Cruise line app chat, and what to do when it is not enough
Most lines now have their own app with guest-to-guest chat. Royal Caribbean has included it since 2023; Carnival charges a one-off fee per person to unlock HUB chat for the voyage. None of them need a wifi package, but all of them depend on the ship's network, which is why messages so often arrive in a clump an hour late.
What each line does
Prices and policies change, and they change without announcement. Treat this as a starting point and check your own line. Last checked October 2026.
| Line | Guest-to-guest chat | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Royal Caribbean | Included | Free since January 2023; previously $1.99 per person per day. |
| Princess | Included | Messaging between guests, plus locating your party, in the MedallionClass app. |
| Disney | Included | Messaging between guests on the same sailing. |
| MSC | Reported included | Sources are weak on this one. Confirm with MSC before you rely on it. |
| Carnival (HUB) | Paid | One-off fee per person for the voyage, widely reported at around $5. No wifi package needed on top. |
| Norwegian (NCL) | Paid | Sold as an add-on communication feature rather than included. |
| P&O | Not offered | The MyHoliday app covers the programme and bookings, not guest chat. What P&O wifi costs. |
Compiled from cruise line guides in October 2026, several of them travel blogs rather than the lines themselves. Cruise pricing moves without announcement, so check your own line and sailing. If you spot something wrong here, tell us and we will fix it.
The thing nobody warns you about
Paying for the chat is not usually the complaint. The complaint is that it does not reliably tell you a message has arrived.
The reason is structural. These apps work over the ship's own wifi network. When your phone sleeps it drops that network, and the app stops receiving. The message is waiting on the ship's server the whole time, and you find it when you next unlock your phone and open the app. For "dinner is at eight" that is fine. For "we've moved to the other pool and your mother has the key" it is not.
"We've used the messaging feature of the Hub app. It's not the greatest, but it is significantly cheaper than WiFi and of course you get what you pay for." — a cruiser on Reddit, in the thread that currently ranks for this question
Where it works well
Credit where it is due. The ship's own app reaches everyone on the sailing, not just the people you came with, which is genuinely useful if you are meeting another family onboard. It is already installed because you need it for the daily programme and your boarding pass. And it works ship-wide wherever the network reaches, which no phone-to-phone app can claim.
Where a second option helps
CruiseLink does not use the ship's network at all. Phones in your group pass messages straight to each other over Bluetooth, and over the ship's wifi where the ship allows guests to reach each other. That means it is free, it behaves the same on every line, and it carries on working when the ship's network is busy, down, or has quietly dropped your phone.
The honest trade: it only reaches the group you set up, and a message travels when phones come near enough, so it is not instant from one end of a large ship to the other. Plenty of families use both — the line's app for ship-wide, CruiseLink for their own party.
Next: set your group up before you sail, or read about walkie talkie apps and why they stop working at sea.
Get CruiseLink
Free, no account, nothing to set up beyond your group. iPhone today; Android is built and in testing.
