Shipmate - Cruise Tracker

Review by eFreeware

Shipmate's most distinctive feature is that it follows a cruise through its whole life: from comparing fares months out, to watching the ship move on a map while you are aboard. The developer, Cruiseline.com, has been building this app since 2011, and it now carries a 4.8 average from more than 13,000 ratings and over a million installs. That is a long run for a travel app, and it suggests the core idea keeps working.

I'd expect it to suit two sorts of travelers. The first is someone still deciding: they want to compare itineraries, watch prices and read what other passengers said before committing. The second is someone already booked who wants the countdown, the deck plans and the booking details in one place. If you fall into either group, the rest of this review should tell you whether Shipmate earns a spot on your phone.

Where Shipmate fits into a cruise

The app is built for the whole arc of a trip rather than one phase of it. Before booking, it is a research tool: you search cruises by itinerary, departure port or destination, and you can compare what different sailings offer. The developer pitches it as the most popular cruise app for cruisers worldwide, and the install count backs up that it is widely used, though popularity is not the same as being right for you.

Once a sailing is on your radar, Shipmate shifts into tracking mode. You can enable price alerts so you hear when a fare drops, which is the feature most likely to pay for the time you put in. During the trip, the app keeps working: there is a live ship locator using GPS data, an itinerary tracker showing current and upcoming port stops, and a place to store booking details.

After you sail, the community side takes over. You can upload photos and write reviews to help the next batch of travelers. That loop of research, tracking and reporting is what makes Shipmate more than a countdown widget, and it is the reason the app has stayed relevant for well over a decade.

Research tools before you book

Search is the entry point. You can look for cruises by the itinerary you want, the port you would leave from, or a destination you have in mind. The app supports all the major lines, including Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, Princess, Holland America, Celebrity, Disney and MSC, so you are not locked into one brand's catalog.

Reviews are user-generated and are verified, with real traveler photos. That matters more for cruises than for many purchases, because a ship's atmosphere and a port's practicalities are hard to judge from a brochure. Deck plans are also included, so you can study a ship's layout before you pick a cabin or decide how far you will be from the elevators.

The price alert feature is the one I would treat as the main reason to install. You set it up and the app notifies you when fares move. One quoted user says alerts saved them over $400, which is the kind of claim worth taking as an illustration rather than a promise, but the mechanic itself is straightforward and useful.

Community features and roll calls

Roll Calls are the social centerpiece: you join the group for your specific sailing and chat with other passengers before you board. For anyone traveling alone, or for a family that wants to know what to expect, that is a genuine head start. There are also forums for general questions and advice, and separate chat groups for discussing shore excursions with other travelers.

The excursion chat groups are a nice touch because they solve a real coordination problem. If you are trying to fill a jeep tour or split a private guide, talking to the people on your sailing is the obvious way to do it. The app also lets you book shore excursions directly, with support from the developer's partners, so the research and the reservation can happen in the same place.

I would not expect the community to replace a dedicated forum you already use, and the quality of any user-generated content depends on who shows up for your particular sailing. But as a way to put names to faces before embarkation, Roll Calls are the feature that most clearly distinguishes Shipmate from a plain fare-search tool.

Tracking the ship and keeping records

The live ship locator shows where your vessel is at sea, updated with GPS data, and the itinerary tracker lists current and upcoming port stops. For anyone with family following along from home, or for a passenger who wants to know how far the ship has come overnight, this is the part of the app that keeps it open during the trip rather than just before it.

Organization is the other half of that. You can save multiple upcoming cruises, store booking information, cruise credits, confirmation numbers and room details, and sync your account across devices. The countdown widget counts down to sail day, and a recent update changed it to use the ship's full departure time, which is a small fix that makes the number more accurate.

The recent changes also mention staying signed in when you move to a new phone, smoother scrolling and a smaller download. Those are maintenance items rather than headline features, but they suggest the app is being kept in working order rather than left to sit.

What it costs and what the ads mean

Shipmate is free to download, and it carries ads. There are no in-app purchases, so the app does not ask you to pay to remove limits or to unlock features. There is no paid tier, and shore excursions are booked through the developer's partners rather than as a purchase inside the app.

That combination is worth thinking about. A free app with ads and no purchases means you should expect some commercial interruptions while you use it. The ads are part of the package. For a tool you might open a few times a week while planning, that is a reasonable trade; if you dislike advertising in travel apps generally, it is the main cost here.

Features such as price alerts and the ship locator are part of the app. That is a simpler arrangement than the subscription model many travel apps use, and it makes Shipmate easy to try.

How it compares with other ways to plan

The obvious alternative is the cruise line's own app. Those tend to be tied to a single brand and focused on the sailing you have already booked, which makes them good once you are aboard but less useful when you are comparing options across lines. Shipmate's advantage is breadth: it covers multiple cruise lines and works before, during and after the trip.

A second alternative is a general travel site or fare aggregator. Those can be strong on price comparison, but they rarely carry deck plans, roll calls or a live ship tracker. If your main need is finding the cheapest fare and nothing else, a broad travel search may be enough. Shipmate's case rests on doing several of these jobs in one place.

A third option is the community itself, in the form of a long-running cruise forum. Forums can be deeper on advice, but they are not built around your specific sailing the way Roll Calls are, and they will not store your confirmation numbers or count down to departure. The question is whether you want one app that does a bit of everything or several tools that each do one thing well.

A free companion for cruisers who plan ahead

Shipmate is worth installing if you are actively researching a cruise or already have one booked. The price alerts, deck plans, reviews and countdown give you a reason to open it repeatedly in the months before you sail, and the live tracker and stored booking details keep it useful once you are on board. The community features are a bonus rather than the main draw, though Roll Calls can be genuinely helpful for a first cruise.

The caveats are modest. It is free with ads and no in-app purchases. The experience leans on user-generated content, which varies by sailing. And the app is a companion to booking, not a replacement for the cruise line's own systems when it comes to managing your reservation.

For a traveler who likes to compare before committing and keep everything in one place afterward, Shipmate covers a lot of ground for nothing.

What's new in version 5.0.10

• Stay signed in when you switch to a new phone • Countdowns now use your ship's full departure time • Shipmates' cruise lists load in full, with correct counts • Blocked Users shows only accounts you've blocked, and unblocking no longer removes Shipmates • Fixed sign-up failing with some profile photos • Smaller download, smoother scrolling and stability improvements