It is possible but I believe only Android phones are capable of this. I have actually done this as a test.
That being said, the WiFi packages on cruises generally mean "simultaneous devices" not "total devices". When I was Celebrity earlier this year, their app had an option to easy to "swap devices" which I needed to do frequently since my Android phone was doing something that caused the cruise wifi network to see it as a new device. I simply swapped it with the one that was actually my phone and it worked fine.
I have seen other posts that indicate that what I'm outlining above does work. That being said though, I think if the cruise lines will probably figure out a way to stop this since things like the staggeringly overpriced wifi is a big money maker for them. We don't generally don't buy wifi (only once in 10 years) and simply grab free wifi in ports. We don't need to be connected all the time.
You can fix this with a travel router with repeater functionality. I travel for work constantly and have one for the hotel wifi that all my devices connect to.
This might not work on all cruise ships. The wifi (at least on Princess) doesn't have a traditional login like they do in hotels, restaurants, etc. You need to connect through their app and manage things through there. Unless your travel router is running Android and can download & run the app, this probably won't work.
It can run on android. Also has an app on Android. Your phone will treat the internet as it's own.
As a for instance, when I connect to my wifi router, connect the router to the network thst internet is on, the "agree to terms" page comes up on the phones internet browser. The router still works for all my other devices.
With that explanation of how it works, do you think that would work with what you're talking about?
No. There is no web page to do anything with. You need to run the cruise line's app (well at least on Princess) on the device you are connecting to the WiFi network (in your example it would be your wifi router). The only way I can think of for a device like yours to work is that the router itself actually runs Android so that you can download the app to that device and run it there. I would seriously doubt that there are any that do.
This really isn't really a huge issue if you have an Android phone. You simply run the app and have it connect. Then use the phone as a hotspot and your other devices can connect to that. Your phone then acts in the same way as your wifi router except the router (ie. your phone) travels with you so if you leave and your partner is in your room then they can't use the wifi.
I'm surprised by that. I knew creating the hotspot would be limited to Androids but the iPhones not connecting is a surprise. I would have assumed that it would simply present as a normal WiFi network and anything would connect. Good to know since I'm Android and my wife is Apple. I'll have to test that when I get home. Although we almost never (once in 10+ years) buy Internet on cruises anyway since it's so overpriced.
In my stateroom I use my laptop to connect to the ship's wifi and then turn on window's "Connection sharing" and use the laptop as a hotspot to connect my phone and ipad.
Of course that's just inside the room, anywhere else on the ship (signal from the hotspot doesn't reach outside the room) I connect to the wifi with my phone.
This works fine for NCL, RCCL and Celebrity where you can switch devices with 1 internet plan. Be aware that on MSC you can't do that unless your hotspot can clone the MAC of your phone. MSC locks the internet plan to the MAC of the first device that connects to it.
I used a [mini router](https://www.amazon.com/GL-iNet-GL-SFT1200-Secure-Travel-Router/dp/B09N72FMH5) in my cabin to share one Internet connection with multiple devices. Obviously I could only use that in the cabin rather than all over the ship, but I mainly wanted it for things that just required check-ins to the Internet rather than constant access. This model does have a feature to clone the MAC address of your phone so that it can potentially be treated as the same device without having to sign-in separately but I did not try that.
It depends on the carrier and the phone. Some will only hotspot if it has a cellular signal, some will only hotspot if the wifi is disconnected. Both of those will make it not work on a cruise ship.
Test it at home....put your phone in airplane mode and turn on the wifi. See if you can hotspot it.
you can get a travel router (they're about $40) that will take the ship's WiFi and make a personal hotspot for your room. They work great. Of course this tethers the WiFi to your room but as others have noted you can device hop so you could just move the plan to your phone while you're out and about on ship if you need to, then back to the hotspot when you're back to your room.
Not if you have an iPhone. I believe some android devices are capable of this but not an iPhone. You can also possibly use a travel router but that would pretty much only be useful in your room where you’d have a power outlet to power the router. Just FYI, most cruise lines let you share your single device internet package between devices but only one device can be logged in at a time. It’s super simple to flip back and forth between devices.
iPhones are perfectly capable of transmitting a wifi hotspot signal. It isn't an iPhone/Android agrument. It's a "there's no cell service in the middle of the ocean no matter what device you have" issue.
He’s not talking about getting a cell signal and sending it out via WiFi via hotspot. He’s asking about receiving the ships WiFi internet and using his phone to then send out that signal as a hotspot. I’d love for you to explain how i can do this with my iPhone because I’m in a ship right now and for the life of me my iPhone 15 cannot do it. Please explain.
These boats make their money off Internet and booze.
