Unexpected discoveries using Social Media plan on the Carnival Freedom 2/24 thru 3/3

[wo5m]

We recently got off the Carnival Freedom last Saturday as we had the social wifi package. On the first day at sea I noticed I was still receiving e-mail on my phone(I have my domain tied to a google apps account) so I decide to explore what other resources(that are not included in carnival official list of sites) I could use with it. Here is what I found(mostly google resources)

 

What worked:

1. Gmail - app on my phone allowing me to send a receive mail the entire cruise

2. Google voice- both using the android app and using the website. I was able to send and receive text messages and listen to voicemail, but voip calls didn’t work

3. News.google.com – using this website I was able to get my news fix the only drawback is I was limited to the summaries displayed on the page. Any time I click a link to view the full story(on a non-google site) I got the carnival page saying I needed to upgrade. Still I got much more news than from CNN using stateroom tv (trump and guns where the only two topics covered when I did have it on)

4. Google hangouts – I wasn’t too surprised by this as I think it has been reported before. I could message other people, but again VOIP was a no go.

5. Google Drive – I was able to access the contents of my google drive and was even able to download a 300mb dive video from my last cruise.

6. Google photos – Not only was I able to access my library of millions of photos, I was able to access and view videos I had on there as well.

7. Google Search – I could search just about anything, you just couldn’t access anything outside of google. I didn’t think about trying to use google cached pages until after I was off the ship, but I suspect that probably would have worked also.

 

Sort of worked:

1. Cruise Critic website – I was stunned it worked at all, it was not formatted correctly(probably due to blocked elements), but it did pull it up. It was painful to read, and I only tried it once.

2. YouTube – I could view the entire website and search for videos, but every video I attempted to play failed to start.

 

What didn’t work:

1. Voip calls on Facebook messenger, google handouts, and google voice

2. Everything else I tried!

[Tiger0613]

I don't know if this would work on the Social plan, but I can get the Youtube app to play videos on the Value plan. Videos on the Youtube website will only play on the Premium plan.

[j603]

Just curious, was your phone in airplane mode?

[Tiger0613]

Just curious, was your phone in airplane mode?

 

If you were asking me, I always put my phone in airplane mode when I am on the ship.

[Trin1103]

We recently got off the Carnival Freedom last Saturday as we had the social wifi package. On the first day at sea I noticed I was still receiving e-mail on my phone(I have my domain tied to a google apps account) so I decide to explore what other resources(that are not included in carnival official list of sites) I could use with it. Here is what I found(mostly google resources)

 

What worked:

1. Gmail - app on my phone allowing me to send a receive mail the entire cruise

2. Google voice- both using the android app and using the website. I was able to send and receive text messages and listen to voicemail, but voip calls didn’t work

3. News.google.com – using this website I was able to get my news fix the only drawback is I was limited to the summaries displayed on the page. Any time I click a link to view the full story(on a non-google site) I got the carnival page saying I needed to upgrade. Still I got much more news than from CNN using stateroom tv (trump and guns where the only two topics covered when I did have it on)

4. Google hangouts – I wasn’t too surprised by this as I think it has been reported before. I could message other people, but again VOIP was a no go.

5. Google Drive – I was able to access the contents of my google drive and was even able to download a 300mb dive video from my last cruise.

6. Google photos – Not only was I able to access my library of millions of photos, I was able to access and view videos I had on there as well.

7. Google Search – I could search just about anything, you just couldn’t access anything outside of google. I didn’t think about trying to use google cached pages until after I was off the ship, but I suspect that probably would have worked also.

 

Sort of worked:

1. Cruise Critic website – I was stunned it worked at all, it was not formatted correctly(probably due to blocked elements), but it did pull it up. It was painful to read, and I only tried it once.

2. YouTube – I could view the entire website and search for videos, but every video I attempted to play failed to start.

 

What didn’t work:

1. Voip calls on Facebook messenger, google handouts, and google voice

2. Everything else I tried!

 

 

LOLOL - we were on the same exact cruise as you and noticed the same things! We only had the social WiFi plan and still received push notifications from GMail and Microsoft Outlook! Wasn't able to send/receive/read emails, though.

