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Escape: Any free apps that allow you to text other people on the ship?


fstuff1
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20 hours ago, fstuff1 said:

i dont want to bring walkie talkies.

 

Any apps that allow you to text other people while on the ship?

 

The iConcierge app allows text messaging and calling between people if you buy the service.  It's $9.95/device and actually pretty handy to have.  We've used it the last couple of times we've cruised.

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According to the NCL website iConcierge is NOT available on the Escape...

 

Not free and not sure what the one time nominal fee is...

 

CRUISE NORWEGIAN

This app is currently available on Norwegian Sky, Bliss, Getaway, Gem, Pearl, Star, Sun, Escape, Dawn, Pride of America, and Jewel. More ships coming soon!
 

Introducing the all-new Cruise Norwegian app. Think of it as your new travel companion, helping you experience an unforgettable cruise vacation every step of the way from the time you book to your last day on board.

Features Include:

Overall

  • Preview and book Shore Excursions
  • Preview restaurants and make dining reservations
  • Preview onboard entertainment, bars & lounges, spa treatments, shopping
  • Ability to favorite onboard offerings
  • Vacation summary, view itinerary and onboard reservation details
  • Check your Latitude Rewards points and learn about tier benefits

Before Your Cruise

  • Purchase onboard gifts including wine, flowers and treats
  • Check in online and save time at the pier
  • On the day of departure, access your E-Docs and directions to the pier

During Your Cruise

  • Review your account and track onboard purchases
  • Get a daily schedule of what’s happening on the ship
  • Learn about our CruiseNext program
  • Review helpful disembarkation information including immigration and Easy Walk-off details
  • Call and message guests on board including Group Chat*

*Calling and Messaging Package has a nominal one-time fee for making unlimited onboard calls and messages during your cruise.

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2 hours ago, rtkenmore said:

 

The iConcierge app allows text messaging and calling between people if you buy the service.  It's $9.95/device and actually pretty handy to have.  We've used it the last couple of times we've cruised.

 

 

Actually, the iConcierge app has been replaced with the Cruise Norwegian app on the Escape, as well as several other ships now.

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I should throw out that calling between rooms on the room phones is free and each room phone has voicemail so you can leave each other messages. This is how I communicated with my parents who were in a separate room from us on the Escape last month and it worked fine.

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1 minute ago, JamieLogical said:

 

 

Actually, the iConcierge app has been replaced with the Cruise Norwegian app on the Escape, as well as several other ships now.

Whatever the name of the app is, same difference...  🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨

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4 minutes ago, rtkenmore said:

Whatever the name of the app is, same difference...

It's not really, if you download the wrong app it won't work on your ship. Both apps, however, are free to download and use except for the guest-to-guest connectivity features that have a one-time fee per to activate.

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For what it's worth, off the Escape earlier this month with the newer Norwegian App rolled out & working on the ship, once you are connected to ship's WiFi inTRAnet server, you have the option to download the App (and, hopefully, success installing it on your device).  I had both Apps pre-installed on our iOS and Android gadgets, not an issue for having the "wrong" one.  It seemed like 8 ships (and more) within the NCL fleet have converted over to this newer App.  In fact, when I decided to play with the older App on the ship, a pop-up noted that it is no longer supported nor was it usable ... no longer connect to ship's WiFi.  

 

The Android version was recently updated (to Oct. 2018) ... I ignored it while we're at sea and the earlier variant of the App worked just fine.  Auto-update was turned OFF for the cruise but refreshed to the current one since the - will be using it again in about 2 months.  

 

Cellular or home carrier-based SMS or text messaging aren't too expensive, especially if one is planning on SENDING a handful or a dozen or two of them for a typical 7 nights cruise, receiving them usually less pricey ... check with your carrier about pricing at sea.  

 

There are a # of lesser known point-to-point direct messaging/texting app; but I am doubtful that any of them will work on a standalone basis unless it can "sneak" below the radar over ship's WiFi with common & typical tcp/udp ports blocked.  

 

Has anyone reported personal success with iMessages getting thru to each other over ship's WiFi inTRAnet only ??  With the new Norwegian App, the option to call/text others on the ship was a one-time fee of $9.95 for unlimited use for the duration of the cruise ... we didn't need or wanted to use it; and, I certainly wasn't going to pay the fee just to make dining or show reservations or other in-house ship extensions, when it's a free call directly dialed from the stateroom.   Besides, old school's Yellow "stickies" worked fine.  

