carnival website on board forum

[momtotwins14]

Hey has anyone used the carnival website on board forum in order to stay connected with family not on the ship. Since Carnival's website is the only one you can access without cost - did not know if it works for family that is still at home to check in with them.

 

Any input would be great.

 

Thanks

Chris

[Mom2JJandJ]

Yes, we've used it before. Best thing to do is have everyone make a login and make sure they can access the site before you leave, then right before you go create a thread in the "currently on board" forum and give everyone the link. The on ship internet is definitely slower, but for free, you can beat it!

 

Also, everything anyone happens to post will be visible to the public, so make sure everyone knows that and doesn't post anything you may not want others to see.

 

Otherwise, it's a great way to keep in touch for free!

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[True Texan]

Yes, we use it for every cruise. It is great. I have a 92 year old Mother in a nursing home and our daughter and her husband keep a close eye on her while we are gone. It gives me a lot of peace of mind.

[maggieworkman]

Yes. But it is painfully slow!

 

Maggie

[momtotwins14]

thanks for all the positives.:)

[luckybecky]

Yes, we used it too on our recent cruise. As noted, it is very slow. And it can be buggy. My daughter would get very frustrated with it, said it sometimes would freeze up and not post what she had typed.

 

In addition to the other tips mentioned by others, I'd suggest that you recommend your family members type their messages (if more than a line or two) in Notepad or something. then they can just copy and paste, and if it freezes up they won't lose it. they can just try again.

[NewKansasKruiser]

It worked awesome for us! The couple of minutes that I spent on the carnival website gave me a LOT of peace of mind knowing things were fine and they also got to read my quick daily update on what we did that day! It didn't take no time at all to go through the free internet lounge and post. Set up your user names before you get on the ship and start your thread on the currently on board and send the link to your family.

 

Hey has anyone used the carnival website on board forum in order to stay connected with family not on the ship. Since Carnival's website is the only one you can access without cost - did not know if it works for family that is still at home to check in with them.

 

Any input would be great.

 

Thanks

Chris

[Sargent_Schultz]

Even some of the crew seem to take advantage of it!

[wl'sgma]

We used it back in March 2012, worked great for us, leaving gkids, 2 older parents, 1 son at home and 5 dogs. It was great to know everything at home was OK. Just let everyone know that the internet is slow and sometimes you can't get on. I found it much easier to check early in the morning instead of at dinner or later in the evening.

[chapel29]

I'm so glad I saw this post. We will definitely be doing this for our cruise. What a great idea.

[lbow2006]

We'll be doing this for our first cruise because the cost of phone calls are so expensive. I think it's a great idea!

[mikehell]

Also, everything anyone happens to post will be visible to the public, so make sure everyone knows that and doesn't post anything you may not want others to see.

 

 

 

Actually, I found a sneaky way to hide stuff from the public on the funville forums. I do web programming all day, so I can find little hacks like that sometimes. :D

[Pellaz]

Yes, we used it too on our recent cruise. As noted, it is very slow. And it can be buggy. My daughter would get very frustrated with it, said it sometimes would freeze up and not post what she had typed.

 

In addition to the other tips mentioned by others, I'd suggest that you recommend your family members type their messages (if more than a line or two) in Notepad or something. then they can just copy and paste, and if it freezes up they won't lose it. they can just try again.

 

That's good advice for CruiseCritic, too. I just almost lost a loong post an hour ago to a database error...luckily I had just enough time to copy and paste it to Notepad before the post page vanished.

I'm on CC a lot at night, and the 4am outages due to bulletin-board 'housekeeping' are so routine I've gotten used to them and plan ahead.

 

Carnival.com seems like it's slow even at the best of times, though.

I wish they'd invested in, say, FunShip 1.5, and used the other .5 for website server upgrades. :D

 

Even some of the crew seem to take advantage of it!

 

As our tour guide for Behind the Fun said last February, "Here's Oasis, the crew lounge....and over there is our little Internet access station. Now, ship's crew DOESN'T get free Internet, so if you want to find the BEST wi-fi access in a port, follow any departing crewmember carrying a tablet or a laptop!" :D