Ripple Cruise Communicator

[orville99]

I just looked in the app store and Royal IQ is available https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/royal-caribbean-international/id402771489?mt=8 for download but the description indicates that this app is only for Quantum of the Seas.

 

 

And it's not free to use it onboard. In the "details" section on the app store it states that you have to be connected to the Royal Wi-Fi network, and that calls and texting are at a "nominal fee".

Edited October 30, 2014 by orville99

[falados99]

That is gay seriously :(

[JessyCruises]

I just requested a refund from the iTunes store and they did it immediately. It said the app was eligible for refund so they must know it is a bad app.

[ehfl]

That was my first thought. MIT says "a room away" and that's not assuming a room with steel walls, floor and ceiling. This MIGHT work from one cabin to the next door one, but that's about it. Completely useless on a cruise ship.

 

Not necessarily. Consider that for an inside cabin, a single phone could theoretically cover 27 cabins (think of cabins as a Rubik's Cube, with a phone at the center covering all 27 blocks). The idea with a mesh is that the two devices communicating do not need to be within range of each other, just within range of any number of intermediate devices.

 

For texting, the devices would not even have to be in range all the time. With store-and-forward, the message would hop to many different phones, and as phones moved around the ship, the message would eventually get delivered. Text messages require very low bandwidth, and even a poor or spotty connection could deliver messages. There would be thousands of potential paths between phones providing plenty of coverage.

[Michie78]

Think i will just pay for the texts i send wont be many anyway. I wish Royal IQ was on the other ships already

[Oshawapilot]

We are going to be on grandeur for the New Year's cruise and I intend to try this app, it's interesting to hear that it was working on enchantment, and with grandeur being behind the curve from a technology and refurbishment standpoint from my observations, it wouldn't surprise me that it still works on her. I will report back.

 

I checked out the Royal IQ app in the app store, and yes it appears it is limited strictly to Quantum. It's also totally bogus that they are charging for it when in reality it cost them absolutely nothing aside from a few pennies in electricity for the Wi-Fi network.

Edited November 8, 2014 by Oshawapilot

[orville99]

We are going to be on grandeur for the New Year's cruise and I intend to try this app, it's interesting to hear that it was working on enchantment, and with grandeur being behind the curve from a technology and refurbishment standpoint from my observations, it wouldn't surprise me that it still works on her. I will report back.

 

I checked out the Royal IQ app in the app store, and yes it appears it is limited strictly to Quantum. It's also totally bogus that they are charging for it when in reality it cost them absolutely nothing aside from a few pennies in electricity for the Wi-Fi network.

 

One thing to watch out for if you're using it on an iPhone is that it is a serious power hog. It drained my battery in a day, even when I wasn't actively using it. Apparently it is a TSR app that is constantly polling the environment in the background looking for someone to talk to.

[Oshawapilot]

Understood, thanks for the heads up, I figured it would be a battery pig based on the way it operates, but worst-case scenario we have USB battery sticks that we can bring with us to keep our phones charged throughout the day.

[LetsGetWet!]

Not necessarily. Consider that for an inside cabin, a single phone could theoretically cover 27 cabins (think of cabins as a Rubik's Cube, with a phone at the center covering all 27 blocks). The idea with a mesh is that the two devices communicating do not need to be within range of each other, just within range of any number of intermediate devices.

 

For texting, the devices would not even have to be in range all the time. With store-and-forward, the message would hop to many different phones, and as phones moved around the ship, the message would eventually get delivered. Text messages require very low bandwidth, and even a poor or spotty connection could deliver messages. There would be thousands of potential paths between phones providing plenty of coverage.

Think of cabins as a Rubik's cube, huh? Sorry, but lousy analogy. For all Oceanview, Balcony or Suites (the large majority of cabins on modern cruise ships) 9 of those 27 theoretical cabins are non-existent to begin. Another 9 have hallways (read: MORE steel walls in between) which makes them iffy. 1 of the remaining 9 is the cabin the phone is in - not useful. And since not all decks have cabins above and below, the average of the potential 8 is actually much less than 8.

 

Store/forward texts for eventual delivery later - maybe. But I still say expecting any real capability for actual voice calls is unrealistic.

[Oshawapilot]

Mesh networks fall apart when you can't get *everyone* to participate, and I guarantee you that on a cruise ship, where you can't get some people to even agree that the earth is round (aside from the fact that many older patrons don't even have smart phones to begin with) it ain't gonna' happen. ;)

[gr8.guy]

So I'm just back from a 7 day cruise on Vision of the Seas and Ripple worked perfectly fine for me and my traveling companions although it is a big drain on the battery we managed just fine using it to find each other at breakfast, locating one another in the theatre, and for occasional text messages.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 5S using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

Edited November 23, 2014 by gr8.guy

[Clarea]

So I'm just back from a 7 day cruise on Vision of the Seas and Ripple worked perfectly fine for me and my traveling companions.

