eskruger Posted September 28, 2012 #1 Share Posted September 28, 2012 Will it work for both emails and calls while on the cruise and also while in Port? Phone is set up for international data and calls. Will any additional fees be incurred? (not concerned with charges from carrier but external charges (i.e. Oceania). Thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wannaberetired Posted September 28, 2012 #2 Share Posted September 28, 2012 It will work while in port if you purchase a service from your cell/data carrier. I use AT&T and it worked in every port/country, but not while sailing. It was $25 per 300mb of downloads. They will automatically add an additional $25 per 300mb if you go over. If you are careful about actually downloading, it should not be too expensive. They generally don't work while sailing through you carrier. You can purchase internet service from Oceania, however, it is very expensive. There are no additional charges from them unless you sign up for their access. I would suggest reaching out to your carrier to see what options they provide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaimedia Posted September 28, 2012 #3 Share Posted September 28, 2012 Check your service. The Blackberry may work at sea if you get the AT&T marine operator. Very expensive as I learned the hard way. To be safe I keep mine turned off until we are in port. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2travelers Posted September 28, 2012 #4 Share Posted September 28, 2012 Check your service. The Blackberry may work at sea if you get the AT&T marine operator. Very expensive as I learned the hard way. To be safe I keep mine turned off until we are in port. Same here. I have my Blackberry changed to international when ever we cruise (we use Verizon). I keep my phone off until we are in port. There are no extra fees involved except what the carrier charges. Last year we were at sea when I got a text that my daughter had an emergency c-section. I had just turned my phone on because I had not heard from her. Let me just say that between text messages, emails and phone calls, Verizon had a very good month :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaimedia Posted September 28, 2012 #5 Share Posted September 28, 2012 Same here. I have my Blackberry changed to international when ever we cruise (we use Verizon). I keep my phone off until we are in port. There are no extra fees involved except what the carrier charges. Last year we were at sea when I got a text that my daughter had an emergency c-section. I had just turned my phone on because I had not heard from her. Let me just say that between text messages, emails and phone calls, Verizon had a very good month :D Good point, alot of people think they have international data and voice service but forget they have to activate it with their carrier before each trip. Otherwise you will be hit with exhorbitant international roaming charges instead of just mildly expensive. Well off to London tonight to meet Nautica on Sunday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare PaulMCO Posted September 28, 2012 #6 Share Posted September 28, 2012 Will it work for both emails and calls while on the cruise and also while in Port? Phone is set up for international data and calls. Will any additional fees be incurred? (not concerned with charges from carrier but external charges (i.e. Oceania). Thanks in advance. To answer you correctly - since many of these posts are wrong :( First off Blackberry's are different than iphones as are their data plans. There are no service charges added by Oceania. While at sea -- you are connected via Cellular at Sea which is a JV between ATT and MTN the ships satellite provider. The cost for this roaming will be per the international phone and data rates of your provider. Typically (ATT) $2.49 per minute for phone and $.01995 per KB for data. While in port the ships system is turned off and you incur what ever the local country rate is per your roaming agreement. If you are cruising along the coast -- the ship will usually keep their cellular system off and you will likely have none. I leave my Blackberry on all of the time. Blackberry uses a push system so only charges for data when you receive it. Smartphones use a pull system and constantly poll the system for new messages -- so you are paying for data by just having it on. As someone correctly posted - make sure that you have you service turned on for international voice and data. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
worldspan Posted September 29, 2012 #7 Share Posted September 29, 2012 Supposedly if you have a newer Wi-FI enabled Blackberry and use T-Mobile as your carrier, you can hook up to any ships Wi-FI (plan you signed up for) and make or receive calls for free. See link: http://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-1680 So if anyone has any experience doing this please elaborate. Thanks! Worldspan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
