Beware using your net card in the Bahamas, $3700 bill

[RMLERL]

FYI-

 

Just received my Verizon bill and we use our phones for business when cruising so I know to expect a large bill but was I shocked when my bill came in at over $4000. We used our net card for the1st time aboard Imagination and we used in for about 2-3 hours total, it was only a 3 day cruise and they charged us $3700. Sure makes the internet on the ship seem cheap. The charges are broke up into 2 categories, cruise ship time and Bahamas time.I believe they charged by the KB and we used somewhere around 150,000KB. I pay $60 a month for the net card unlimited. My average bill is only $300 so I can't even imagine Verizon letting the bill rack up like that. We're working to get it resolved/reduced settled but no luck yet. Just wanted to pass on the warning. Did anyone else ever have this problem?

[lady_cruiser]

YUK! Good luck to you but thanks for the warning. I have Centennial Wireless and never used it out of the country. I am in the process of looking for a new cell phone provider and thanks to your post I can cross Verizon off my list as a possibilty.

[firefly333]

I dont know if it would have helped, but I always read to make sure you have International turned on before you cruise with a cell phone. .. otherwise you get roaming charges.

[Crusin6]

Just wondering....would a cell phone from Mobal have been better?

 

or T Mobile?

 

 

You know....a special phone just for international calls

[A&Jfamily]

FYI-

 

Just received my Verizon bill and we use our phones for business when cruising so I know to expect a large bill but was I shocked when my bill came in at over $4000. We used our net card for the1st time aboard Imagination and we used in for about 2-3 hours total, it was only a 3 day cruise and they charged us $3700. Sure makes the internet on the ship seem cheap. The charges are broke up into 2 categories, cruise ship time and Bahamas time.I believe they charged by the KB and we used somewhere around 150,000KB. I pay $60 a month for the net card unlimited. My average bill is only $300 so I can't even imagine Verizon letting the bill rack up like that. We're working to get it resolved/reduced settled but no luck yet. Just wanted to pass on the warning. Did anyone else ever have this problem?

 

I am impressed you are still taking in enough oxygen to post this...I would have passed out and not regained consciousness.

[RMLERL]

I dont know if it would have helped, but I always read to make sure you have International turned on before you cruise with a cell phone. .. otherwise you get roaming charges.

 

I don't know if it would of helped either, my net card is just like a flashdrive with a USB. I should have called verizon but I assumed of would be billed similar to the phone charges that we incur with the roming. If there is a next time with Verizon, I will definately call. Thanks.

[Bobbareeno]

I am impressed you are still taking in enough oxygen to post this...I would have passed out and not regained consciousness.

 

My thoughts exactly. That's why my cell gets turned off when we first get to our cabin and thrown in the safe. I realize people need to stay in touch for business, but I would have researched the daylights out of using my air card before I ever left on my cruise.

[RMLERL]

My thoughts exactly. That's why my cell gets turned off when we first get to our cabin and thrown in the safe. I realize people need to stay in touch for business, but I would have researched the daylights out of using my air card before I ever left on my cruise.

 

Well said, however, I just assumed (unfortunatly) that it would just mirror the phone charges in some way. We paid an extra $100 bucks for the roaming on the bill for the phones. Pales compared to the air card.

[sdirector77]

I am impressed you are still taking in enough oxygen to post this...I would have passed out and not regained consciousness.

 

roflmao.... Was thinking the exact same thing.

 

My DH upgraded our Nextel phones last year to ensure we had international capabilities while cruising. Sure enough we did not and he spent over an hour on the phone and internet trying to resolve it. My daughter's sprint phone worked just fine. We are sailing in three weeks and I told him I don't need a cell phone, I will call home from phone banks while in port.

[chandom]

Wow killer rates:

http://b2b.vzw.com/international/GlobalAccess/Caribbean/Bahamas.html two cents per kilobyte.

 

On board same thing...

http://b2b.vzw.com/international/Roaming/rates_coverage.html two cents per kilobyte.

