CruiseLink
Will the cruise line app work on an older phone or an iPad?
It depends on the line more than most people expect. An iPhone 8 can install five of the ten cruise line apps we checked, and Royal Caribbean and Celebrity now need iOS 18, which rules out every iPhone older than the XS and XR. On Android the minimum runs from Android 7 (Norwegian, Costa, Princess) to Android 12 (Carnival). Only two apps, MSC’s and Holland America’s, are made for iPad. All of it was read from each app’s own App Store and Google Play pages on 3 Nov 2026.
Why we checked
The free chat in a cruise line’s app is only free if the app installs on every phone in your group. That is easy to forget when the phones in question are a grandparent’s iPhone 8, an old Android handed down to a teenager, or a child’s iPad. People ask about it on Cruise Critic’s boards, usually after an app has refused to install. And when we asked an AI assistant on 3 Nov 2026, the best it could say was that the apps would “probably” work, quoting an Android minimum for Carnival that Carnival’s current Play page contradicts. Nobody had put the lines side by side, so we read the requirement from each app’s own store page.
Line by line
| Line and app | Oldest iPhone software | Oldest Android | Made for iPad? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Norwegian | iOS 15.0 | Android 7.0 | No, iPhone app |
| Costa | iOS 15.0 | Android 7.0 | No, iPhone app |
| Holland America (Navigator) | iOS 15.0 | Not shown on its Play page | Yes |
| Princess | iOS 16.0 | Android 7.0 | No, iPhone app |
| MSC (MSC for Me) | iOS 16.0 | Android 10 | Yes |
| Carnival (HUB) | iOS 17.0 | Android 12 | No, iPhone app |
| Disney (Navigator) | iOS 17.0 | Android 11 | No iPad version listed, although Disney says tablets work (see below) |
| Virgin Voyages | iOS 17.0 | Android 9 | No, iPhone app |
| Royal Caribbean | iOS 18.0 | Android 9 | No. Royal Caribbean says it is “not supported on tablets” |
| Celebrity | iOS 18.0 | Android 9 | No, iPhone app |
Sources, all first-party and checked 3 Nov 2026. iPhone minimums and iPad versions: each app’s record on the UK App Store (the minimum iOS version, and whether the app is published as universal with iPad screenshots). Android minimums: the “Requires Android” line on each app’s UK Google Play page; Holland America’s page shows none. Royal Caribbean’s tablet statement: its FAQ “What is the new Royal Caribbean app?”. Disney’s: its help centre page on Navigator’s supported devices. These are the requirements of the current version of each app, and the next update can raise them; Royal Caribbean’s has already gone up, from iOS 17.0 for version 1.80.0 (according to the third-party tracker Appaloosa Scout) to iOS 18.0 for 1.82.0. Installing is not the same as chatting: Virgin Voyages’ listing describes messaging Sailor Services rather than other guests, and Costa’s does not say whether its chat is free (what each line’s chat costs). P&O is left out because its app has no guest chat to lose. Cunard is left out because we could find no Cunard app on the App Store.
What that means for a particular iPhone
An iPhone can only go as far as the last iOS version Apple released for it. Apple’s own compatibility lists, read on 3 Nov 2026, put the cut-offs here:
- iPhone 6s, 6s Plus, 7, 7 Plus and the first iPhone SE stop at iOS 15. On its last update, one of these can install Norwegian, Costa and Holland America, and nothing else in the table.
- iPhone 8, 8 Plus and X stop at iOS 16. Add Princess and MSC: five of the ten.
- iPhone XS, XS Max and XR stop at iOS 18. Every app in the table, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity included, as long as the phone has been updated to iOS 18.
- iPhone 11 and later, and the iPhone SE (2nd and 3rd generation) run current iOS and every app here.
The catch is the word “updated”. A phone that could run iOS 16 but has been left on iOS 14 can’t install any of these apps until it is updated. Look under Settings > General > About for the version, and do the update at home, on home wifi, not on the ship’s.
On Android, look under Settings > About phone. An Android 9 phone covers six of the nine lines that show a minimum, and misses MSC, Disney and Carnival.
Children with an iPad and no phone
Only MSC and Holland America publish an iPad version. Every other line’s app is built for iPhone, and the line does not promise it will work on an iPad. None has an Apple Watch or Wear OS version: smartwatches on a cruise ship has the detail.
- Royal Caribbean says plainly that the app is not supported on tablets.
- Disney’s help centre says Navigator works on “smart phones and tablets” running iOS or Android, but the App Store lists no iPad version of it. Those two don’t quite agree. Install it on the iPad at home and open it before you rely on it.
- MSC has an iPad version, but chat in MSC for Me is only for guests aged 16 and over, so it will not reach a younger child on any device.
The age rules are the bigger obstacle for most families. Several lines switch chat off for children by default or bar them altogether, whatever device they hold. Which lines restrict chat by age, and what parents have to do covers that line by line.
Where CruiseLink fits, and where it does not
CruiseLink’s own requirements are stricter than most of the table, and you should know that before you plan around it. It needs iOS 26, which means an iPhone 11 or later or an iPhone SE (2nd or 3rd generation), and Android 9 or later (its App Store record and Play page, 3 Nov 2026). It is an iPhone app, not an iPad app. So a grandparent with an iPhone 8 or an iPhone XR cannot install it, while they could install Princess’s or Royal Caribbean’s app respectively. For that person, if your line includes chat, the line’s own app is the better answer.
For everyone else in the group, CruiseLink is a group chat that passes messages directly between your group’s phones over Bluetooth and the ship’s local wifi, so onboard it needs no internet package and works on any line, including those whose app has no chat at all. The limits, stated plainly: everyone has to install it before sailing, while they still have a normal connection. It reaches only your own group, not the whole ship. And it is not instant across a large ship. It is free on the App Store and Google Play. If you are comparing it with other apps that work without internet, we compared those too, including the ones that are the better choice for an all-Android group.
Before you sail
- Check every device’s software version against the table, and update at home.
- Install the line’s app, and CruiseLink if you are using it, on every device while you still have home wifi. The 15-minute connectivity checklist has the rest.
- For anyone whose device cannot run either, agree a meeting point and times. It is the one arrangement that works on any phone, or none.
Get CruiseLink
Free, no account, nothing to set up beyond your group. On iPhone and Android, and the two work together.
