What does the APP do while ON the ship?

[Girl of the South]

I apologize if this information exists somewhere else . . just wondering what sort of information I can get from the App when I am actually on the cruise? At the moment I have a countdown clock with a ship repeatedly running into an iceberg . .

Does it have the Navigator info? Did someone say there were menus? TV Guide? Movie Guide? Drink of the Day? Breaking news?

How does the keep in touch with your shipmates work? I assume each shipmate has to agree to keeping in touch or is it just people in your same cabin?

THANKS!!!

 

[Geomom]

From the Disney Cruise Line website:

How It Works
Access booked plans, daily activities, entertainment schedules, restaurant menus, destination details and more with the Disney Cruise Line Navigator App.

Get the latest, most up-to-date cruise information directly from your smartphone while you’re on the ship. Download the app before you leave home and then, once on board, switch your device to "Airplane Mode," turn on Wi-Fi, and connect to the "DCL-GUEST" network, where use of the Disney Cruise Line Navigator app is complimentary. It is important to set devices to "Airplane Mode" to access the complimentary app.

With the Disney Cruise Line Navigator app installed on your mobile device, quickly view a variety of unforgettable Disney-themed experiences specially created for everyone in your family. Whether you want to check each day’s activities schedule, peruse restaurant menus and see where you’ll be seated at dinner, or find out what’s playing at the movies, it’s all there at your fingertips, along with so much more. And with an entirely new, more intuitive look and feel, it’s the easiest way to plan your day and navigate your way around the ship.

Once on board, with just a simple tap on your smartphone, you can:

• See what's happening every minute of every day
• Easily access booked activities—Port Adventures, nursery times, spa and salon services and treatments, and dining at Palo and Remy
• Save favorite activities to one convenient list
• Chat with family and friends who are sailing with you
• View deck plans and explore the ship from bow to stern, top to bottom
• Catch up on all the latest onboard promotions

You can also easily find what you’re looking for, including information about:

• Deck parties
• Dining times, restaurant menus and table assignments
• Entertainment
• Live show times
• Nightclubs and lounges
• Ports of call information
• Spa services
• Shopping
• Youth clubs
• Character experience locations

Onboard Chat Feature
Keep in touch with family and friends that are sailing with you, even if everyone happens to be on different parts of the ship. Chat one-to-one or participate in a group chat! With the Onboard Chat feature, you can contact your travel party and new friends without ever having to exit the app. It’s a complimentary feature that works between smartphones while aboard the ship. You can also receive vibrating message alerts and control your children’s access.

Note: Onboard Chat is for shipboard use only. It is not functional at ports of call, including Disney Castaway Cay

 

[Geomom]

My own notes:

It's almost been 2 yrs since our cruise. From what I remember, each stateroom has a code number that you share in order to chat with each other. It was all pretty self-explanatory once you were on the ships wifi. (We also had to give our 12 yr old permission to chat--again, it was all done on our phones--never needed to talk to anyone.)

I know they've added more info to the system since we cruised--it's more personalized in that it knows what you have booked, etc. Before it had the navigators for the whole cruise--you could search what days a movie was showing, when a particular character would be meeting during the cruise, menus, etc.

They told us to restart the app each morning to get the newest info.

 

[mcd2745]

One of the things I like most is being able to view the dinner menus for the duration of the cruise. As not the most adventurous of eaters, I can always eat a steak every night...but try to mix it up as much as I can. So, if looking at the next night's menu, I notice the beef/steak option is the only entree I'll order, I'll try to go with a different choice tonight. You can also get a glimpse ahead for activities and things like character greetings instead of waiting for the Navigator the night before.

 

[The LK 4]

I’m surprised it says the chat feature doesn’t work on Castaway Cay. We were able to use it this past February to contact our DD after we did the 5k, and also to let DS know where to find us at Serenity Bay.

 

[Girl of the South]

THANK YOU! I guess I could have Googled it. I guess I was just wondering if people found it helpful and it seems like it could be VERY helpful. Having the menus is great. Forgive me but is the menu the same in every restaurant on the same night? I never thought about it. Does it have the dinner menu for Cabanas too? Leave it to Disney - they ALWAYS do things right. I remember many years ago, being astounded that our room key at Polynesian ALSO opened our cabin door on the Magic! Thanks! Looking forward to seeing it in action soon!

 

[bumbershoot]

One of the things I like most is being able to view the dinner menus for the duration of the cruise.

