Staying Connected On-Board

[OrlandoDad]

As much as I would like to disconnect from the world on our upcoming cruise, it is just not an option with work obligations, possible need to communicate with dog/house sitter,  etc.

We are an iPhone family with AT&T service, traveling on Allure, for what it's worth.

Based on my research here and my understanding, it seems as simple as:

Purchase VOOM for three devices.  Put devices in Airplane mode.  Connect to VOOM once on board.

Then, we would be able to text each other ("Get to your cabin, Miss 15 year old teenager!", etc.), send and receive texts from those not on the ship, make and receive phone calls through WiFi calling and send and receive e-mails as normal.  

Easy as that?  Am I missing something or under the wrong impression?  No need to contact or purchase an "international" plan from AT&T?

Thanks!

[rtread]

7 minutes ago, OrlandoDad said:

As much as I would like to disconnect from the world on our upcoming cruise, it is just not an option with work obligations, possible need to communicate with dog/house sitter,  etc.

We are an iPhone family with AT&T service, traveling on Allure, for what it's worth.

Based on my research here and my understanding, it seems as simple as:

Purchase VOOM for three devices.  Put devices in Airplane mode.  Connect to VOOM once on board.

Then, we would be able to text each other ("Get to your cabin, Miss 15 year old teenager!", etc.), send and receive texts from those not on the ship, make and receive phone calls through WiFi calling and send and receive e-mails as normal.  

Easy as that?  Am I missing something or under the wrong impression?  No need to contact or purchase an "international" plan from AT&T?

Thanks!

I'm in the same boat (no pun intended). We will be on Liberty, have AT&T, and have exactly the same concerns except we don't have teenagers anymore. I'll be watching response. thx

[Mr. Candyman]

1 hour ago, OrlandoDad said:

As much as I would like to disconnect from the world on our upcoming cruise, it is just not an option with work obligations, possible need to communicate with dog/house sitter,  etc.

We are an iPhone family with AT&T service, traveling on Allure, for what it's worth.

Based on my research here and my understanding, it seems as simple as:

Purchase VOOM for three devices.  Put devices in Airplane mode.  Connect to VOOM once on board.

Then, we would be able to text each other ("Get to your cabin, Miss 15 year old teenager!", etc.), send and receive texts from those not on the ship, make and receive phone calls through WiFi calling and send and receive e-mails as normal.  

Easy as that?  Am I missing something or under the wrong impression?  No need to contact or purchase an "international" plan from AT&T?

Thanks!

You can use the Royal App to chat with each other while connected to the ships Wi-Fi.  I know the chat feature isn't available on all ships but you're good on Allure.  You can purchase Voom for 2 devices and just share between the 3 of you.  This way your 15 year old can communicate with her friends if you wanted her too; or do the same with a 1 device plan. 

There's no need to purchase the International plan as AT&T has an International Day Pass that is $10 a day per device but charged ONLY if you use it.  You do have to contact AT&T so they can add it to your plan or you can log onto your account and do it yourself.  I have that as a backup just in case one of us accidentally takes the phone off Airplane mode.  Here's some information: https://www.att.com/offers/international-plans/day-pass.html

Also make sure you have your phones set up for Wi-Fi calling before you leave home and test it . The phones need to have an address set in case of dialing 911, which is why it can't be done on the  ship.  

 

[Lovetocruise2002]

2 hours ago, OrlandoDad said:

Purchase VOOM for three devices.  Put devices in Airplane mode.  Connect to VOOM once on board.

Then, we would be able to text each other ("Get to your cabin, Miss 15 year old teenager!", etc.), send and receive texts from those not on the ship, make and receive phone calls through WiFi calling and send and receive e-mails as normal.  

Easy as that?  Am I missing something or under the wrong impression?  No need to contact or purchase an "international" plan from AT&T?

Yes.  It pretty much is as easy as that.  The most important thing there is to put your phone in airplane mode.

When we cruise with our two girls, we usually get VOOM for 2 devices and share it.  However, now the girls are getting older and going off on their own more often.  If you anticipate that separation with your 15 year old, then I would suggest getting a 3 device plan.  This is what we have decided to do for our next cruise on Anthem.  VOOM Surf & Stream will allow you to do all that you listed above.  

