I Need Advice From RCCL Cruisers on How to Use Verizon Global Data

[AeroBaldness]

My wife and I head out Monday on Liberty and are leaving "the kids" (age 17 & 18; back from college - didn't want to get flamed for a Home Alone post) at home for the first time in 4 cruises. My folks live less than 4 miles away, but my wife is still a bit freaked out about leaving them alone. So, after researching options, I've added a Global Data plan through Verizon with 100 MBs of data for the 5 days will be away and confirmed coverage via the ship or on land for the entire cruise.

 

Reviewing this with the Verizon Rep yesterday, he advised that he thought the 100 MBs of data would be plenty to leave my phone on and receive emails and iMessage with the kids and my folks as, as long as we don't attach pics, this uses very little data (and no cellular via SMS or MMS). If I get a text from someone that has a device other than an Apple device, it'll cost $.05 for each incoming text. If I need to respond, I have the emails of just about anyone I could possibly get a text from, so I can respond via email.

 

The plan, is to keep my phone on and on me at all times (not really all that fond of the idea, but worth it so my wife can (sort of) relax). We've let the kids and my folks know they can text anytime they need and also asked both kids to email a short daily update, which is overkill but good for my wife's sanity.

 

I also plan on turning off all of the location services options so these don't eat data and will only use other data to check the weather in the ports will be arriving at and to quickly check on my fantasy football teams as, its the playoffs and this is important stuff. If I go over the 100 MBs, the system merely adds another 100 for another $25 and I think I figured out how to monitor things.

 

With all of this, am I missing anything? I did ask the Verizon rep if it would be better to go in Airplane Mode and only pull data, say, hourly and he stated it would not make a difference. I also am trying to Unsubscribe from all of the garbage emails I get each day to further limit my data consumption.

 

Thanks in advance for any further guidance anyone can provide and, if anyone is also researching this for future cruises, let me know what questions you may have and I'll answer them upon my return.

[jakenashleysmom]

Just throwing this out there, but couldn't you turn the data off and only turn it on for updates occasionally? Honestly there is nothing you could do even if there were to be a problem. Or when you turn it on does it eat up just as much data by updating? Curious myself as we cruise in 2 weeks and also will be in Montreal in the spring and will need global.

 

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[AeroBaldness]

Just throwing this out there, but couldn't you turn the data off and only turn it on for updates occasionally? Honestly there is nothing you could do even if there were to be a problem. Or when you turn it on does it eat up just as much data by updating? Curious myself as we cruise in 2 weeks and also will be in Montreal in the spring and will need global.

 

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Thought of this and of buying WiFi on the ship but both are insanely expensive compared to buying a month's worth of Global Data. The data is only $25 for the 100 MBs. Whereas, since we r Gold, WiFi on the ship would be much more expensive and in we just pulled data, say, in Jamaica, it would likely exceed the $25 or we'd need to find somewhere with free WiFi. And, $25 seemed like a small price to pay for my wife to feel like the kids could contact us at any time. I joke that she puts the "S" in Mother to make her Smother...

[AeroBaldness]

I should have added that another nice aspect of having the ability to iMessage is that the older couple across the street (borderline nosy, but will keep a good eye on things) both have iPhones and can message us as needed. And, while it'll pull a bit of data, I can use find my iPhone to see where the kids are. And, I have the cell numbers of my plumber and a general contractor who both have iPhones so I can communicate with them should something go wrong with the house. Seem insane? It is :D

[georgiacrzr]

warning...global data on verizon does not work often while at sea

[AeroBaldness]

warning...global data on verizon does not work often while at sea

 

SWELL, don't tell my wife :cool:

[radiojw]

warning...global data on verizon does not work often while at sea

 

It does... Verizon includes cruising with the package. Or, do you mean that the network just will not work because of technical issues?

 

 

I have used VZ Global data in the past (T-Mobile now, yay free international text/data while on-shore)...

 

I've only gone over the 100MB threshold once, and during that time I was heavily uploading pictures. Emails/iMessage/occasional web browsing uses pretty much nothing.

 

The only thing I would watch out for is phone calls...

 

If you get a call while on the ship, once it forwards to voicemail -- you will get charged 1 minute because of that forward (which is like $5 -- some insane amount on the ship cell)

 

Otherwise, I would just relax and turn off the phones. If someone really needs to get ahold of ya'll, they can call you from the shore:

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/customersupport/faq/details.do?pagename=frequently_asked_questions&faqId=267&faqSubjectId=337

[Karter]

I used the Verizon plan a couple of weeks ago when I was on the Independence and there are a few things you need to be aware of.

