Couple general questions

[kona_wahine]

We are sailing the Encore Sunday and it’s been a couple years so have a couple questions. First, we have a group of 9, 5 different rooms. How does the group text chat work, I think it’s $10? We have both iPhones and android’s. Does it just go thru the NCL app? 
 

regarding dining in the regular sit down restaurants, do you have to make reservations? (Carnival you reserve thru their app)

 

thanks!

[debenson0723]

17 minutes ago, kona_wahine said:

We are sailing the Encore Sunday and it’s been a couple years so have a couple questions. First, we have a group of 9, 5 different rooms. How does the group text chat work, I think it’s $10? We have both iPhones and android’s. Does it just go thru the NCL app? 
 

regarding dining in the regular sit down restaurants, do you have to make reservations? (Carnival you reserve thru their app)

 

thanks!

The chat feature does work thru the app and is $10 per person. There are a couple of threads on here with detailed instructions that you might be able to find using the Search function.

 

With a group of 9, I would make MDR reservations once on board, Go to the location where they are making/changing reservations (I believe it is Teppanyaki on the Encore) and make them there. Manhattan room has a few tables of 10 so that would probably be the best choice.

[kona_wahine]

Ok, thank you!

[Ellis1138]

I can't guarantee this will work on the Encore, but on the Prima, after I did an initial "use up 1 minute of Free at Sea internet", I was able to use Google Voice's chat for free, even when not logged into the wifi on the ship. My phone was in airplane mode the whole time.

 

So it might be cheaper to have everyone get Google Voice chat and see if it will work.

[KDebreuil]

2 minutes ago, Ellis1138 said:

I can't guarantee this will work on the Encore, but on the Prima, after I did an initial "use up 1 minute of Free at Sea internet", I was able to use Google Voice's chat for free, even when not logged into the wifi on the ship. My phone was in airplane mode the whole time.

 

So it might be cheaper to have everyone get Google Voice chat and see if it will work.

We've had similar experiences with iMessage and being able to communicate without needing to use the internet package.

[Wayward Son]

18 hours ago, kona_wahine said:

How does the group text chat work, I think it’s $10?

 

Yes, $10 per person through the NCL app. We've used it once, and it did not give any notification or indication of a new message received. You needed to go all the way to the chat to see if you have any messages.

 

This may have have changed, and it's possible I had no clue what I was doing. 🙂

 

[Turtles06]

2 hours ago, KDebreuil said:

We've had similar experiences with iMessage and being able to communicate without needing to use the internet package.

Don’t count on that in the future. It’s the result of a tech loophole that NCL has been closing, according to many comments in this forum. 

[Turtles06]

1 hour ago, Wayward Son said:

 

Yes, $10 per person through the NCL app. We've used it once, and it did not give any notification or indication of a new message received. You needed to go all the way to the chat to see if you have any messages.

 

This may have have changed, and it's possible I had no clue what I was doing. 🙂

 

Recent comments are that there’s no audible (or vibrating) notification of a new message.  You have to check the app periodically. 

[Wayward Son]

54 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

Recent comments are that there’s no audible (or vibrating) notification of a new message.  You have to check the app periodically. 

 

Yes. Which is why I could never get a response from my wife. 😄 Getting her to check her phone manually for messages was like giving her a root canal.

 

 

[MagnoliaBlossom]

MDR reservations vary by ship.  I’ve been on ships where they gladly did it and others where they absolutely refused.  You’ll just have to checkin at restaurant reservations when you’re u get onboard.  Let us know what they say.