DCL App, Texting, calling on ship? Western C on Fantasy

[Sydnerella]

I think this is a dumb question, but how will we be able to use the DCL app on the ship? Is wifi included? If not how much and how many decices can use it from your stateroom? Is it available all over or only certain places? I assume my cell will not work to call my son or vice versa, but would appreciate confirmation. i know there are the room phones, but I dont get how you take advantage of the DCL app, or text your kids on cell phones.

Thank u!

 

[Geomom]

I think this is a dumb question, but how will we be able to use the DCL app on the ship? Is wifi included? If not how much and how many decices can use it from your stateroom? Is it available all over or only certain places? I assume my cell will not work to call my son or vice versa, but would appreciate confirmation. i know there are the room phones, but I dont get how you take advantage of the DCL app, or text your kids on cell phones.

Thank u!

The DCL Navigator's app uses the ships' wifi, and is free to use. (WIFI only free for the app!, other packages cost money.) You put your cell phone into 'airplane mode' before logging into the app, so it won't use any of your minutes/data plan. (The app only works on the ship, everywhere on the ship...and maybe some places on Castaway Cay--but I have no personal knowledge of that.) You will sign in as DCL guest. Each room has it's own 'chat' code, so you can text members of your family with it, and can give the code to anyone else on the ship you'd want to text with. If you have kids under 13, an adult in the family will need to activate the chat function for them--the instructions are within the app--I was able to do it for my 12 year old without any help! We used the app on our first cruise this summer, in Alaska. We LOVED it! It was great to be able to keep in touch with the kids. We have LG phones and we had NO problems. We loved that it has information about EVERYTHING going on for the whole week on the app. It was so wonderful to find all the times/dates for a particular movie, or when a character meet and greet would take place. They have the menus on the app, the times for breakfast/lunch, etc. I was just surprised at how much we used the app--and we use our phones very little at home.

 

[Sydnerella]

Thank you so much Geomom!! That answers a lot! I think the app will be great for our kids- one has an iPod touch and the other a iPhone 5SE. This is great news

 

[Donathius]

Keep in mind the text messaging requires the receiver to open the app. It won't pop up a notification on the phone/device. iOS notifications have to come through a service Apple provides to developers - that would require an internet connection.