using cell phone before leaving embarkation p.

[CruiseZapper]

will you be charged what carnival charges if you are on the ship and make a last minute phone call before it leaves your embarkation port? sorry if it has already been answered lately, i found some old threads but with cell phones being upgraded all the time i thought maybe there has been some change, my m-i-l is 90 and we'd like to check on her right before we leave, we will only be gone a short time (4 nights)but will find peace of mind if we know right before we leave that everything's ok. we will take out the battery or put it on airplane mode when the ship starts to pull out,thank you so much in advance

[CruiseZapper]

sorry, we will be leaving from port canveral.

[papaflamingo]

It's no problem. You should have normal cell coverage for a while after leaving port. Just check your cell and see what carrier it is using. As long as it's your carrier, then call away. Also, if you are going to St. Thomas, you'll have normal cell coverage. St. Thomas is a U.S. possession, and you'll see your carrier. Even if you're just going past St.Thomas, check and see. For example, I have ATT. If I see "ATT" as my carrier, I can make normal calls. So,.... call away on sail away. :)

[Ashland]

Just check your cell phone it will say the provider that is being used..We have made calls just prior to and cruising out on RCI ships and until it says "Celluar At Sea" you should be fine..We just make sure our data is off with our iPhone. My older cell phone that has none I would leave it on that way family could always get in touch with us in case of a real emergency no need to take the battery out. Best of luck and enjoy.

Edited January 11, 2014 by Ashland

[Familygoboston]

When you are in reach of a cell tower in port (even for a short time after

Sail away) you will be able to use your regular services. Look for your bars at the top- if they say roaming, and don't have the 3 G or LTE symbols ( on my Verizon plan even "extended network" is included, bit your plan may vary) , you've probably gone away from your carrier. Most carriers will send you a notification telling you what you will be charged, before you call when you are off the network, so that can help you see if you are "off your plan" too.

Edited January 11, 2014 by Familygoboston

[cruzinlady1947]

It's no problem. You should have normal cell coverage for a while after leaving port. Just check your cell and see what carrier it is using. As long as it's your carrier, then call away. Also, if you are going to St. Thomas, you'll have normal cell coverage. St. Thomas is a U.S. possession, and you'll see your carrier. Even if you're just going past St.Thomas, check and see. For example, I have ATT. If I see "ATT" as my carrier, I can make normal calls. So,.... call away on sail away. :)

Verizon does not have free service in St. Thomas, only in San Juan. My son found out the hard way. Check with your carrier what countries are included in your plan. ATT and Sprint have the free service in St. Thomas. Not sure which other ones do.

 

Gwen :)

[Tucker in Texas]

When in a port like Puerto Rico or St. Thomas that is in your cell phone coverage, before you use your phone, even off the ship, check to make sure it doesn't say "cellular at sea" or "roaming." The cruise lines have been known to "forget" to turn off the satellite connection when in port and it will nail you even if you are off the ship and a distance away.

 

Tucker in Texas

[FLACRUISER99]

All you folks talking about Puerto Rico or St. Thomas, the OP is only going to the Bahamas on Enchantment.

[bchalker]

The ship can not use their tower while in port. They have to out at sea out of range for local towers. We use our phone till out a cpl miles.

[lovesthebeach2]

We were awaiting the birth of our grandson while on a cruise in December and were told by TMobile that we were able to use the phone and data while there. They told me it's free for some 80 countries. We felt more comfortable finding a wifi signal and conversed by email, but we could have used text as well. If you have TMobile give them a call and see if it's still free.

[CruiseZapper]

thanks everyone, we do have T-Mobile but we just want to keep a check before the ship leaves, if anything happens while we are still able to get off we will, even if we loose our money, but once we pull out we are not going to worry because there's not much we can do about it anyway, so i have i told every one that if anything happens while we are at sea, just handle it til we get back,, not trying to be mean but we have 4 children (all married) and 8 grandchildren, 5, almost 6 great grandchildren and and every one of them except 1 grandson lives within 10 miles of us, we NEED to get away for a while,,,,and it is only a 4 night so it will only be from late monday to early friday..thanks again i really do appreciate all the feed back.

[TravelerThom]

The ship can not use their tower while in port...

