Does HAL have an APP for texting other passengers?

[bUU]

I can't believe I've never heard of it. Great info!

 

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[alwaysfrantic]

Yes there is an app that you can use on the boat for FREE messages. Load the app "Cruise Ship Messenger" before you get on the boat (requires wi-fi to load) so you won't have to pay. If you wait till you're on the boat you'll have the pay the Wi-fi fees but only to load it. Once you have the APP put in your friend/family's IP addresses and you're all set. You can call or text for free thru that app when you're on the (free) ship network. This only works for people on the boat with you. It was fabulous during my trip in January.

 

I can't believe they don't talk about this more on the HAL boards!

THIS is the answer to the original questions, and everyone else's as well. OP, download what is suggested. Anyone who likes texting instantly, download the app. or those who like running back to the cabin to check messages on the phone, or find slips of paper in your box, do not download the app,

Off to install it now!

[alwaysfrantic]

Just hoping HAL has a free local network. Was it on HAL where you used it recently?

[sapper1]

I really do not like using the house phones because public telephones are germ laden objects that I don't like to even touch, much less hold close to my mouth and ear while trying to stay healthy on a cruise ship.

Having access to unlimited internet and FB Messenger is not only more convenient---it is more sanitary.

 

I just tried the App Store for Cruise Ship Messenger and it did not turn up in a search.

[richwmn]

Just hoping HAL has a free local network. Was it on HAL where you used it recently?

All you need to do is connect to the wireless network and you can use these apps without paying for internet, this has always been available.

At least one of the apps I mentioned earlier needs no configuration. Softros LAN Messenger when installed and activated will show a phone book of others using the application

[igraf]

Cruise Ship Messenger seems to be IPhone only, likewise with Ripple:

 

http://www.ripple-connect.com/

 

WhatsApp and Viber might also work for all phones.

 

I would like to share a passage from a web page on using cell phones on a cruise ship. This mirrors my sentiments exactly:

 

"The modern convenience of using a smartphone on a cruise ship is truly a great improvement and welcomed luxury. But, you are still on vacation to see interesting new places, meet new people and have some fun and relaxation. Endless scrolling on your smartphone is not the way to spend your vacation.

 

When sailing on Quantum of the Seas, the most technologically advanced ship, we could not get over the number of people that were always on their phone, resulting in a loss of some of the spontaneity and camaraderie we've come to love about cruising."

 

 

igraf

 

 

 

 

 

Yes there is an app that you can use on the boat for FREE messages. Load the app "Cruise Ship Messenger" before you get on the boat (requires wi-fi to load) so you won't have to pay. If you wait till you're on the boat you'll have the pay the Wi-fi fees but only to load it. Once you have the APP put in your friend/family's IP addresses and you're all set. You can call or text for free thru that app when you're on the (free) ship network. This only works for people on the boat with you. It was fabulous during my trip in January.

 

I can't believe they don't talk about this more on the HAL boards!

[catl331]

Cruise Ship Messenger seems to be IPhone only,

I found it on Google Play. It comes from Cruiseline dot com - maybe you can get it there.

[cruisemom42]

 

I would like to share a passage from a web page on using cell phones on a cruise ship. This mirrors my sentiments exactly:

 

"The modern convenience of using a smartphone on a cruise ship is truly a great improvement and welcomed luxury. But, you are still on vacation to see interesting new places, meet new people and have some fun and relaxation. Endless scrolling on your smartphone is not the way to spend your vacation.

 

When sailing on Quantum of the Seas, the most technologically advanced ship, we could not get over the number of people that were always on their phone, resulting in a loss of some of the spontaneity and camaraderie we've come to love about cruising."

 

 

igraf

 

While I mostly agree with the above, I would say it should apply equally to people who spend the entire cruise with their nose in a book (or Kindle), or those who are endlessly fiddling with their camera (taking shots and editing them), or playing cards, or any number of other things.

 

All things in moderation. It's not only technology that keeps people from being spontaneous and 'present' on a cruise.

[cruiser2523]

Has anyone used any of these texting Apps on the Eurodam? Also, does anyone know if there is an app that you can use to text between an Iphone and an android? Thank you.

[igraf]

I believe that you are referring to Cruise Ship Mate rather than Cruise Ship Messenger.

