Laptop/Iphone question

[Sunshine101]

Hi folks,

 

Let me start off by sailing we sail in 3 weeks on the Freedom.

 

EEEEEEEEEK!!!

 

Ah....now that I got that out of my system (lol), can anyone give me some info on bringing my laptop and using my iphone on the ship? We've never brought our laptop on board before, have always used the ones through RCL. What are the charges for using one in-cabin? What about my iphone, will I get reception and be able to use it? Will I have to pay for roaming? I would assume yes? I know, dumb question, but I'm still getting used to my Iphone after coming off of a Blackberry.

 

Thanks for all your help! :D

[Sequim88]

Laptop:

Assuming it has wireless capability (few don't) then any area that has signal wil work. Depending on the ship this may not be in cabin. Otherwise Guest Services can provide a map of access points. Then sign up for a minutes plan via the ship PCs and set up an account. You can then use this to connect to the access points and log in so it can start deducting minutes. One reason a laptop is nice is you can compose emails, connect and send them and then receive mail to read off-line (dependuing on email service). Note though that speed will be very slow - sometimes slower than on their PCs so it is a trade-off.

 

iPhone:

Depending on service provider you may or may not be able to use ship phone signal. I believe they have a plan through Verizon. On the other hand the AT&T service phones can use GSM which is more available in ports outside USA. Using VoIP on the data service (like Skype or MagicJack) has been reported to be possible but I would say that is a gamble depending on service speed. I would be surprised if access for than was not blocked (if not already). But data use, same as laptop, should be OK - althouhg I have not used Safari before onboard.

[Finbar127]

Hi folks,

 

Let me start off by sailing we sail in 3 weeks on the Freedom.

 

EEEEEEEEEK!!!

 

Ah....now that I got that out of my system (lol), can anyone give me some info on bringing my laptop and using my iphone on the ship? We've never brought our laptop on board before, have always used the ones through RCL. What are the charges for using one in-cabin? What about my iphone, will I get reception and be able to use it? Will I have to pay for roaming? I would assume yes? I know, dumb question, but I'm still getting used to my Iphone after coming off of a Blackberry.

 

Thanks for all your help! :D

 

Be careful with your iPhone. When accessing the ships network Verizon charges $2.49 a minute for voice access and 50 cents outgoing/5 cents incoming for text messages. Data access is $20.48 per megabyte :eek:. I'm sure other carriers charge similar rates. They also offer global data plans in 50/150/300 megabyte chunks but they are expensive.

 

Unless you are comfortable paying those charges make sure you turn data roaming off (settings/general/network/data roaming/off). Otherwise when your phone checks your email or you receive other "push" notifications you will end up with a very hefty phone bill. To prevent incoming calls you can set your iPhone to airplane mode (settings/airplane mode/off) and only enable it when you need to make a call.

[Bazoo]

I see you are from Canada...me too! My provider charges 55 cents per outgoing text and $26 per meg for data. If you take your iphone it might be smart to turn roaming off because if you don't every email etc that downloads is tons of data! With roaming off you can still text if it's available on the ship. I can also buy a plan just for the month and get international roaming at a reduced price. Check with your provider.

[silentbob007]

Using your own laptop is the same price as using their computers or signing up for a wifi account and connecting with your phone. I'd definitely suggest airplane mode for the phone while on the ship ... if you get a call and it downloads your voicemail, I believe you would still be charged the international roaming rate for that call.

[Finbar127]

Here is an example of what an iPhone's data usage could cost you on a ship:

 

According to Consumer Reports the average iPhone owner uses 273 megabytes of data a month. Five times what a blackberry uses. That is about 68 megabytes a week. That kind of weekly usage on board would add $1392.64 plus taxes to your bill. Add in 100 minutes of voice calls and a bunch of text messages and you could end up with a $1,500 or higher cell phone bill.

