Does HAL have an APP for texting other passengers?

[zamboni88]

I sail NCL often. They have an APP for your phone that allows you to text others on the ship. Does HAL have something similar?

 

TIA

[CruiserBruce]

No.

[jan.dv]

If there is no app, does HAL have another way of getting in touch with others while onboard?

[SeeSun&Sea]

Leave a phone message.

Leave a paper note.

Get the same walkie-talkie app for everyone's phone, and pay for ship's wifi.

iMessage works if everyone has an iPhone.

[ellieanne]

If there is no app, does HAL have another way of getting in touch with others while onboard?

 

 

How do you get in touch with people when you are not not on a cruise if they don't use an app?

[jakkojakko]

It is realy interesting to see how quick people get dependant upon technology. A mere 20 years ago there were no smartphones, apps, satnav and such. How on earth did they manage in those times? But they did and with no problems.

[bUU]

The reality is that today's technology for getting in touch and keeping in touch with people is far, far superior to that of the past. It is wrong to say that people get "dependent" on it so much as they come to expect that they won't have to go back to primitive means.

 

I'm going to root around in the forum a bit now to remind myself of what I've read about the shipboard intranet. My rough recollection is that you can connect to the WiFi (for free) in order to access some on-board resources. I don't recall any that would serve as a substitute for SMS or MMS, or local email for that matter, though that would be a nice (and, at least for local email, a relatively inexpensive) enhancement.

 

UPDATED: I'm reading some posts from 2016 about three levels of service... "Social" "Enhanced" and "Premiere". That doesn't sound like what I recall from more recent postings that I've read. However, if that's real at $25 for the week, that's an excellent option, since it allows you access to Facebook, and presumably from there you can leave each other Facebook Messenger messages. Does anyone have any corroborating first-hand experience regarding that possibility?

Edited March 4, 2017 by bUU

[ellieanne]

The reality is that today's technology for getting in touch and keeping in touch with people is far, far superior to that of the past. It is wrong to say that people get "dependent" on it so much as they come to expect that they won't have to go back to primitive means.

 

 

Yes, but to act as of there is no other way to get in touch with people is ridiculous. What happens if the technology fails for some reason -- the app stops working, the internet or mobile reception is nonexistent? Surely if your life depended on it, you'd prefer there was a back-up, old-school, technology-proof, or as you say "PRIMITIVE," way to make contact with someone else.

[bUU]

Yes, but to act as of there is no other way to get in touch with people is ridiculous. What happens if the technology fails for some reason

That's like asking, "What if you can no longer walk for some reason?" It can happen, and as we get older we have to work our way toward acceptance of such limitations. That doesn't mean that they are good changes, and it doesn't mean we should resign ourselves to such limitations before doing so is necessitated by the circumstances. The question asked is aimed to finding the best way to keep in touch while aboard ship. Presuming a complete failure of technology is not going to help the OP (or I) find the best answer, especially since such a failure would likely affect the operation of the ship, itself, in which case we'd have bigger problems than not being able to keep in touch (like how many days it will take for the ship to drift back to shore).

[esimon]

omg - phone?????

[sapper1]

On HAL ships that offer unlimited internet we have found that using the FB Messenger app is a great way to stay connected with friends onboard. We used that method on the Westerdam on two different cruises and are really hoping that our upcoming NA cruise will offer unlimited access as well. If it is not available I guess we will have to resort to the trusty post-it note method.

 

Messenger worked well when people were trying to find us in a crowded Lido---we were able to direct them to our table and vice versa.

[bUU]

omg - phone?????

 

My understanding from what I've read is that cellphones don't work aboard ship without subscribing to a higher cost service. And of course internal ship phones don't help when you don't know where the person you're trying to contact is.

 

This message may have been entered using voice recognition. Please excuse any typos.

Edited March 4, 2017 by bUU

[cruisemom42]

It is realy interesting to see how quick people get dependant upon technology. A mere 20 years ago there were no smartphones, apps, satnav and such. How on earth did they manage in those times? But they did and with no problems.

 

 

And so, how far should we go back, in your opinion? Should we be happy with a fan in the cabin rather than using that newfangled air-conditioning? Maybe instead of a bathroom in every cabin, we should go back to the days of shared bathrooms on each deck of cabins.

 

Plus, who needs that "modern technology" such as stabilizers? It was sure a lot more fun back in the day when ships really pitched and rolled with every swell -- back when they lined the corridors with those little paper bags....

 

:rolleyes:

[igraf]

Um, why not just get real walkie-talkies? A set will probably cost less than wifi on a ship and they work in ports as well.