 

igraf

 

 

 

I found it on Google Play. It comes from Cruiseline dot com - maybe you can get it there.

[mor mor]

As if doing things the old, less efficient way is somehow more pure, more holy. It truly seems sometimes that some folks want to make extolling their preferences, preferences that fewer and fewer people share, into some kind of religious crusade.

 

And let's be clear: When new technology is bad, when it is disruptive, such as with the walkie-talkies, it is proper to label them assuch. That's not the case in what is being discussed. There is no excuse for belittling, as bnickle termed it, the desire to have a reasonably priced text messaging solution available.

 

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I completely agree. Why all the anger? Probably fear.

 

I would appreciate cheap texting to find people,and it is hard to imagine how it would be a bad thing.

[bUU]

I completely agree. Why all the anger? Probably fear.

I think a lot of differences between passenger perspectives can be explained as fear, or at least fear of having to share the cruise with people who have different preferences.

[igraf]

Perhaps it is the fear of receiving a 4-figure phone/data bill after the vacation!. This is not necessarily a hi-tech issue.

 

 

igraf

 

 

 

I think a lot of differences between passenger perspectives can be explained as fear, or at least fear of having to share the cruise with people who have different preferences.

[bUU]

Given that we're discussing an app that the cruise line would support gratis or something like LAN messenger which is also not costly.

[ellieanne]

Maybe it's not fear at all, but a preference for non-techonolgy-based methods.

 

If someone on the ship using an app has no impact on my cruise, why should my chasing not to have an impact on theirs?

 

As I said previously, my concern not the presence or use of an app, but the idea that without an app, communication with others would be impossible or just too inconvenient to even consider. I think the trend toward reliance on technology-based communication has made people forget that it is possible to do things without the technology. And that's what I mourn, the loss of knowledge.

[bUU]

Maybe it's not fear at all, but a preference for non-techonolgy-based methods.

That's a good point. People have different preferences. They aren't necessarily "better" or "worse" but rather are more or less commonly held. When less commonly held, it is generally too expensive for mass market service providers to satisfy without a very substantial surcharge for serving that preference, and sometimes simple impracticable. That was the case with regard to the tech-laden features, for many years. Now apparently the preferences profile of passengers has flipped and the non-technology preference is becoming the less commonly held preference, and combined with the fact that the utilization of technology could reduce costs for the cruise line in the long term, especially if everyone must use such services and systems instead of relying on the older more labor intensive mechanisms, that would invariably result in folks holding such a preference experiencing what those who prefer technology suffered for years, a lack of satisfaction of of their preference.

 

And that's what I mourn, the loss of knowledge.

What's important to understand though it is that technology also opens up many doors that previously had been closed. It makes available, in your parlance, knowledge that previously was Impractical to have and hold. The question is whether it is a net increase or a net decrease. It seems to me to be a very significant net increase.

 

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[cruisemom42]

Maybe it's not fear at all, but a preference for non-techonolgy-based methods.

 

If someone on the ship using an app has no impact on my cruise, why should my chasing not to have an impact on theirs?

 

 

It doesn't. I think what I (and perhaps others) had objected to was the negative comments about the possibility of using this form of contacting other passengers as if there was something bad or evil about introducing new technology that would have zero impact on those who choose NOT to use it.

 

I don't recall EVER 'bashing' someone's choice not to utilize the tecnology. What I object to is people condemning others who do choose to adopt it or making blanket statements about how this in some way represents the end of civil discourse. :rolleyes:

[bUU]

It doesn't. I think what I (and perhaps others) had objected to was the negative comments about the possibility of using this form of contacting other passengers as if there was something bad or evil about introducing new technology that would have zero impact on those who choose NOT to use it.

 

I don't recall EVER 'bashing' someone's choice not to utilize the tecnology. What I object to is people condemning others who do choose to adopt it or making blanket statements about how this in some way represents the end of civil discourse. :rolleyes:

But let's be fair: if the number of passengers who embrace the new technology continues to increase as it has and the cost benefit to the cruise line from having passengers utilize technology in this way continues to increase then it seems logical that the end game involves replacing the more costly approaches to accomplishing what this technology accomplishes with the technology itself. And it is natural for people to fear marginalization of what they prefer and the progression of things they do not prefer.

