Glory Internet and FaceTime?

[kalley79]

We will be cruising the Glory in less than a month. We have 2 sons age 6 & 7 that will be staying at home with grandparents. We don't leave them often, and our oldest is a little apprehensive about us being gone for 9 days. For that reason we would like to be able to FaceTime them using our iPad, but I have heard that the Internet aboard is slow so I am unsure if that'll work out for us. If it would work it would be money well spent to buy some Internet time, but if it going to be slow and a hassle I don't want to waste any funds. Can anyone give any advice?

 

Thanks

[mondello]

I was on Glory in Dec. Pretty sure they were offering unlimited internet package. Can't help you with the speed or cost?

[Redsfan]

don't think unlimited net is back on any/all ships as of yet. The old package was a disaster for the price on the Breeze at least. Traffic really slows down the system and I was told iPads are the worst offenders, for whatever reason.

 

See what the packages are on board when you leave and let them know your reluctance. If they agree to refund any time used if the speeds are as bad as they have been no harm no foul..

[garycarla]

Skype is blocked,so assume facetime would be as well. Takes too much bandwidth.

 

Though I am not going to tell you what to do with your kids - hard to say if seeing you and not having you there will help them or hurt them. Or you either. Just a thought and not saying what you should do.

[F27TW]

We will be cruising the Glory in less than a month. We have 2 sons age 6 & 7 that will be staying at home with grandparents. We don't leave them often, and our oldest is a little apprehensive about us being gone for 9 days. For that reason we would like to be able to FaceTime them using our iPad, but I have heard that the Internet aboard is slow so I am unsure if that'll work out for us. If it would work it would be money well spent to buy some Internet time, but if it going to be slow and a hassle I don't want to waste any funds. Can anyone give any advice?

 

Thanks

 

 

Funny ... when we were all kids and our parents went on a much-needed vacation without us, we just GOT OVER OURSELVES and dealt with it without being molly-coddled by our parents. There was no Facetime or anything like that back then ... in fact our parents would never dream of a long-distance call from the Caribbean or a ship .. and gee, we all made it through ..

I'm sure your "little troopers" will too. :rolleyes:

[che5904]

Though I am not going to tell you what to do with your kids - hard to say if seeing you and not having you there will help them or hurt them. Or you either. Just a thought and not saying what you should do.

 

Gary I think if you speak to most parents who have to be away from their children ie. military, travelling sales. You would get the answer from the parent away and the parent at home, that new technology like skype, msn video etc. is a great comfort to children.

 

My son is Military and therefore spends quite a bit of time away from his 3 kids (age 1 - 5). They respond better and don't show as many abandon type issues on the trips he skypes with them as the trips he doesn't have access and can only phone them or has little to no contact.

 

OP, But I agree with the other poster that said I'm sure if you reassure your sons that you are just gone for a long sleepover and that you will be returning they will be fine. Find something exciting for them to look forward to instead of bringing up your trip. Trying saying things like "when you go to....", instead of when we go away. Make them a simple advent type calendar for them to use while you are gone up to the day you return.

 

Because of work we've had to put out a pretty hefty price tag on internet time while cruising. Even if facetime isn't blocked like skype it would be a very a frustrating experience for you but even more so for your boys.

[Redsfan]

Skype is blocked,so assume facetime would be as well. Takes too much bandwidth.

 

Though I am not going to tell you what to do with your kids - hard to say if seeing you and not having you there will help them or hurt them. Or you either. Just a thought and not saying what you should do.

 

Skype may be blocked but Facetime was not blocked while we were on Breeze in December....

[nwcruiselover]

Whether Facetime is blocked or unblocked, I think you'll find the internet speed on the ship to be s-l-o-w to the point where it's too frustrating to deal with Facetime on it. Maybe you could just use wi-fi at your ports of call and have that be a special treat for your boys.

[katisdale]

I am (unfortunately) older than dirt, but I do to this day remember what my parents did when we were not together. They had individual small wrapped gifts that they left with my caregiver. If I was "good" I got the gift before bed. Each gift (small stuff like a pack of gum) had a small note inside. It was very nice and I still remember this.

[SadieN]

Should be able to use wifi from an internet cafe in port. Usually the crew membes know where they are.

 

Also Carnvial has a chat site, similar to CC. The whole of Carnival.com is free to use onboard. The internet is slow onboard. One cruise DD posted pix from home, those took forever to download. We set our thread up before hand and emailed everyone the info

 

carnival.com - community - currently onboard (under user groups)

[CGinMTL]

I was on the Glory Feb 4th and they did have unlimited Internet packages

$40 for 7 day basic ( recommended for e-mail only)

$100 unlimited ( recommended for business or VPN users).

.

I know some people were using skype on board.

.

I am actually trying to find out if Legend has the same package.

[TabFox]

Maybe instead of Facetime or Skype, get the international plan on your cell phone and send a few text messages or call them once a day and then wait until you're in port to Facetime. Many places have free wi-fi that may work better than the ships internet.

Enjoy your cruise!