 

I will say that after the third or fourth day - the entire internet became unusable except for posting text-only.....and even that was amazingly slow. It took me 48 hrs to post three pictures to Facebook after that. :'):')

[wo5m]

Just curious, was your phone in airplane mode?

 

I did testing primarily with two devices my windows 10 laptop and galaxy tab 3, both are wifi only.

 

Also I forgot to add any videos I tried to upload to facebook failed even small ones. Pictures posted just fine.

[wo5m]

LOLOL - we were on the same exact cruise as you and noticed the same things! We only had the social WiFi plan and still received push notifications from GMail and Microsoft Outlook! Wasn't able to send/receive/read emails, though.

 

I will say that after the third or fourth day - the entire internet became unusable except for posting text-only.....and even that was amazingly slow. It took me 48 hrs to post three pictures to Facebook after that. :'):')

 

I just saw your other post, I'm sure we ran into each other.

 

I didn't have too much trouble posting pictures. I was constantly posting still picture from my dives in Belize and Roatan since none of my videos would go. I never really noticed a slow down unless I was in a portion of the ship that had poor WiFi Coverage.

[texhockey]

We were on the same cruise and saw the same exact results. I missed the first few days since I left my charger for my phone and had to buy one in cozumel but the internet was virtually useless for most of our group. Several went and got a refund for their prepaid internet it was so bad.

[Clarea]

Interesting stuff, thanks for compiling the list and reporting.

[iwantsomesun]

We were on the same cruise and saw the same exact results. I missed the first few days since I left my charger for my phone and had to buy one in cozumel but the internet was virtually useless for most of our group. Several went and got a refund for their prepaid internet it was so bad.

 

Likely because the OP was downloading a 300mb video!:') :')

[wo5m]

Likely because the OP was downloading a 300mb video!:') :')

 

It actually didn't take long to download it I like to say 5-10 mins tops. None of google service seemed to lag.

 

I also forgot to add that my google maps apps appeared to work as well.

[tap_out]

We recently got off the Carnival Freedom last Saturday as we had the social wifi package. On the first day at sea I noticed I was still receiving e-mail on my phone(I have my domain tied to a google apps account) so I decide to explore what other resources(that are not included in carnival official list of sites) I could use with it. Here is what I found(mostly google resources)

 

What worked:

1. Gmail - app on my phone allowing me to send a receive mail the entire cruise

2. Google voice- both using the android app and using the website. I was able to send and receive text messages and listen to voicemail, but voip calls didn’t work

3. News.google.com – using this website I was able to get my news fix the only drawback is I was limited to the summaries displayed on the page. Any time I click a link to view the full story(on a non-google site) I got the carnival page saying I needed to upgrade. Still I got much more news than from CNN using stateroom tv (trump and guns where the only two topics covered when I did have it on)

4. Google hangouts – I wasn’t too surprised by this as I think it has been reported before. I could message other people, but again VOIP was a no go.

5. Google Drive – I was able to access the contents of my google drive and was even able to download a 300mb dive video from my last cruise.

6. Google photos – Not only was I able to access my library of millions of photos, I was able to access and view videos I had on there as well.

7. Google Search – I could search just about anything, you just couldn’t access anything outside of google. I didn’t think about trying to use google cached pages until after I was off the ship, but I suspect that probably would have worked also.

 

Sort of worked:

1. Cruise Critic website – I was stunned it worked at all, it was not formatted correctly(probably due to blocked elements), but it did pull it up. It was painful to read, and I only tried it once.

2. YouTube – I could view the entire website and search for videos, but every video I attempted to play failed to start.

 

What didn’t work:

1. Voip calls on Facebook messenger, google handouts, and google voice

2. Everything else I tried!

 

Did the standard calls still work through facebook messenger? We are leaving our 2 year old at home and was hoping to use the facebook messenger calling to communicate back home with his grandparents.

[wo5m]

Did the standard calls still work through facebook messenger? We are leaving our 2 year old at home and was hoping to use the facebook messenger calling to communicate back home with his grandparents.

 

 

No, I was unable to place any VOIP calles using the social plan. It may be different with one of the other plans, but I only tested with the Social package.

[Keith1010]

Thanks for your report.

 

Keith