When we don't travel with our kids, we use VOOM to call and message them over wifi.  Works fine, even on non-Oasis class ships (YMMV).

As @Mr. Candyman mentioned, the app also has a chat feature now but I am not sure how reliable it is.  My experience with it is that it is not very reliable.  Again, YMMV here.  If it were me, I would go with VOOM for 2-3 devices.

[spiralqueen]

4 hours ago, OrlandoDad said:

As much as I would like to disconnect from the world on our upcoming cruise, it is just not an option with work obligations, possible need to communicate with dog/house sitter,  etc.

We are an iPhone family with AT&T service, traveling on Allure, for what it's worth.

Based on my research here and my understanding, it seems as simple as:

Purchase VOOM for three devices.  Put devices in Airplane mode.  Connect to VOOM once on board.

Then, we would be able to text each other ("Get to your cabin, Miss 15 year old teenager!", etc.), send and receive texts from those not on the ship, make and receive phone calls through WiFi calling and send and receive e-mails as normal.  

Easy as that?  Am I missing something or under the wrong impression?  No need to contact or purchase an "international" plan from AT&T?

Thanks!

Exactly. And IMO I wouldn’t bother using the messaging through the app if you all are getting Voom and you all have iPhones since it’s MUCH easier to just text as you normally do through iMessaging and not worry about the app possibly not sending you a notification about new messages. I had an AT&T iPhone connected to Voom with WiFi calling enabled and was able to email, text (other iPhones) and call (anyone) like normal as long as I was connected to WiFi. 

[mom2mybugs]

The app was not great on allure in March but Facebook messenger worked great.  We functioned with 1 device but never again... My 16 year old kept booting me off.  We are sharing 2 devices btw the 3 of us this summer in Europe... My husband is never in anyway!  Jane

[Guest toodle68]

On a recent cruise there was 6 of us and we just purchased 1 connection. For communication, we just always set a meet time/place for events and never had an issue. We disconnect as much as possible when on board and the 4 adult kids in our party ended up enjoying no internet for a week. 

[OrlandoDad]

5 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Yes.  It pretty much is as easy as that.  The most important thing there is to put your phone in airplane mode.

When we cruise with our two girls, we usually get VOOM for 2 devices and share it.  However, now the girls are getting older and going off on their own more often.  If you anticipate that separation with your 15 year old, then I would suggest getting a 3 device plan.  This is what we have decided to do for our next cruise on Anthem.  VOOM Surf & Stream will allow you to do all that you listed above.  

When we don't travel with our kids, we use VOOM to call and message them over wifi.  Works fine, even on non-Oasis class ships (YMMV).

As @Mr. Candyman mentioned, the app also has a chat feature now but I am not sure how reliable it is.  My experience with it is that it is not very reliable.  Again, YMMV here.  If it were me, I would go with VOOM for 2-3 devices.

Thank You!

 I believe I have an understanding of the RCL App Chat feature, but would rather not leave reliability and set up issues (installing app on others phones) to chance while boarding the ship.  Plus, as I mentioned, I will need more than just the ability to contact my party on board.

[OrlandoDad]

2 hours ago, spiralqueen said:

Exactly. And IMO I wouldn’t bother using the messaging through the app if you all are getting Voom and you all have iPhones since it’s MUCH easier to just text as you normally do through iMessaging and not worry about the app possibly not sending you a notification about new messages. I had an AT&T iPhone connected to Voom with WiFi calling enabled and was able to email, text (other iPhones) and call (anyone) like normal as long as I was connected to WiFi. 

Thank You so much for this info!  I was hoping the texting would be as you normally do with the iPhones.   And thanks for the feedback on email, calling, etc.  I will need those features for sure.

[Lovetocruise2002]

1 hour ago, OrlandoDad said:

I will need more than just the ability to contact my party on board.

This is the exact reason why we purchased VOOM for 3 devices this time for our Anthem Group Cruise.  I expect that I will ditch my kids once in a while to hang with @Matt and the gang and I have to be able to keep tabs on where my daughters will be.  That means we all need a code.

