Communicating with another family onboard

[SCPixie]

We are traveling with some friends and their family. We will not be on the same deck (they have a larger family than we do). This may be a dumb question, but in the 21st Century, it's a valid question...

I know the WAVE phones will allow us to communicate with our kids. Do they also let us text the other family? I understand that we won't have cell service and will very rarely be in our rooms. So on such a huge boat, how can we catch up with our adult friends if they wake earlier/later than us?

Thanks!

 

[missyp]

You can call or text any room or any wave phone from your wave phone.

 

[missyp]

There is also an app you can download onto your personal cell phone that has a texting feature. It seems to be a bit more user friendly than the texting feature on the wave phones, and it would be easier to carry around than the wave phones which are pretty large.

Also each room only gets two wave phones. You can rent an additional for $3.50 a day. We have two kids so we usually rent one extra and my husband and I share one

 

[Drusilla99]

We used to rent the extra wave phone, but this new app with texting is so easy easy and, for the most part, reliable to use. The kids were able to get in touch with one of us whenever they needed and vice versa. Or you can go old school and put whiteboards on your doors just in case.

 

[elfof2moons]

Can you program contacts into the Wave phones? We have two other families going and I want to be able to keep everyone's number straight.

 

[sexyrx]

Can you program contacts into the Wave phones? We have two other families going and I want to be able to keep everyone's number straight.

Yes, you can program contacts into the Wave phones. Luckily for me, someone had programmed all the important numbers into the contacts on our room's wave phones. I was able to schedule nursery time on the fly wherever I was on the boat. State room numbers followed by a 1 or 2 are what you dial to call other families. We tried texting with the app and found that there was a delay in receiving the text so we stuck with the wave phones. Super convenient!

 

[FindMeAFishingSpot]

Ok, was it just me and I didn't know how to use the new app? The problem we had was getting alerts when someone sent a text. Unless we proactively opened the app, we didn't get the text. What was I doing wrong?

 

[DisneyB]

We used the App to chat between 3 families in 3 staterooms on the Fantasy. It was really simple to setup (you simply needed to give the other family your unique ID). There was no audible alert but it did vibrate each time a new message came in and there was also an alert in the notification bar. The only time we carried the Wave phone at all was when the kids where in the Club/Lab as that is how they reach you if need be.

 

[bumbershoot]

Ok, was it just me and I didn't know how to use the new app? The problem we had was getting alerts when someone sent a text. Unless we proactively opened the app, we didn't get the text. What was I doing wrong?

Nothing. That's how it works sometimes. It's how it has worked with us for the two cruises we've used it. First cruise it worked better than the second; the second, some were delayed a long time.

We have had to open it and go into the texts. The only times we've gotten it to vibrate is when we have the phone in our hand and the app on. And that's exactly when you don't really need the alert, LOL.

I adore the app. LOVE it. It's the best bit of Disney IT I have seen from them since we started going to DLR as adults in 2005. But it's not perfect.

I couldn't even get a phone call to go through on the Wave phone on our last cruise (and I've successfully used it before), so those can be tossed overboard for all I care LOL.


OP if an adult in each party has a smartphone or even an ipod (or for my son, a phone with no SIM in it) that gets wifi, they can download the app. It uses the FREE wifi on the ship. Put it into airplane mode and turn on the wifi and it'll work.

 

[NCConch]

Can you program contacts into the Wave phones? We have two other families going and I want to be able to keep everyone's number straight.

Not only can you program contacts, but you can program a name in for each phone. The phones in our cabin already had names so it was kind of weird getting at text from "Edward" telling me "he" was leaving the teen club - when it was really my daughter.

 

[missyp]

FYI although the wave phones on the different ships look the same they are not. The ones on the Dream/ fantasy are much more user friendly than the wonder. Not sure which phones the magic has