Non techy with question re: cell phones and texting

[kaiiak]

We are cruising on the NS in 2 weeks and plan on purchasing the Premium Internet Package for our family of four.  Do we buy four packages or one per stateroom? How does cell phone service work on the ship nowadays? We currently have Sprint, unlimited data, texts, etc for our cel phones.  I foresee us needing to text each other often on the ship as to where we are, meet up spots, etc.  I don't foresee us needing to make phone calls.  My youngest 10 year old will probably be online from time to time gaming or watching youtube.  Myself and my 23 year old will probably use our social media and check email etc.  Hubby will occasionally check email.  Will we be charged to text? Does texting work when out at sea? Or should we rely on messaging through facebook or another social app? Thanks in advance. 

[Bretty]

I can’t accurately answer the question of how many internet packages you’d need to buy, although I think each user will need one. Maybe someone else can answer that.

 

I just read this thread:   https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/topic/2618576-wifi-two-devices-solution/?tab=comments#comment-56445576

 

 

It may not be suitable for YouTube or gaming though as there won’t be enough bandwidth available and is really only for email, browsing and social media.

 

to use SMS text or make calls your plan with your cellular network will likely not include cellular at sea, best check directly with sprint. The prices for cellular at sea are usually very high so I’d avoid it. If you have WhatsApp you can text using WiFi which will be better so it doesn’t use the cellular network.

 

Hope that helps.

Edited March 31, 2019 by Bretty

[kazu]

7 hours ago, kaiiak said:

Do we buy four packages or one per stateroom? 

 

If all 4 of you need to be on line at the same time, you will need to buy 4 packages.  BUT, if you are using it separately you only need one package.

 

Only one device can log on a time to the same account so basically if one person logs off another can log on with a different device.  So, it depends upon how much you plan on using it.

 

I'd recommend that before you buy more than 1 package you make sure you can do what you want with the ship's internet.  It's a satellite system so slower than at home.

[Cruise Suzy]

10 hours ago, kaiiak said:

I foresee us needing to text each other often on the ship as to where we are, meet up spots, etc. 

 

 

This can be done using the ship's free Navigator intranet - but no notification pings when a text is received. 

[VMax1700]

The middle (surf) package supports wifi calling and whatsapp calls. (Not video calls). Just tried it today.

[kaiiak]

12 hours ago, kazu said:

 

If all 4 of you need to be on line at the same time, you will need to buy 4 packages.  BUT, if you are using it separately you only need one package.

 

Only one device can log on a time to the same account so basically if one person logs off another can log on with a different device.  So, it depends upon how much you plan on using it.

 

I'd recommend that before you buy more than 1 package you make sure you can do what you want with the ship's internet.  It's a satellite system so slower than at home.

Ok thanks. Maybe we can get by with two. We won't be on constantly, but if somebody is in a different area we won't always know if we can log on. 

[kaiiak]

1 hour ago, VMax1700 said:

The middle (surf) package supports wifi calling and whatsapp calls. (Not video calls). Just tried it today.

Thanks, I don't think we will need to make many calls and definitely not video calls. Mostly texting.

[kaiiak]

9 hours ago, Cruise Suzy said:

 

 

This can be done using the ship's free Navigator intranet - but no notification pings when a text is received. 

thanks. So you just have to open up the text area on your phone and then you can see if you have any messages after you log on to the navigator? 

[kazu]

42 minutes ago, kaiiak said:

Ok thanks. Maybe we can get by with two. We won't be on constantly, but if somebody is in a different area we won't always know if we can log on. 

 

You might have to put some rules in place 😉. 

 

Two should work fine unless someone is an internet addict and isn’t enjoying the cruise, weather and scenery. 😉 

 

 

[drowelf]

56 minutes ago, kaiiak said:

Ok thanks. Maybe we can get by with two. We won't be on constantly, but if somebody is in a different area we won't always know if we can log on. 

If you try and log on to an account and a device is already connected, you will be prompted with an option to log off the other device. 

[kaiiak]

17 hours ago, kazu said:

 

You might have to put some rules in place 😉. 

 

Two should work fine unless someone is an internet addict and isn’t enjoying the cruise, weather and scenery. 😉 

 

 

My 10 year old has Autism so he can be a bit addicted to tech sometimes, especially if he is in the room.  I will probably just want to post pictures etc a bit. I'm sure we will manage, but I am a planner and like to know ahead of time what we are getting into.

[POA1]

20 hours ago, kaiiak said:

thanks. So you just have to open up the text area on your phone and then you can see if you have any messages after you log on to the navigator? 

Navigator is an intranet website and it's free. You can message other passengers, but they only see the messages if they open up Navigator. It works fine, but only if everyone is checking it regularly. We got by simply by choosing a place and time to meet. You can also leave voice mail messages on the room phones. 

[Peckishpixie]

We have an international data plan on our phone so we just checked email and such when we were in port. It was rather nice to ignore email while out at sea. For communicating on board I agree that Navigator is great. It allows you to send and receive free messages to others on board