First time cruisers here- should we get the wifi package?

[Anonymous]

I just can’t tell whether it will be a waste of money, or worse, keep the kids (15 & 13 Boys) from participating in activities. I’m leaning heavily towards no, but is that a mistake? It’s only 5 days.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, meant to put this in travel. I will report and ask for it to be moved. Some of you may know the answer, though!

[Anonymous]

No

[Anonymous]

We went on a Disney cruise without wifi a few years ago. It was the best. All the kids were engaged and, most importantly, present.

[Anonymous]

I got it and my work paid for the package. I didn't work on trip but I really can't be totally unreachable.

[Anonymous]

We always get it for DH and me but not for the kids. DH needs it to stay in touch with work. I get it b/c one of my great/guilty pleasures in life is when my kids are all in the kids club and I can sit in the adult area on a lounger with an adult beverage in the sun and listen to podcasts, download new books, or just scroll my phone without interruptions. It's my vacation too, LOL!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We always get it for DH and me but not for the kids. DH needs it to stay in touch with work. I get it b/c one of my great/guilty pleasures in life is when my kids are all in the kids club and I can sit in the adult area on a lounger with an adult beverage in the sun and listen to podcasts, download new books, or just scroll my phone without interruptions. It's my vacation too, LOL!

This is us as well. We got it for the adults, but not the kids.

[Anonymous]

We get it. But we like to stay connected. My kids also love to order room service breakfast and watch cartoons (streaming on their ipads) in bed. DH and I eat on the balcony. We love relaxed morning in the cabin. TV is really bad on cruises so we really only use our devices.

[Anonymous]

I went on a Carnival cruise and they had a "light" package of just Facebook/messenger, Instagram, gmail, along those lines. We did it so we could easily send messages to each other when we split up to do different things. I remember the package being pretty cheap. You could then pay for a higher level of internet service as well.

[Anonymous]

We did on a recent cruise - after deliberation we left our toddler home with grandma, and DH has his own business, so we needed to stay connected for those reasons. But we weren't on phone all the time, just when needed. Gritted at the cost though. If we do it again, I'd just have it on one phone/device vs. two.

[Anonymous]

We are cruising next month and have purchased one plan (it can be used on one device at a time.) We plan on mostly unplugging, but like the option for checking in with elderly parents, and so our tween can have some time to talk with friends while we are at the gym, or during downtime in the room. The rest of the time, we will take turns of someone wants to go online for whatever reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We get it. But we like to stay connected. My kids also love to order room service breakfast and watch cartoons (streaming on their ipads) in bed. DH and I eat on the balcony. We love relaxed morning in the cabin. TV is really bad on cruises so we really only use our devices.

Another non-Wi-Fi option for streaming would be to download as much as possible to your streaming apps before you sail. This is what we do.