Will personal wifi work on cruise ship?

[janice2348]

This might have been asked before but I am wondering if this might be a way around the expense if ship wifi? Last cruise I was cut off from family and didn't like it.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

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[msmayor]

In my limited understanding of this, in order for you to pick up a wi-fi signal the OWNER of the access point has to allow it for free. You may have a wi-fi enabled device, but you have to have access to one of your carrier's 'free' access points.

 

In the middle of the ocean, the ship's tower is the only game in town, and they don't give it up for free.

 

Now once in ports, you MIGHT be able to grab a free signal somewhere so you can get in touch. I know when we cruised back in 2008, San Juan and St. Thomas were two island locations my carrier included in their network for free access, so I could use my phone there and not get charged any additional. St. Maarten was a different story; had I used my phone there I would have been charged.

 

So...contact your carrier to determine where their signal is free. In addition, find out once in port where free wi-fi access is available. Check with crew members; they almost always know the best spots to go once off the ship. Its how they keep in touch with their families.

[SuitCaseBears]

You can use the wifi from your cell phone to get around the ship's wifi service with a few caveats.

 

1. The ships do have a repeater that up and download's signals for most of the mobile phone services, but you need to confirm yours is one of them. Check with your cruise line, but the big US carriers are covered. If you're provider is compatible you can use your cell phone for calls or data transfer.

 

But

 

2. Few mobile phone plans allow unlimited worldwide data - and even if you have a package for Xgigs of data, that might not including roaming data. And unless you're cruising along the coast of the US - you're likely going to be roaming.

 

AND

 

3. The service is sometimes terrible because you have a little repeater up on top of some mast pulling signals down from a satellite and moving around A LOT so it's not like when you're sitting at home with a series of repeaters nicely spaced and not moving.

 

People have come home to HUGE, monstrous roaming charges. So call your cell phone service provider and ask them what sort of coverage you'll get based on where you're going.

[janice2348]

I was afraid of that :)

I'm sure I can find free wifi in port. I'm also going to add temporary overseas coverage. This cruise will be 12 days- last one was only six. We are going to Southern Caribbean on RCCL in April.

Thank you for the info.

 

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[traveler916]

 

People have come home to HUGE, monstrous roaming charges. So call your cell phone service provider and ask them what sort of coverage you'll get based on where you're going.

 

::Raises hand::

 

We didn't even have to wait to come home to monstrous roaming charges; AT&T sent us several texts telling us about our huge charges during our 14 day cruise.

 

We had exceeded our 800 MB of data on the first day or two...then started racking up their $19.97 per MB of charges for each MB over the 800 MB we had purchased.

 

To give you an idea, I realized that the average issue of Fortune magazine is 200 MB.

 

On our upcoming cruise, we are renting 2 Hotspot devices - 1 for Europe and 1 for South America - to hopefully not have to deal with AT&T's data plan....I can let you know how that works out in mid December :)

 

Monstrous is absolutely the word!!!!

[cb at sea]

If you connect to wi-fi on the ship, you will pay dearly for it. There is no "free" wi-fi on a ship....

 

You can, however, find free "hot spots" in your ports...ask you cabin attendant or another crew member where to go...they know the free places!

[janice2348]

::Raises hand::

 

We didn't even have to wait to come home to monstrous roaming charges; AT&T sent us several texts telling us about our huge charges during our 14 day cruise.

 

We had exceeded our 800 MB of data on the first day or two...then started racking up their $19.97 per MB of charges for each MB over the 800 MB we had purchased.

 

To give you an idea, I realized that the average issue of Fortune magazine is 200 MB.

 

On our upcoming cruise, we are renting 2 Hotspot devices - 1 for Europe and 1 for South America - to hopefully not have to deal with AT&T's data plan....I can let you know how that works out in mid December :)

 

Monstrous is absolutely the word!!!!

 

Yikes! We turned off roaming altogether. I refused to pay the ridiculous ship prices but totally cut myself off and it made me very nervous. My iphone has a personal hotspot as an option and that was what I was wondering about. I have to pay a small monthly fee to set it up and it can be transferred to my kindle as well. But reading the previous post I'm not sure it would work. Yes please let me know how the rentals work out for you. Have a great cruise!

 

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[klfrodo]

Yikes! We turned off roaming altogether. I refused to pay the ridiculous ship prices but totally cut myself off and it made me very nervous. My iphone has a personal hotspot as an option and that was what I was wondering about. I have to pay a small monthly fee to set it up and it can be transferred to my kindle as well. But reading the previous post I'm not sure it would work. Yes please let me know how the rentals work out for you. Have a great cruise!

 

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Your iPhone hotspot still works off of the cellular tower of your provider. There are no cell towers at sea. Therefore, you must connect to the ships cellular repeater. For that connection, the ship will charge you.

