Texting Onboard

[Wanna_Cruize]

Just recently went on a cruise with family and used the chat function to coordinate stuff. Here's some tips:

1) Definitely remind everyone to download the Hub app before boarding the ship. Otherwise, you have to use cellular data to download it onboard. 

2) Once onboard, the best way to start is first put your phone in Airplane mode, then connect to Carnival WiFi, and THEN launch the Hub app

3) In order to set up the chat feature, you needed the folio number. Because the cards are now at the stateroom door, unless priority, they had to wait until the cabins were available. I tried to get everyone set up at lunch is how we discovered it. However, we were able to get the app set up with just the booking number. It's just connecting with all the people on the chat. 

4) When setting up the chat, you have to request access from the other people by finding them by name in the list and clicking a Request button. If they had the app up and running, it was pretty fast. However, if not, sometimes it didn't arrive, and had to be requested again. 

5) Like many said, you have the have the app running in the background to get chat messages, and event reminders. You even are warned when you close the app about this. However, occasionally I did have to help some people reset it completely if it wasn't working. Probably doesn't hurt to restart it fresh at least each morning. 

 

DH & I are going on a quick 3-day on Friday, so I'll re-test some things. I'm wondering if it is all set up with your booking number prior to boarding, will it connect automatically once onboard and not require the folio number. I'll update the list here if I got anything wrong. 

[mafiadon]

On 1/13/2020 at 6:45 PM, Kwaj girl said:

PUT THE PHONES AWAY!   You are on a cruise.  Live the life. Catch up with them at dinner.

Some of us have responsibilities to keep in touch with elderly family members. My mother is 93 and in a nursing home and not in the greatest health. I need to know how she is doing and can't just ignore and put the phone down

[2wheelin]

If you log in and set up ahead of time, you will still need the folio number for chat.

We also occasionally had to log off and sign in again when it would hang up.

Guest services was very willing to download the app for those who had not done it or were having problems. They allowed short term connection to internet to do it.

[coevan]

54 minutes ago, 2wheelin said:

They allowed short term connection to internet to do it.

 

 

They use the same internet as guests. Unless it's an upgraded system, could take a while to download

[Mavrick_RN]

1 hour ago, mafiadon said:

Some of us have responsibilities to keep in touch with elderly family members. My mother is 93 and in a nursing home and not in the greatest health. I need to know how she is doing and can't just ignore and put the phone down

Things will happen whether you are aware of them or not.  I think the point is to take advantage of the opportunity for enjoyment of the moment that you purchased with your hard earned dollars.  You ruin things you do have control over by worrying about things you don't.

 

However, if you want to spend precious cruise moments fidgeting over your phone, be my guest.  Just be sure to wash your hands.

[Mavrick_RN]

On 1/13/2020 at 3:11 PM, crzndeb said:

Download the app before you sail.

 

Hey Lynnwood Girl,

Won't it be fun to leave this little Pacific Northwest snowfest behind?  I texted a picture of my snow covered  Mountlake Terrace home to some friends in the Midwest.  And I fully intend to follow that up with a pic of my toes buried in the sand of some warm Honduran beach.

 

Hope you have a cruise to look forward to soon.

[jdemps]

5 hours ago, dmdiver said:

Yes that’s what I meant as well. The first time I used it, I kept closing it so as not to use up my battery. As a result, I did t know when my friends were trying to meet up. 

This is my same habit for saving battery on the phone, close all apps when I lay it down.  I will try to remember to leave it open and see if it works better for us.  Thanks for the tips!

[Organized Chaos]

6 hours ago, dmdiver said:

Yes that’s what I meant as well. The first time I used it, I kept closing it so as not to use up my battery. As a result, I did t know when my friends were trying to meet up. 

 

Sorry, I hope neither you nor PrincessArlena'sDad felt like I was stepping on your toes. I spend a lot of time helping people who aren't very tech savvy with their modern devices. Family, friends, and the people they point in my direction for help. 🙂 So when jdemps said they were a "tech noob" and didn't quite understand, I just wanted to word it in a way I thought would help them understand. Force of habit.

[2wheelin]

5 hours ago, coevan said:

 

 

They use the same internet as guests. Unless it's an upgraded system, could take a while to download

Yup, that’s a good 45 seconds I’ll never get back.

[matymil]

On 1/13/2020 at 6:45 PM, Kwaj girl said:

PUT THE PHONES AWAY!   You are on a cruise.  Live the life. Catch up with them at dinner.

Weird how in no part of the OP did it ask for an opinion on texting on board, or your opinion specifically yet you still felt in necessary to interject it. Must of missed that part 

[matymil]

We loved it. Never had any issues and it made it super easy to meet up with some of the people we got to know on board. Wouldn't cruise again without it. We got it on several ships; I don't think we ever had any problems with it eating up the battery or anything. Not sure how the internet is on the freedom but the Vista and Sunshine were greatly improved. I talked to a tech guy that worked on the ship and he said eventually they were going to try and get the same tech fleet wide, not sure if that ever happened or not. 

[dmdiver]

No, Chaos, my toes are just fine. All over these boards people say a lot of the same things in different ways. While some people may not like it, bottom line is that one of the ways an answer is presented will be exactly what someone needs to understand. Especially with technology, people are at so many different levels of understanding that sometimes it takes saying things in different ways. 

[Wanna_Cruize]

Onboard Inspiration right now. I had the Hub app doing the countdown, so when I launched it I had to hit the Logout button in order to get the prompt "I'm Already Onboard". Prompted me to put phone in Airplane mode & attached to Carnival Wifi (NO need for a purchased internet plan). Then it asked for my folio number and birthdate. Easy peasy!