 

igraf

 

 

 

....Get the same walkie-talkie app for everyone's phone, and pay for ship's wifi....

[igraf]

Besides conventional walkie-talkies, there are other fully independent means of texting to each other. An example is GoTenna:

 

http://www.gotenna.com/

 

igraf

[jtl513]

Um, why not just get real walkie-talkies? A set will probably cost less than wifi on a ship and they work in ports as well.

This has been discussed many times on this forum. The two main arguments against them are (a) they are very annoying to others, particularly when one or more are in the hands of children and (b) they are illegal in some countries because the frequencies used conflict with emergency services. A minor argument is that cheap ones do not work well in the all-steel environment. (We tried them early in our cruising career, before joining CC. Ours did not work well.)

[bUU]

That was my instinct: That aboard ship, due to interference from the steel of the ship itself, you really need a messaging solution, where you can deposit a message and the recipient can receive it when they are able, rather than an immediate "let's talk now" solution.

[jtl513]

That was my instinct: That aboard ship, due to interference from the steel of the ship itself, you really need a messaging solution, where you can deposit a message and the recipient can receive it when they are able, rather than an immediate "let's talk now" solution.

When you were on the DCL Dream how did your "Wave phones" work? One of ours wouldn't recharge, and the short cruise was over before we could get it replaced. Of course the ship was loaded with kids just playing with them. Another reason we won't go back to DCL again.

[alwaysfrantic]

And so, how far should we go back, in your opinion? Should we be happy with a fan in the cabin rather than using that newfangled air-conditioning? Maybe instead of a bathroom in every cabin, we should go back to the days of shared bathrooms on each deck of cabins.

 

Plus, who needs that "modern technology" such as stabilizers? It was sure a lot more fun back in the day when ships really pitched and rolled with every swell -- back when they lined the corridors with those little paper bags....

 

:rolleyes:

Thank you. This is a perfect response to that comment.

[igraf]

Don't buy the cheapest units. $50 will do nicely and is still probably less than paying for wifi on a single cruise. We have a set of Motorola radios that work well on the ship and are good for many miles on shore (or ship to shore).

 

I agree that walkie-talkies could be annoying on a ship in public areas. We tend to use them mostly in port or from a cabin to shore. I am just making the point that everything doesn't have to flow through the cell phone at great expense. There are alternatives. As mentioned by others, there is a perfectly good telephone system board for leaving messages.

 

 

igraf

 

 

 

This has been discussed many times on this forum. The two main arguments against them are (a) they are very annoying to others, particularly when one or more are in the hands of children and (b) they are illegal in some countries because the frequencies used conflict with emergency services. A minor argument is that cheap ones do not work well in the all-steel environment. (We tried them early in our cruising career, before joining CC. Ours did not work well.)

[Tarpeian Rock]

And so, how far should we go back, in your opinion? Should we be happy with a fan in the cabin rather than using that newfangled air-conditioning? Maybe instead of a bathroom in every cabin, we should go back to the days of shared bathrooms on each deck of cabins.

 

Plus, who needs that "modern technology" such as stabilizers? It was sure a lot more fun back in the day when ships really pitched and rolled with every swell -- back when they lined the corridors with those little paper bags....

 

:rolleyes:

 

 

Reductio ad absurdum.

[bUU]

When you were on the DCL Dream how did your "Wave phones" work? One of ours wouldn't recharge, and the short cruise was over before we could get it replaced. Of course the ship was loaded with kids just playing with them. Another reason we won't go back to DCL again.

The wave phones didn't affect us one way or the other. It was just the two of us , and we were always together. And other folks using the wave phones didn't bother us at all , not even the children , which is saying something for me. I've gotten to the age now where I'm that crotchety old man.

 

This message may have been entered using voice recognition. Please excuse any typos.

[sammiedawg]

DCL offers two communication methods- the wave phone and the app. The app works really well and seems popular.

[jtl513]

DCL offers two communication methods- the wave phone and the app. The app works really well and seems popular.

When we were on neither of us had a smartphone. :)

[wendybf1]

Just got off the Noordam. They had a new option I did not see in the past. You could use a limited free options on your phone/computer/tablet where you could log into the ship's wifi. I used it to look up what was going on that day when activities were etc. Nice thing was the dinning menu for the day was also there, although we found a couple mistakes on it, they dinning room staff said it is new and they aren't used to updating it yet. I also used it to look up my account so didn't have to use that pesky kiosk to print out my statement, it was so up to date I would see the charge for my drink before I got the drink. They also had some other options for free web sites including NYTimes. I would think they might be adding a option for person to person texting.