Communicating on the boat

[GolfingDawg]

I’m trying to figure out what is the easiest way to communicate with other family members while on the boat. I know RC has a chat feature on the app but you have to pay for that. I’ve been told that you don’t even get notifications that you have a message on the chat. Obviously you can pay for the internet and use apps like WhatsApp to communicate. I also thought about just getting some walkie talkies. 

[Matt]

Check out this article for options: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2022/02/24/how-communicate-someone-cruise-ship

[Psycho and Barb]

3 hours ago, GolfingDawg said:

 I also thought about just getting some walkie talkies. 

Good luck with that.  We tried it once...Didn't matter what channel we tried people stepped all over us and some were just rude.  Some people like the dry erase board on the door...It can be inconvenient to have to run back to a room to leave or get a message.  We just get one internet package and share it.  Barb will log on and send me a text message and I will log on to check for messages...Without be logged on we don't get notifications but it works for us.

[HeWhoWaits]

We typically discuss what each of us plans to do each day as we peruse the Cruise Compass the previous evening. If one of us changes plans during the day, we'll leave a note (in stateroom or on the door). We usually designate a few specific times during the day that we will meet at a particular location if we're doing vastly different things but we're always able to locate each other without any "new-fangled fancy technology stuff."

Yes, sounding like the old guy yelling "Hey! You kids get offa my lawn!" was intentional there.

[Cruiser79]

For those that have used Voom and the app chat feature, which do you recommend and why? So glad this question was asked as we were wondering the same thing. 

[MeaganCM13]

I thought the chat through the app could be used with the ships wifi no need to buy a package?

[twangster]

1 hour ago, MeaganCM13 said:

I thought the chat through the app could be used with the ships wifi no need to buy a package?

It can, as long as everyone buys it.  That includes someone who bought a Voom plan or someone who didn't buy a Voom plan.  If you want to chat with them in the app they too must buy the chat feature.  

[EmptyNestTravels]

I haven't used the Royal chat app myself, as I always purchase Wi-Fi and use other chat apps to connect with folks.  However, in @Matt's article "Royal Caribbean's chat feature is now available on every cruise ship", he says all users that you want to chat with have to purchase the $1.99/day chat feature; and maybe most importantly - guest users will only appear :online if they have the Royal app open to the “chat” window.  This leads me to believe the app may not be very useful, as one could not communicate with an "offline" cruiser who doesn't actually have the app actively launched on their phone, AND with the Royal chat window actually open.  So if your kids have the app on their phone, but they are playing a game or doing something else with their phone, presumably they would not get a message alert, or you simply could not even message them.  Seems pretty useless to me.  I can't imagine many pax opt for this paid chat feature, but I could be wrong!

Would be interested to hear from any folks who have actually used the app as to its usefulness.   As for me, Wi-Fi will always be worth the cost of $15.99/day to stay in touch with folks on the ship and at home.  

[Moby Dick]

Walkie talkies.  I've thought about that in the past.  But, besides the other people using them and being rude and channels being too busy, how do they work?  There is a lot of metal surrounding you.  What's the range with new good ones?

[AdvanceTripper]

Ugh. I feel dumb for asking this. I thought the RC chat part of the app was free aboard the ship, and to use it you just needed to connect to the Wi-Fi. Out of curiosity, I checked my cruise planner and it was over $700 for our party (5 of us) to be connected    via our iPhones - is that correct?

[dcr50usa]

If all you want it the RCL app chat it is $2 a day per logged in device, this is not full wifi inet access

[need2cruz]

8 hours ago, AdvanceTripper said:

Ugh. I feel dumb for asking this. I thought the RC chat part of the app was free aboard the ship, and to use it you just needed to connect to the Wi-Fi. Out of curiosity, I checked my cruise planner and it was over $700 for our party (5 of us) to be connected    via our iPhones - is that correct?

I just bought a 4 device surf and stream package for the 5 of us to share on a 7 night cruise.  It was on sale in the cruise planner for 50% off and came to $300 after tax.  The most devices you can buy for one person is 4, but this is cheaper than buying each person an individual plan.

[YellowBrickRoad]

9 hours ago, AdvanceTripper said:

Ugh. I feel dumb for asking this. I thought the RC chat part of the app was free aboard the ship, and to use it you just needed to connect to the Wi-Fi. Out of curiosity, I checked my cruise planner and it was over $700 for our party (5 of us) to be connected    via our iPhones - is that correct?

The thing to think about is if you use the same sign in code, all of you cannot be on the the devices at the same time. Yes, you save money together, but buying each separate saves me on peace of mind. I just got off cruise a few days ago and my son, myself and hubby had separate codes, and it was wonderful not kicking anyone off. 

