Wifi Social plan and iMessages

[safulton79]

I'm trying to get clarification on the WiFi. I will be on Magic and just purchased the social WiFi plan. I have seen mixed posts of being able to get/send iMessages using the social plan. Can someone please help to clear this up for me. Before anyone lashes out about me wanting to stay connected, I wouldn't worry about it if it wasn't for the fact my 3 children will be home while we are on the cruise.

[Computer Nerd]

I'm trying to get clarification on the WiFi. I will be on Magic and just purchased the social WiFi plan. I have seen mixed posts of being able to get/send iMessages using the social plan. Can someone please help to clear this up for me. Before anyone lashes out about me wanting to stay connected, I wouldn't worry about it if it wasn't for the fact my 3 children will be home while we are on the cruise.

 

While I have no idea about iMesseges (I don't own an Apple phone) you can use Whatsapp and FB Messenger with no problem on the Social plan. If your kids are on FB or want to download Whatsapp, you can use that as an alternative if you find out that IMessages doesn't work.

[trvl_fanatic]

Per the carnival app, when you log on to the social plan, it says that only the FB messenger will work and not iMessaging.

 

That being said, I was still able to get iMessages from home and vice versa. Also, since my husband had the social plan too, we were able to iMessage each other on the ship when we needed to find each other.

[Organized Chaos]

I've been trying to find out since we booked our upcoming cruise back in March 2017 and, to be honest, I don't think it's a straightforward answer. Experiences seem to vary from person to person, ship to ship. When we cruised two years ago, iMessage was supported under the Social plan and worked quite well for us, both on board and communicating back home. Since then, Carnival has reworded their FAQ's and specifically states that it isn't supported on the Social plan...despite the fact that it works for some people. Some of the talk around the internet has mentioned changes in the way Apple handles iMessages combined with the way Carnival blocks certain usage under the Social plan as being the cause of why it may not work as well anymore. Have a backup plan. As Computer Nerd mentioned, Carnival specifically supports fb messenger, whatsapp, and also snapchat. Or you can bump up to the Value plan where it should more than likely work as intended. We cruise in June and are taking our son's friend, so we definitely want him to be able to communicate with his parents. I think we'll try out luck with iMessage/Social plan and go from there if it doesn't work.

[ParrotRob]

I've been trying to find out since we booked our upcoming cruise back in March 2017 and, to be honest, I don't think it's a straightforward answer. Experiences seem to vary from person to person, ship to ship. When we cruised two years ago, iMessage was supported under the Social plan and worked quite well for us, both on board and communicating back home. Since then, Carnival has reworded their FAQ's and specifically states that it isn't supported on the Social plan...despite the fact that it works for some people. Some of the talk around the internet has mentioned changes in the way Apple handles iMessages combined with the way Carnival blocks certain usage under the Social plan as being the cause of why it may not work as well anymore. Have a backup plan. As Computer Nerd mentioned, Carnival specifically supports fb messenger, whatsapp, and also snapchat. Or you can bump up to the Value plan where it should more than likely work as intended. We cruise in June and are taking our son's friend, so we definitely want him to be able to communicate with his parents. I think we'll try out luck with iMessage/Social plan and go from there if it doesn't work.

 

I think they key there is in how they WORD it. Sounds like they are making a clear delineation between what might "work" and what's "supported". In other words, try it - if it works, great, if not, sorry 'bout that, it's not supported.

[parkesyau]

Can you upload photos to Facebook/Instagram if you have the social plan?

[javamom]

Can you upload photos to Facebook/Instagram if you have the social plan?

 

Yes

[Organized Chaos]

I think they key there is in how they WORD it. Sounds like they are making a clear delineation between what might "work" and what's "supported". In other words, try it - if it works, great, if not, sorry 'bout that, it's not supported.

Exactly. They're just covering their rears if it doesn't work.

 

Can you upload photos to Facebook/Instagram if you have the social plan?

Someone with first-hand knowledge can verify, but I've read plenty of people on here say you can on fb (not sure about instagram). But there's been a lot of reports recently of very slow wifi on multiple ships. Everything taking forever to load. Oftentimes, it depends on the time of day and how many people are using wifi, but it seems like it's just been slow in general lately, regardless of the plan.

 

Two years ago, when iMessages worked very well for us, we still couldn't send photos via iMessage, so I doubt that's changed.

[Tjcalley]

I was on the Magic last year and we used FB messenger. My iMessages worked randomly. From what I remember we could upload pictures without issue to Facebook but I didn’t try Instagram. We go again this weekend on the Magic so I’ll let you know about the IMessage

[stoddaj1]

We purchased the social plan a few years back and it worked perfectly with I Message.

[Saint Greg]

What I’ve always heard is they don’t tell you that you get iMessage with the social plan but it does work for the people who get it.

[trvl_fanatic]

Can you upload photos to Facebook/Instagram if you have the social plan?

 

 

I was able to post (slowly) during the week onto Facebook. Instagram was a lot slower so I didn't bother posting or surfing there.

[bigcstyle4]

I was on Magic last month and it was the first time iMessage did not work for my wife on the social plan. This was our 5th cruise in the past 3 years and it had worked on the prior ones. After we sailed away she got the first message delivery failure. I checked under settings and iMessage was “waiting for activation.” We had to wait until we got to Mexico (my Verizon plan includes data there) to reactivate it on cellular. Once we got back on board, it worked for about a day then stopped again, although it still showed as On in settings. Like others have said, YMMV but I wouldn’t count on it working consistently. I had the Value plan and had no issues with iMessage.

