Avoiding Accidental Cel Phone Use?

[blackcows]

At the end of the month we are cruising out of NOLA to Mexico, our group consist of 3 adults and 5 teenage girls. The kids (and to be truthful the adults) all have iphones that not only function as phones but also as music devices, cameras, etc so they will still have a need to use the phones on the cruise. All the kids are good kids and if we say don't text, use the internet, or make phone calls they won't but since they have all grown up in a world where the internet and cel service has almost become transparent how do I insure that they won't do it by accident...you take a picture and upload to Facebook, you get a text you respond, you get a message from Twitter you retweet.

 

Is it possible to use cel service on the ship if you don't sign up for the service? If I make sure none of the phones are set to international roaming will this prevent use in Mexico?

[emelvee]

I switch ours to "airplane" mode once we're onboard.

[Rirruto]

Just put the phones in airplane mode. No data transfer, phone calls, or text messages but can still use apps that dont need data such as camera, music player, etc.

[allison0523]

You can turn the data off on the iPhones so they can't "accidentally" use the internet or anything else on the phone that uses internet data, which by the way, is ridiculously expensive on a ship and internationally. As far as text messages, they are relatively cheap if you don't send hundreds or thousands of them. I think it's 50 cents to send and 5 to receive or vice versa. But, you can put the phone in airplane mode so you don't have to worry about using data or cellular. Somehow, our son was able to get free wifi on the ship a couple times. We didn't log into carnival's website and we don't have cellular on his iPad. I have no idea how he was getting it.... The kids are old enough to listen and be responsible. I would probably put the phones in airplane mode. This would disable data and cellular but still allow them to play music and games that are on the phone, as well as take photos. Have a good cruise!

[kids-in-2-centuries]

I switch ours to "airplane" mode once we're onboard.

 

I agree. You can continue to use anything you have downloaded to the phone but not get calls or messages or use data and you can even connect to wi-fi in airplane mode if you want to if it is free in port.

[reerun25]

Airplane mode is the way to go.

[blackcows]

Thanks so much for all of the quick replies! I will make sure we get all of the phones on airplane mode.

 

We will be cruising out of New Orleans which means an 8 hour trip down the river so I am guessing we would have cel service for the majority of the first night, it would be nice to have the service as long as possible since we are leaving our son with special needs with Grandma and Grandpa. Would we know when service moved from US based to sea cellular or is it seamless?

[PaulMedik]

Thanks so much for all of the quick replies! I will make sure we get all of the phones on airplane mode.

 

We will be cruising out of New Orleans which means an 8 hour trip down the river so I am guessing we would have cel service for the majority of the first night, it would be nice to have the service as long as possible since we are leaving our son with special needs with Grandma and Grandpa. Would we know when service moved from US based to sea cellular or is it seamless?

 

 

blackcows,

 

The provider ID at the top will switch from ATT (Assuming you have ATT) to Cellular At Sea; you won't notice anything other than the name change. You should be able to hit an ATT tower well out to sea, but be sure and watch for Cellular At Sea to appear at the top.

[Rirruto]

Thanks so much for all of the quick replies! I will make sure we get all of the phones on airplane mode.

 

We will be cruising out of New Orleans which means an 8 hour trip down the river so I am guessing we would have cel service for the majority of the first night, it would be nice to have the service as long as possible since we are leaving our son with special needs with Grandma and Grandpa. Would we know when service moved from US based to sea cellular or is it seamless?

 

Your phone should display what carrier it's using. On iPhones, it's right next to the signal strength on the top left. My old Blackberry used to have it in the center of the homescreen below the time. On my current Android, it displays in the notification bar. Depends on your phone.

[luvtovaca]

While you may still get cell service well out to sea or down the river, I have heard stories of people saying that once the ship departs port, you may get charges for cellular at sea in addition to your service provider. Anyone know if this is true?

[LzyCruiser_NWA]

I just take out the SIM card to be safe.

[Rudyard]

I bring a camera and an MP3 player. Then I turn off the phone, throw it in the safe, and put on the watch I hardly ever wear any more :)

[Havingfun2010]

At the end of the month we are cruising out of NOLA to Mexico, our group consist of 3 adults and 5 teenage girls. The kids (and to be truthful the adults) all have iphones that not only function as phones but also as music devices, cameras, etc so they will still have a need to use the phones on the cruise. All the kids are good kids and if we say don't text, use the internet, or make phone calls they won't but since they have all grown up in a world where the internet and cel service has almost become transparent how do I insure that they won't do it by accident...you take a picture and upload to Facebook, you get a text you respond, you get a message from Twitter you retweet.

 

Is it possible to use cel service on the ship if you don't sign up for the service? If I make sure none of the phones are set to international roaming will this prevent use in Mexico?

