onewomanarmy

Thanks BirdTravels and Sauer-kraut, this helps solidify my plan and supports what I was thinking.  I apparently need to cruise more often so I can remember all this phone stuff.  🙂

NCL newbie, trying to wrap my head around keeping in touch while on board.

I am aware of the NCL app, where we can each pay a fee and be able to communicate with each other while on board.  I am also aware of the internet packages offered by NCL - we don't need those.

But I would like to be able to be available in case needed by home (not expected, but, you know how THAT goes!).  We have Verizon, and have Travel Pass which will cover our ports, and Pay As You Go enabled for on ship.  By my understanding, this would mean we are reachable at all times.  I guess what I'm trying to figure out, we'd still leave our phones in airplane mode with data turned off to keep from accruing random usage charges, so how would we actually be reachable?  Do you simply flip the airplane mode off for a few mins every day to check for texts/messages?  Should we go deny data roaming access if using these Verizon plans?

I'm not sure why I'm having such a hard time with this - maybe it's my dislike of talking on the phone...  😉

Thanks for any help!

We were late additions for our cruise, which leaves in a week (25th), and are trying to figure out excursions.  Both of our first choices in Cozumel (the Tucan catamaran tour or Mr Sancho's) are fully booked the day we are port, so I'm trying to find something comparable to either.  I also looked at Nachicocum, which is fully booked.  Does anyone have any other favorite day pass recommendations?  Or a decent catamaran tour (preferably with some snorkeling) that isn't a private charter or a huge capacity boat?  I realize we are up against the clock for a busy area.  

Thanks for the tips! We're on a delay this morning, quite foggy and apparently my ship didn't come in... ;)

We'll see what we can get into once we get down there. Rain appears to be moving out, so that helps. My partner has MS, so we can't cover a lot of territory (we know we'll be doing plenty of that on the boat! ) but these sound like some reasonable ideas without too much fatigue. Thanks!

We are leaving on cruise tomorrow from Galveston and it looks like our shuttle will drop us about an hour before our check in time. Is there anything to do around the Carnival port? Or at least somewhere we can be inside? It looks like it will probably be raining at that time.

Thanks for all the great information - the mud is much clearer now! :D

We're shooting for going fairly unconnected while on our cruise - and as a firm hater of talking on the phone, I'm not too concerned with being able to use the phone in general. Data is harder to give up, but I'd rather have a few extra adult beverages than pay an arm and a leg for data access. I did want to make sure we were reachable though in case of an emergency. My partner's mother has been having some health issues and it would be nice to know that we could at least be contacted. We'll probably just spread the word to email or text and we'll contact/call back asap.

Thanks again for all the helpful replies and anecdotes!

Thanks, CruiserBruce!

At least I seem to be thinking generally correct regarding phone use. We're going to be on Carnival Valor - it's a test cruise to see how we like the general idea. We didn't want to spend a ton of money on something just to find out we're not cruisers! :o

Also, my memory thought $10/phone internationally as well - seems like when we were in St Lucia that was the case. But when I went to Verizon's page and investigated more, it appears that we'd only be charged $5/phone in Mexico.

First time cruiser in a couple of weeks, trying to wrap my head around cell phone use (or lack thereof!).

These are my understandings, please correct me where I'm wrong:

1, Once we are away from shore, we'll be out of reach of cell towers and any further use of phone functions (making/receiving calls, voicemails, texts) will be on a much higher rate. According to Verizon, $2.99/min for calls.

2, Best option at this point is to turn phone to airplane mode if we have no intentions of using phone or data functions under the higher rates. Manually turn on WiFi after going to airplane mode to be able to use any onboard internet plans.

3. Can use onboard wi-fi to make/receive calls via Skype if we sign up for the highest internet plan.

4. Even lowest internet plan will allow us to send/receive texts via Whatsapp or Facebook messenger while on board without accruing additional fees.

5. While in port, since we both have Travel Pass on our phones, we'd have full usability (data and voice) for the Travel Pass daily rate for the country we are currently in. I believe this is $5 for Verizon for our ports.

Am I missing anything? I just don't want any surprises when we get back. :o

Thanks for the replies, we're really excited to not only cruise for the first time - but to escape winter (though, as I say that, our temps here have jumped to the 60s!). We both have current passports and they have been added to our online check in. I've been going back periodically to check to see if, by chance, there are any earlier boarding times that may pop up, but I'm doubtful that is going to happen. Hate that I snoozed on that earlier check in. Oh well, I'm sure we'll still manage to eke out a good time... ;)

We're taking our first cruise in a few weeks - and I could use some pointers. We're on a 5 day Carnival cruise out of Galveston. I was asleep at the wheel regarding online checkin - actually, between the holidays and being sick - I've let this thing sneak up on me! I did set up our boarding time,the earliest I could book was 12:30. I have no idea if this is ideal, but it is the earliest available.

I know we'll want to take a carry on with early use stuff since cabin may not be ready/luggage may not show up for some time. I'm also aware of gratuities and such and have picked up several nice tips in general on the forums here. We still need to plan excursions, hopefully we're not too late to have good options. I believe we stop in Cozumel and Yucatan/Progreso.

I'm green enough at cruising that I don't even know what I don't know. I'm guessing that things will become clear once we arrive at the port? We're arriving the night before and driving down to stay in Galveston. We'll leave our car there and hopefully take the shuttle to port. This is a bit of a test cruise for us. Thought we'd start with a fairly cheap and somewhat short cruise so we know if it's going to be an option for bigger trips.

I don't even know what to ask - but wondering if there are other things I need to do before the cruise. Especially since I almost let the online check in slip by me! Obviously, we need to figure out what excursions we need to do, we'll look for independent/local vendors for that asap. Is the online check in all we need to do before hand otherwise? And then we just show up at the port at our assigned time with our carry on and checked bags in hand? I'd assume we can board no earlier than our assigned time?

Thanks, and thanks for all the tips provided on the boards here. :)