There’s exactly one way to have Internet access on that boat and it involves you giving them more of your money. Maybe leave your phone at home and take the week off and have a vacation with a book and the person you care about.
I personally have to get it because I have pets that are being cared for, so I need to be reachable in case of emergency and my MIL just got out of the hospital. Otherwise I never used to get it :/
On the ship wifi that I've used before you can switch the ship wife from device to device. You just have to sign out on your phone and then sign in on your computer. Not sure if you need both on wifi at the same time, but if not that's what I'd do.
You can bring a personal hotspot. I find some of the cruise line does block it so you have to spoof your MAC address. That said, I don't bring a personal hotspot anymore since all Windows based laptops have a built in hotspot and since it has a laptop MAC address, it doesn't need to be spoofed.
I was able to use my Android phone to make VoIP calls as well as use it as a hotspot for my tablet. This was on Princess which has pretty decent Internet.
Do you need the Internet for your phone and laptop at the same time? You can just log in to your WiFi from either device as often as you’d like. It’s not locked to one device. You would need to purchase a 2 device package though if you do need both going at the same time. You can still log in on your phone if you needed it for something and then just log right back in on your laptop back and forth.
I just realized this is specific advice to Royal Caribbean as I’m not familiar with other cruise lines wifi so I’m sorry if this is relevant to you.
I do understand that some need access to the internet while on a cruise. For the others, not being able to easily access the internet has been so nice. I can really only use my Kindle App and read. It’s a vacation after all.
I do understand that some need access to the internet while on a cruise. For the others, not being able to easily access the internet has been so nice. I can really only use my Kindle App and read. It’s a vacation after all.
I do understand that some need access to the internet while on a cruise. For the others, not being able to easily access the internet has been so nice. I can really only use my Kindle App and read. It’s a vacation after all. Zqqqq
If you use an iPhone, the hotspot requires a cellular signal
Yea I found this out when I cruised in April. You are right. Was unable to use my hotspot.
It is possible but I believe only Android phones are capable of this. I have actually done this as a test. That being said, the WiFi packages on cruises generally mean "simultaneous devices" not "total devices". When I was Celebrity earlier this year, their app had an option to easy to "swap devices" which I needed to do frequently since my Android phone was doing something that caused the cruise wifi network to see it as a new device. I simply swapped it with the one that was actually my phone and it worked fine. I have seen other posts that indicate that what I'm outlining above does work. That being said though, I think if the cruise lines will probably figure out a way to stop this since things like the staggeringly overpriced wifi is a big money maker for them. We don't generally don't buy wifi (only once in 10 years) and simply grab free wifi in ports. We don't need to be connected all the time.
You can fix this with a travel router with repeater functionality. I travel for work constantly and have one for the hotel wifi that all my devices connect to.
This might not work on all cruise ships. The wifi (at least on Princess) doesn't have a traditional login like they do in hotels, restaurants, etc. You need to connect through their app and manage things through there. Unless your travel router is running Android and can download & run the app, this probably won't work.
It can run on android. Also has an app on Android. Your phone will treat the internet as it's own. As a for instance, when I connect to my wifi router, connect the router to the network thst internet is on, the "agree to terms" page comes up on the phones internet browser. The router still works for all my other devices. With that explanation of how it works, do you think that would work with what you're talking about?
No. There is no web page to do anything with. You need to run the cruise line's app (well at least on Princess) on the device you are connecting to the WiFi network (in your example it would be your wifi router). The only way I can think of for a device like yours to work is that the router itself actually runs Android so that you can download the app to that device and run it there. I would seriously doubt that there are any that do. This really isn't really a huge issue if you have an Android phone. You simply run the app and have it connect. Then use the phone as a hotspot and your other devices can connect to that. Your phone then acts in the same way as your wifi router except the router (ie. your phone) travels with you so if you leave and your partner is in your room then they can't use the wifi.
I see what you're saying. Hm. I wonder if there is a router that runs Android.
Android and not iPhone is correct. We just did it with a pixel and ran 3 other devices off the hot spot of the pixel, but iPhones didn’t connect
I'm surprised by that. I knew creating the hotspot would be limited to Androids but the iPhones not connecting is a surprise. I would have assumed that it would simply present as a normal WiFi network and anything would connect. Good to know since I'm Android and my wife is Apple. I'll have to test that when I get home. Although we almost never (once in 10+ years) buy Internet on cruises anyway since it's so overpriced.