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iMessages without paying for internet used to work on the Escape (January 2018), if you subscribed to an internet package at least some point during the cruise.

 

i.e. if you bought pay-per-minute internet or the 30 minute package at a minimum, it seemed to "unlock" free imessaging for the rest of the cruise, regardless of whether you have any time left on your internet package.

 

However, this loophole didn't work on the Epic, July 2018.

 

Its worth it just to pay the one-time fee of $5-$10 to enable Norwegian messaging thru their app. OBC credit will cover this cost. Also, it enables intra-ship calling from your phone, which is great because you can call to deal with room service or housekeeping issues, when you're not actually in the room. (i.e. "I'm at dinner, but please leave some extra pillows in my room for turn down this evening", or "I'm on may way back to my room, please send a pizza to room XYZ")

 

The only peer-to-peer app I know that can message without Wi-Fi using mesh networking (bluetooth) is Firechat, and I doubt it would really be too useful on a cruise ship because of the walls and ranges, really aren't condusive to the bluetooth transmission requirements that kind of app needs to work properly. It might work on the top deck in a crowd, that's about it.

Edited by marktwothousand
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On 11/16/2018 at 1:43 PM, JamieLogical said:

 

 

Actually, the iConcierge app has been replaced with the Cruise Norwegian app on the Escape, as well as several other ships now.

the Cruise Norwegian app uses data even when it's not being used!

 

a few days ago i downloaded  the Cruise Norwegian app in preparation for my Escape trip next week.

i opened it then i closed it.

i've also rebooted my phone.

well, in that time, that app has used 100megs of data according to my phone!

i only have 500megs of data per month so it wasted  20% of my allotment ! 😞 

 

guess what? i uninstalled it.

and will re-install at a free wifi place at one of the ports 

Edited by fstuff1
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  • 7 months later...

A couple years ago my son and I figured out that we could play Minecraft multiplayer if we both just connected to the Carnival ship's WiFi without signing up for any Internet service plan.  We just connected to the WiFi to get menus and events in the Carnival Hub app.  We found this out Minecraft would link up players when a jerk joined an open world that I son had created and started typing rude messages to him.  However, this gave me a great idea.  If Minecraft could connect players via the ship's free WiFi allowing them to play together and text chat, couldn't a dedicated text app work?

 

I looked around and found these: https://mashtips.com/android-offline-messaging-apps/.  I struggled to setup FireChat on our phones, but Bridgefy looks promising.  Check out this video: https://youtu.be/SVJsL4uqC3Q.  The part about WiFi without out Internet access is exactly what I was thinking.

 

Does anyone have any experience with any of these apps and particularly with using them WITHOUT paying for Internet?

 

P.S. I am aware that Carnival has a $5 per person chat plan, but I have also experienced issues with the service.  Since the ship's WiFi service is always working, I expect a WiFi messaging app which is not Internet dependent (Like Minecraft) would be a great solution for inner-ship communications.  Of course, it would only work with the ship's WiFi isn't blocking those ports.

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1 hour ago, ShamelesslyCruising said:

A couple years ago my son and I figured out that we could play Minecraft multiplayer if we both just connected to the Carnival ship's WiFi without signing up for any Internet service plan.  We just connected to the WiFi to get menus and events in the Carnival Hub app.  We found this out Minecraft would link up players when a jerk joined an open world that I son had created and started typing rude messages to him.  However, this gave me a great idea.  If Minecraft could connect players via the ship's free WiFi allowing them to play together and text chat, couldn't a dedicated text app work?

 

I looked around and found these: https://mashtips.com/android-offline-messaging-apps/.  I struggled to setup FireChat on our phones, but Bridgefy looks promising.  Check out this video: https://youtu.be/SVJsL4uqC3Q.  The part about WiFi without out Internet access is exactly what I was thinking.

 

Does anyone have any experience with any of these apps and particularly with using them WITHOUT paying for Internet?

 

P.S. I am aware that Carnival has a $5 per person chat plan, but I have also experienced issues with the service.  Since the ship's WiFi service is always working, I expect a WiFi messaging app which is not Internet dependent (Like Minecraft) would be a great solution for inner-ship communications.  Of course, it would only work with the ship's WiFi isn't blocking those ports.

Maybe ask on the carnival forum. Not NCL. 

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