[Mr. Candyman]

1 hour ago, OrlandoDad said:

Thank You!

 I believe I have an understanding of the RCL App Chat feature, but would rather not leave reliability and set up issues (installing app on others phones) to chance while boarding the ship.  Plus, as I mentioned, I will need more than just the ability to contact my party on board.

I heard the app now has push notifications so we'll see in 98 days.  They're continually working on it so hopefully it will be better by my sailing.  And as you said, I'm not relying on it, and I need to do more than chat amongst us so I have the Voom packages already purchased.  

[OrlandoDad]

Just reporting back that VOOM and iPhones in airplane mode worked perfectly....except my teenage daughter complaining about WiFi speeds from time to time.  

E-mailing, texting (both those on and off the ship), phone calls over WiFi calling...no problem....and no additional charges from AT&T or worries about pre-purchasing the 'cruise package'.

[BrewerJoe]

On 5/26/2019 at 3:45 PM, Mr. Candyman said:

I heard the app now has push notifications so we'll see in 98 days. 

Awesome, this is the first I've heard this.  I'd love to hear confirmation of this feature if anyone has the info.  We're cruising w/ my 2 teens on Harmony, so are hoping to use the app for chat without needing to purchase internet.  Push notifications would make things a lot easier instead of having to rely on them to check the app every so often.

[mom2mybugs]

6 minutes ago, BrewerJoe said:

Awesome, this is the first I've heard this.  I'd love to hear confirmation of this feature if anyone has the info.  We're cruising w/ my 2 teens on Harmony, so are hoping to use the app for chat without needing to purchase internet.  Push notifications would make things a lot easier instead of having to rely on them to check the app every so often.

There were push notifications when I was on Allure in March.  However the chat on the app as a whole was very inconsistent, both with the push notifications and the messages actually going through.  We had 1 device voom and ended up just using Facebook messenger and bumping the other person to check if there was a message.  We mostly just sent old school though on most of our cruises... Check in at this or this time, let us know when you will be doing x, etc.  We haven't lost them yet!  Jane

[OPads67]

I'm going on the Adventure of the Seas in August with my family.  We have 2 - 18 year olds who are going to want to explore away from the family.  Is there an app that we can use that works with the ship's wifi and that we won't get charged for?  Such as What's App or something like that?

The Royal IQ works only on a few ships and does not include the Adventure of the Seas.

I don't want to really pay for the Wifi because it's so expensive and all we need it is for texting anyway.

Suggestions???

Thanks in advance.  

[twangster]

14 minutes ago, OPads67 said:

I'm going on the Adventure of the Seas in August with my family.  We have 2 - 18 year olds who are going to want to explore away from the family.  Is there an app that we can use that works with the ship's wifi and that we won't get charged for?  Such as What's App or something like that?

The Royal IQ works only on a few ships and does not include the Adventure of the Seas.

I don't want to really pay for the Wifi because it's so expensive and all we need it is for texting anyway.

Suggestions???

Thanks in advance.  

Not on Adventure.  Until the new app rolls out the texting capability you'll need other means to keep in touch.  

[ChessE4]

We found we could leave notes on the stateroom door with magnets, e.g., stating meeting time and place.  That way son and girlfriend could do their thing and still meet us for a show or dinner.  Yes, it's old school, but it's cheap.

[RTripp]

HI all, we did HOTS last week. 8 days and VOOM was DOWN two days and unreliable the rest of the time. We could not connect with each other and spent allot of time trying to catch where eachother was or going, I forgot I had a dry erase board in the room. There are phones near the elevators, so you can call back to the Staterooms. I would recommend to PRINT OUT your daily planner and toss as you go through your day, or take a picture of you plans each day  to share with friends since NO  internet.  Then Young Adults attend the things you paid for and everyone in your group is aware of where you will be at one point in the day. When VOOM was down, EVERYTHING was down, HOTS could not determine dining scheduled for anyone it was a cluster of grapes... I had my print outs and had to PROVE I booked dinner times and excursions I paid for (Rubicon). I requested and received two days of VOOM back.