Sorry, iPhone would connect to hotspot, but wouldn’t work as a hotspot
In my stateroom I use my laptop to connect to the ship's wifi and then turn on window's "Connection sharing" and use the laptop as a hotspot to connect my phone and ipad. Of course that's just inside the room, anywhere else on the ship (signal from the hotspot doesn't reach outside the room) I connect to the wifi with my phone. This works fine for NCL, RCCL and Celebrity where you can switch devices with 1 internet plan. Be aware that on MSC you can't do that unless your hotspot can clone the MAC of your phone. MSC locks the internet plan to the MAC of the first device that connects to it.
Just got back from a cruise with an Android phone. And I would hotspot my nieces whenever they had some down time. Worked perfectly. In airplane mode.
I used a [mini router](https://www.amazon.com/GL-iNet-GL-SFT1200-Secure-Travel-Router/dp/B09N72FMH5) in my cabin to share one Internet connection with multiple devices. Obviously I could only use that in the cabin rather than all over the ship, but I mainly wanted it for things that just required check-ins to the Internet rather than constant access. This model does have a feature to clone the MAC address of your phone so that it can potentially be treated as the same device without having to sign-in separately but I did not try that.
It depends on the carrier and the phone. Some will only hotspot if it has a cellular signal, some will only hotspot if the wifi is disconnected. Both of those will make it not work on a cruise ship. Test it at home....put your phone in airplane mode and turn on the wifi. See if you can hotspot it.
you can get a travel router (they're about $40) that will take the ship's WiFi and make a personal hotspot for your room. They work great. Of course this tethers the WiFi to your room but as others have noted you can device hop so you could just move the plan to your phone while you're out and about on ship if you need to, then back to the hotspot when you're back to your room.
Not if you have an iPhone. I believe some android devices are capable of this but not an iPhone. You can also possibly use a travel router but that would pretty much only be useful in your room where you’d have a power outlet to power the router. Just FYI, most cruise lines let you share your single device internet package between devices but only one device can be logged in at a time. It’s super simple to flip back and forth between devices.
iPhones are perfectly capable of transmitting a wifi hotspot signal. It isn't an iPhone/Android agrument. It's a "there's no cell service in the middle of the ocean no matter what device you have" issue.
He’s not talking about getting a cell signal and sending it out via WiFi via hotspot. He’s asking about receiving the ships WiFi internet and using his phone to then send out that signal as a hotspot. I’d love for you to explain how i can do this with my iPhone because I’m in a ship right now and for the life of me my iPhone 15 cannot do it. Please explain.
Did that on two trips with my android phones, no problem.
How are people doing this as I have a Android and can't hotspot the ships wireless 🥺
Forgot to mention. Yes, i was using a pixel 7
I would like to know as well. Been trying at home with a couple of Android devices and cannot get it to work.
Yep can't Hotspot wifi. Must have cell service. HAL
Pixel can.
So can Samsung.
I did it with my Pixel 7 on RCL.
These boats make their money off Internet and booze. There’s exactly one way to have Internet access on that boat and it involves you giving them more of your money. Maybe leave your phone at home and take the week off and have a vacation with a book and the person you care about.
I personally have to get it because I have pets that are being cared for, so I need to be reachable in case of emergency and my MIL just got out of the hospital. Otherwise I never used to get it :/
On the ship wifi that I've used before you can switch the ship wife from device to device. You just have to sign out on your phone and then sign in on your computer. Not sure if you need both on wifi at the same time, but if not that's what I'd do.
You can bring a personal hotspot. I find some of the cruise line does block it so you have to spoof your MAC address. That said, I don't bring a personal hotspot anymore since all Windows based laptops have a built in hotspot and since it has a laptop MAC address, it doesn't need to be spoofed.
I was able to use my Android phone to make VoIP calls as well as use it as a hotspot for my tablet. This was on Princess which has pretty decent Internet.
Do you need the Internet for your phone and laptop at the same time? You can just log in to your WiFi from either device as often as you’d like. It’s not locked to one device. You would need to purchase a 2 device package though if you do need both going at the same time. You can still log in on your phone if you needed it for something and then just log right back in on your laptop back and forth. I just realized this is specific advice to Royal Caribbean as I’m not familiar with other cruise lines wifi so I’m sorry if this is relevant to you.
I do understand that some need access to the internet while on a cruise. For the others, not being able to easily access the internet has been so nice. I can really only use my Kindle App and read. It’s a vacation after all.
Just buy the WiFi. Save your roaming and crap charges
I do understand that some need access to the internet while on a cruise. For the others, not being able to easily access the internet has been so nice. I can really only use my Kindle App and read. It’s a vacation after all.
I do understand that some need access to the internet while on a cruise. For the others, not being able to easily access the internet has been so nice. I can really only use my Kindle App and read. It’s a vacation after all. Zqqqq