 

Best of luck trying to get them to cut that bill down. That is one killer chunk of change.

[family cruisers]

I used my verizon wireless while in Bahamas in November.

Called the company before leaving and was instructed upon boarding ship on embarkation day to program phone and again the day we return.

I called home several times, text messaged my son etc... and I hardly noticed a difference in my regular monthly bill. WHile I didn't go crazy they told me ahead of time the fee which was I think $2.00 p/minute and 50cents p/text sent.

I feel so bad for the bill you got... what a way to end a vacation ..

[CruzVinnieCruz]

I don't know if it would of helped either, my net card is just like a flashdrive with a USB. I should have called verizon but I assumed of would be billed similar to the phone charges that we incur with the roming. If there is a next time with Verizon, I will definately call. Thanks.

 

If you have the Verizon USB air card part of the problem is that card does not have unlimited data. I believe it is 5 GB per month. I just went through this with Verizon when my PCMCIA air card went bad and all I did was wanted it replaced and thought USB was the way to go without realizing I was giving up the unlimited service. Verizon told me no USB air cards have unlimited service. Unless they were telling me a story.

 

I used my verizon wireless while in Bahamas in November.

Called the company before leaving and was instructed upon boarding ship on embarkation day to program phone and again the day we return.

I called home several times, text messaged my son etc... and I hardly noticed a difference in my regular monthly bill. WHile I didn't go crazy they told me ahead of time the fee which was I think $2.00 p/minute and 50cents p/text sent.

I feel so bad for the bill you got... what a way to end a vacation ..

 

The OP is talking talking about internet access using a wireless broadband air card not using a cell phone. The rules and restrictions are different.

[songbird1329]

good to know...I have a netbook I got from verizon, can use it on verizon's network or on any othe rwireless network. guess I will be paying for wifi on the ship.

[spencercoop]

WOW!!! I never use my Verizon Net Card when I am on a cruise. I am always too scared to use it. Now I am so glad I never use it.

[cuyahoga11]

OMG, I would have had a stroke getting a bill like that. My phone is turned off as soon as I walk on the ship. Was just thinking, can you remember back when----before cell phones, internet, etc. How did we function away from home or office phones?

[nudebeachers]

I read through the posts for cell coverage on the ship and found out this: cell coverage is provided by a company called Seacellular. They charge a flat useage fee irregardless of your package with Verizon, AT&T or whoever. The fee is somewhere around $2.50 per min for voice and .002/kb for data useage. I also confirmed that with my cell carrier. So no matter your home plan you must pay their rates as well. Oh yeah, on Cozumel Sprint is $1.49 per min. WOW

[salty dingo]

I feel sorry for you because you took a 3 day cruise and managed to conduct enough "Business" to rack up a $3,700 bill.

 

I'm not sorry about the money... I am sorry you stepped foot upon a ship while needing to conduct so much "business" in 3 days!

[JLHB]

roflmao.... Was thinking the exact same thing.

 

My DH upgraded our Nextel phones last year to ensure we had international capabilities while cruising. Sure enough we did not and he spent over an hour on the phone and internet trying to resolve it. My daughter's sprint phone worked just fine. We are sailing in three weeks and I told him I don't need a cell phone, I will call home from phone banks while in port.

 

Just wanted to give you a warning about using pay phones in port. We made 3 calls from a pay phone in Cozumel in August. We couldn't find anywhere at the port the sold phone cards, so we used our credit card. Each call was less than a minute, but cost $49.00 for each call! Lesson learned....

[salty dingo]

Just wanted to give you a warning about using pay phones in port. We made 3 calls from a pay phone in Cozumel in August. We couldn't find anywhere at the port the sold phone cards, so we used our credit card. Each call was less than a minute, but cost $49.00 for each call! Lesson learned....

$49 a minute has to be a new world record! You could have disptued that charge you know!

 

I pay 2 cents per minute for my long distance service. I would be willing to pay ten times that much (20 cents a minute) on a cruise, but no more.

