We used this to know where our son was (usually in Vibe). We only had trouble on CC. He needed us to sign something and the CMs told him to tell me to meet him at Cookies...I hustled to Cookies and then after the monsoons started he texted that they just told him they were actually in Cookies Too. If the texts weren't delayed I probably would have been able to go there before the storm kicked in. Luckily the excursion was canceled due to the storms and the signature was not needed.
Many of us talk about the delay with texts. I talk about how we needed to fully open the app and go into the text part of the app, every single time, to make it alert us about a text.
Some have better luck, but it's best to assume you'll have to check often rather than to assume it will work magically.
Our cabin (6572 on Fantasy) was a dead spot for both WiFi (for which I had paid) and Verizon 4G (for which I had bought an international package). I found this highly annoying, But when I did have a signal elsewhere on the ship I did not have to have the app open on my Samsung S6 Edge to get the texts. They were very timely, which surprised me because I had heard that it was really slow. That was the whole reason I bought the international package--so DH and I could text one another.
I find the whole Wave Phone thing absurd. Who wants to carry an extra device? And there were zero instructions given to use it, nor any attempt to confirm whether we were actually using it. There was part of a message on it at one point mid week. Couldn't read the kid's name...but someone wanted to get picked up from the kids club. Maybe it was left over from the last cruise or maybe the kids club tried to reach us (the regular phone in our cabin didn't work, nor could we retrieve voice mail messages that it said that we had). I have no idea. But it did then dawn on me that the kids club never asked us how to get a hold of us if they ever need us. Odd.
Did you contact the internet people onboard to let them know you weren't getting service?
You bought the package so you could text each other? Like, using imessage or whatever? But you could have just texted each other for free, no package of any kind needed, with the Navigator app. I don't understand.
Wave phones are crazy, and that's why we love the app. I was able to use them on our first
DCL cruise in early 2013. Apparently my memory was still holding onto *how to use that sort of phone* then, but by October of that same year I had lost the info. I haven't even been able to make a CALL successfully using those things since Feb 2013. And texting OMG. How did we survive in the later 90s/early 00s with that sort of nonsense?
Kids club will call your stateroom and the Wave phone.
We send DS to the kid's club with his no-SIM phone, with the app downloaded. When he wants to go (we have yet to give him free-range abilities) he texts us. We all know texts can be delayed, so we check often and he knows to be patient.
It does work on the island, because I was able to message my wife at the conclusion of the race right before I did pelican plunge and she was still on the ship. Then again on the way back to the ship to meet up with her.
I was able to do the same thing from the same place on our first DCL cruise after the app made it to Dream. It got to DH who was leaving the ship at the time. I have not been able to use it successfully since.
