Since the last time we reviewed the Disney Cruise Line Navigator App, Disney released a major upgrade. I thought it would be helpful to show everyone a few screen shots with the functionality that the app provides.
The first thing that you need to know is to download the App before the ship leaves the port. We always make sure everyone downloads it before we leave home and we check for updates the morning of the cruise. The second thing to know is that the App only provides a cruise countdown until you connect to the ship’s Wi-Fi. The cruise countdown is useful for watching the days tick by until you get on board.
Once you get on board and connect to the ship’s Wi-Fi, the App will download the cruise information.
One of the features of the app that we always check out right away is the itinerary. You can scroll to any of the days of your cruise and select it.
After selecting the day, a list of all the available activities will come up on the app. This includes activities for both kids and adults. You can mark favorite activities to receive reminders that events you are interested in are coming up.
There are other tabs for the various dining establishments as well as the menus for that particular day. The hours are available for all the locations.
If you select one of the dining rooms, you will get a photo as well as the schedule.
If you keep scrolling, you can bring up the menu for dinner that evening. The entire menu is available. One thing you can do is to move forward to each night of the cruise to see the menus for those nights based on your dining rotation.
The Spas and Youth Clubs give their hours of operations listed under a separate tab.
If you select one of the clubs, you can see the activities taking place for that day.
The Pools have their hours of operation as well as a description if they are selected.
Another wonderful feature in the new app is the built in Deck Plans. You can select different decks and look a the available venues.
If you select the Disney Cruise Line symbol at the bottom of the activities page, you can get a list of the activities that you selected as a favorite (with the heart symbol). You will also get reminders about these activities on your device.
One of the best features of the app, in our opinion, is the chat feature. You can basically text with the rest of your party while you are on board the ship. We’ve had mixed success with it, but it seems to work more than it doesn’t. We have occasionally had to take a device to Guest Services or the Internet Cafe to get it working again, but they’ve managed to do the trick.
Here is the description of the chat feature from within the app. The members of your sailing party will be listed in the app when you login. Anyone else that you would like to add will have a six digit code that you must enter. You can use nicknames and Disney-specific emojis in the chat feature.
Here is a live chat. You can see when someone has read your messages.
There are some additional app features we have noticed over time that are useful to us. If you are using the ship’s washing machines, it will let you know when your machine is done with its current cycle. You can also place yourself in the queue for the Disney Vacation Planning Desk in order to book an onboard cruise which can save you up to 10 percent.
If you have seen any additional features, please let us know!
If you have enjoyed this article, please be sure to check out our Disney Cruise Line information page, which has useful hints in addition to our cruise trip reports!
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