Anyone use on a cruise ship?

dlongacre · Post by **dlongacre** » Fri May 09, 2008 9:07 pm

Just wondering if anyone used it on a cruise ship. I am going to the Med on a US ship (Celebrity) and thought this would be great!
Thanks
Don

gooney · Post by **gooney** » Sat May 10, 2008 2:18 am

dlongacre wrote:Just wondering if anyone used it on a cruise ship. I am going to the Med on a US ship (Celebrity) and thought this would be great!
Thanks
Don

All depends
How fast is the ships internet connection?
Is the connection strict?

Fast connection/No rules = Bring your laptop and connect MJ and you will be good to go

I am just guessing... Never went on a ship cruise in my life.

strndedinalska · Post by **strndedinalska** » Sat May 10, 2008 4:47 am

I'd wager it's a satellite connection. If so, you can try it, but don't be surprised if the latency doesn't chew away at the quality.

Stewart · Post by **Stewart** » Sat May 10, 2008 7:48 am

A friend took a cruise and experienced mediocre but usable quality with a G.711 (codec that MJ uses) softphone.

You will probably have better luck with a service that uses a compression codec.

Try Yahoo! Voice. http://voice.yahoo.com/ . $0.01/min. to US destinations. You can test for free -- toll-free numbers can be reached, even if you don't have a Phone Out account. Also, it's much better at getting through strict firewalls than MJ (though it's not as good as Skype in that regard). I assume that you will be using a computer headset, but if you will be taking a phone along, you can tell Messenger to use the TigerJet device and talk/listen with the phone. However, you'll still need to use Messenger to dial, answer, or hang up.

If all else fails, use Skype.

root · Post by **root** » Sat May 10, 2008 12:30 pm

Even though MJ is supposed to utilize the ilbc codec, it doesn't appear to work at this time, probably due to the lack of availability of modifiable source code for use with asterisk. It is my understanding this issue is being resolved, but for the time being it's of no use.

jonnathanabby · Post by **jonnathanabby** » Sat May 17, 2008 4:50 pm

MJ works fine.. unless you are using the ship's PC , & it is an old OS, say Win2000.
I just went transatlantic, in a 105 M small ship.
MJ worked every time.
BE warned.. some hotels don't like you using MJ on their PCs
especially if you use a reg. household phone.. !
And, you may have difficulty loading MJ software.

jgarvey · Post by **jgarvey** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 12:15 am

I used my MagicJack successfully on Royal Caribbean recently. I used the wi-fi connection, my laptop + M/J + the little flip phone I got from MagicVoicePhone.com and it worked great. Everyone else was paying a fortune for using their cell phones with the international rates. I was surfing the internet AND talking on my little phone at the same time (for free).

Worked well. There seemed to be some latency once but never any complaints about the quality on the other end. Having the voicemail sent to my e-mail was convenient, too, in that if I was not around it was just there waiting for me.. worked well.

Justin

teddy_b · Post by **teddy_b** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 1:18 am

Is Internet normally available for free on cruise ships, or there's a charge for time or traffic? Is it wireless, or wired (in a cabin)?
Are all cruise lines the same in that regard? Specifically, I'm interested if there's any sense to take MJ on Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) cruise...
Thanks!

Roozie · Post by **Roozie** » Sun Jun 29, 2008 7:55 am

Most cruiselines charge around $20/hour or more for access to the internet. I have not used MJ on a ship before, but I was planning on taking mine with me on my next cruise. I usually go to the Caribbean area, and there are usually several Mexico ports on the itinerary. In Cozumel, for instance, there are internet/phone stores that offer internet access for $2.00/hr. Now that is where I plan to make my MJ calls and check email. You can't beat the price while on a vacation.

Looking forward to my first overseas call to the US!

djmegahertz · Post by **djmegahertz** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 8:03 am

I used it on my last Royal Carribeean cruise.
I took the dial up internet for a flat rate of $100 for the week.
Worked out great as there were 16 of us that split the cost.
I simply made the dialup connection (got 53kbs) and tied a cordless phone to the magic jack. Several of us just used it to make calls when ever needed.
Worked very well!

chasericcardi · Post by **chasericcardi** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 12:48 am

There is really great speed of the Internet on the cruise but when lots of people use this at the same time then it gives problem to connect.

djmegahertz · Post by **djmegahertz** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 7:50 am

Well since my last post, the cruise ships are gotten smart and now block the usual MJ ports. So this no longer works.
I was hoping that I could VPN to my home LAN and work around it that way, but they also now block VPN.. They do anything to piss you off anymore!

TransferCutter · Post by **TransferCutter** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 5:10 pm

Next time someone is on a ship and they're blocked, try http://hotspotshield.com/ and post to let us know if it works

please

djmegahertz · Post by **djmegahertz** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 6:18 pm

Like I said, they are now blocking VPN. So if you read how it works:

Hotspot Shield creates a virtual private network (VPN) between your laptop or iPhone and our Internet gateway. This impenetrable tunnel prevents snoopers, hackers, ISP’s, from viewing your web browsing activities, instant messages, downloads, credit card information or anything else you send over the network. Hotspot Shield security application is free to download, employs the latest VPN technology, and is easy to install and use.

grm · Post by **grm** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 9:40 pm

Roozie wrote:Most cruiselines charge around $20/hour or more for access to the internet. I have not used MJ on a ship before, but I was planning on taking mine with me on my next cruise. I usually go to the Caribbean area, and there are usually several Mexico ports on the itinerary. In Cozumel, for instance, there are internet/phone stores that offer internet access for $2.00/hr. Now that is where I plan to make my MJ calls and check email. You can't beat the price while on a vacation.

Looking forward to my first overseas call to the US!

The problem I have when I go to Mexico and try to use their software that it is in Spanish I can't get their windows to load MJ. I have tried at different places where you rent time to use their computers with no luck. I can use my computer in Mexico with no problems.

djmegahertz · Post by **djmegahertz** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 11:11 pm

Roozie wrote:Most cruiselines charge around $20/hour or more for access to the internet. I have not used MJ on a ship before, but I was planning on taking mine with me on my next cruise. I usually go to the Caribbean area, and there are usually several Mexico ports on the itinerary. In Cozumel, for instance, there are internet/phone stores that offer internet access for $2.00/hr. Now that is where I plan to make my MJ calls and check email. You can't beat the price while on a vacation.

Looking forward to my first overseas call to the US!

One thing I have done is loaded the Acrobits softphone into my iPHONE and when I get to a wi-fi spot, I can make calls via SIP into a MJ account (assuming you know you login credentials) or via another SIP provider. That really is the best choice when you go traveling.
I have setup my own SIP server now days with custom ports to help get around the port blocking.

mergemedia · Post by **mergemedia** » Mon Feb 21, 2011 3:54 am

I used it with my laptop just fine, but only when I was hooked up to the ships WiFi.. when I was in port it was pretty much useless..

http://mergemedia.com/travel/cruises/po ... elers.html

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