can anyone report on the AT&T plan for Royal and Celebrity ships?

[vizgal]

Hi Everyone-

I found out that our cell provider (AT&T) has a package plan for royal, carnival, and celebrity cruisers that will allow you to use your cell while onbaord (and I am assuming on the ports). It is $30 a month for calls and $60 a month for calls+texts. Has anyone used this package and what did you think about the coverage?

 

Thanks!

[wallie5446]

I don't recall which ship, but not all are in the program. Our AT&T did not work on the Reflection in 2013.

[vizgal]

Thanks Wally. Just to clarify-you have to order the package beforehand. My rep said at least of couple of days. It is a separate and additional plan coverage that is added to your current plan (for one month). I would be livid if I paid for the extra plan and it did not work!

[Sapphire723]

Here are the details by ship that I found:

http://www.att.com/travelguide/coverage/coverage_details.jsp?CIDL=1579&MNC=CING

 

It looks like the text package is only worth it if you are sending picture texts.

[prim8keeper]

I just had this on Silhouette. For the most part it worked really well. There were two brief periods, both on sea days when I couldn't make or get calls because the ship wasn't picking up the satellite, however that is probably to be expected. In port it was never a problem. Overall we were very happy with it and will probably do it again when we are on Eclipse in a few weeks.

[wallie5446]

Thanks Wally. Just to clarify-you have to order the package beforehand. My rep said at least of couple of days. It is a separate and additional plan coverage that is added to your current plan (for one month). I would be livid if I paid for the extra plan and it did not work!

 

From the web site:

Note: Wireless Maritime Service provides the cellular service onboard all Celebrity ships except for Celebrity Eclipse®, Celebrity Silhouette® and Celebrity Reflection® which is provided by OnWaves.

 

I seem to remember it is the 'OnWaves' program itself that does not operate correctly with AT&T.

Which is probably why it didn't work while at sea for prim.

Edited January 13, 2015 by wallie5446

[prim8keeper]

From the web site:

Note: Wireless Maritime Service provides the cellular service onboard all Celebrity ships except for Celebrity Eclipse®, Celebrity Silhouette® and Celebrity Reflection® which is provided by OnWaves.

 

I seem to remember it is the 'OnWaves' program itself that does not operate correctly with AT&T.

Which is probably why it didn't work while at sea for prim.

 

 

It did work at sea for me most of the time as I stated it only dropped out twice, which when you are dealing with satellites you have to expect.

[vizgal]

Thanks everyone! We are indeed sailing on the Silhouette. And we will indeed be using texts to send/recieve pictures. Our 18 month old daughter will be back at home with grandma and grandpa and I will go crazy not seeing her for 8+ days!

[sasset]

We added it for last October's Iberia and transatlantic on Infinity. No problems. We were able add it to our second cell while onboard. Just a toll free call to AT&T.

Edited January 13, 2015 by sasset

[cle-guy]

Here's the Celebrity/AT&T Flyer:

 

http://www.celebritycruises.com/media/en_US/pdf/att-cruise-ship-packages-flyer-with-ic-number.pdf

 

I've used the package several cruises. However it DOES NOT work on Reflection, and I can attest to this. Last year there was a second ship, also S class that it wasn't on, but that seems to now have been updated, as this list is current from AT&T and only Reflection is now missing. The current list of ships it works on from AT&T's website is:

Celebrity Cruises®

• Century
  
• Constellation
  
• Eclipse
  
• Equinox
  
• Infinity
  
• Millennium
  
• Silhouette
  
• Solstice
  
• Summit
  

 

Here is link direct to AT&T for moire info. You MUST call in to add the package (can't do on line or via app) , they will add it for 1 month and end it after if you ask. Many agents are unaware of the plan, so I've found it easiest to call and ask for the International Desk, and then there ask for the Cruise Ship Plan desk, who are trained to handle it appropriately.

 

One thing I would note, is shut off iMessage via iCloud if using iPhone, so that it uses only cellular data, not wifi. I had all my iMessages cued up and none went till I got of of the ship, as you mentioned wanting to do picture texting.

Edited January 13, 2015 by cle-guy

[rakes5]

Things change all the time, so you really need to call and talk to the International Desk.

 

Call the number from cle-guy's link.

 

We have used it a couple of times, and found that it works pretty well. For the calling package, it's also nice that any minutes after the package minutes are only $1 / minute.

 

A couple of things they don't always tell you about the calling features:

 

Once you use it on the ship, when your phone shows "Cellular at Sea", then it will also cover you when you are on land, on most of the Caribbean Islands. The representative asked us which islands we were visiting, and told us if they were covered. On our last trip, we were told that all the islands were covered, but when we got home, we were billed for a couple of calls. I don't recall which island, but a quick call got the charges reversed. But, we were told, you do need to use it on the ship first to start the package. If you use it on the island first, you may not get billed correctly.

 

Also, the month is not from the day you sign up, but goes along with your billing cycle. So for us, they were able to tell us our billing date was the 17th of the month. If the 17th fall in the middle of our cruise, then we needed to decide if we wanted to use the package for the days before the 17th, or after. If we wanted it to cover the entire time, we needed to purchase 2 packages. This actually worked to our advantage once for a long B2B cruise, where we able to purchase two packages, and saved. But for a short cruise, you need to check if this is still the policy, as this isn't what you are expecting.

[cle-guy]

]s, and found that it works pretty well. For the calling package, it's also nice that any minutes after the package minutes are only $1 / minute.

 

Once you use it on the ship, when your phone shows "Cellular at Sea", then it will also cover you when you are on land, on most of the Caribbean Islands. The representative asked us which islands we were visiting, and told us if they were covered.

 

Also, the month is not from the day you sign up, but goes along with your billing cycle. So for us, they were able to tell us our billing date was the 17th of the month. If the 17th fall in the middle of our cruise, then we needed to decide if we wanted to use the package for the days before the 17th, or after. If we wanted it to cover the entire time, we needed to purchase 2 packages. This actually worked to our advantage once for a long B2B cruise, where we able to purchase two packages, and saved. But for a short cruise, you need to check if this is still the policy, as this isn't what you are expecting.

 

Very good advice i found after i used my minutes when I called in to complain about the exhorbitant minute costs after I used my minutes, they offered to add month o the cheap plan. so of you go over, call them and ask to extend, no hassle at all, but you of have to ASK for it.

[Jimbo59]

also available via Verizon at $25.00 for 100MB.

[Queen of Oakville]

Bell Mobility (Canada) has a Zone 4 travel plan, which includes Celebrity - all ships except reflection - operated by ON WAVES. They show pricing per minute and MB - but they don't seem to have a Zone 4 plan. They have travel plans for 1,2 and 3 but not 4 which covers cruise lines.

[soxfan2013]

Will I be able to send and receive emails and texts w ATT using my Blackberry Q10 on Reflection.

 

Also, if I buy a jumbo internet package on the ship, can I share the minutes across devices: phone, laptop, tablet, etc.?