Yes, but what I like most is to see all activities for the whole cruise. I'm not a character person, but my son has been and my STBX has always been. So if I was looking at the schedule and it was a meet and greet with Jack Sparrow butting up against something else that sounded cool, it's fun to be able to see if Jack is meeting anywhere else during the cruise so I could plan for us to do the other interesting thing.

I’m surprised it says the chat feature doesn’t work on Castaway Cay. We were able to use it this past February to contact our DD after we did the 5k, and also to let DS know where to find us at Serenity Bay.

I think it sometimes works and sometimes doesn't.

I guess I was just wondering if people found it helpful

Yeppers.

I remember many years ago, being astounded that our room key at Polynesian ALSO opened our cabin door on the Magic!

Hmm. I'm not sure THAT should have happened!

Though I could be wrong.

 

[cmph]

THANK YOU! I guess I could have Googled it. I guess I was just wondering if people found it helpful and it seems like it could be VERY helpful. Having the menus is great. Forgive me but is the menu the same in every restaurant on the same night? I never thought about it. Does it have the dinner menu for Cabanas too? Leave it to Disney - they ALWAYS do things right. I remember many years ago, being astounded that our room key at Polynesian ALSO opened our cabin door on the Magic! Thanks! Looking forward to seeing it in action soon!

The menus aren't the same every night in every restaurant. But the app will show you the menu for your scheduled restaurant on the night you will actually be there. It doesn't, say, show the Tiana's special menu on the night you're in Tiana's and they're serving the pirate menu, if that makes sense? It'll only ever show you what is available to you on your rotation.

No, it doesn't show Cabanas dinner menu. I actually went looking for that this time (was on the 6/18/18 Alaskan sailing on the Wonder). I didn't see that posted outside of Cabanas either, unless I just completely overlooked it, so it may be that they don't post it on the app simply b/c they don't have a posting to put out in advance whatsoever.

So - some extra newer things include being able to "favorite" activities. Then you can filter to only show favorited things. I find that useful, personally, then I'm not scrolling through a bunch of things I don't care about. They had that a year and a half ago, too. You can also easily see your own pre-booked things listed out, separate from the daily schedule, which I don't remember from a year and a half ago.

You can look at your on-board account via the app, and it updates super quickly. When I returned the kids' club bands - that showed up pretty much immediately. Same with a photo order. I don't remember that from a year and a half ago either.

The chat thing is slightly more complicated. Each family member has a chat code, and it's not the same code for everyone in the room. You have to share them around, no way to search for a person in your linked staterooms or anything, either. For kids, the primary in the room they're booked into has to grant permission for the chat function to work first. It's a smart idea to gather everyone for lunch and sort that out first thing. We had to spend a few minutes figuring that out b/c one kiddo was in her grandparents' room, so we had to get Grandpa to figure out the app right away.

Any questions, ask ask away! We used the app a ton, and it's all pretty fresh in my mind still.

 

[Geomom]

THANK YOU! I guess I could have Googled it. I guess I was just wondering if people found it helpful and it seems like it could be VERY helpful. Having the menus is great. Forgive me but is the menu the same in every restaurant on the same night? I never thought about it. Does it have the dinner menu for Cabanas too? Leave it to Disney - they ALWAYS do things right. I remember many years ago, being astounded that our room key at Polynesian ALSO opened our cabin door on the Magic! Thanks! Looking forward to seeing it in action soon!

Restaurant menus--not necessarily. For a 7nt cruise: 3 of the nights, that restaurant has it's own menu--so you get to try the menu for each restaurant once. They've also been changing things up a bit so that Rapunzels on the Magic and Tiana's Place on the Wonder kind of have 2 menus: their standard menu and one that is a twist on the Prince and Princess menu. Lumieres/Tritons has 'Til we meet again' as their second menu. Animator's Palate has a second menu as well. And then all the restaurants would have 1 night with the menus all the same--maybe Pirates, or Frozen (Alaska/Northern Europe) or in the Mediterranean they had 'World of Flavour'.

 

[TestingH2O]

Here’s the other thing. If they insist on continuing to do this double show nonsense, you almost HAVE to have the app so you can decide which night to see the show. If you don’t take time to switch between days and look at what’s available each night, you might end up missing something that you’d like to do.

