PineappleT Posted November 1, 2021 Report Share Posted November 1, 2021 We will be on Harmony in December 2021. I originally heard that the chat feature on the app would be free. When I contacted Royal a few days ago, I was told that the chat feature on the app is $1.99 per person per day. Does anyone know which is correct? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Posted November 1, 2021 Report Share Posted November 1, 2021 18 minutes ago, PineappleT said: We will be on Harmony in December 2021. I originally heard that the chat feature on the app would be free. When I contacted Royal a few days ago, I was told that the chat feature on the app is $1.99 per person per day. Does anyone know which is correct? It's $1.99 per person, per day MattG 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PineappleT Posted November 17, 2021 Author Report Share Posted November 17, 2021 Based on the Q&A from a few days ago, has it been determined if the App Chat will be free or still $1.99 per person per day? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Posted November 18, 2021 Report Share Posted November 18, 2021 21 hours ago, PineappleT said: Based on the Q&A from a few days ago, has it been determined if the App Chat will be free or still $1.99 per person per day? It still costs money right now, but maybe some day soon it will go to free Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phillip Diamond Plus Posted December 7, 2021 Report Share Posted December 7, 2021 We just go off the Allure. We had purchased Surf the Stream packages and were surprised that the Chat feature cost about $2 a day for each of us. That would have been over $30 in addition to our surf and stream package price. We, therefore, did not get Chat. Chat was supposed to be for passengers to be able to contact not only family members, but also others on board that you meet. So, in order to use Chat, everyone would need to pay this fee. So the feature that we were looking forward to having is pretty much worthless. Royal Caribbean needs to make it free so that everyone could enjoy contacting others on board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Posted December 7, 2021 Report Share Posted December 7, 2021 2 hours ago, Phillip Diamond Plus said: Royal Caribbean needs to make it free so that everyone could enjoy contacting others on board. Royal says they will make it free (although who knows when) https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2021/11/15/royal-caribbean-ceo-talks-double-points-return-capacity-numbers-masks-and-more bazingau 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atlantix2000 Posted December 8, 2021 Report Share Posted December 8, 2021 8 hours ago, Phillip Diamond Plus said: We just go off the Allure. We had purchased Surf the Stream packages and were surprised that the Chat feature cost about $2 a day for each of us. That would have been over $30 in addition to our surf and stream package price. We, therefore, did not get Chat. Chat was supposed to be for passengers to be able to contact not only family members, but also others on board that you meet. So, in order to use Chat, everyone would need to pay this fee. So the feature that we were looking forward to having is pretty much worthless. Royal Caribbean needs to make it free so that everyone could enjoy contacting others on board. If you've got the Surf and Stream Voom package, you can use any messaging app including plain old texts (if you have WiFi Calling enabled) to contact people on board (whether your family or those you just met), at home, or anywhere else in the world. The chat feature in Royal's app is only useful for contacting people on board that don't have/want/need any other form of internet. So while not worthless, it's only going to be useful to a minority of the people on board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted December 8, 2021 Report Share Posted December 8, 2021 Like so many things in cruising making something included doesn't eliminate the costs associated with the service. The technology, software and hardware required to make chat work cost them real money. I have no use for chat on board. Many people dislike carrying a device with the on board. They don't need or want it either. If they aren't going to charge to recoup the costs then everyone will have pay higher base fares to include it on a complimentary basis. I do NOT want to pay more for my cruise so someone else can use something I have no use for. I have no issue with them charging for chat. Royal is not all inclusive. Drinks, wifi, specialty dining all costs extra. Those that want those things have the choice to pay for them, as it should be. SebagoSue, WAAAYTOOO and wordell1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leesam82 Posted December 8, 2021 Report Share Posted December 8, 2021 33 minutes ago, twangster said: Like so many things in cruising making something included doesn't eliminate the costs associated with the service. The technology, software and hardware required to make chat work cost them real money. I have no use for chat on board. Many people dislike carrying a device with the on board. They don't need or want it either. If they aren't going to charge to recoup the costs then everyone will have pay higher base fares to include it on a complimentary basis. I do NOT want to pay more for my cruise so someone else can use something I have no use for. I have no issue with them charging for chat. Royal is not all inclusive. Drinks, wifi, specialty dining all costs extra. Those that want those things have the choice to pay for them, as it should be. Although I can understand charging for the chat feature, I think some guests had a hard time with idea of paying for something that they had not previously paid for. This was the same when the north star on my anthem ots sailing was a paid experience on sea days. For myself because I do try to disconnect from the outside world I don't purchase the voom internet for my device. However I would utilize the in app chat feature. The only thing I found annoying about purchasing the feature is that you are forced to pay the full purchase price for feature no matter what time in the sailing you purchase it. So if you bought it day one you pay the full price and if you bought on the last day of your sailing you will still pay the full price. I think RCL would be better served to either prorate the price so that you start paying for the service when it is