Smartphones on cruiseliners

[phoenix2009]

While i'd love to just turn my phone off and leave behind I own my own business and its somewhat important for me to be accessible in the event of emergencies.

 

Whats the best way for me to keep in touch? I have a canadian cell phone plan on telus and was wondering how much it would cost me for voice, data and text? if i'm better off using the wave phones on the disney cruise liner? if i can purchase a SIM card or something similar? buy wifi only through the ship and logon and check email nightly? or if the hotspots on the ship are free for me to use my laptop?

 

thanks in advance.

[Shmoo here]

While i'd love to just turn my phone off and leave behind I own my own business and its somewhat important for me to be accessible in the event of emergencies.

 

Whats the best way for me to keep in touch? I have a canadian cell phone plan on telus and was wondering how much it would cost me for voice, data and text? if i'm better off using the wave phones on the disney cruise liner? if i can purchase a SIM card or something similar? buy wifi only through the ship and logon and check email nightly? or if the hotspots on the ship are free for me to use my laptop?

 

thanks in advance.

 

Don't really know the ins and outs of a smartphone, but I do know you can't use Skype onboard. I also know, that if using a cell phone onboard the charges are $2.49 a minute on top of whatever charges your particular carrier charges.

 

There is wifi onboard. You can purchase internet packages for use onboard. Be aware the the internet onboard is extremely slow and pricy. You must purchase a package whether you use the ships computer or your own laptop onboard. There are often free wifi spots in ports, if you wish to use up your porttime doing that.

 

The wavephones are just usable onboard and at Castaway Cay. They are not "real" cell phones for making phone calls.

 

:)

[100viper]

When I was on the Wonder, I had absolutely no cell service the entire cruise, and if I managed to get it, it would cost me a fortune to talk to someone. I have Verizon, by the way. I didn't test out the Internet, though.

[dbenlee]

If you are going to keep you smart phone turned on during the cruise I would highly suggest that you turn ALL data capabilities off for the duration of the cruise. Using voice and text can get costly enough while roaming, but I have heard horror stories about how much data roaming can run up a cell phone bill. For email and internet I would look at the available data packages for the on board wifi and use your laptop. The wifi hotspots are not free.

 

The provider for cellular service on DCL is Cellular at Sea. I know in the past they have charged $2.49 (US) a minute for voice service, $0.10 to receive a text and $0.50 to send a text. I don't know the rates for data service, butI do know it is cheaper to use you laptop and the onboard internet service provided by DCL. I suggest calling your cellular provider and discussing with them what your plans and needs are and see what they suggest.

[hackif]

I also have a Canadian smartphone on Telus. I was just on the Dream in December and the day before we docked back at Port Canaveral I made a call to a friend looking after my cats because it appeared that she was trying to contact me. I hung up as soon as I got her voice mail - $7!!

 

The internet service on board is expensive and verrrryyyyy sloooww but it's beter than $7 for what was basically a no talk connection.