[kitty9]

My iphone also has the personal hot spot for wifi and you still have to connect to the ship's internet service in order to get a connection. Don't make the mistake I did and use that option. You'll come home to a huge bill like I did.

[T&Dcruisers]

Check out the Viber app for iPhones and Android. I haven't tried it yet, but have heard and read good reviews.

[Swampbaby]

I was afraid of that :)

I'm sure I can find free wifi in port. I'm also going to add temporary overseas coverage. This cruise will be 12 days- last one was only six. We are going to Southern Caribbean on RCCL in April.

Thank you for the info.

 

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We were on an 8 night cruise and NOBODY believed I would stay off my iPhone more than a day or so. Between internet, texting, phone, a couple of games, and I also read books on my phone I am on it most of the time. Took a call while standing in the garage at Port Everglades, boarded ship and turned the phone completely off and put in the safe. Took it out of the safe upon return. Yes, I know I could have changed the setting and read on it but really did enjoy being totally disconnected for that period of time. In a life or death emergency those that needed to know had a number to contact to reach me on the ship. I should have had some good bets going as everyone laughed when I said I would not be using my phone.

[Underwatr]

I have a tethering plan on my iPhone (Verizon) but even with unlimited global data the tethering feature is disabled when roaming internationally. I've also used a "MiFi" hotspot device while cruising in Hawaii - worked well, even when at anchor a mile or so offshore.

[Underwatr]

Therefore, you must connect to the ships cellular repeater. For that connection, the ship will charge you.

The ship won't charge you directly (on your onboard account) but your cellphone bill will show a charge.

[rvsullivan]

The ship won't charge you directly (on your onboard account) but your cellphone bill will show a charge.

 

 

Yes, the ship will charge you!! They are not in the business of giving away their cell service. If you connect to their tower, you will pay them and you will pay your provider. None of it is free when your cruising. The only time you might bypass the ship is when you are close enough to U.S. shores to pick up a true cell tower.

[Underwatr]

Sigh. Have you ever used your cellphone onboard a ship? You pay - $2.50 to $5 per minute - but the total charge appears on your cellphone bill. No charge appears on your room account for cellphone calls made or received.

 

How would they know what room to charge your cellphone calls to??

[BruceMuzz]

Your iPhone hotspot still works off of the cellular tower of your provider. There are no cell towers at sea. Therefore, you must connect to the ships cellular repeater. For that connection, the ship will charge you.

 

The cruise lines NEVER charge anyone for connecting to the cellular repeater tower.

They do not even own it.

MTN, which also does business as Cellular at Sea (and several other names) owns all the cell towers installed on cruise ships. MTN negotiates an international marine roaming charge contract with your personal mobile service provider.

When you connect through MTN's cell tower on the ship, your mobile provider charges you a roaming fee, then splits it with MTN.

[janice2348]

Thank you all for your advice. We are going to the Caribbean- USVI and PR. Since they are US territories would we still get roaming charges? I really didn't like being cut off. I know wifi in port is an option. Guess I should call AT&T.

 

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[Capt_BJ]

Thank you all for your advice. We are going to the Caribbean- USVI and PR. Since they are US territories would we still get roaming charges? I really didn't like being cut off. I know wifi in port is an option. Guess I should call AT&T.

 

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with AT&T you should be OK in those places BUT I highly recommend you call and confirm! There are SO many plans that I feel you really need to ask . . . they MAY consider this overseas access and you'd need to activate that .. for small additional charge typically .. but when you get back you can turn it OFF again.

 

don't ask here - ask AT&T

[BallFour4]

The cruise lines NEVER charge anyone for connecting to the cellular repeater tower.

They do not even own it.

MTN, which also does business as Cellular at Sea (and several other names) owns all the cell towers installed on cruise ships. MTN negotiates an international marine roaming charge contract with your personal mobile service provider.

When you connect through MTN's cell tower on the ship, your mobile provider charges you a roaming fee, then splits it with MTN.

 

Does it really matter who builds the additional charges on? Hardly. But buyer beware, as using a cell phone aboard a cruise ship, whether the Carnival Magic or Good Ship Lollipop will result in additional, and sometimes unpredictable fees over and above a rate plan.

 

The adage "there is no free lunch applies." WiFi and cell service are provided at a premium, and the cruise lines profit from it greatly. Those are just some of the methods the cost shift from the actual price of travel have made cruising affordable, and less money than years ago.

 

Buyer beware.

 

.

 

[rvsullivan]

 

Does it really matter who builds the additional charges on? Hardly. But buyer beware, as using a cell phone aboard a cruise ship, whether the Carnival Magic or Good Ship Lollipop will result in additional, and sometimes unpredictable fees over and above a rate plan.