 

In a nutshell I think it is reasonable for people who don't like technology to fear the passage of time will bring with it a choice between embracing the technology anyway despite their preference or simply doing without the service offering, in other words not cruising.

 

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[cruisemom42]

But let's be fair: if the number of passengers who embrace the new technology continues to increase as it has and the cost benefit to the cruise line from having passengers utilize technology in this way continues to increase then it seems logical that the end game involves replacing the more costly approaches to accomplishing what this technology accomplishes with the technology itself. And it is natural for people to fear marginalization of what they prefer and the progression of things they do not prefer.

 

In a nutshell I think it is reasonable for people who don't like technology to fear the passage of time will bring with it a choice between embracing the technology anyway despite their preference or simply doing without the service offering, in other words not cruising.

 

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Maybe. It just gets tiring when the same people who 'embrace' HAL's more forward-looking move toward, shall we say, less smoking are also lamenting the line's progress in other areas as well.

 

We can keep challenging our minds and embrace change or we can choose to not adopt technology at the risk of becoming increasingly isolated.

 

(And before anyone tells me that I just don't understand, I've watched it happen to my own parents, who decided several decades ago NOT to embrace digital technology -- computer, cell phone, etc. -- and as a result have very, very little contact with their only grandchild who doesn't really communicate much outside those modalities....)

[bUU]

Maybe. It just gets tiring when the same people who 'embrace' HAL's more forward-looking move toward, shall we say, less smoking are also lamenting the line's progress in other areas as well.

 

We can keep challenging our minds and embrace change or we can choose to not adopt technology at the risk of becoming increasingly isolated.

 

(And before anyone tells me that I just don't understand, I've watched it happen to my own parents, who decided several decades ago NOT to embrace digital technology -- computer, cell phone, etc. -- and as a result have very, very little contact with their only grandchild who doesn't really communicate much outside those modalities....)

Indeed. I had a really good contrast to see this phenomenon. My late mother did embrace changes in her life, at least to some extent, while my father did not. The impact, of those relative differences, on their own enjoyment of their lives was quite significant. I learned from my parents experience. I work really hard now to try to keep up, not just with regard to technology (which given my vocation is pretty easy) but also with regard to music and other aspects of popular culture, realizing that if I become complacent I'm just going to be locking myself into a level of frustration and disappointment that I'll never be able to escape.

 

 

 

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[MaxeyMom]

Yes there is an app that you can use on the boat for FREE messages. Load the app "Cruise Ship Messenger" before you get on the boat (requires wi-fi to load) so you won't have to pay. If you wait till you're on the boat you'll have the pay the Wi-fi fees but only to load it. Once you have the APP put in your friend/family's IP addresses and you're all set. You can call or text for free thru that app when you're on the (free) ship network. This only works for people on the boat with you. It was fabulous during my trip in January.

 

I can't believe they don't talk about this more on the HAL boards!

How cool. Wish I had known about this. I will need to download before the next cruise

Just of the Eurodam. The new Navigator app is super easy and quite helpful. Loved that you could formulate your own personal list of things you wanted to do. Your dinner reservations were automatically downloaded to your itenerary. I thought it would be relatively simple to add a messaging part so that you could send messages to other passengers.

You can easily access your bill, make reservations, and see menus

 

Sent from my SM-G920P using Forums mobile app

[bUU]

Sorry. I'm a bit confused now. When you're talking about this Navigator app, you're talking about an app that was on the cabin television, not one that you were able to use on your smartphone. Correct?

 

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[MaxeyMom]

Sorry. I'm a bit confused now. When you're talking about this Navigator app, you're talking about an app that was on the cabin television, not one that you were able to use on your smartphone. Correct?

 

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You can use your phone, tablet, Kindle. I found it very user friendly. So it must really be easy! As my plans changed I looked at the offerings and Voila! I knew where and when the next movie played in the theater and where was the closest Happy Hour.

The TV in the room was nice too lots of info and movies etc

 

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[MaxeyMom]

I thought I had a picture of the instruction sheet for setting up the app, but I do not. Must be in the luggage. When I get home I will post a copy for everyone to see

 

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[bUU]

Okay so this is what I heard about described to me as a website you could go to in your web browser on your smartphone or tablet. It's not an app that you would install ... it's just one that you reach using a website address. Correct?

 

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