[need2cruz]

6 minutes ago, YellowBrickRoad said:

The thing to think about is if you use the same sign in code, all of you cannot be on the the devices at the same time. Yes, you save money together, but buying each separate saves me on peace of mind. I just got off cruise a few days ago and my son, myself and hubby had separate codes, and it was wonderful not kicking anyone off. 

I was thinking that it would be better to have a plan for 5 of us, but in this case I can buy one plan for the one teen who doesn't have access at 19.99 per day (actually he's 16 and works at McDonald's, he said he'd pay his own).  And it's still cheaper than buying 5 individual plans.

[YellowBrickRoad]

6 minutes ago, need2cruz said:

I was thinking that it would be better to have a plan for 5 of us, but in this case I can buy one plan for the one teen who doesn't have access at 19.99 per day (actually he's 16 and works at McDonald's, he said he'd pay his own).  And it's still cheaper than buying 5 individual plans.

Yup….May be good idea. My teenage son needs his own plan for sure. Does not like getting off when I need to use it.

I got the 3 individual ones when they were on sale so it wasn’t a big price difference even though I would still always go this way on all my cruises. 

[KimL]

I read that walkie talkies were not allowed.

[need2cruz]

6 minutes ago, YellowBrickRoad said:

Yup….May be good idea. My teenage son needs his own plan for sure. Does not like getting off when I need to use it.

I got the 3 individual ones when they were on sale so it wasn’t a big price difference even though I would still always go this way on all my cruises. 

Teens do "need" their internet, lol.  I really see the advantage to having your own code if you would have more than one device and have to do work on the cruise on a laptop.  We are only bringing our phones as the only device to connect, though.  Our cruise will have no work done on it at all.  Except the work of relaxing!

[YellowBrickRoad]

5 minutes ago, need2cruz said:

Teens do "need" their internet, lol.  I really see the advantage to having your own code if you would have more than one device and have to do work on the cruise on a laptop.  We are only bringing our phones as the only device to connect, though.  Our cruise will have no work done on it at all.  Except the work of relaxing!

Exactly what we did. We used just to connect for the most part. When my son went to the teen room, he was showing some friends he met some games online as they interacted, but truly, cruising is for enjoying every moment.  We had an absolute blast and can’t wait for July, when we will cruise again! 

[Larry Muster]

8 minutes ago, KimL said:

I read that walkie talkies were not allowed.

I think they are allowed because I see at least one group with them on every cruise.  They are SUPER annoying to others and don't seem to work well, no matter how high-end you go.  

[AdvanceTripper]

1 hour ago, need2cruz said:

I just bought a 4 device surf and stream package for the 5 of us to share on a 7 night cruise.  It was on sale in the cruise planner for 50% off and came to $300 after tax.  The most devices you can buy for one person is 4, but this is cheaper than buying each person an individual plan.

Myself being dumb again - in the planner, you clicked on 4 members of your traveling 5 party, and then 4 devices - correct?

[need2cruz]

Not dumb at all.  Just buy a one person 4 device plan under your name.  When you get on the ship, you connect to the wifi and create an account name and password.  You would then share the device name and password with everyone in your party.  If you want all 5 connected, by one more plan individually and never would someone be kicked out of the plan.

[need2cruz]

10 minutes ago, AdvanceTripper said:

Myself being dumb again - in the planner, you clicked on 4 members of your traveling 5 party, and then 4 devices - correct?

So no, don't click on 4 people's names when buying.  Just one name, yours.  and then buy the 4 device plan.

[Colombia20102018]

15 hours ago, MeaganCM13 said:

I thought the chat through the app could be used with the ships wifi no need to buy a package?

It used to be like that when the app was rolled out. Now it is $1.99 per day per user. As someone else mentioned before, you have to be in the app to see the notification. If you are not using the app you will not know that someone is chatting with you.

[AdvanceTripper]

Thanks everyone! I really appreciate the info. I don’t know why this stumped me. 
 

and, one final question: let’s say you message your kid to say, “hey, mom and I are at the spa” you would have to bump off and theoretically they would log on and see the message - correct?

[MeaganCM13]

11 minutes ago, Colombia20102018 said:

It used to be like that when the app was rolled out. Now it is $1.99 per day per user. As someone else mentioned before, you have to be in the app to see the notification. If you are not using the app you will not know that someone is chatting with you.

What about checking the app for activities and ship time, things like that?

[Colombia20102018]

6 minutes ago, MeaganCM13 said:

What about checking the app for activities and ship time, things like that?

For all those things is still free. I heard that some people can control their tvs channel and volume and even stream movies with the app but I think that's extra.

[TXcruzer]

4 hours ago, YellowBrickRoad said:

The thing to think about is if you use the same sign in code, all of you cannot be on the the devices at the same time. Yes, you save money together, but buying each separate saves me on peace of mind. I just got off cruise a few days ago and my son, myself and hubby had separate codes, and it was wonderful not kicking anyone off. 

