Telephone Calls - Worried Mothers Help

[tipfamily]

:D Thank you for all of your replies. I really like idea of buying a phone card at port and giving it to the crew members when finished. I also think I will use the internet as suggested. I could even possibly send pictures with my digital camera. Are there computers on the ship or do I have to bring a lap top in order to have access to the internet?

 

Also, thank you Halos for the suggestion. I did not take it as a lecture or offensively in anyway. To be quite honest, I would have never thought about it upsetting my children to call them. But, now that you said something you are probably right and I think they would cry for me which I want to avoid. It would make me miserable if I knew I was so far away and they were crying for me.

 

Thanks again for all of your help. I love the information I can get from these forums and all of it is so useful!

[halos]

:D Thank you for all of your replies. I really like idea of buying a phone card at port and giving it to the crew members when finished. I also think I will use the internet as suggested. I could even possibly send pictures with my digital camera. Are there computers on the ship or do I have to bring a lap top in order to have access to the internet?

 

Also, thank you Halos for the suggestion. I did not take it as a lecture or offensively in anyway. To be quite honest, I would have never thought about it upsetting my children to call them. But, now that you said something you are probably right and I think they would cry for me which I want to avoid. It would make me miserable if I knew I was so far away and they were crying for me.

 

Thanks again for all of your help. I love the information I can get from these forums and all of it is so useful!

 

thanks tip....I know not all kids are the same but I wanted to present that as a possibility...this way, if it does happen, you won't get as upset.

Again, have a great time and come back with a review!!

[justcruzinbye]

Mobal GSM World Phone

 

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The $99 phone works in Mexico, Cayman, Belize...

[Ok_Cruiser]

Back to the original question!

 

IMHO the best way is to use your cell phone if service is available. I can only speak to Cingular's service and I know that it worked a few years ago in Nassau on a trip. The cost was .69 minute.

 

If you have Cingular and wish to use this you must call them in advance and have international roaming activated. You must also have a phone that has the same frequency of the places you are visiting. Cingular can tell you if you phone will work. I have a quad-band GSM phone and I was told it would work in Key West, Belize, and Cozumel the ports we are traveling to in October.

 

I have also read that if you do activate service that you should leave your phone turned off except when you need to make a call home or you could incurr other charges. I hope this helps.

[seashell36]

I just wanted to say that I agree with Halos, as a Mom that has to travel often I call and talk to Grandma. If I talk to the kids, someone will get upset (he got to talk longer, I miss Mommy, or I miss the kids). I plan to buy a calling card in port to call home, but will be taking my laptop to send emails. I am teaching Grandma to use and load the digital cam so she can send me pics of what the kids are doing. :o

[krayziecr]

If you are just getting a new cell phone none of them will probably work out of the USA. Reason for this, most companies require you to have service 6-12 months before activating international roaming. If you can talk them into it, Cingular will work in all of those ports. 79 cents per minute in Mexico, $1.99 per minute all other Caribbean.

[eelyak]

Tipfamily: We are almost in the same boat as you! We are going on a 7 night cruise withOUT our 3 year old and 16.5 month old. I've been stressing big time over the communication. I just don't think there is anyway I can go 7 days without talking to them. I know I won't be worried about them, but I know I'll just miss them like crazy. I think it's going to be especially hard on my youngest. She's never been away from me more than about 10 hours or so. But, she definitely would do the crying thing if she heard our voice.

 

Something I've been thinking about doing is video taping us before we leave. So, the kids can watch a movie of us all together. Letting them know that they when they watch this, mommy and daddy will be gone for a few days, but we'll we back with lots of suprises/presents. I've also been thinking about calling and leaving messages on the caregivers phones before we leave so that they can listen to them while we're gone. Kind of like "Hi G! *pause* What are you doing? *pause* That sounds like fun! Are you being a good girl? *pause* Well, ok remember to listen to Grandma and do what she says. *pause* We'll be bringing home some presents for you when we get back. Ok, I got to go, I love you bye!"