Calling home??

[LivsMom2006]

We will be cruising without our daughter and will be needing to call and check on her. What's the best way to call home? Use out cell phones in port? Get a calling card? Can you call from the ship at all? Thanks in advance.

[paul929207]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

 

You may want to post this in the section for the line you are sailing.

 

In general, you can call from the ship, but it will cost. The phone in your cabin is usually $8 to $10 per minute. Most cell companies will charge $2.49 per minute for calls made at sea.

[calliopecruiser]

We will be cruising without our daughter and will be needing to call and check on her. What's the best way to call home? Use out cell phones in port? Get a calling card? Can you call from the ship at all? Thanks in advance.

 

Calling from the ship is possible, but very expensive. You should look into traveling plans from your cell phone service provider about using your cell phone to call home or text from port - depending on where you're traveling it might or might not be worthwhile. Almost all ports will have a nearby internet cafe where you can usually also find payphones, or use Skype if you've arranged it ahead of time.

[Kamloops50]

Cellphones calls on board can easily come to over $500 for a 7 day cruise.

The best is to buy a phone card in port and call from a payphone.

In some ports cellphones calls can be expensive .

[cb at sea]

I would leave the emergency number for the cruiseline with your babysitter. THEY will contact YOU if anything is needed! I'm assuming you're leaving the child with someone you trust and who loves your daughter...so constant "checking up" isn't really necessary.

E-mail is the cheapest option to "stay in touch"....assuming no emergencies, you can "check up" on your daugher without it costing a mint!

[chipq]

Some cruiselines have a user forum or board for persons on board. You can use their on board PCs to access the cruiseline site and post a message for your daughter. She can then later post a message for you. It is in no way instant messaging but it is an inexpensive way to keep in contact albeit without hearing each others voice.

 

 

ChipQ http://luv2cruise.blogspot.com

[Peery5]

We will be cruising without our daughter and will be needing to call and check on her. What's the best way to call home? Use out cell phones in port? Get a calling card? Can you call from the ship at all? Thanks in advance.

We text ( 25 cents send and five cents to receive) daily and usually call home once or twice. We set a time via text message when we will call home so the person receiving the call is ready to take it. Cost $2.49/minute (Verizon). We usually talk 3-5 minutes and always make our call when the ship is docked in port.

 

On our last 11 day cruise, our cell phone bill was an extra $25.00. Cost is minimal compared to piece of mind.

[SuitCaseBears]

A lot depends on where you are cruising to, and what cell phone carrier you use.

 

Call your cell phone company and tell them where you are going. They can tell you whether there will be roaming or international roaming charges and what they will be.

 

It may be that you can expect good service and only normal roaming charges. It may be that you will do better with a throw away travel phone that works more cheaply in the countries where you will travel.

 

Using the ship's telephone system is a "for emergencies" thing because of the nuisance and expense.

[luddite]

I hope she isn't too sick. Having to call and check on her is gonna be expensive.

[thinfool]

We will be cruising without our daughter and will be needing to call and check on her. What's the best way to call home? Use out cell phones in port? Get a calling card? Can you call from the ship at all? Thanks in advance.

 

A more accurate answer could be forthcoming if we can get an idea of dates, ship, cruise line, etc.

 

I believe that Carnival has lowered their ship-to-shore phone rates to something near $1.99/min. I suspect to compete with the cell rates of cellular-at-sea.

[LivsMom2006]

Some cruiselines have a user forum or board for persons on board. You can use their on board PCs to access the cruiseline site and post a message for your daughter. She can then later post a message for you. It is in no way instant messaging but it is an inexpensive way to keep in contact albeit without hearing each others voice.

 

 

ChipQ http://luv2cruise.blogspot.com

 

Thanks for this!! Hopefully my technology-challenged mom can figure it out. :rolleyes:

 

We text ( 25 cents send and five cents to receive) daily and usually call home once or twice. We set a time via text message when we will call home so the person receiving the call is ready to take it. Cost $2.49/minute (Verizon). We usually talk 3-5 minutes and always make our call when the ship is docked in port.

 

On our last 11 day cruise, our cell phone bill was an extra $25.00. Cost is minimal compared to piece of mind.

 

I wish my mom would text. She's so funny. :p

 

I hope she isn't too sick. Having to call and check on her is gonna be expensive.

 

Oh she's not sick, we've just never left her for this long before. It makes me nervous to be out of the country without her. It was a good idea when we booked. :o

 

Thanks everyone. This helps a lot. I called my cell provider (Sprint) apparently, my iPhone 4Gs isn't an international phone?? I will probably call from the ship on sea days and use a phone card in port.