[1GaPeach]

I just got back this weekend and had the social plan. I was able to send and receive texts on iMessage. Pics and links did not come through but being able to use iMessage was a pleasant surprise.

[SCAnthony]

We have had the social media plan on 2 cruises and both times iMessage worked sporadically. May have had to do with how many people were using the internet at any given time,not sure. But sometimes it worked (between family on the boat and family back home), and sometimes it didn’t. FB messenger was more consistent

 

 

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[Computer Nerd]

Can you upload photos to Facebook/Instagram if you have the social plan?

 

FB, Yes. Instagram, don't know.

[Computer Nerd]

I've been trying to find out since we booked our upcoming cruise back in March 2017 and, to be honest, I don't think it's a straightforward answer. Experiences seem to vary from person to person, ship to ship. When we cruised two years ago, iMessage was supported under the Social plan and worked quite well for us, both on board and communicating back home. Since then, Carnival has reworded their FAQ's and specifically states that it isn't supported on the Social plan...despite the fact that it works for some people. Some of the talk around the internet has mentioned changes in the way Apple handles iMessages combined with the way Carnival blocks certain usage under the Social plan as being the cause of why it may not work as well anymore. Have a backup plan. As Computer Nerd mentioned, Carnival specifically supports fb messenger, whatsapp, and also snapchat. Or you can bump up to the Value plan where it should more than likely work as intended. We cruise in June and are taking our son's friend, so we definitely want him to be able to communicate with his parents. I think we'll try out luck with iMessage/Social plan and go from there if it doesn't work.

 

Just make sure you have your backup plan in place before you sail. Once you have sailed it's too late to download Whatsapp or FB Messenger.

[safulton79]

Thank you for all the replies. I already hav fb messenger as my back up plan. One of my kids doesn’t have iPhone anyway so that’s how we will contact him. I just was trying to understand if it would work or not.

 

 

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[mistyinca]

Yes; you CAN get iMessages on the social plan. Keep in mind that it won't work if you're logged into chat. They used to say that iMessage was not included on the social plan, though I found I could always use it. But I want to say that they actually advertised iMessage ability on the social plan during our March Magic cruise.

[mistyinca]

Can you upload photos to Facebook/Instagram if you have the social plan?

 

This has NOT been my experience. The wifi you get on the social plan is so weak it doesn't let you upload pics. I also could not play videos that posted on Facebook either.

[Organized Chaos]

Also keep in mind that you can use the fb messenger app without a fb account. When you first run the app, choose the option to use without fb and it'll use your cell phone number, like iMessage or Whatsapp.

 

Just make sure you have your backup plan in place before you sail. Once you have sailed it's too late to download Whatsapp or FB Messenger.

Oh yeah, definitely. I'm the tech savvy one in my family so it falls on me to make sure everyone is ready to go in that department. :) We don't really want to download/set up new messaging apps just for the cruise, knowing we won't ever use them again, so I doubt we use Whatsapp. My wife and I do have fb accounts, don't use fb messenger, but will probably use that as our backup. Our son doesn't have a fb account, but it can be used without one, or I'll just make him a dummy account. But the friend he's taking is a different story. We definitely want him to be able to communicate with home. They all have iPhones, so iMessage is ideal if it works well, but they don't use fb and don't have any other messaging apps. I'd like to avoid having them download and setting up new messaging apps if possible. If all else fails, we'll be in San Juan and St. Thomas, so we can use our phones there and he can talk to his parents.

[Organized Chaos]

Yes; you CAN get iMessages on the social plan. Keep in mind that it won't work if you're logged into chat. They used to say that iMessage was not included on the social plan, though I found I could always use it. But I want to say that they actually advertised iMessage ability on the social plan during our March Magic cruise.

What do you mean it won't work if you're logged into chat? Are you talking about the Hub app chat feature and saying iMessage won't work if the Hub chat is active?

 

Also, where did they advertise iMessage working on Social, because this is what they say in their FAQ's (for Social): Does not support access to video and music streaming (such as Netflix, Hulu, Spotify, Pandora), iMessage or Skype.

That's different wording from two years ago when we cruised last. Back then, iMessage wasn't on that list.

[Computer Nerd]

This has NOT been my experience. The wifi you get on the social plan is so weak it doesn't let you upload pics. I also could not play videos that posted on Facebook either.

 

While I haven't tried to on FB specifically, I have uploaded tons of pics via Whatsapp to my family and friends......to make them jealous of course (it works). :D

 

Sometimes it may be slow depending upon how many users are online but I've never had a issue where a pic would not upload.

[ParrotRob]

This has NOT been my experience. The wifi you get on the social plan is so weak it doesn't let you upload pics.

 

I don't use Wi-Fi on the ships, but I'm willing to bet that you get the same Wi-Fi signal STRENGTH no matter the plan you purchase. Now your bandwidth and accessible sites/services will vary, but not how "weak" the signal is, since you're connecting to the same physical network no matter what tier you buy.

[robinmlewis10]

So quick question about the Internet Packages. Can they be shared? I know is says that you can't be logged in at the same time. So you do have the ability to log out and then someone else log on from another phone? I just want to be able to use it when checking on thing back home and then log out and let my son log on and he can keep up with facebook and all things kids do. Is that possible or does each phone number have to have it's own package?