 

To save money you could add a 50 megabyte global data plan for $30 or a 150 megabyte plan for $75 a month and cancel it upon your return. Keep in mind that if you exceed your allowance you go back to the $20.48 per megabyte charge. Also remember that you probably use a lot more data than you think.

 

I just disable data roaming and leave my iPhone in airplane mode.

 

You can see Verizon's cruise ship rates here:

 

http://b2b.vzw.com/international/Cruise_Ships/index.html

[phoenix1181]

I found out the hard way you need to turn the data off & put your iPhone on airplane mode. I didn't know about turning off the data & that mistake cost $281 for our 9 day cruise!

[foxgoodrich]

First - if you have any coupons for free internet minutes, take those to Guest Services and have them applied to your Sea Pass. (Once those minutes are used, you'll either pay the base rate of 65 cents/minute or get a package deal that brings down the per minute cost.)

 

Second - Go to the Internet Cafe (Deck 8) and get on a wired computer to give yourself a username and password for WiFi. If you don't have any coupons for free minutes, you can set up your "plan" when you do this. The base rate is 65 cents/minute for computer time, and packages of minutes will bring down the price. I think the package I got made it 55 cents/minute, but I got one of the smaller ones. (I had to go back to the wired computer to buy my pkg of minutes after the coupon free minutes ran out.) There is no difference in the cost of wired minutes (on their computers) or WiFi minutes (on your laptop.) Now you'll be able to log onto WiFi from your laptop. We got a strong signal in our cabin and balcony and never had a problem with the WiFi anywhere on the ship.

 

Third - If you have a coupon for a discount on your internet package, take that to Guest Services to have it applied to your Sea Pass after you've bought a package.

 

Be sure to log out every time! If you don't, you keep using minutes.

 

On the Iphone, I don't know, other than I know it's expensive. I just turned mine off and used the laptop for all communications.

 

Have a great cruise!

[Mariela]

A Guide to International Long Distance, Roaming, Messaging, and Data Services

 

https://www.att.com/esupport/article.jsp?sid=KB115921#fbid=XKf_vvj1Kl-

 

I'm going to check the international text messaging packages.

Hope this helps.

[Sunshine101]

Thanks folks, this helps a lot! Iphone will be turned off, and I think bringing my laptop would be a good idea! :)

[foxgoodrich]

Hi Sunshine....I found this today on the RC website - it's the price list for internet minute packages. I did the 100 minute one - I did run out of minutes on the last day, so ended up paying for the last 10-15 min at the 65 cent rate. I was pleasantly surprised that the WiFi internet speed was pretty good, but most times I was online at night.

 

The cost for Wi-Fi access through your own laptop is:

Base rate is $.65 per minute or choose from one of our prepaid packages:

$35 for 60 minutes

$55 for 100 minutes

$75 for 150 minutes

$100 for 250 minutes

$150 for 500 minutes

 

Judy

[teamfour]

My wife and I are Internet junkies. However, on our last 9 day cruise we left the laptop at home and put the iPhones on airplane mode and turned off the roaming. When in port, we would do a quick download of emails. No extra charges and quite honestly it was a welcome break form the Internet.

[Sunshine101]

Third - If you have a coupon for a discount on your internet package, take that to Guest Services to have it applied to your Sea Pass after you've bought a package.

 

Hey Fox....why should I do this after I've bought a package? Might have been a long day, because I'm not getting it. LOL.

 

Thanks!

[MaskedTurtle]

I have a Blackberry Curve with Verizon service. On a cruise this past January, without thinking, I just started checking my emails. After one or two emails(just a few minutes) I got a "free" message saying that I had already reached a charge of $50. Needless to say, I turned the phone off, and vowed not to turn it on unless I really, really needed to!

[Tetra]

Found this on AT&T's site, thought it was helpful:

 

Will I be billed for roaming charges while on a cruise?

[Virtopia]

I work for a wireless company and I admonish you, unless you want to foot the bill, turn off the data roaming. You don't want to be paying those hefty bills unless you plan to drink tap water the whole time you're on board.