 

I give my teenage kids 2 choices. Hand me a $300 security deposit prior the trip, or turn off the phone, and lock it in the safe. They always lock it up. I never had a problem, and they survived. They had conversations longer than 3 letters LOL. They could hear the ocean instead of music in their ears. Plus, they learned the friends won't disappear - SMH.

[Cruisin'Doc]

As has been said, use airplane mode.

 

Also, you will get service until well into the evening when traveling out of NOLA. I generally turn mine to airplane mode by 7 or 8 in the evening when leaving out of NOLA, just to stop the dinging of emails, etc., lol. As was mentioned, it will switch over to 'Cellular At Sea' when you are out of range of your normal provider.

 

When returning, I generally switch mine back on the night of return. Even though it says Ceullar at Sea, I don't get bombarded with the messages, etc. until I hit my regular provider. Last month, it seems I hit AT&T around 1-2 AM, with the flood of texts coming in around 2-2:30. That way, texts/voice mails/emails were waiting for me the next morning (everyone is different, and as OP said...some have more difficulty not being connected than others - I am one of those people, lol).

[Express Man]

Just make sure there on Airplane mode. Somebody wrote a letter to CCL after they got homelast week and had a $800 cell phone bill and blamed CCL.

[Cruisin'Doc]

While you may still get cell service well out to sea or down the river, I have heard stories of people saying that once the ship departs port, you may get charges for cellular at sea in addition to your service provider. Anyone know if this is true?

 

I cannot say that it is/is not true, luvtovaca, but I can say I have never had this happen to me.

[Missywantstotravel]

My son will think I'm being mean. He's not allowed to even bring it with him. I'm not going to take any chances.

[golfadj]

Our cell phones get turned off when we leave port and cruise in the luxury of our safe.

[nodogkisses]

Blackcows, we all travel with iphones and have the past couple of years. We like to be able to receive and send texts (no pics/videos, though, as that uses data). We like to listen to music and don't even bother with taking our cameras anymore--we use our iphone cameras for taking pics and videos. Our cell provider is Verizon and prior to leaving, I call and make sure we all have international dialing. Right before you get on the ship, hit *228 and Send and that will update the iphone's roaming capabilities. Anyway, Verizon charges 50 cents to send and 5 cents to receive a text. Calls are based on the Cellular At Sea rates and it's higher than the $1.99/minute you are charge when calling from your room phone. You can go onto the Verizon site to see what the per minute rate is when your are in various countries/ports.

 

Before you set sail, have everyone take their phone and go into SETTINGS and then go to GENERAL and then turn CELLULAR DATA to OFF. Another thing that you should do is turn off all NOTIFICATIONS so that they don't accidentally get updates from apps like Facebook, Twitter, Mail, etc. You can do this by going to SETTINGS then NOTIFICATIONS and turn each one to OFF. Personally, I feel that having your iphone with you at all times is a safety feature and I feel a lot better knowing that I can reach anyone I'm traveling with at anytime I feel like it in case of an emergency. Also, I don't know what ship you are traveling on, but you can always use the ship's house phones to call the rooms from pretty much anywhere inside or outside on the ship and that's quite convenient.

[Kudos2Fly]

O.P. if you have a special needs son you can put your phone on a international plan. Most are not expensive and you can always be in contact with the grandparents. If you only text or call every few days it shouldn't be that expensive. My husband and I have done this twice. Also calling cards are always a good cheap way to be in contact with family. We also did this in 2007 when we where in Italy.

 

As for the kids, I would agree just turning off the phones wouldn't be a bad ideal. Normally hubby and I turn it on airplane mode and still able to listen to our stories we down load before leaving or taking pictures. I take picture with a "regular" camera anyways. Lasted cruise we used our phones until about 30-45 minutes out of Port Canaveral with no problems.

[Sargent_Schultz]

Removing the battery is effective.

[jayscore]

Our cell phones get turned off when we leave port and cruise in the luxury of our safe.

 

Bingo! Simple as that! ;)

[Safetyal]

I give my teenage kids 2 choices. Hand me a $300 security deposit prior the trip, or turn off the phone, and lock it in the safe. They always lock it up. I never had a problem, and they survived. They had conversations longer than 3 letters LOL. They could hear the ocean instead of music in their ears. Plus, they learned the friends won't disappear - SMH.

 

 

Well that is certainly better than cutting off my teenagers fingers.:D

[Gayle V]

If you decide to turn your phone back on when in a port, with intention of only using it while there on land, still take care to look for your provider's name on the screen. Cruiser's in the past, have reported being charged for using the ships towers, even though they were only nearby the ship. If it says "Cellular at Sea" you will be charged for that service, even if you really aren't "at sea".

[cruises42]

We just got iphones (5's). Is there any way we can leave them on to receive calls in case of an emergency at home and not get hit with large fees?