Recent Fantasy cruisers - how is the onboard texting system?

[jamieann]

We're cruising in September with a group of 19 so the ability to text each other onboard would be incredibly helpful. I know there were some kinks in the beginning. Any luck with texting onboard recently?

 

[ShelsGoingToDisney]

It worked great for us. Only thing is you don't get a notification when you get a text so you have to keep checking every so often to see if you got one.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

I was just on the Fantasy 2 weeks ago and it mostly worked for us. I left the app open and almost always received notifications that there was a new text. The one time it didn't work was when I was at Palo for brunch. The app was open and my phone was showing I was connected to the wifi. I tried to send a text and received notice that I was wasn't connected to wifi. I shut the app down, disconnected and then reconnected to the wifi, reopened the app and found a string of messages from my DD asking where I was, when I'd be back to the stateroom, and if she had my permission to go buy a small souvenir. Luckily it was nothing earth shattering that I missed, but it did make me nervous since I was giving DD a bit more freedom than usual with the caveat that she had to check in periodically.

 

[jamieann]

Good to know, thanks y'all!

 

[phinz]

My wife's phone kept saying it was unable to connect to the network, so I was never sure if she was getting her messages until she texted me back. Our friend's phone and my phone stayed connected and had no problems.

 

[Michellynn]

Curious...what phones were all you using? Wondering if there is any difference in performance for iPhone vs. Android

 

[annacali]

We were also on the Fantasy in June. Texting thru the app worked---it was just hard to use since we never got notification of new texts so you had to know you were expecting one and keep checking. By about the 3rd day I just gave up on it because I hated carrying my phone everywhere only to miss texts anyway. I had hoped it would work for my 12yo to text us from a club, but since no one got notifications it just wasn't reliable enough to justify letting her take (and potentially lose) her Ipod. We also noticed that having the app open and connected to wifi drained our batteries super quick. We all had Iphones.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

Curious...what phones were all you using? Wondering if there is any difference in performance for iPhone vs. Android

I have an Android phone and did receive notifications of new texts most of the time. I didn't notice my battery draining any quicker than normal. DD was using her iPod Touch, and it did seem to be draining her iPod quicker than usual. I'm not sure if she was receiving notifications of my texts or if she was just watching her iPod when they came in. Usually I was responding to her texts so she would already be on the lookout for something from me.