traveler916 Posted September 30, 2012 #8 Share Posted September 30, 2012 Let me just say that between text messages, emails and phone calls, Verizon had a very good month :D On our last cruise, we bought the AT&T 800 MB package for $199, and then we discovered just how little you get for 800 MB, when you start downloading People, The Wall Street Journal, etc. The latest issue of Fortune was close to 250MB. We went way, way over and the rate per MB over 800 was $19.97 per MB. It cost us a few thousand dollars in phone charges for that 16 day TA cruise (Miami - Barcelona). I need to look into what we should do on our next TA cruise...I hate spending that much money... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lundboat Posted October 1, 2012 #9 Share Posted October 1, 2012 O.K., questions..... and I am a real dumby when it comes to this stuff.... and this is slightly changing the subject, but... I have an Ipad and Iphone with Verizon service. In the past I have traveled with "limited" issues. I don't want to spend an arm and a leg, but will do so if that makes everything work better. We are on the Marina Nov 1 this year, bouncing around eastern Med. The question is, if I do the unlimited plan on the boat for email, do I need to set up Verizon on the International plan for that area? Pretty sure I do.... and the Iphone, any suggestions? Help? I will be using either or both for business, but its on my dime (or dollar). Thanks! Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earl Rosebery Posted October 1, 2012 #10 Share Posted October 1, 2012 On our last cruise, we bought the AT&T 800 MB package for $199, and then we discovered just how little you get for 800 MB, when you start downloading People, The Wall Street Journal, etc. The latest issue of Fortune was close to 250MB. We went way, way over and the rate per MB over 800 was $19.97 per MB. It cost us a few thousand dollars in phone charges for that 16 day TA cruise (Miami - Barcelona). I need to look into what we should do on our next TA cruise...I hate spending that much money... For that kind of money, you could buy an I Pad and a wifi package from your cruise and download all you want via wifi instead of cellular phone service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earl Rosebery Posted October 1, 2012 #11 Share Posted October 1, 2012 O.K., questions..... and I am a real dumby when it comes to this stuff....and this is slightly changing the subject, but... I have an Ipad and Iphone with Verizon service. In the past I have traveled with "limited" issues. I don't want to spend an arm and a leg, but will do so if that makes everything work better. We are on the Marina Nov 1 this year, bouncing around eastern Med. The question is, if I do the unlimited plan on the boat for email, do I need to set up Verizon on the International plan for that area? Pretty sure I do.... and the Iphone, any suggestions? Help? I will be using either or both for business, but its on my dime (or dollar). Thanks! Mike Your I Pad works on wireless internet through Oceania or cellular phone service through Verizon. Normally it would be far less expensive to sign up for wireless internet service from Oceania. You then pay by the amount of time you use rather than the amount of data you download. We bought daily internet service on Nautica and downloaded as much e -mail , NY Times, CBC etc as we wanted. You can save more by finding free internet hotspots in most ports. Follow the crew they know where they are, The cafes with wifi would expect you to buy a coffee and a sticky bun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
babysteps Posted October 1, 2012 #12 Share Posted October 1, 2012 You can save more by finding free internet hotspots in most ports. Follow the crew they know where they are, The cafes with wifi would expect you to buy a coffee and a sticky bun. This is what we did in Sep - we have Blackberry's, we turned our connections off for the trip, then when in port or for land portions turned on wifi only. Cafe's, hotels etc will give you their password. Obviously if you expect to be making lots of voice calls or need 100% connectivity this approach isn't a good match, but for every day or two email processing it worked great for us. In Cadiz we enjoyed an alfresco glass of manzanilla sherry while catching up on email :) No extra charges incurred, no international plan required. We didn't actually make any wifi calls so can't speak to logistics there. If the port/tourism rep is good (most of the time in our experience) they can tell you where a good wifi cafe is. On our phones there is a delay from wifi connection & internet browsing going live to email/data coming through - not too long, maybe 2 or 3 minutes, but the first time we connected I had time to worry that I wasn't getting emails and log in to my email on the web before the emails poured in on my device. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earl Rosebery Posted October 1, 2012 #13 Share Posted October 1, 2012 This is what we did in Sep - we have Blackberry's, we turned our connections off for the trip, then when in port or for land portions turned on wifi only. Cafe's, hotels etc will give you their password. Obviously if you expect to be making lots of voice calls or need 100% connectivity this approach isn't a good match, but for every day or two email processing it worked great for us. In Cadiz we enjoyed an alfresco glass of manzanilla sherry while catching up on email :) No extra charges incurred, no international plan required. We didn't actually make any wifi calls so can't speak to logistics there. If the port/tourism rep is good (most of the time in our experience) they can tell you where a good wifi cafe is. On our phones there is a delay from wifi connection & internet browsing going live to email/data coming through - not too long, maybe 2 or 3 minutes, but the first time we connected I had time to worry that I wasn't getting emails and log in to my email on the web before the emails poured in on my device. Happy to see some people still use Blackberrys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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