 

Needless to say, I don't make calls on a cruise. We let everyone know before we go that we are incommunicado. We let them know the ship's number, and if they want to pay $10 a minute (Or whatever it costs) to call us in an emergency, they are welcome to do so. We refuse to make phone calls on a cruise. I don't care what is going on at home. It can wait a week.

[paleskin]

I brought a phone card to the Bahamas and used it at the payphone to call home. A month later I got a bill for $489.00. I called the number on the bill and they said it was for the sattelite usage!!! The woman on the other end sounded like she was in her basement at home. The bill came with my regular phone bill. The phone company removed it after I made a real fuss. They warned me that the phones arn't regulated in other countries and they can charge whatever they want and its hard to fight.The verizon girl told me she deals with people all the time that have thousands added on to their bill!

[room010]

Needless to say, I don't make calls on a cruise. We let everyone know before we go that we are incommunicado. We let them know the ship's number, and if they want to pay $10 a minute (Or whatever it costs) to call us in an emergency, they are welcome to do so. We refuse to make phone calls on a cruise. I don't care what is going on at home. It can wait a week.

 

Ditto. I don't even take my phone with me and so far the sky hasn't fallen in. People can also reach me via email but I can't promise I'll check them ;) I'm on vacation, go away.

[Illa Zilla]

Just wondering....would a cell phone from Mobal have been better?

 

or T Mobile?

 

 

You know....a special phone just for international calls

 

That's what we did when we took the Glory to St. Thomas in 2008. Got a pre-paid phone from T-Mobile and got it set up for international calling. Made sure I had pre-paid enough for several calls and it went off without a hitch. Made a 30 minute call from St. Thomas to MN and had plenty left in my pre-pay account to use the rest of the month...

 

Just make sure you get a phone that can handle international calling. My phone was a Nokia and it could be programmed for international calling. My wife's Samsung (also through T-Mobile) couldn't be programmed for international calling.

[JLHB]

$49 a minute has to be a new world record! You could have disptued that charge you know!

 

I pay 2 cents per minute for my long distance service. I would be willing to pay ten times that much (20 cents a minute) on a cruise, but no more.

 

Needless to say, I don't make calls on a cruise. We let everyone know before we go that we are incommunicado. We let them know the ship's number, and if they want to pay $10 a minute (Or whatever it costs) to call us in an emergency, they are welcome to do so. We refuse to make phone calls on a cruise. I don't care what is going on at home. It can wait a week.

 

Yes, I know we could have disputed the phone charges, but I didn't have it in me to fight with a Mexican phone company! We just learned a very expensive lesson.

Unfortunately for us, our car broke down in Nashville and we had to rent a car to get us to Mobile to catch the ship. There was no way we were going to miss the ship! Our car that broke down is not sold in the US, so we had to make a few calls to make sure the parts could be shipped from Canada -- and that our car would be ready to drive home when we got back to port.

[swampfox28]

Wow, OP!

 

So sorry that happened to you!!!!!!!

 

I thank you for your warning; it might be a very helpful/useful bit of info for someone and help keep them from making a very expensive mistake. I actually just got an iPhone and have my first data/messaging plan. I wasn't planning on using the PHONE on our upcoming cruise to the Bahamas, but was thinking I could bring the phone and do some Wi-fi connections here and there; I think perhaps that I will just turn it off and put it in the safe so as not to incur ANY unintentional (and expensive) charges.

 

Salty Dingo - your 1st post was kind of rude. Perhaps you meant you honestly felt sorry for the OP (which I hope is the truth), but it seemed like you were feeling more distainful (and, perhaps, acting a bit arrogant?) I hope I'm wrong; CC is usually a pretty friendly place.

 

 

-Sarah

[salty dingo]

Our car that broke down is not sold in the US, so we had to make a few calls to make sure the parts could be shipped from Canada -- and that our car would be ready to drive home when we got back to port.

For $3,700 you could have bought a really good used car! Or just think how many weeks of a rental car that money could have bought. Or a plane ticket home. I guess maybe next time it would be better to fly than drive a long way.