Victory Cruise-Cell Phone Use

[mstravel]

DH and I are sailing on the Victory in September. ATT is our provider, Samsung Eternity and a HTC phone. We (I) would like to make calls at least a few times during our 7 day cruise to our 5 yr old DD, (I refuse to not call her for that week). What have others done that have made calls? Did you change your plan to an International one? I assume most calls will be made while we are docked in port. Is it cheaper to use our phone while in port or while sailing or will it even matter? TIA

[VictoryLover2]

With AT&T, San Juan and U.S.V.I./St. Thomas are home areas.... What a deal!!!!!

It is better to use the "Cellular at Sea" while the ship is traveling, depending where you are from remember the time change... while in port it is turned off and you bounce off of the service on the Island... lots of $$$$$$$. Or just call AT&T and change your plan for a month.

The first time we did this itinerary we jacked up over $100 of calls and texting..... wow....

Hope this helps.

Brookie & Ed:D

[happy cruzin]

Go to AT&T's website - or call and ask for the "international department" - and you can look up your specific ports and what the cost is per minute in those ports. $2.49 per minute is the cost on the ship - while out at sea. Definately better than the ship phone rates - but it can add up if you are not careful.

 

You can add the World Traveller plan for 4.99 (I think) per month and then take it off when you are sure that all of the charges have posted to your account. If you plan to make calls while in port - that plan will not help with the charges from Cellular at sea. We usually go two cycles - then take it off - just to be safe.

 

Data transfer is the BIG concern - with any of the smart phones. Turn off your international roaming data - or add a data plan. We turn off the international roaming and have never had any data charges on our iPhones.

 

San Juan and St. Thomas are part of the AT&T plan - so we usually catch up with emails when we are there - if they are on our itinerary, because there are no extra charges.

 

Again....check with AT&T and they walk you through what is best for you. Being self employeed it is important that we have contact with our business and AT&T has been pretty helpful when I have contacted them for guidance.

[mstravel]

Thanks for the replies, I knew we would be in the clear for making calls while waiting to sail from San Juan and our 1st stop is St. Thomas, so we are covered there as well. DH HTC Tilt 2 does have a data plan. Using Cellular at Sea is probably a better option for us becuase DD will be in school, so we will probably have already started sailing from port of the day before she is picked up from afterschool care. I do plan to contact AT&T but knew I could get reliable information for cruise critic family as well. As Always-Thanks Again!