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Can you text on Carnival Cruise ships?

Stay Connected While At Sea On Your Cruise! WMS offers an advanced roaming network onboard cruise ships allowing you to use your phone just like you do at home. Service for voice calls, texting (SMS) and data is available onboard while the ship is at sea.



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How to text while on a cruise ship
  1. Let your phone connect to a maritime network and send text messages as normal. ...
  2. Connect to the ship's wifi and use a messaging app. ...
  3. Use a cruise line app to message other people on the ship. ...
  4. Wait until your ship is in port.


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Stay Connected While At Sea On Your Cruise! Service for voice calls, texting (SMS) and data is available onboard while the ship is at sea. Once the WMS network is switched on, while roaming on our cruise ships, you will see a distinct display on your handset that differs from your home carrier.

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Can you iMessage with Carnival Wi-Fi? iMessage is classified as a social app and so you only need the basic Social WiFi package on your cruise to be able to use it. If you're planning on sending images or video clips via iMessage, it may struggle if you don't pay for the Premium tier package.

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Your phone will automatically connect to the at-sea provider if you don't put your phone in airplane mode. So, if you send a text or make a call, you can be charged for it. These providers are very expensive, and you will receive an additional data charge plus a per-text charge. This applies to any incoming texts, too.

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If you have the boat WiFi package, yes. iMessage will work to other iPhones. Also you can turn WiFi calling on and you will be able to make calls over WiFi. Just be sure to go into airplane mode when you get on the boat to prevent cellular at sea from picking up the call opposed to it leveraging WiFi calling.

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Typically charges will appear on the next monthly bill, but depending on your carrier it may occasionally take up to 60 days for charges to appear on your phone bill. Please note that most cell phone carriers do not allow their unlimited rate plans to apply to cellular calls, texts or data used while onboard ships.

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Use onboard credit to pay for a Wi-Fi package You can use your credit to pay for onboard internet access, thereby getting Wi-Fi on your cruise for free! On most cruise lines, you'll need a minimum of $100 in onboard credit per device for a week's worth of free basic Wi-Fi.

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  • iConcierge, Norwegian Cruise Line. iConcierge app on Norwegian Cruise Line (Photo: Norwegian) ...
  • Carnival Hub, Carnival Cruise Line. ...
  • Navigator, Disney Cruise Line. ...
  • MSC Traveller Web, MSC Cruises. ...
  • Navigator, Holland America Line. ...
  • Princess@Sea Messenger, Princess Cruises. ...
  • Royal iQ, Royal Caribbean International.


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Can I get WiFi on board? To keep you connected while at sea, all ships provide satellite internet access at our internet cafés and through the bow-to-stern ship-wide Wi-Fi network.

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To avoid unwanted charges, your safest bet onboard your cruise ship is to switch to airplane mode, reactivate your wireless feature and log in to the ship's Wi-Fi network. (Note: Switching to airplane mode will turn off wireless until you manually reactivate it.)

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To use your cell phone on your cruise, you have two options — either connect to the ship's cellular service or connect to the ship's wi-fi. Both will cost you extra. For traditional cell service, today's modern cruise ships use providers such as “Cellular at Sea” or “Wireless Maritime Services”.

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Of course, that doesn't mean you have to keep your cell phone off the entire time. If you choose to use your cell phone while on a cruise ship, it is important that you keep it on airplane mode, regardless of whether or not you're purchasing an internet package.

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Can You Still Text for Free in the Cruise Line's App if you Bring Your own HotSpot? Yes, of course! As long as you have the app downloaded on your phone and you're on their free wifi, you can use the app to text on a cruise ship for free.

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If you're not able to wait for ports of call (or don't have international data on your phone), it might be worthwhile to pay for a Wi-Fi package. Although prices have decreased over the years, it can still be pretty costly to purchase Wi-Fi for your cruise.

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The reason iMessage works (sometimes) is because it uses the same network ports as the RC app that allows messaging. Blocking the ports to disable iMessage would also nuke the messaging functionality in the app, so most of the ships don't bother.

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The price of Wi-Fi on a cruise ship can range from $15 to $30 and more per device per day. On luxury cruise lines or even some premium lines there is free Wi-Fi included in the cost of the cruise fare.

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