 

[dad of 3 addicted to DCL]

Of note, when using the chat; feature there is no audible indication of receipt of a text, just a subtle vibration. That's fine for DW & I, but for the kids they sometimes miss it when 'Edge-ing' or 'Vibe-ing'. Also, if you escape out of the app, there is no indication at all. If I switch out to get to something else on the phone, I have to minimize it rather than exit the app in order to continue to receive notifications. Overall, it's a fantastic way for our family of 5 to keep in touch, but the notification capability is a bit iffy

 

[mcd2745]

I remember many years ago, being astounded that our room key at Polynesian ALSO opened our cabin door on the Magic!

Hmm. I'm not sure THAT should have happened!

Though I could be wrong.

Back in the day when they had the official "land & sea" packages, yes, you kept the same KTTW card from WDW on the ship.

Of note, when using the chat; feature there is no audible indication of receipt of a text, just a subtle vibration. That's fine for DW & I, but for the kids they sometimes miss it when 'Edge-ing' or 'Vibe-ing'. Also, if you escape out of the app, there is no indication at all. If I switch out to get to something else on the phone, I have to minimize it rather than exit the app in order to continue to receive notifications. Overall, it's a fantastic way for our family of 5 to keep in touch, but the notification capability is a bit iffy

Probably the biggest "flaw" in the app. There needs to be better notifications (tones/home screen alert/vibrations, etc.) for when someone texts you.

 

[cadien]

I especially appreciated the reminder feature on the app. But we gave up on the chat. It would take a couple hours on average for a message to send.

 

[KashasMom]

I love, love, love the app for the activities/characters listings and also the menus. Bonus because you can see the whole week at a time. You can also highlight your favorites and see those at a quick glance. We used the chat part once or twice last cruise but didn't find it very useful.

 

[TJA]

We just got back from Alaska cruise this week and we found the app extremely helpful! As everyone said, it lists activities happening on the ship daily, so we could easily find something to do at any time we wanted. Also, we all liked seeing the nightly dinner menus so we could get an idea ahead of time. We used the chat feature a couple times, but we pre-knew to look for a message because we split up and agreed to send messages through the chat. Otherwise, as others have said, if you don't know to look for a message, you might miss that you got one.

 

[MichelleCanada]

I apologize if this information exists somewhere else . . just wondering what sort of information I can get from the App when I am actually on the cruise? At the moment I have a countdown clock with a ship repeatedly running into an iceberg . .

Does it have the Navigator info? Did someone say there were menus? TV Guide? Movie Guide? Drink of the Day? Breaking news?

How does the keep in touch with your shipmates work? I assume each shipmate has to agree to keeping in touch or is it just people in your same cabin?

THANKS!!!

You didn't mention if you were traveling with children....one of the features that we liked was that the Oceaner's Club contacted us through the chat function in the app so that we didn't have to carry around the wave phones. One day my DS5 at the time, had a nose bleed and they texted us to come to check in on him. We really liked that feature!

 

[debfen]

Thanks for all the info, we were wondering about the app also! Looks like something we definitely need!

 

[snaps244]

It was touched on in the above list (point #2 - booked activities) but I can add a bit more info. If you prebook drink tastings or Palo/Remy, it will autopopulate those activities into your personal activity schedule, and give you a record of who else in your party is included. If there are more than one of something, like say two wine tastings on different days, it will know which one you are signed up for. Everything on your favorites list gets a notification about 15 minutes before the activity starts.

It will also alert you (via notification) when your washer/dryer are done.

If your child has self-checkout privileges from the kid's club, it will send you a notification when they check themselves out.

When I swiped my KTTW card to get in "line" for the onboard booking desk, it alerted me when I was next in line.

It can still use a bit more refining, but overall we found the new update very helpful.

 

[TestingH2O]

If your child has self-checkout privileges from the kid's club, it will send you a notification when they check themselves out.

When I swiped my KTTW card to get in "line" for the onboard booking desk, it alerted me when I was next in line.

I hadn’t heard about those two. They are both nice additions.

 

[fredandkell]

It was touched on in the above list (point #2 - booked activities) but I can add a bit more info. If you prebook drink tastings or Palo/Remy, it will autopopulate those activities into your personal activity schedule, and give you a record of who else in your party is included. If there are more than one of something, like say two wine tastings on different days, it will know which one you are signed up for. Everything on your favorites list gets a notification about 15 minutes before the activity starts.

It will also alert you (via notification) when your washer/dryer are done.

If your child has self-checkout privileges from the kid's club, it will send you a notification when they check themselves out.

When I swiped my KTTW card to get in "line" for the onboard booking desk, it alerted me when I was next in line.

It can still use a bit more refining, but overall we found the new update very helpful.

Wow! How does it know your washer and dryer are done? I guess it's tied to your room key?