 

The adage "there is no free lunch applies." WiFi and cell service are provided at a premium, and the cruise lines profit from it greatly. Those are just some of the methods the cost shift from the actual price of travel have made cruising affordable, and less money than years ago.

 

Buyer beware.

 

.

 

 

Well said!!!;)

[Underwatr]

One reason it became a point of discussion is that it doesn't appear on your onboard account so there may not be a convenient way to know how much of a bill you're running up - until a few weeks after you get home.

[BruceMuzz]

 

Does it really matter who builds the additional charges on? Hardly. But buyer beware, as using a cell phone aboard a cruise ship, whether the Carnival Magic or Good Ship Lollipop will result in additional, and sometimes unpredictable fees over and above a rate plan.

 

The adage "there is no free lunch applies." WiFi and cell service are provided at a premium, and the cruise lines profit from it greatly. Those are just some of the methods the cost shift from the actual price of travel have made cruising affordable, and less money than years ago.

 

Buyer beware.

 

.

 

 

It really does matter who builds those additional charges.

Every day on my ship we have 10 or so passengers EVERY HOUR at our front desk, who clearly do not know how the system works. They get quite upset with us when they ask how much it will cost them to call from Barcelona to East Podunk America, using their special Friends and Family, Worldreach, 30-60-90, special international discount program, one-time-only-offer plan from xyz cell phone service company in a place we have never heard of. They cannot imagine why we don't have a price quote for them.

 

As far as the massive profits cruise lines are generating from these calls:

 

Before MTN offered these cell towers on ships, cruise lines offered satellite calls from your stateroom for anywhere from $5.95 to $7.95 per minute. Our actual cost for those calls was incredibly low. We got to keep most of that money we charged.

 

Now MTN owns the cell towers, and arranges - with your cell phone service provider - to charge anywhere between $2.95 and $5.95 per minute. Those 2 companies split most of that charge and the cruise line gets something less than 10% of the total.

 

Meanwhile we still offer the satellite call service from your cabin. But nobody uses this service anymore. So we have lost a great deal of nearly cost-free revenue, and traded it for less than 10% of much smaller amounts from the cell phone providers.

 

What sort of thought process reaches the conclusion that we "profit from it greatly"?

[DanJ]

 

Meanwhile we still offer the satellite call service from your cabin. But nobody uses this service anymore. So we have lost a great deal of nearly cost-free revenue, and traded it for less than 10% of much smaller amounts from the cell phone providers.

 

What sort of thought process reaches the conclusion that we "profit from it greatly"?

 

I'm sure it's a case of a smaller piece of a much bigger pie. How many people actually paid the $7.95 per minute to call home? It would also take a very important reason to actually make that call.

 

Now, you have (usually younger) people wandering all over the Lido deck calling, texting, facebooking their bff of the week telling them where they are now. Many of these people have no idea how much they are going to get screwed on their bills because they think they have some great international plan. You see the threads all the time of people coming home to huge bills they didn't expect to get.

 

At least the OP had the good sense to ask, but there are lots of people who think "I don't need to pay the ship for wifi, I have an iphone that will get around that" thinking the personal hotspots on smartphones are some magical devices.

[BruceMuzz]

I'm sure it's a case of a smaller piece of a much bigger pie. How many people actually paid the $7.95 per minute to call home? It would also take a very important reason to actually make that call.

 

Now, you have (usually younger) people wandering all over the Lido deck calling, texting, facebooking their bff of the week telling them where they are now. Many of these people have no idea how much they are going to get screwed on their bills because they think they have some great international plan. You see the threads all the time of people coming home to huge bills they didn't expect to get.

 

At least the OP had the good sense to ask, but there are lots of people who think "I don't need to pay the ship for wifi, I have an iphone that will get around that" thinking the personal hotspots on smartphones are some magical devices.

 

You make a good point. "Now you have (usually younger) people wandering all over the Lido Deck calling..."

The younger ones frequently do that. But the average age on most cruise lines (Carnival and Disney excluded) is just under 60. Most of the oldsters (which is most cruisers) barely know how to operate a mobile telephone, much less figure out WIFI.

If you look around the pages here on Cruisecritic, you will find that the huge majority of older pax turn off their mobile telephone the minute they board and do not use it onboard at all. If they have some calling plan that gives them free or cheap calling in some port or country, they wait and use it there. As a result, our cut of that percentage of onboard cell charges is pathetically small.

 

Fifteen years ago, only 1 in 5 Americans even owned a mobile telephone. Most of those were business people. Most of those didn't take their mobile telephone on a cruise because most American mobile telephones were so primitive they didn't even work outside America.

 

We made a small fortune every week from all the people who needed or wanted to telephone home, and had no choice but to use their stateroom telephones.

Now that same revenue is so small we do not even count it as revenue. It is added into "Miscellaneous", along with playing cards, postage stamps and post cards.