Communicating Onboard Ship

anjuan

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jan 10, 2012
Going on my first Royal cruise on Allure in a little over a month. Does Royal have an app similar to Disney to communicate onboard the ship? If not is there something like the wave phones?
 
There is an app but no chat features. Yet. If you pay for internet you can use your IMs.
 
On the Allure there is no texting option with RCL app or wave phones. We found using dry erase boards on our doors and using the house phones (which are located on every floor bu by the elevators) to leave messages on our room phones worked fine. I hope in the future that RCL adds a text feature.
 
DH and I traveled with my parents, so we each had our own cabins. We purchased a one device internet code for each cabin, and then used iMessage and Wifi calling to keep in touch on the ship. We were able to sign off the wifi and have the other person sign on to use it when necessary, but we designated one person to have it on the rest of the time to be the primary contact person for each cabin.
 


Just came back from the Oasis. We were a group of 12. Our main concern was also communicating with everyone especially the 6 teenagers with us. All of us have an iPhone and we each downloaded the “whatsapp” app. Each family (not each person) purchased the internet package. The internet package only allows one device to be used at a time. If someone were to send a message, they would text a message as a group chat. We would take turns using the wifi and from there we would check the messages. Kinda a hassle but there would of been no way to contact each other or meet up. I think Royal Caribbean needs to provide app that allows chatting on the ship for free.
 
Going on the Allure in 30 days. The internet pkg is pretty expensive so I guess we will use a white board for our 4 cabins to communicate with each other. I have been on 2 previous Carnival cruises and they do it right with their app and it's super cheap. I hope RC gets on board with something similar in the future.
 
They just announced some shiny new stuff for the app. None of which is a chat feature. I should call into one of those shareholder meetings and suggest that.
 


I have sailed on the Oasis class, and honestly, leaving written messages and leaving phone messages works just fine.
Make a few meet up/check in times each day, and go from there. I personally would leave the small whiteboards inside the cabins, because there have been a few reports of peoples swipping them when they are left on the outside of the door.
We sailed in mid-June and we saw dozens of just handwritten notes on post it notes or similar.

Walkie-Talkies do not work on this size ship, there is too much interference, and even with higher grade ones, it's just too large of an area for coverage.

If you share the Wi-Fi plan, you can send the messages, but until the other person signs on the WiFi they won't get them, so while it is possible, hours could go by until they sign on and see the message, which kinda makes it worthless to do. Even if each person has their own WiFi, the system knocks you off after a certain time of non-use, and you have to sign back on, so.
 
White boards and house phones work like a charm. We just traveled with 15 including 6 kids ( 5 teens). The kids knew when/where to meet for meals and we used the white boards for all else. It's fun and good for all of us to unplug.
 

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