Cell Phone use on board

[Fun Loving]

My current mobile carrier is Verizon Wireless. I'm trying to figure out if I can send text and access internet from my phone (withoout roaming charges)? I'm having difficulty sorting it all out; some say I need a global plan, some say you have to pay for ships wifi access and now I'm seeing something about Wireless Maritime Services. I know the last time (2010) I was on Celebrity I was able to post pics to facebook and send text messages and didn't have additional charges through Verizon (nor did I pay the ship for access). Can anyone shed some light on this? Thanks!!

[Benjo8]

Long and short without a new plan or ship's internet. Verizon. 2.49 for each minute for calls; texts. .05 to receive, .50 to send. If you want data from cell company i suggest getting data plan but you might do better (depending on your internet dependency) on ship's internet plan supplemented by wifi off ship in port. Understand that on some of the Caribbean stops, immediate port shopping areas may be controlled by RCCL which means no free wifi in shops as they try to drive you back to ship to spend $$ on their wifi. That's true in Jamaica (Falmouth) and St. Thomas.

[need2bespoiled]

I had a long conversation with Verizon today.

 

The previously quoted prices are still in effect on the ship, which leaves AT&T as the best talk and txt option onboard.

 

HOWEVER, Verizon has new international roaming plans that covered all of the islands on Summit's Southern Caribbean itineraries.

 

$40 includes 100 minutes of talk, 100 megabytes and 100 txt messages (with pictures).

 

Each additional 100 meg is $10, each additional talk minute is $.10 (10 cents) and each additional txt is $.10 (10 cents).

 

Rates have not changed on the ship but this is a good deal based on what we paid this past November / December.

 

The only exception to the above was Barbados and Antigua where MMS (pictures and videos by txt) which would go at the standard international rate of .50 each.

 

The new internet plans onboard are pretty reasonably, though I don't know if they are allowing VoIP yet. Disney and Royal Caribbean do based on my cruises on their ships this year.

 

Finally, in my experience the ships wifi/internet connection is much faster than using your phone to connect to the ships cellular service for data.

 

It sounds to me, like you were very lucky in 2010 and would incur quite a bit of data roaming charges now.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[shuang6]

How about Alaska? Anyone has experience with Verizon in Alaska?

[need2bespoiled]

On the ****, it is the same regardless of where you are. If you can reach a land base tower you're in the US and under your normal rate plan. Most current rate plans that do not charge fr roaming nationwide include Alaska but you can check your plan or call 611.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[lola2013]

I spent a lot of time speaking with Verizon before I sailed on Equinox last month. ..both in their retail outlets and with their Global Services Department. I came out of there well versed in plan vs no plan, roaming charge info, etc. I didn't plan to make a lot of calls so decided not to go with the plan. I was able to make one call from St. Thomas and send a few texts; however, the phone did not work on any of the other islands where we stopped. I was pretty steamed when I returned and went to Verizon to get some sort of explanation. (as way of explanation, a relative was having surgery and I was concerned about the outcome which is why I wanted to call). Anyway, once I got home, I was told by two different reps that I should have found a local cellphone store and bought a SIM card! Really? I should get off a ship and look for a store on each island? That borders on ridiculous. The friend that I travelled with had the same problem; fortunately, a retailer in St. Maarten let her use his phone for an important call. Sadly, the internet café was shut down the last couple of days on Equinox due to the norovirus so we were cut off!

The good news is the next cruise is to Hawaii and I don't anticipate any problems there!

[need2bespoiled]

I've used my phone (at great expense) all over the world. What phone? iPhone 5 or newer has worked great.

 

Certainly cheaper to use a local prepaid SIM.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[lola2013]

I had an iPhone 4 two years ago; before I went to Europe on the Equinox, I was told that I needed to upgrade to a 5 because that is global. That's what I had last month. Perhaps I got bad information...but that was from multiple Verizon reps. And by the way, the iPhone 5 didn't work in Europe either! We missed our connection in Heathrow and had no way to contact our friends who were already in Barcelona.

I'm happy with Verizon at home, but have had some issues with them when I travel.

[rahrah50]

I have an iPhone 5 and spent two weeks in Europe last year. I had data, texts, and phone with no problems.

[need2bespoiled]

I have an iPhone 5 and spent two weeks in Europe last year. I had data, texts, and phone with no problems.

 

Interesting, thanks for the heads up. I wonder why. I'll know more next week when we start a b2b on Summit with the new plan.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[Fun Loving]

I'm thinking I'm just going to use my phone to take pics and detach from reality while I'm gone :)

[hugene]

Are there sim cards that will work and give you data in all or most of the Summit ports? It would be great to only purchase 1 and have it work all over, but purchasing multiple sim cards would be too much of a pain.

[Algebralovr]

If you turn your smartphone to airplane mode, then purchase a data package on the ship and turn on the wi-fi only, you can use the ship based data and avoid the wireless company charges. You can also ask the phone company to unlock your phone so that if you need to purchase a SIM card locally, you'll be able to get it to work.

 

If you instead wish to just keep your current phone available in case of emergency, but don't plan to use it, make sure to ask them to open your phone up to make/receive calls in international territory.

 

 

Lastly, check out T-Mobile. My normal carrier (Sprint) is very expensive to use outside of the US. Last year, I bought a cheap unlocked smartphone (Moto E, comes unlocked for about $129), then bought a SIM card and one month of service from T-Mobile. It worked everywhere we went. Since I'm a small business owner, it was important that my clients be able to reach me. We were gone for over 2 weeks. It provided peace of mind, since phone calls were $0.20 per minute and texting was no added cost. I also had all the 3G data I wanted. It made finding an ATM easy, since Google Maps worked - even in Venice.

