has a 2 page printed guide/handout, detailed tips and how-to's. Just make sure cellular data are turned off and put the device into Airplane Mode, then turn back on WiFi - and disable any background data & refresh, as those are known to silently drain and burn up data if unknowingly connected to and stayed online to the inTERnet side of the ship's WiFi system.

Ship's WiFi has 2 basic elements, the inTRAnet side & basically free, unlimited & you stay connected; and, the (paid by the minutes/MB data used) inTERnet side that's firewalled for access to external websites, emails and servers, etc. to use Apps like Facebook, FaceTime, Hangouts, Skype and (mostly blocked, as reported by most) Youtube or similar video streaming sites (as it is bandwidth intensive over high-latency satellite connections on a shared basis)

 

.

So if one buys into this for $9.95 per device, does this mean we can have unlimited access to Facebook, Face Time and Hangouts etc??? This would solve my need to have some kind of daily connection with my son who would get my messages on FB.

So if one buys into this for $9.95 per device, does this mean we can have unlimited access to Facebook, Face Time and Hangouts etc??? This would solve my need to have some kind of daily connection with my son who would get my messages on FB.

no, you will need a internet plan

no, you will need a internet plan

Bummer....we do have the 250 free bonus minutes but didn't want to use them all up doing FB. Oh well...I will just have to use it wisely.

You will use 1/3rd of your minutes up connecting and disconnecting if our experience on the Epic is any benchmark and I could not book anything on the APP but could see all the events of the day and review my account. I did not find it very useful in reality. They could make it much better by being able to set an alarm/alert on your phone when an event was coming up to remind you it was time for bingo or trivia etc.

 

I am sure the app is different for Android and Apple devices too.

 

On our 13 day cruise I used 7GB of data and that does not include any kind of high bandwidth apps as they are all blocked. So no You tube or videos of most any kind and I usually have my pictures backed up but upload speeds were so slow I turned it off. Could not stream anything. We did get facetime to work once for about 2 minutes on the ipad. The rest of the data usage was email and web browsing.

My DH & I had it on our SA cruise in April. Because we weren't attached at the hip it was a great way to find out where the other person was during the day. I checked it frequently to find out what activities were on where. I agree it would be great if you could set an alarm for activities you wanted to participate in. I plan to use it on my next cruise in January with my mother.

I didn't have any internet plan and I had my data roaming turned off and was still able to use the iconcierge app on the breakaway and found it brilliant.

It's a great way to keep track of your account charges and how much on board credit you have left and we also made dinner reservations with it.

Obviously as I had no internet plan I couldn't use it to keep in touch but there was only two of us so we managed!

I have a few questions about the iConcierge app. I apologize if these questions have been asked before; the site will not let me do a search.

 

In reading some of the information on the NCL site, I believe we can use the app to make reservations, get daily information, and talk to other people we are traveling with. Do we have to be connected to the ships wifi in order for this app to work? We will have the "Internet Plan" that we booked as one of our perks, but I am not sure I want to use all my "internet time" using their app. For those of you who have used the app, did you find it worthwhile to have or would you have been fine without it? Any other information on the app that we should know about? Thanks so much.

 

The app does not use any Internet time from your plan. While you do have to have your wi-fi turned on, it does not use time.