Majestic Wi Fi / Internet / Cell phone

[Tedferg]

Please remind me how Wi Fi etc. works onboard. I guess ships Intranet allows you to communicate with others onboard, but can you get out to Internet? How about Cell Phone calls, can these be made over WiFi?

 

I have seen instruction to use Airplane mode - how does this work?

[curmudgeon98]

There is wifi on board that everyone can use, but it is pretty much limited to the "medallion app".  To have internet access, you have to have an internet plan, either purchased separately or as part of "princess plus".  With internet access you can surf the web (sometimes more slowly than others).  IF your phone is set up for wifi calling, you can make calls via your internet plan, but be very careful because there is also the "cellular at sea" calling that your phone may connect to which is $4 per minute!.  That's why the comment is to put your phone in airplane mode, then enable wifi only.

[Moondogy]

5 hours ago, Tedferg said:

Please remind me how Wi Fi etc. works onboard. I guess ships Intranet allows you to communicate with others onboard, but can you get out to Internet? How about Cell Phone calls, can these be made over WiFi?

 

I have seen instruction to use Airplane mode - how does this work?

You will need to purchase an internet package. At this point yes you can reach the internet. Most newer cellphones can do wifi calling called voip. I would recommend contacting your cell provider to make sure this can be done with your phone. I would also make sure if it is possible to also turn off roaming to be safe, I have seen reports of still being charged. Hope this little bit helps instead of confusing you even more 🤣

Edited March 28, 2022 by Moondogy
spelling

[WAvoyager]

ATT indicates they support WiFi calling, so you should be able to use a compatible phone (need to check with your carrier on your specific model), connect to WiFi, and transmit your portion of the call via the WiFi connection.  The call data then is carried over the internet as a VOIP (voice over IP) call to ATT.  ATT then converts the data stream to a regular call over their network.  Works in “reverse” for receiving a call. Texts should also be supported on ATT I believe.

 

The critical part is telling your phone to only communicate via WiFi, and NOT to connect to the ship (or shore bound) cellular service, which can hit you with roaming and data fees.  As others have noted, you have to have WiFi access via one of Princesses plans, and the ship has to have decent WiFi connectivity to the internet (can be a problem on some sailings).

Here are some instructions - iPhone based, but pretty universal:

 

• Go to Settings>Phone and turn on wifi calling
• Go into Settings and turn on Airplane Mode
• Go into Settings>Wi-Fi and turn wifi back to ON
• Go to Settings>Bluetooth and turn bluetooth ON (optional - only needed if you’re using Bluetooth for anything like headphones, etc)

Here’s some info from ATT: https://www.att.com/features/wifi-calling/

Edited March 28, 2022 by WAvoyager

[Centsless_Cruiser]

As a recent passenger on the Majestic (12-19 March CA Coastal) most of the information provided above is what you need (Princess Internet Package, Phone in Airplane mode and WiFi turned on and connected to Internet (AKA MedallionNet)) you can use the phone to make WiFi calls.

 

One issue missing in the list above is quality of the Internet signal.  Princess's MedallionNet is normally very good however on our last cruise it was generally very bad and most of the time did not support WiFi calling (constant drops and reconnects) so keep this in mind if it is very important to you.

 

[Tedferg]

Thanks for prompt and informative responses. We do have Plus package and itinerary is Mexico, so reception should be OK versus Alaskan itineraries.

 

I think I understand a bit better. I had heard about Airplane mode but thought that meant you were then incommunicado.

[Centsless_Cruiser]

33 minutes ago, Tedferg said:

Thanks for prompt and informative responses. We do have Plus package and itinerary is Mexico, so reception should be OK versus Alaskan itineraries.

 

I think I understand a bit better. I had heard about Airplane mode but thought that meant you were then incommunicado.

Your Mileage May Vary but our CA Coastal itinerary went as far south as Ensenada and that was one of our worst days for Internet.  Hopefully this is some type of technical issue with MedallionNet and it will be fixed soon and back to its incredible speed.

 

[RMMariner]

3 hours ago, Centsless_Cruiser said:

 

 

One issue missing in the list above is quality of the Internet signal.  Princess's MedallionNet is normally very good however on our last cruise it was generally very bad and most of the time did not support WiFi calling (constant drops and reconnects) so keep this in mind if it is very important to you.

 

We were in the same cruise and the one after. Internet was not good on the first leg and even worse on the March 19 leg. Adding 700 more passengers for the the second leg made the internet almost unusable at times.

[Mike45LC]

5 hours ago, RMMariner said:

We were in the same cruise and the one after. Internet was not good on the first leg and even worse on the March 19 leg. Adding 700 more passengers for the the second leg made the internet almost unusable at times.

For me, on the March 19 Mexican Riveria cruise, the connectivity was worse than the old 300 baud modems from the 1970s, when it took several minutes for a page to load -- slow enough that you would time out before the page ever loaded.  It was much worse than "almost unusable at times."  It was completely unusable except for when we were in port and we could use our phones instead of the Princess WiFi.

 

[Loveh2ofl]

On 3/28/2022 at 7:32 AM, WAvoyager said:

ATT indicates they support WiFi calling, so you should be able to use a compatible phone (need to check with your carrier on your specific model), connect to WiFi, and transmit your portion of the call via the WiFi connection.  The call data then is carried over the internet as a VOIP (voice over IP) call to ATT.  ATT then converts the data stream to a regular call over their network.  Works in “reverse” for receiving a call. Texts should also be supported on ATT I believe.

 

The critical part is telling your phone to only communicate via WiFi, and NOT to connect to the ship (or shore bound) cellular service, which can hit you with roaming and data fees.  As others have noted, you have to have WiFi access via one of Princesses plans, and the ship has to have decent WiFi connectivity to the internet (can be a problem on some sailings).

Here are some instructions - iPhone based, but pretty universal:

 

• Go to Settings>Phone and turn on wifi calling
• Go into Settings and turn on Airplane Mode
• Go into Settings>Wi-Fi and turn wifi back to ON
• Go to Settings>Bluetooth and turn bluetooth ON (optional - only needed if you’re using Bluetooth for anything like headphones, etc)

Here’s some info from ATT: https://www.att.com/features/wifi-calling/

My party was on Enchanted Princess in Dec 2021 - my brother and I have ATT service and our phones support wifi calling and we have both used it 'on land' and know our plans and phones support it.  My husband has Verizon with wifi calling supported on his phone.  He was able to make wifi calls;  my brother and I were unable.  Medallion Net was great - so it wasn't internet performance.  The internet desk was unable to assist my brother when he inquired there. 

 

I will try again on my next cruise but not counting on it.