 

It may be a more expensive solution than you want, but was what we needed. Meanwhile, we now have an unlocked smartphone that is global GSM. If we need it in the US (for example, where my son's summer job is, the Sprint service is horrid), we can purchase a month of some prepaid cell service.

[need2bespoiled]

Any iPhone 5 or newer is already unlocked for foreign sims, I don't know about android but suspect it is similar.

 

I was told verizon will work in all the ports, on the $40 plan it's pretty good, but I won't have tested until were on board in a week, then in a few ports.

 

I wonder if the previous poster who had a problem had data roaminb turned off?

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

Edited March 28, 2015 by need2bespoiled

[phoenix_dream]

Long and short without a new plan or ship's internet. Verizon. 2.49 for each minute for calls; texts. .05 to receive, .50 to send. If you want data from cell company i suggest getting data plan but you might do better (depending on your internet dependency) on ship's internet plan supplemented by wifi off ship in port. Understand that on some of the Caribbean stops, immediate port shopping areas may be controlled by RCCL which means no free wifi in shops as they try to drive you back to ship to spend $$ on their wifi. That's true in Jamaica (Falmouth) and St. Thomas.

 

I have no idea what you mean regarding RCCL controlling wifi - especially in St. Thomas (not sure about Falmouth as they built the area specifically for RCCL ships). What I do know about St. Thomas is that it is not part of the standard Verizon plan. (San Juan is, but not St. Thomas). It has nothing to do with RCCL controlling anything. I found this out via a $150 phone bill trying to correct an issue with our airline:(

[neptuno]

T-Mobile has a plan called 'Simple Choice' which has free text and data in 120 contries and $0.20/minute talk. Works all over the Carib except Belize. But, it does not give any great discount on the ship, just in port.

[sasset]

We've used AT&T Cellular at Sea:

 

$30 50 Overage:$1.00/min. No texts, no data

$60 50 Overage:$1.00/min. 100 Texts Overage: $0.50/message sent

(text, picture, video) No data

$120 50 Overage:$1.00/min. 100 Texts Overage: $0.50/message sent

(text, picture, video)

100MB Data Overage: $10.00/10MB

 

Only used the $30 plan. Worked great at sea in Europe. Does not work in ports. You would need an international roaming plan.

[phoenix_dream]

How about Alaska? Anyone has experience with Verizon in Alaska?

 

We never had a problem getting service from Verizon in Alaska, although that was for Inside Passage itineraries - not sure how service is further north. I agree the best idea is to call Verizon to double-check your plan. Having been hit with outrageous roaming charges in St. Thomas (silly me - I figured if San Juan was included St. Thomas would be as well), it pays to know for sure.

[shuang6]

Thank you, phoenix_dream. I will definitely check with Verizon before we sail in July. We are sailing north bound from Vancouver to Seward.

[breeze123]

We turned our phones on to airplane mode and used the ships wifi. It worked great for texting (with no pictures) both to each other on the ship ("Where are you?") and to our families back home ("We're doing great!"). My husband used Skype for calls (required for work) and it worked beautifully.

[shuang6]

We turned our phones on to airplane mode and used the ships wifi. It worked great for texting (with no pictures) both to each other on the ship ("Where are you?") and to our families back home ("We're doing great!"). My husband used Skype for calls (required for work) and it worked beautifully.

 

 

What is the cost for using ship's wifi? Is it part of the internet minutes you need purchase?

[sasset]

On Infinity last October Wi-Fi was dicey.

[ghstudio]

Just because a phone has the capability to be a world phone does not mean you can now make/receive calls anywhere...it just means it has the internal radios and circuitry to be either a CDMA or GSM (the world's most prevalent "standards") phone...depending on the SIM that's in the phone. I have a verizon moto-x which is a verizon cdma phone using a verizon SIM in the US, but when I travel, I insert a GSM SIM card....in my case, I use a gaffgaff SIM from the UK (because I spend a fair amount of time in the UK). There are many GSM sim's available that will work in GSM countries...of course each offering their own rates for sending receiving calls/text and data....so choosing the right GSM SIM is not easy. Of course there are many sites on the internet to help you make this decision...but, of course, almost all of them steer you to the SIM that pays them if you sign up :) But if you read enough of the reviews...you'll figure out which might work for you.

 

As an example, see http://www.onesimcard.com/ but there are many other choices.

 

Make sure your phone is unlocked before you try to insert a GSM SIM into a world phone. The carriers (verizon) obviously want you to use their overpriced service....by inserting someone else's sim, verizon gets no dollars so they aren't eager to unlock your phone, if it's locked.

 

I can't tell you what works on the ships....I never use my phone while on-board. I do use skype when we stop at a port and I find an internet connection. On board, I rely on email using ship wifi minutes...and I download my mail, sign off, read/reply to the mail, sign back on and send it out. I never read mail online. I take a netbook on all trips.

Edited March 30, 2015 by ghstudio

[need2bespoiled]

We turned our phones on to airplane mode and used the ships wifi. It worked great for texting (with no pictures) both to each other on the ship ("Where are you?") and to our families back home ("We're doing great!"). My husband used Skype for calls (required for work) and it worked beautifully.

 

Celebrity has been blocking Skype for the last year, it worked December 13, not in April, August, November or December 2014. They have new plans so hopefully they have opened VoIP and other similar applications and ports they've been blocking. Other cruise lines do have them open, like Disney and RCCL.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[PinkMEB]

Did you have to buy the ship wi-fi package in addition to the Verizon $40 package. I just bought the Verizon package, but didn't get a clear answer about wi-fi.