 

1. Either the connection is so slow it's virtually worthless or it doesn't work most times on the ship.

2. Make sure you are in countries that are part of the plan. I turned my phone on without being in airplane mode in Roatan and got $50.00 in data charges in less than 2 minutes.

3. In covered countries it worked great - used less than 50MB in two weeks.

4. I would not leave the phone on in any case because smartphones do constantly connect without you even knowing it.

 

I would do it again but only for use in covered countries that I would be visiting.

[jakenashleysmom]

Makes perfect sense...especially for $25! Most of my family will be onboard with me but I thought it would be great to be able to text each other while on the ship. Sounds like it won't really work well at sea which would defeat the purpose for me.

 

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[georgiacrzr]

It might be included, but in the past it would never connect using global data while at sea... In ports or close to ports it was great ... You can also turn on and off the international roaming when not in use

 

 

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[bigque]

And you will not have to use the phone to check the weather in the ports. That information will be on the tv in your room. :cool:

Edited December 10, 2014 by bigque

[AeroBaldness]

Thanks to all for the replies!!

 

I have a confirmation email from Verizon of the coverage parameters for both Jamaica (Ocho Rios) & Haiti (Labadee). However, from what I read any type of cell coverage in or near Labadee is nonexistent. Coverage in Ocho should be great.

 

Based on replies here and something else I thought of, I'll need to figure out if I can turn off voicemail so calls go unanswered in any way and I need to turn off automatic app updates as these are data drains too.

 

Its disappointing to hear that the coverage on the ship is poor, but its what I expected. Hopefully, if I can figure out how to turn off anything that pulls data automatically and just get iMessages and emails (and a few texts in bound if need be) I'll be able to leave the phone on for the whole trip, not incur any non-expected roaming or other charges and I can report back on the success or lack thereof of my thought process (and hopefully report back that my wife was able to relax too).

 

ETA, I took a look at the Verizon paperwork and for data availability it lists Jamaica, Haiti & Liberty of the Seas (not thaat this makes a difference in strength, but at least provides that the ship itself and the data it emits is part of the global data package).

Edited December 10, 2014 by AeroBaldness
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[jmaedcruise]

Makes perfect sense...especially for $25! Most of my family will be onboard with me but I thought it would be great to be able to text each other while on the ship. Sounds like it won't really work well at sea which would defeat the purpose for me.

 

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This is our situation as well - our whole family will be on the ship and I was hoping that we would be able to text each other when necessary (infrequently of course because of the charges) I was told by Verizon rep that we could turn the data off on our phones for the whole cruise and would still be able to text each other or make voice calls - for a charge of course. Hope this will work for us

[jakenashleysmom]

This is our situation as well - our whole family will be on the ship and I was hoping that we would be able to text each other when necessary (infrequently of course because of the charges) I was told by Verizon rep that we could turn the data off on our phones for the whole cruise and would still be able to text each other or make voice calls - for a charge of course. Hope this will work for us

Wonder what the charge would be? Are verizon to verizon texts and calls still free?

 

 

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[jmaedcruise]

Wonder what the charge would be? Are verizon to verizon texts and calls still free?

 

 

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Nope not free - all incoming texts are .05 and outgoing are .50

[SarahD112]

I want to be able to communicate with my teens onboard. We all have iPhones. Is my best option to email each other using the $25 100MB package from verizon? If I send a group text to both, am I paying .50 or 1.00 to send? We will be together on port days. It's sea days and evenings I'm trying to sort out. Oasis rents phones for onboard communications, but they're $30 each and I'd need three, to give each teen one. They're in separate age groups for teen activities.

 

 

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[Clarea]

I want to be able to communicate with my teens onboard. We all have iPhones. Is my best option to email each other using the $25 100MB package from verizon? If I send a group text to both, am I paying .50 or 1.00 to send? We will be together on port days. It's sea days and evenings I'm trying to sort out. Oasis rents phones for onboard communications, but they're $30 each and I'd need three, to give each teen one. They're in separate age groups for teen activities.

You can text for $0.50 for each sent text. No packages are needed from Verizon or the ship. However, these would be SMS texts, no iMessage, no photos, no group texts.

[FLACRUISER99]

Lots of good info on this board. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=845

[jmaedcruise]

We just returned from a Christmas cruise on OAS and we used our phones (5 of us) to text each other on the ship. Each text costs us 55 cents (50 to send 5 to receive) so we did it sparingly as to not rack up too much of a bill. We have verizon. If you have iphones make sure that you turn on the "send as SMS" toggle in your message settings as imessage will not work without data. We all turned our data off when we left port and kept it off the entire cruise - we could still text each other throughout the week.