They certainly can use their towers in port. They are not supposed to, but the ship controls whether the tower is on, and if they "forget" to turn it off (intentional or otherwise) it is operational. There are a number of reports where the ship tower operated in port.

[reedl]

They certainly can use their towers in port. They are not supposed to, but the ship controls whether the tower is on, and if they "forget" to turn it off (intentional or otherwise) it is operational. There are a number of reports where the ship tower operated in port.

 

I would hope that it does not happen much. Imagine locals in port connecting to the ship's cell service automatically and the locals getting large bills for normal phone calls.

[BND]

Verizon does not have free service in St. Thomas, only in San Juan. My son found out the hard way. Check with your carrier what countries are included in your plan. ATT and Sprint have the free service in St. Thomas. Not sure which other ones do.

 

Gwen :)

 

Verizon charged us when we used our phones in San Juan. It most definitely wasn't free. I have however used my phone in St Thomas for no cost several times.

[Clarea]

Verizon charged us when we used our phones in San Juan. It most definitely wasn't free. I have however used my phone in St Thomas for no cost several times.

That's exactly the opposite of how I thought Verizon worked.

[cruzinlady1947]

Verizon charged us when we used our phones in San Juan. It most definitely wasn't free. I have however used my phone in St Thomas for no cost several times.

Well, my son used his in San Juan and wasn't charged, but was charged in St. Thomas. This was in Dec. 2012. Maybe it has changed since then, but I doubt it. It is best to check before you leave.

 

Gwen :)

[cruzinlady1947]

That's exactly the opposite of how I thought Verizon worked.

I agree, but won't start an argument.

 

Gwen :)

[bigeagle12]

That's exactly the opposite of how I thought Verizon worked.

 

We too have been using Verizon in Puerto Rico with no charge since 2003.

[readytolose]

All you folks talking about Puerto Rico or St. Thomas, the OP is only going to the Bahamas on Enchantment.

 

 

It's nice to be able to get more information while reading a thread. Maybe the OP is "only" going to the Bahamas but I've learned a lot about other locations and cell phone use that will be helpful on my future cruises.

[riclop]

will you be charged what carnival charges if you are on the ship and make a last minute phone call before it leaves your embarkation port? sorry if it has already been answered lately, i found some old threads but with cell phones being upgraded all the time i thought maybe there has been some change, my m-i-l is 90 and we'd like to check on her right before we leave, we will only be gone a short time (4 nights)but will find peace of mind if we know right before we leave that everything's ok. we will take out the battery or put it on airplane mode when the ship starts to pull out,thank you so much in advance

No you dont.

[NorbertsNiece]

I know that I mistakenly used my mobile phone on board Adventure whilst in port in St Thomas and was charged the tower rate.... only after use did I see the Network ID was NOT the local cell phone provider.... lesson learnt.

[bchalker]

They certainly can use their towers in port. They are not supposed to, but the ship controls whether the tower is on, and if they "forget" to turn it off (intentional or otherwise) it is operational. There are a number of reports where the ship tower operated in port.

 

No they do NOT run the towers in port. They would get a huge fine if that happened. Not a chance. Is it physically possible? Yes. Is it likely? Nope.

[bchalker]

I would hope that it does not happen much. Imagine locals in port connecting to the ship's cell service automatically and the locals getting large bills for normal phone calls.

 

Exactly why NO country allows it to happen.

[shipshape sam]

will you be charged what carnival charges if you are on the ship and make a last minute phone call before it leaves your embarkation port? sorry if it has already been answered lately, i found some old threads but with cell phones being upgraded all the time i thought maybe there has been some change, my m-i-l is 90 and we'd like to check on her right before we leave, we will only be gone a short time (4 nights)but will find peace of mind if we know right before we leave that everything's ok. we will take out the battery or put it on airplane mode when the ship starts to pull out,thank you so much in advance

 

No, but make sure you turn your phone completely off after sail away . I forgot to about a month ago on a cruise, and just last week saw roaming charges on my phone bill. One was a sea day where we were close to some tower I guess and the other was in Grand Cayman when there.

 

I called and they deleted the charges from my bill thankfully.

Edited January 12, 2014 by shipshape sam

[parrotfeathers]

I called home while in Jamaica to be sure all was okay. Phone bill was $60 but I didn't care. In the whole scheme of things it didn't matter.