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

38 minutes ago, Wanna_Cruize said:

Onboard Inspiration right now. I had the Hub app doing the countdown, so when I launched it I had to hit the Logout button in order to get the prompt "I'm Already Onboard". Prompted me to put phone in Airplane mode & attached to Carnival Wifi (NO need for a purchased internet plan). Then it asked for my folio number and birthdate. Easy peasy!

Have fun! Thanks for the update. 

 

So you have to wait to get your room keys to sign up for chat? 

[mafiadon]

On 1/15/2020 at 5:24 PM, Mavrick_RN said:

Things will happen whether you are aware of them or not.  I think the point is to take advantage of the opportunity for enjoyment of the moment that you purchased with your hard earned dollars.  You ruin things you do have control over by worrying about things you don't.

 

However, if you want to spend precious cruise moments fidgeting over your phone, be my guest.  Just be sure to wash your hands.

I don't spend all my time on my phone but I do want to have access if something should happen to my mother or my family, unlike you. My cruise, my dollars and my responsibility, you do your cruise and I'll do mine and please don't worry about my hands I'd be more worried where your's had been. 

[Organized Chaos]

30 minutes ago, PrincessArlena'sDad said:

Have fun! Thanks for the update. 

 

So you have to wait to get your room keys to sign up for chat? 

 

You bring up a good point. We need our folio number to sign into the Hub app to be able to use all the onboard features, not just chat. And the folio number is on our S&S cards. I never thought about that because anytime we've ever used the app, we've had FTTF, so got our S&S cards right away. I'm sure Guest Services could give you your folio number, but since most everyone has their S&S cards by 1:30, it's not too long of a wait. You don't really need the Hub app right away.

[coevan]

and guest services is a zoo on the first day

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

1 hour ago, Organized Chaos said:

 

You bring up a good point. We need our folio number to sign into the Hub app to be able to use all the onboard features, not just chat. And the folio number is on our S&S cards. I never thought about that because anytime we've ever used the app, we've had FTTF, so got our S&S cards right away. I'm sure Guest Services could give you your folio number, but since most everyone has their S&S cards by 1:30, it's not too long of a wait. You don't really need the Hub app right away.

Our cruise this summer is our first one without FTTF.  It’s a Journey cruise.

 

We like to set up the chat while at lunch.  Then, when we’re done, the kids can go off and explore on their own.  I guess we’ll have to keep kids with us until rooms are ready, and then set up chat before they head out.  Not a big deal. 

 

We have medical equipment, so we’ll miss not being able to drop it off before lunch.  And, we’re not going to go explore the ship before the room is ready, so kids will have to sit around with us old fogeys until 1:30, watching us sip our DOTDs.

[Wanna_Cruize]

I just experimented a bit on my phone, by logging out of the app completely. I made sure to put it in Airplane Mode and connected to Carnival Wifi, and launched Hub app again. Insted of clicking on the "I'm onboard" link, I clicked to Enter with Booking number. On the next screen, I had to enter the Booking number, Last Name, Birthdate, Ship Name and Sailing Date and clicked Continue. It gave me a "Welcome On Board" screen, with an "I AM READY" button to continue. Once I did that, I was in the app, without having to enter my folio number. This may work for you. I was trying to remember how I did manage to get a couple of people ready before they had gotten to their cabins, and this must have been it.  

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

2 minutes ago, Wanna_Cruize said:

I just experimented a bit on my phone, by logging out of the app completely. I made sure to put it in Airplane Mode and connected to Carnival Wifi, and launched Hub app again. Insted of clicking on the "I'm onboard" link, I clicked to Enter with Booking number. On the next screen, I had to enter the Booking number, Last Name, Birthdate, Ship Name and Sailing Date and clicked Continue. It gave me a "Welcome On Board" screen, with an "I AM READY" button to continue. Once I did that, I was in the app, without having to enter my folio number. This may work for you. I was trying to remember how I did manage to get a couple of people ready before they had gotten to their cabins, and this must have been it.  

Thanks! This is perfect.

 

Hope I can remember all that come August.  Wish I didn’t have to wait that long to cruise...

 

Enjoy your trip!  

[@homeinok]

If you get the internet package just use facebook messenger.  

[Eli_6]

On 1/13/2020 at 5:55 PM, nydney1 said:

On our last trip the texting worked just Ok if it was person to person, Group texting did not work at all.

 

The texting feature is great for parents as kids start to go off on their own.

We were on the Vista at Christmas and had the same problem.  Group chat didn't work at all and chatting even between two people only worked about half the time. 

[dmdiver]

Hmmm, we had no issues on Vista back in May even with group chat.  I wonder why sometimes there are issues and sometimes not.  I suppose the amount of traffic could be a factor - kind of like when you try to use your phone at an outdoor concert venue - it gets really slow.

[2wheelin]

On 1/17/2020 at 6:29 PM, PrincessArlena'sDad said:

Our cruise this summer is our first one without FTTF.  It’s a Journey cruise.

 

We like to set up the chat while at lunch.  Then, when we’re done, the kids can go off and explore on their own.  I guess we’ll have to keep kids with us until rooms are ready, and then set up chat before they head out.  Not a big deal. 

 

We have medical equipment, so we’ll miss not being able to drop it off before lunch.  And, we’re not going to go explore the ship before the room is ready, so kids will have to sit around with us old fogeys until 1:30, watching us sip our DOTDs.

You can’t just send the kids off and tell them to come to the cabin at 1:30? If they are responsible enough to explore on their own with the app, they should be able to do it for an hour without it.

[coevan]

58 minutes ago, dmdiver said:

Hmmm, we had no issues on Vista back in May even with group chat.  I wonder why sometimes there are issues and sometimes not.  I suppose the amount of traffic could be a factor - kind of like when you try to use your phone at an outdoor concert venue - it gets really slow.

 

 

sometimes it's user error as well, last 3 B2B , always worked well.