This is not the case with a multi device plan. If you buy a 4 device plan, then 4 people can be logged in without anyone being “kicked off”, this is cheaper as well than purchasing multiple “single user” plans 

[YellowBrickRoad]

9 minutes ago, TXcruzer said:

This is not the case with a multi device plan. If you buy a 4 device plan, then 4 people can be logged in without anyone being “kicked off”, this is cheaper as well than purchasing multiple “single user” plans 

Ok..good to know. I must have purchased a multiple plan with the same code for everyone. I just got a great deal on my last week cruise that was just as cheap doing it separately so it was a win/win.

[BonnieBlue]

We just returned from the Mariner and purchased 2 Voom packages for my husband and I, then the $1.99 chat package for all of the kids (I refuse to pay for internet for 4 kids without jobs, lol). We also had to purchase the $1.99 chat package for ourselves, as it’s not included with Voom. The chat notification popped up on my Home Screen and occasionally on my Apple Watch. Not sure if that’s because I almost always had the RC app open, or if they’re making improvements to the feature. 

[AdvanceTripper]

2 hours ago, BonnieBlue said:

We just returned from the Mariner and purchased 2 Voom packages for my husband and I, then the $1.99 chat package for all of the kids (I refuse to pay for internet for 4 kids without jobs, lol). We also had to purchase the $1.99 chat package for ourselves, as it’s not included with Voom. The chat notification popped up on my Home Screen and occasionally on my Apple Watch. Not sure if that’s because I almost always had the RC app open, or if they’re making improvements to the feature. 

So, even though you had the Voom package you still had to purchase the $1.99 chat package? It seems like they would have included that with Voom. 
 

[KimL]

On 3/22/2022 at 8:33 AM, Psycho and Barb said:

Good luck with that.  We tried it once...Didn't matter what channel we tried people stepped all over us and some were just rude.  Some people like the dry erase board on the door...It can be inconvenient to have to run back to a room to leave or get a message.  We just get one internet package and share it.  Barb will log on and send me a text message and I will log on to check for messages...Without be logged on we don't get notifications but it works for us.

I read they are not allowed

[SpeedNoodles]

I believe walkie talkies are allowed (they are not on the list of prohibited items, although they specifically single out baby monitors and Hamm radios), however:

There IS NOT a 100% chance that they will reliably work aboard the ship.  There IS a 100% chance you will annoy pretty much everyone around you.  Don't be that person. 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/prohibited-items-onboard-policy

 

[AlmondFarmer]

7 minutes ago, SpeedNoodles said:

There IS a 100% chance you will annoy pretty much everyone around you.  Don't be that person. 

Skshh…..I agree with this…..over. 

[TXcruzer]

1 hour ago, SpeedNoodles said:

I believe walkie talkies are allowed (they are not on the list of prohibited items, although they specifically single out baby monitors and Hamm radios), however:

There IS NOT a 100% chance that they will reliably work aboard the ship.  There IS a 100% chance you will annoy pretty much everyone around you.  Don't be that person. 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/prohibited-items-onboard-policy

 

Walkie Talkies SHOULD be on the banned items list

[ihaoan]

Experience of myself and my adult daughter on Adventure this week:

We paid the $1.99/day per person to use the chat feature in the app and it worked very well for us to communicate with each other onboard.

I purchased the voom surf-only package and we used it between 3 devices, one at any given time, and successfully used wifi calling and texting to folks back home, no issues at all.

 

[Hharris1997]

On 3/23/2022 at 4:03 AM, need2cruz said:

I just bought a 4 device surf and stream package for the 5 of us to share on a 7 night cruise.  It was on sale in the cruise planner for 50% off and came to $300 after tax.  The most devices you can buy for one person is 4, but this is cheaper than buying each person an individual plan.

That is the best deal I've seen. How close to your cruise date was that offer. I'm seeing 20% off for $536. I'm wondering if I should wait closer to our cruise date of 6/2/22 to buy?

[MyRCBlogPenName]

Additional question: can I share the internet code for my room with another room? 

Specifically: if I buy an internet package for 4 devices, can my room use 2 and the other room use 2 (if I give them the username and code)? 

[Spang1974]

8 hours ago, MyRCBlogPenName said:

Additional question: can I share the internet code for my room with another room? 

Specifically: if I buy an internet package for 4 devices, can my room use 2 and the other room use 2 (if I give them the username and code)? 

Yes, you can give anyone the code to use as you please.

[need2cruz]

18 hours ago, Hharris1997 said:

That is the best deal I've seen. How close to your cruise date was that offer. I'm seeing 20% off for $536. I'm wondering if I should wait closer to our cruise date of 6/2/22 to buy?

We sail on 7/17.  I bought the package when Royal was having their last cruise planner “sale” on 3/17.  I’m not sure how often they run the sales.  Maybe someone else can chime in when the next one should be.

[egd207]

Has anyone ever used Whatsapp?  Thinking of giving this a try.