AT&T cruise package on Carnival?

[shellster1]

Has anyone ever used this instead of the internet package CCL offers? I'll be on the Legend, transatlantic and it's important I stay connected to home.(mostly talk and text) I'm wondering which service would be more reliable. Thanks for any info!

[mz-s]

Carnival's internet package won't help you with talk and text, it's an internet plan. So AT&T's plan, if it covers talk and text, would be your best bet.

[Colorado Beach Bum]

We’ve done att plan but just for voice and text. The included data isn’t very much so also get the WiFi. If your people at home and you both have iPhones iMessage works with WiFi plan even though terms and conditions says it doesn’t. 

[Sabalon]

I was just looking at the two myself.

 

The AT&T gives you unlimited talk and text and 1G of data for $100.  Assuming you were on a 5 day cruise, Carnival would run you $105 for the same duration for the Premium plan, but then they don't list any data caps.   The social plan would be $75 for a 5 day cruise, and with it you can use facebook messenger and whatsapp for messaging (not sure about audio/video calls over those)

 

If you have FaceTime, zoom or something like that, you could do "calls" over the premium wifi.  Can do Facetime audio - less bandwidth than video calls.

 

If you all are on iPhones and use iMessage (guess Android has something similar) then you can text over that.  Also, keep in mind that if you are using something that normally goes over WiFi (such as iMessage) that will eat into whatever the limit is on the AT&T Cruise data has - so be careful about that.  May be best to turn cellular data off - don't need your phone deciding to download a huge upgrade while you sleep!!!

 

The disclaimers state that the social media plan does not support iMessage, however...   the Carnival app uses push notifications to let you know things, and those use the same servers that iMessage uses.  And since those notifications are encrypted between Apple and your phone, there is no way for Carnival to filter out to allow only theirs.    Last cruise, with no onboard wifi plan, we could do iMessage texting (until my phone decided to sign me out), I would get notifications when the garage door was opened and closed, gmail notifications, and oh yes, my favorite, notifications from work of issues at unholy hours.   I would not however rely on this!   It was hit or miss as to when they would get through, even the table notifications - my wife would get one and I'd get mine about halfway through dinner.

[ray98]

Be very careful if you get a cell provider "cruise plan".  They come with very limited data with astronomical overages, if you use your phone like you would on land you might be in for a big surprise.

[Colorado Beach Bum]

6 hours ago, ray98 said:

Be very careful if you get a cell provider "cruise plan".  They come with very limited data with astronomical overages, if you use your phone like you would on land you might be in for a big surprise.

We turn off the data and just use it for business texts and calls.  Use ship WiFi for data.  Sucks paying for both but keeps us cruising!

[pe4all]

As you have a lot of sea days, maybe use the cabin phone to call home.  It costs $1.99 a minute - but you will be surprised at how much you can say in a minute or two.  When in port we use ATT day pass - $10 for 24 hours on land (and it carries over if you are in 2 ports in a row within the 24 hours) and 2nd phone is only $5.  The value plan on CCL worked fine for texting - did not try anything else.  We were warned not to get the ATT cruise plan, as you will eat up your data very, very quickly, and get hit with a lot of expensive overage charges.(we called ATT 2x and were told same thing.)

[dlphn501]

On 3/18/2024 at 5:36 PM, mz-s said:

Carnival's internet package won't help you with talk and text, it's an internet plan. So AT&T's plan, if it covers talk and text, would be your best bet.

It does if everyone has an iphone and can use imessage.  Also works for Whatsapp and others.  I haven't used it for facetime or facebook messenger video, but others have said it works just fine.

[dlphn501]

I used the social media internet package on Elation in June, and I was able to communicate to everyone via facebook messenger and imessage no problem.  I did not try video calls, but I believe audio calls are just fine.  I have read that whatsapp works the same.  This will only work on the ship though.  If you need to use your phone in the ports, AT&T has international day pass for $10/day.  I will have social media internet on my next cruise, and I plan to use the day pass if needed in the ports (mostly just to be able to use Maps).

[mz-s]

1 hour ago, dlphn501 said:

I used the social media internet package on Elation in June, and I was able to communicate to everyone via facebook messenger and imessage no problem.  I did not try video calls, but I believe audio calls are just fine.  I have read that whatsapp works the same.  This will only work on the ship though.  If you need to use your phone in the ports, AT&T has international day pass for $10/day.  I will have social media internet on my next cruise, and I plan to use the day pass if needed in the ports (mostly just to be able to use Maps).

 

The only way to make audio calls with Carnival WiFi would be over a chat service like facebook messenger. You can't call someone's phone number over Carnival WiFi.

[dlphn501]

22 hours ago, mz-s said:

 

The only way to make audio calls with Carnival WiFi would be over a chat service like facebook messenger. You can't call someone's phone number over Carnival WiFi.

I said messenger.  Carnival states that Whatsapp also works.  I never claimed to have tried that.

[Purvis1231]

On 3/19/2024 at 10:23 AM, Colorado Beach Bum said:

We’ve done att plan but just for voice and text. The included data isn’t very much so also get the WiFi. If your people at home and you both have iPhones iMessage works with WiFi plan even though terms and conditions says it doesn’t. 

I found the iMessages did not work reliably for me. 

[cruisegus]

On 3/22/2024 at 7:31 PM, mz-s said:

 

The only way to make audio calls with Carnival WiFi would be over a chat service like facebook messenger. You can't call someone's phone number over Carnival WiFi.

I can't turn on wifi calling on my Android? 

 

It works anywhere else I have wifi access with my phone in airplane ✈️  mode and wifi calling turned on

[mz-s]

4 minutes ago, cruisegus said:

I can't turn on wifi calling on my Android? 

 

It works anywhere else I have wifi access with my phone in airplane ✈️  mode and wifi calling turned on

 

Carnival blocks wifi calling.