Cell phones at sea

[goldencruiser]

Hi,

 

Has anyone had success using their cell phones while on a cruise? What carrier to you have if you have had success? Do you pay roaming/international charges?

 

Thanks

[cruisejunkie]

We have Verizon. We received a phone call from our Son at 2 am. We were at sea and he was at our cabin in Northern Minnesota where our phones never work. Go figure.

[mardon]

We have AT&T. Call your company and ask if they have a plan that covers International calling or roaming. I paid $5.95 for ONE month. We did Panama Canal and our calls would have been $l.99 per minute. Ended up being $.99 per minute and from some of the Mexican ports we paid $.59 per minute and $.79 per minute.

[Gonzo70]

Most modern cruise ships have cell towers. If you use your cell phone while at sea, the ship bills your cell phone company for using their tower (the charges appear on your regular monthly cell phone bill). For most providers calls are $2.49 per minute (varies some depending on what cell phone company you use). It does not matter if you have a plan with free roaming - you still would get billed the $2.49 per minute rate or whatever your cell phone company has worked out with the cruise line.

[Fblack]

On the ship your regular cell phone will work. But it's expensive. Verizon and ATT charge $2.49 a minute. T-Mobile $4.99 a minute. Text messages are much cheaper.

 

Your ATT and T-Mobile phone will work in Europe. About $1.99 and up. Verizon will give you a free loaner phone.

 

I use an unlocked quad band GSM phone and a Passport world SIM card. Calls are much cheaper in Europe that way.

 

Check these out if you do a lot of traveling. If you only travel occasionally, just use your own cell phone.

 

http://www.telestial.com/

 

http://www.ekit.com/ekit/home

[cruisingdelt]

On our recent Connie cruise our charges from Verizion were $2.49 a minute for talk, $0.50 to send a text and $0.05 to receive a text.

[goldencruiser]

Thanks,

Sounds like text messages are the way to go!

[librarylady19]

Do you need to contact your cell provider pre-cruise or will your cell automatically work on the ship (I have a Blackberry thru Verizon).

[Fblack]

librarylady:

 

Be very careful with that Blackberry. There are horror stories floating around ( my sister in law is one) of people with huge bills taking a Blackberry on a ship. Better verify you have or can get an unlimited data plan.

 

The Blackberry is always looking for e-mails and connects to the ships system....at $2.49 a minute. My sister in law had a $300 cell bill after one cruise. So contact your cell provider and get a plan. Confirm you are covered on the plan while on a cruise ship.

[librarylady19]

librarylady:

 

Be very careful with that Blackberry. There are horror stories floating around ( my sister in law is one) of people with huge bills taking a Blackberry on a ship. Better verify you have or can get an unlimited data plan.

 

The Blackberry is always looking for e-mails and connects to the ships system....at $2.49 a minute. My sister in law had a $300 cell bill after one cruise. So contact your cell provider and get a plan. Confirm you are covered on the plan while on a cruise ship.

 

Thanks for the tip. I actually went to the local Verizon store and they showed me how to turn off the data connection so that very thing doesn't happen! Guess I'll have to break my "Crackberry" habit for a few days:o Will stick with texting to stay in touch with the kids.

[denims]

Thanks for the tip. I actually went to the local Verizon store and they showed me how to turn off the data connection so that very thing doesn't happen! Guess I'll have to break my "Crackberry" habit for a few days:o Will stick with texting to stay in touch with the kids.

 

Also in "Data Connections", you can adjust the BB to accept only "non-roaming" calls.

[timbo89]

If you just turn on your Blackberry for a few minutes every so often, it will pick up txt and e-mails without costing a lot. Then you can turn off the connection, write all your replies, and then turn it on again for a few minutes to upload all those replies.

 

I have a BB from work and it costs around $500 a cruise to leave it on all the time. Work wants me to be accessible so that is their cost. (I don't have to answer, though!!)