Any experience with texting on Navigator App

[princess z]

Hi .
I have a huge group leaving on the Fantasy August 8th. We have a bunch of young teenagers in the group ages 11-14. It would give me piece of mind if I knew I could get in touch with them if I needed to.
I was debating getting a plan from Verizon or should I trust the new texting ability of the Navigator's App?

 

[KristiMc]

We used it on the Wonder in June and it worked great.

 

[Weedy]

Worked great for us One lost text on a 7 day cruise

It takes a few moments to set up all the phones. You will need to set up everyone's phone to
"talk" with each other. So the first day at lunch when you have everyone together take the time to do this. You can't do this until you board. If you have problems there is a help desk onboard.

**Have everyone download the Navigator app before leaving home This is the way you can text each other without using wifi.

 

[lolainkent]

I used it on the Magic June/July. It worked really well, except for one very unfortunate day in Stavanger, Norway (before we all left the ship) when nothing seemed to go through and several of us (friends texting friends) couldn't connect with one another. Apart from that one day, it was very reliable and fast.

 

[jtba]

same experience as @KristiMc on the wonder but in july. i don't text much at home but used it all the time on board to keep in touch with my new friends (arranging for our kids to be in the clubs at the same time, exchanging stories re. our excursions, going to the spa, meeting at the lounge after the kids are in bed, etc.)

 

[sweetpee_1993]

WBPC in May on the Wonder. 6 people in 2 staterooms & never worked for us. When we boarded we swapped a few people in staterooms. The support person we talked to said this makes it not work for either stateroom for some reason. Said its a known bug that they can't seem to work out. So just don't swap anybody (room keys) in any staterooms.

 

[Weedy]

WBPC in May on the Wonder. 6 people in 2 staterooms & never worked for us. When we boarded we swapped a few people in staterooms. The support person we talked to said this makes it not work for either stateroom for some reason. Said its a known bug that they can't seem to work out. So just don't swap anybody (room keys) in any staterooms.

We got extra keys but didn't change peoples names in the cabins and did not have any problems.

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

I used it on the Magic June/July. It worked really well, except for one very unfortunate day in Stavanger, Norway (before we all left the ship) when nothing seemed to go through and several of us (friends texting friends) couldn't connect with one another. Apart from that one day, it was very reliable and fast.

LOL, I was going to say, "that happened to me too in Stavanger - how weird!" and then I realized - it's YOU!!!

As mentioned, this was the one hiccup of the cruise (and it sadly happened to three different families in our circle) so just be forewarned it can still happen and it certainly isn't intentional perhaps if people (or kids) aren't responding. It's pretty accurate and shows when people are "away" so you know they aren't seeing or receiving your messages. It's best to shut it down and re-launch from time to time. In our example above, the people weren't showing away so it was assumed (naturally) the messages were going through which is why we were all so confused no one was responding.

There was an update to the app not long after we disembarked and one of the notes said it was to fix our above issue so I hope that's true for others.

We loved it and will definitely use in the future!

Heather

 

[sweetpee_1993]

We got extra keys but didn't change peoples names in the cabins and did not have any problems.

Yeah, just don't change people in rooms!

 

[Weedy]

Yeah, just don't change people in rooms!

We had people sleep in rooms that they were not assigned to but the phones don't know that.LOL

 

[michellekcm]

We found on the Magic in May that sometimes the messages were delayed. However, I noticed that the latest app update said it was fixing a bug where messages were delayed, so hopefully that's all good now.

Apart from that, we loved it.

 

[KristiMc]

Worked great for us One lost text on a 7 day cruise

It takes a few moments to set up all the phones. You will need to set up everyone's phone to
"talk" with each other. So the first day at lunch when you have everyone together take the time to do this. You can't do this until you board. If you have problems there is a help desk onboard.

**Have everyone download the Navigator app before leaving home This is the way you can text each other without using wifi.


View attachment 112566

We were able to connect to DCL_GUEST and set everyone up while we were in the terminal. This was in Vancouver so it may not work in every terminal but it was a nice way to pass the time.

 

[lolainkent]

LOL, I was going to say, "that happened to me too in Stavanger - how weird!" and then I realized - it's YOU!!!

As mentioned, this was the one hiccup of the cruise (and it sadly happened to three different families in our circle) so just be forewarned it can still happen and it certainly isn't intentional perhaps if people (or kids) aren't responding. It's pretty accurate and shows when people are "away" so you know they aren't seeing or receiving your messages. It's best to shut it down and re-launch from time to time. In our example above, the people weren't showing away so it was assumed (naturally) the messages were going through which is why we were all so confused no one was responding.

There was an update to the app not long after we disembarked and one of the notes said it was to fix our above issue so I hope that's true for others.

We loved it and will definitely use in the future!

Heather

It's me!!

And I agree with Heather, shutting down the app and re-starting it often solved any issues. If someone I knew wouldn't be "away" for 12 solid hours was away, I'd re-start it...most of the time, that was the glitch.

 

[princess z]

Thank you so much everyone!!!!!

 

[NEM]

Our 7 day this month, it was mostly operational. We had a few that did not make their destination in a timely manner, but basically it was a good plan for our teens too.

 

[Weedy]

One more thing. It does not work while on Castaway Cay. There are 2 Wave phones per cabin (no cost$$) that work so so on Castaway Cay

One one more thing. If you want to let your teens get off the ship without an adult at Castaway Cay (or any Port) you will need to go by Guest Services and sign a paper to give them permission. This also holds true if they will be getting off the ship with someone other than the adults in their cabin.

 

[JPTexan82]

On my iPhone it worked great for my wife and i. Also it sent the text to my apple watch as well.

 

[MunFam]

It worked great for us on the WBPC. I do not know if it was our fault or if the app just does not include this, but there was no "notification" other than the icon showing up at the top of our phone, so we constantly had to look at our phones. I wish it had beeped, vibrated, something...but again, it may have been a problem on our end.

 

[mershell]

Can someone tell me how this app works? Specifically, do I need to be connected to a network? I want to put my iPhone into airplane mode to assure I do not rack up any cell charges...will the app work in airplane mode?

Thanks

 

[scm]

will the app work in airplane mode?

Yes