Cell phones and gizmo watch

[Nikkimouse44]

My son has a gizmo watch that I can see his location and he can call and text me. Does anyone know if this will work on the ship? If not other suggestions?

 

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

WhatsAPP on any phone and IMessage on Apple phones work for text messages on the free ship WiFi. You can also message through the Disney Cruise App on the ship. You dont need a Disney Account, just download the Disney Cruise App, then once n the ship connect to the free guest Wifi and there is an option to message other people. This option only appears on the ship, not before the cruise.

 

[PAGA2003]

I'm not familiar with Gizmo but I can say on one cruise my son only had an Apple Watch (it was not tied to a cell phone) and he could utilize iMessage to communicate with us but that was all as without a phone he could not have the DCL app on his watch.

 

[lisset005]

WhatsAPP on any phone and IMessage on Apple phones work for text messages on the free ship WiFi. You can also message through the Disney Cruise App on the ship. You dont need a Disney Account, just download the Disney Cruise App, then once n the ship connect to the free guest Wifi and there is an option to message other people. This option only appears on the ship, not before the cruise.

This!

 

[Nikkimouse44]

This!

Is this different than the navigation app?

 

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

Is this different than the navigation app?

WhatsApp is a free messaging App thats widely used in Europe due to it being internet based. Thats how Europeans phone and text from country to country without getting international call charges. You download it to your phone and the person you want to communicate with downloads it to their phone. It works using your normal cell phone number.
On the Disney ships, there is enough bandwidth on the free guest internet for text messaging.

IMessage is the free Apple messaging service. It only works if both you and the person you want to communicate with both have iPhone. There is enough bandwidth on the free guest internet for text messaging.

The navigator app is the the Disney Cruise Line App.

Therefore there are 3 ways to text people when you are on the ship, and all 3 will work on the basic free guest internet.

 

[Steelers0854]

My son has a gizmo watch that I can see his location and he can call and text me. Does anyone know if this will work on the ship? If not other suggestions?

No. The watch works off the cellular network and will not work onboard the ship or abroad.

 

[Love4Eeyore]

Great recommendations, however, all these options require an actual phone. This is not always an option for a child. In our experience, there is no communication with your child when they are not with you if they do not possess a phone. Even when the kids club tried to message us through the DCL app that our child wanted to leave, there was a 20 minute delay in receiving that message.

 

[Marley21]

Both of our daughters have Gizmos. For our cruise this past summer, we just gave each of them one of our old phones as they are operable on WiFi only (i.e. they do not need to be setup on a cellular plan to work). I’m not sure if you have an old iPhone lying around, but that’s an option.

 

[Nikkimouse44]

Both of our daughters have Gizmos. For our cruise this past summer, we just gave each of them one of our old phones as they are operable on WiFi only (i.e. they do not need to be setup on a cellular plan to work). I’m not sure if you have an old iPhone lying around, but that’s an option.

Yes I do. We’re thinking that or walkie talkies. There’s 8 of us between 3 families and if the kids go on their own to the club we’ll be in 4 groups and I would like everyone to have a good way to connect

 

[sponica]

Yes I do. We’re thinking that or walkie talkies. There’s 8 of us between 3 families and if the kids go on their own to the club we’ll be in 4 groups and I would like everyone to have a good way to connect

I don't think walkie talkies are allowed on board.

Some other families will also use a white board in the room, with a time of last check in and location of where they will be.

 

[Girl of the South]

Walkie Talkies aren’t on the prohibited list but because of the ships heavy metal (!) structure, are unlikely to work very well. I’ve never seen anyone using them.

 

[DisneyPiPhi]

My daughter has a Gizmo and it does not work onboard. We give her an old phone for cruises!

 

[Kit Jackson]

What's good about WhatsApp is that it works on Apple/iPhone as well as Android. If someone has a device other than an iPhone, WhatsApp will still work. iMessage is only iPhone/Apple device to iPhone/Apple device.