activated. If RCL really does want guests to buy day one, then offer some incentives through the cruise planner or the app such as discounted rates if you purchase for the full cruise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted December 8, 2021 Report Share Posted December 8, 2021 11 minutes ago, leesam82 said: Although I can understand charging for the chat feature, I think some guests had a hard time with idea of paying for something that they had not previously paid for. This was the same when the north star on my anthem ots sailing was a paid experience on sea days. For myself because I do try to disconnect from the outside world I don't purchase the voom internet for my device. However I would utilize the in app chat feature. The only thing I found annoying about purchasing the feature is that you are forced to pay the full purchase price for feature no matter what time in the sailing you purchase it. So if you bought it day one you pay the full price and if you bought on the last day of your sailing you will still pay the full price. I think RCL would be better served to either prorate the price so that you start paying for the service when it is activated. If RCL really does want guests to buy day one, then offer some incentives through the cruise planner or the app such as discounted rates if you purchase for the full cruise. Chat was only free when it was being beta tested on Allure and later on Harmony. Chat has never been a non-beta feature in the new app and it wasn't free on RoyalIQ app ships back in the day either. Agree on the pro-rated aspect but it wasn't prorated on RoyalIQ app ships either. It was charged as a one time flat rate fee for the full cruise. It was $7.95 per person per cruise IIRC so the daily fee in the new app is just a way to increase the price and hope no one thinks about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPS Posted January 2, 2022 Report Share Posted January 2, 2022 Giving this thread a bump for a couple questions. Is the app chat feature only available for purchase once on board? I have not seen anywhere in the cruise planner where it can be purchased ahead of time. Does the chat feature need to be purchased daily on board or is it purchased for the duration of the cruise? (i.e. $13.93pp for a 7-night cruise) We are on Odyssey in 4 weeks and think that with a ship that size, we may need a way to find each other now and then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrznTxn Posted January 2, 2022 Report Share Posted January 2, 2022 29 minutes ago, SPS said: Giving this thread a bump for a couple questions. Is the app chat feature only available for purchase once on board? I have not seen anywhere in the cruise planner where it can be purchased ahead of time. Does the chat feature need to be purchased daily on board or is it purchased for the duration of the cruise? (i.e. $13.93pp for a 7-night cruise) We are on Odyssey in 4 weeks and think that with a ship that size, we may need a way to find each other now and then. It is purchased once on board and it is for the duration of the cruise. Yes the $1.99 per day is a per device charge so if you have 4 devices you want to chat between it is $13.93 per device (4 x $13.93). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachmama Posted January 3, 2022 Report Share Posted January 3, 2022 We avoided the $1.99/day/pp fee by using Facebook Messenger (for three three adults cruising) and WhatsApp (when we needed to call home) to communicate. We bought surf & stream during a good black Friday sale and we didn't have a need to chat with other guests on board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karl_nj Posted January 3, 2022 Report Share Posted January 3, 2022 The chat feature is "included" on Celebrity (they basically use the same exact app that Royal uses), but I wasn't very impressed. There didn't seem to be notifications of getting messages... or if there were supposed to be, it didn't really work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokeybandit Posted January 3, 2022 Report Share Posted January 3, 2022 21 hours ago, beachmama said: We avoided the $1.99/day/pp fee by using Facebook Messenger (for three three adults cruising) and WhatsApp (when we needed to call home) to communicate. We bought surf & stream during a good black Friday sale and we didn't have a need to chat with other guests on board. It'd be the other way around. You'd avoid getting an internet package by paying just the $1.99 to message others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPS Posted January 4, 2022 Report Share Posted January 4, 2022 15 hours ago, smokeybandit said: On 1/2/2022 at 7:58 PM, beachmama said: We avoided the $1.99/day/pp fee by using Facebook Messenger (for three three adults cruising) and WhatsApp (when we needed to call home) to communicate. We bought surf & stream during a good black Friday sale and we didn't have a need to chat with other guests on board. It'd be the other way around. You'd avoid getting an internet package by paying just the $1.99 to message others. THIS is exactly why I'm interested in the chat feature instead of using another messaging app. We don't buy any of the internet packages. We like to be unplugged during our cruises. My wife and I will want the chat feature to track each other down when needed instead of leaving a note in the stateroom in the hopes the other will stop by. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atlantix2000 Posted January 4, 2022 Report Share Posted January 4, 2022 The app chat feature (and its fee) is definitely aimed at those cruisers that don't want an internet package. I cannot think of a reason anyone would purchase both unless they don't really understand the options. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted January 4, 2022 Report Share Posted January 4, 2022 34 minutes ago, Atlantix2000 said: The app chat feature (and its fee) is definitely aimed at those cruisers that don't want an internet package. I cannot think of a reason anyone would purchase both unless they don't really understand the options. If a friend or family member is on board and only buys the app chat, you are kinda stuck buying the app chat even if you have Voom, if you want to communicate with them. A family of four might all get the app chat but then mom or dad want the internet too, so they have to get both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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