Excellent news, I may have to give it a try next month on Explorer.:)

[gr8.guy]

Make sure you cancel when ripple tries to connect to RoyalWiFi and select "Use Without Internet" and leave it running to receive messages.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 5S using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

[Clarea]

Make sure you cancel when ripple tries to connect to RoyalWiFi and select "Use Without Internet" and leave it running to receive messages.

Thanks for the tip.

 

Did you have to enter the IP address of each phone, or was Ripple able to find the other phone(s) by itself?

[gr8.guy]

Each user is assigned a 4 letter code that needs to be entered. But once one person is entered you can sync a friend list to collect other users without everyone having to enter each one.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 5S using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

[Clarea]

Each user is assigned a 4 letter code that needs to be entered. But once one person is entered you can sync a friend list to collect other users without everyone having to enter each one.

Thanks!

[jmrothermel]

Excellent news, I may have to give it a try next month on Explorer.:)

 

 

No, please save yourself the frustration!! The Explorer has such TERRIBLE wifi, unless we were in a wide open space you wouldn't get signal. Also, no service in our suite, theater, dining room, etc. it worked fine on Quantum because they have pervasive wifi, but not on Explorer.

 

 

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[Clarea]

No, please save yourself the frustration!! The Explorer has such TERRIBLE wifi, unless we were in a wide open space you wouldn't get signal. Also, no service in our suite, theater, dining room, etc. it worked fine on Quantum because they have pervasive wifi, but not on Explorer.

Thanks for reminding me, I had forgetten that Explorer had not been upgraded yet. Saved me some hassle.:)

[jmrothermel]

Thanks for reminding me, I had forgetten that Explorer had not been upgraded yet. Saved me some hassle.:)

 

 

Definitely! My kids would pull their hair out because I wouldn't answer and I would get frustrated because I couldn't keep in touch with them lol.

 

 

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[ISurfTooMuch]

I wanted to revive this thread to ask if anyone has recently tried Ripple on Adventure, and, if so, how it worked. We're going with another couple and would like to be able to check in with them to make plans from time to time.

[SarahD112]

I'd like to be able to check in with 12 and 15 year olds. If not Ripple, what's the most cost effective way to do that? We have verizon and we'll be on oasis in three weeks.

[Clarea]

I'd like to be able to check in with 12 and 15 year olds. If not Ripple, what's the most cost effective way to do that? We have verizon and we'll be on oasis in three weeks.

While at sea, Verizon charges $0.50 per text sent and $0.05 per text received.

[Oshawapilot]

I forgot to come back and update this thread.

 

I used Ripple on Grandeur on our Christmas cruise. It works but it's not without it's caveats. Was it worth the few dollars? Absolutely yes..but I can see how some people (especially those who are not tech savvy) could get very frustrated with it very quickly.

 

That said, it worked (for the most part) and was a good investment for us personally. Just don't expect it to be perfect - you MUST remember to leave it open on your device just before locking, and some features (like video calling) never worked at all. Not a huge deal, voice calls worked fine, but just saying.

 

The texting was hit or miss. We had a large group in our Ripple friends list and some of the kids occasionally seemed to end up in some black-hole where they could send but not receive, or vice versa. A few times we had to completely reset their friend group and re-add one of them which worked sometimes, but not others.

 

But like I said, generally, it did the job.

[ISurfTooMuch]

I forgot to come back and update this thread.

 

I used Ripple on Grandeur on our Christmas cruise. It works but it's not without it's caveats. Was it worth the few dollars? Absolutely yes..but I can see how some people (especially those who are not tech savvy) could get very frustrated with it very quickly.

 

That said, it worked (for the most part) and was a good investment for us personally. Just don't expect it to be perfect - you MUST remember to leave it open on your device just before locking, and some features (like video calling) never worked at all. Not a huge deal, voice calls worked fine, but just saying.

 

The texting was hit or miss. We had a large group in our Ripple friends list and some of the kids occasionally seemed to end up in some black-hole where they could send but not receive, or vice versa. A few times we had to completely reset their friend group and re-add one of them which worked sometimes, but not others.

 

But like I said, generally, it did the job.

Thanks for the update. Do you know what version of iOS those in your group were using? We're all on iOS 8, which was released after the last Ripple update. Also, how much of a battery hog was it? I've heard it drains pretty fast, but I have a 6 Plus, so I've got battery to spare.

 

One thing to note for anyone considering it is, if you have iOS 8, you can set up Family Sharing, which means that you can buy the app once and install on all devices in your family. It's going for $2.99 now, which isn't bad when you split it several ways.