flgatormom29 Posted October 22, 2011 #1 Share Posted October 22, 2011 Has anyone done this? Just curious if it's even worth trying.... Does it stick or is the picture smooth? I want to be able to contact my kids while we are gone, and would love to be able to SEE them and them see us. But don't want to skype if it's going to be choppy. Just curious to hear others experiences, so I can decide what I want to do.... Thanks! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Mach* Posted October 22, 2011 #2 Share Posted October 22, 2011 I have heard of a FEW folks report success with Skype... a few. With the exception of Dream Class ships all of the passengers who are online share a 750 k satellite connection so the available bandwidth is minimal. I've measured download speeds around 15 k and less. Upload speeds are generally in the single digits. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flgatormom29 Posted October 22, 2011 Author #3 Share Posted October 22, 2011 I have heard of a FEW folks report success with Skype... a few. With the exception of Dream Class ships all of the passengers who are online share a 750 k satellite connection so the available bandwidth is minimal. I've measured download speeds around 15 k and less. Upload speeds are generally in the single digits. :) Hmmm.... I have no idea what any of that means :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geaux_aces Posted October 22, 2011 #4 Share Posted October 22, 2011 Hmmm.... I have no idea what any of that means :rolleyes: Do you remember the days of dial-up internet. Those are comparable internet speeds from those days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flgatormom29 Posted October 22, 2011 Author #5 Share Posted October 22, 2011 Do you remember the days of dial-up internet. Those are comparable internet speeds from those days. Ahhh, thanks for putting it how i would understand... So it would probably be a little choppy. I want to be able to see my girls, not just look at a frozen image of them! I have plenty of pictures to look at.... well, maybe we will just have to look at an international plan on our cell phones and just call them that way. Darn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Mach* Posted October 22, 2011 #6 Share Posted October 22, 2011 I am not a Skype person but I just downloaded it onto my laptop. We sail on the Conquest a week from tomorrow and I'll give it a go when we're well out to sea. Look for a Skype report when we return! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serene56 Posted October 22, 2011 #7 Share Posted October 22, 2011 Ahhh, thanks for putting it how i would understand...So it would probably be a little choppy. I want to be able to see my girls, not just look at a frozen image of them! I have plenty of pictures to look at.... well, maybe we will just have to look at an international plan on our cell phones and just call them that way. Darn. even with the international phone plan you want to be careful when on the ship using their towers for cell phone charges. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Mach* Posted October 22, 2011 #8 Share Posted October 22, 2011 even with the international phone plan you want to be careful when on the ship using their towers for cell phone charges. That's right... cell service on board is provided by Cellular At Sea. They pass a $2.49/minute charge on to your service provider regardless of plan. Calls made from the ports of call are generally much cheaper than onboard. You should also consider skype for your smart phone and use it in the ports at internet cafes... :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SadieN Posted October 22, 2011 #9 Share Posted October 22, 2011 Find an internet cafe in port. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flgatormom29 Posted October 22, 2011 Author #10 Share Posted October 22, 2011 That's right... cell service on board is provided by Cellular At Sea. They pass a $2.49/minute charge on to your service provider regardless of plan. Calls made from the ports of call are generally much cheaper than onboard. You should also consider skype for your smart phone and use it in the ports at internet cafes... :) Wow. I did not know this. If we use the international plan, we would just be using it while we were at port, not on sea days. That's why I wanted to do skype, so we could talk to them everyday. I'll look forward to your skype review and hopefully it'll work OK! If not, I'll live with going a day or 2 without talking to them. They will be with my mom, so I know they are in good hands, it's me i'm more worried about.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Mach* Posted October 22, 2011 #11 Share Posted October 22, 2011 Wow. I did not know this. If we use the international plan, we would just be using it while we were at port, not on sea days. That's why I wanted to do skype, so we could talk to them everyday. I'll look forward to your skype review and hopefully it'll work OK! If not, I'll live with going a day or 2 without talking to them. They will be with my mom, so I know they are in good hands, it's me i'm more worried about.... I'll try to get it posted the day we return. I'll get some screen shots of the results... :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B and C Blake Posted October 22, 2011 #12 Share Posted October 22, 2011 I'm not sure if Ecstasy still has this offer but earlier this year phoning home was only $1.99 per minute from the cabin phones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Mach* Posted October 22, 2011 #13 Share Posted October 22, 2011 I'm not sure if Ecstasy still has this offer but earlier this year phoning home wasonly $1.99 per minute from the cabin phones. That offer pops in and out and varies by ship. I asked the folks at Carnival about it and heres the reply... Hi Mach, The ships offer special from time to time. This is why we no longer have prices of the phone calls listed in the stateroom directory so we can offer specials, in the directory we now just say refer to fun times for rates. They can range from $1.00 per minute to $6.99 per minute. So still the cheapest way to stay in touch is by using the “Currently Onboard” Funville Forums! Sorry couldn’t help myself. J Mischelle Beattie Coccera :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ray98 Posted October 22, 2011 #14 Share Posted October 22, 2011 I don't think you connection will be fast enough to stream video. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Mach* Posted October 22, 2011 #15 Share Posted October 22, 2011 I don't think you connection will be fast enough to stream video. Yeah, I agree. To tell you the truth I'm going to be surprised if it completes a voice call... :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cio541 Posted October 22, 2011 #16 Share Posted October 22, 2011 Ahhh, thanks for putting it how i would understand...So it would probably be a little choppy. I want to be able to see my girls, not just look at a frozen image of them! I have plenty of pictures to look at.... well, maybe we will just have to look at an international plan on our cell phones and just call them that way. Darn. Just remember if you use your phone on the ship you will also have a charge from "ship at sea" cell phone usage. An international plan would help when off ship though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K&P Luv2Cruise Posted October 22, 2011 #17 Share Posted October 22, 2011 Yeah, I agree. To tell you the truth I'm going to be surprised if it completes a voice call... :) We used Skype on our Dec. '10 cruise on the Destiny to call the Grandkids on Christmas morning. We got an initial video image, but it was choppy. However, the voice portion was just fine. We made sure to have 'our' image off on our screen, but the kids could see us the same way we saw them. We found wifi in a lot of the ports we've visited, and while I wouldn't think of checking "secure" sites such as banking, we surfed email, and talked on Skype just fine. We did change the passwords on our email after our cruise, just to insure security remained intact. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaboochi Posted October 23, 2011 #18 Share Posted October 23, 2011 Skype would be expensive. I really wish the ships would just do away with charges as we all use cell phones and the internet to communicate when away from home. I would rather pay a higher charge for the room so that I could call use the internet freely. So OP, as of now, skypping would be quite expensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zqvol Posted October 23, 2011 #19 Share Posted October 23, 2011 All I can tell you is that my son skyped with his gf every day while wee were on fantasy in late July. He did not have any problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alliezona09 Posted October 23, 2011 #20 Share Posted October 23, 2011 We always use skype onboard. its not smooth but it does work and you will be able to see your kids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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