Warning!!! AT&T and cruising

[laurenpie]

I agree with what others said about turning off data on iPhone.

 

When I flew to the US from Australia last October for a cruise, I made sure to leave my phone off and at home - because I got stung the year before with data charges worth a few thousand.

 

Data and anything like a cruise etc is a recipe for disaster!..... well sometimes. :)

[Jolimont]

Two weeks ago, to prepare for my cruise, I called AT&T to discuss charges. I told the lady I would be cruising to Mexico and asked the charges. She gave me rates for calls ($2.49 per minute) and texts (.50 each) and told me I could have found that information on the internet. I used the phone for an alarm clock basically since it was locked in the safe on sea days and dead battery while in Mexico. I had turned the wifi off but still had emails and facebook messages coming through, which I did not open. On Friday, sea day, I returned to the room to find a text from AT&T saying my data was suspended to call them. Upon doing so, I spoke with a female who basically told me that I was misinformed as I had a $4000 phone bill. She was very understanding and tried to sign me up for an international data package which would be backdated and cover everything for $120. I wasn't happy about paying that for a service I didn't agree to or use, but it's actually feasible for me to pay that vs $4000. However, once she connected me to international services, I was informed that international packages don't apply to cruise lines. I was told my ONLY option is to wait until my bill comes out and try to work things out then. Yesterday, I called and had my data restored. This morning I had to call again as my service was suspended again. I was unable to even call my voicemail. I will know in about a week the outcome. Hopefully it will be positive as I absolutely cannot pay $4000. Just wanted to warn others of my experience so that no one else will have the same problem

Sorry to read that, but honestly, it sounds like you didn't understand how your phone service works or how to turn things off on your phone and now you're complaining. I hope they reverse the charges for you but if they do it'll be out of the goodness of their hearts.

[GreenZolie]

I haven't read all of the responses, so this has probably already been posted. Like you, I prepared in advance for our [didn't-happen-due-to-fog] cruise last week and I called Sprint before we left.

 

Fortunately, I was told by my agent that I would be charged for all data since I now have a data plan - even if I didn't access the messages! I was shocked, because I rarely even use the data plan normally and certainly had no intention of using it on the ship or in Mexico. I didn't even want the data plan to begin with, but ours is a family plan with the data part bundled in.

 

Again, fortunately, my agent knew what she was talking about and she suggested I suspend the data access for the duration of the trip for both my phone and my husband's. Since ours is a family plan I was concerned this would also suspend data access for our son and daughter, who both do use the data part. The agent assured me their data would not be affected. And she was correct. Ours was suspended at noon on the day we were to sail, and the kids' was not suspended.

 

Ironically, though, if Carnival had tried to send me email updates about the fog delay, I would not have been able to get it, lol. Turns out they didn't send one, but I would have never known if they had. I did finally call Sprint and have our data access restored when we realized we weren't going to sail after all.

 

OP, I'm so sorry you had this happened to you. :( I am glad you posted this warning for other folks. When I sailed the last two years, I didn't have a data plan then, so all I had to worry about was the high cost of calls should I choose to make any calls. Thanks to Cruise Critic, I knew to be proactive and call Sprint before I sailed those two times. And you tried to be proactive, too, but got burned because an agent failed to tell you you can suspend your data access! Hopefully this thread will serve to warn everyone to SUSPEND YOUR DATA ACCESS BEFORE YOU SAIL!

[kobecat]

I'm pretty much a novice with these sorts of cell phones but I do have a Nokia now which can be used to access the internet and email. I haven't set that up but want to before I go away.

 

Are you saying that if you put it in airplane mode you can still send and receive texts but data will not be activated, or am I misunderstanding?

 

Beryl

[ecj922]

My husband and I just put our phones on Airplane mode and we are able to use our phone as an alarm, to listen to music, we can see our contacts and play and games we might have on it.

 

We have never had an outrageous bill after a cruise.

 

We have AT&T