T-Mobile service onboard Ruby LA to Ensenada cruise?

[jeaniust]

Hi! We will be on the Ruby in September for a 4 day Coastal cruise from LA to Ensenada with a stop in Catalina. I know T-mobiles coverage now includes Mexico for all their customers. Just wondering if anyone has had any experience with cell phone coverage on cruises between US and Mexico (or Canada for that matter)? I know once we are in port there will be coverage but what about on the sea? Appreciate anyone who's got anything to share on this. Thanks!

[paul929207]

Out of range of the land based cell towers, you will be using the ships cell service. It is via satellite and typically costs about $2.50 per minute for calls

[cherylandtk]

On TMobile the voice charge is more like $5.99 per minute; you can find the rates on their website, just click on cruise ships when looking for the 'country'. Yes, that applies to Simple Choice as well as other plans.

Edited August 4, 2015 by cherylandtk

[Meanee]

Easier way to call is if you have a WiFi Calling capable phone (a lot of them are now), is to sign in to ship's WiFi, pay for internet. Set your calling preferences to use WiFi only. And then you can use your phone and text at your usual T-Mobile rate. But you will be paying for internet until you sign off.

[YWW]

Easier way to call is if you have a WiFi Calling capable phone (a lot of them are now), is to sign in to ship's WiFi, pay for internet. Set your calling preferences to use WiFi only. And then you can use your phone and text at your usual T-Mobile rate. But you will be paying for internet until you sign off.

 

Agree with Meanee that the "best" and cheapest way to receive calls or place calls from anywhere in the world while cruising on ship is to use one of the wifi apps like WhatsApp if you subscribe the ship's internet pkg. In fact we each carry our smartphones so we can easily contact one another on the ship via wifi. Back in the old days before wifi or smart phones, we would carry walkie talkie on the ship which was inconvenient and too much hassle.

[chiapet]

I know T-mobiles coverage now includes Mexico for all their customers.

 

This is NOT entirely true ... as confirmed an hour ago when I called about our upcoming trip to AK and Canada.

 

The *3 countries for the price of 1* inclusion of Mexico and Canada is for their *newer* plans. However, we still had their *older* Simple Choice Family Plan ... so it did NOT cover Mexico and Canada for CALLS ... BUT did still cover texting and data (as added in their international coverage a few years ago).

 

The T-Mobile rep gave us 2 options to include CALLS from/to Mexico and Canada:

1) Switch to a newer family plan that included it, or

2) Add it as a supplemental $10/month (which included ALL our phones)

 

We chose #2 since we would lose our corp. discount by switching plans and because we wanted to drop it as soon as we got back. We would then only be prorated for the # of days we actually used ... so not bad :p

 

But my suggestion is to call to discuss the coverage on YOUR plan ... and be patient to persevere in getting the correct answer ... as the reps may need to reference various sources (incl. a supervisor) and sometimes give conflicting or inaccurate info ;)

[jeaniust]

Thanks everyone for the input!

[AZJerry]

Agree with Meanee that the "best" and cheapest way to receive calls or place calls from anywhere in the world while cruising on ship is to use one of the wifi apps like WhatsApp if you subscribe the ship's internet pkg. In fact we each carry our smartphones so we can easily contact one another on the ship via wifi. Back in the old days before wifi or smart phones, we would carry walkie talkie on the ship which was inconvenient and too much hassle.

 

How does this work? Unless you each have an internet plan only phone could be connected to wifi at a time. And since the connection(s) have to be up aren't all your internet minutes ticking away?

[caribill]

How does this work? Unless you each have an internet plan only phone could be connected to wifi at a time. And since the connection(s) have to be up aren't all your internet minutes ticking away?

 

The new Princess@sea uses the ship's intranet (not internet) at no charge to allow such communication between people on the ship.

[Meanee]

Agree with Meanee that the "best" and cheapest way to receive calls or place calls from anywhere in the world while cruising on ship is to use one of the wifi apps like WhatsApp if you subscribe the ship's internet pkg. In fact we each carry our smartphones so we can easily contact one another on the ship via wifi. Back in the old days before wifi or smart phones, we would carry walkie talkie on the ship which was inconvenient and too much hassle.

 

If you use T-Mobile WiFi calling, you can call other phones using your phone number, and others can reach you as well, on your phone number. Also, it will pick up queued texts that were not delivered to you.

 

How does this work? Unless you each have an internet plan only phone could be connected to wifi at a time. And since the connection(s) have to be up aren't all your internet minutes ticking away?

 

Princess@sea allows free messaging to other subscribers. It's free to use (wasn't there a charge for messaging until recently?)

 

Basically, any service that needs to "leave the ship" will be charged. Internet will be charged, Intranet (local network) won't be. Since Princess@sea is relayed through server on the ship, it does not need to "leave" the ship to communicate with other passengers. But services like WiFi calling, Facebook, WhatsApp, Skype, require external connection, and you need to have internet active (and pay for those minutes)

[Wehwalt]

I have T-Mobile's international plan, that includes (rather slow) data in a lot of countries. It's very useful.

 

I suspect a Skype or similar app run on the ship's internet might be subject to a lot of disconnections at busy times.

[caribill]

 

I suspect a Skype or similar app run on the ship's internet might be subject to a lot of disconnections at busy times.

 

Or blocked from being used in the first place.

Edited August 5, 2015 by caribill

[BigTimeCruiser]

We used our T-Mobile plan throughout the 2015 World Cruise. Had cell everywhere at 20 cents per minute, FREE International Text, and Internet Data everywhere except Brunei and Vietnam. Worked great. Also, used an app (Wifi Hotspot) that allowed others to us our T-Mobile connection.:):):)

 

Edited August 5, 2015 by BigTimeCruiser

[jeaniust]

We used our T-Mobile plan throughout the 2015 World Cruise. Had cell everywhere at 20 cents per minute, FREE International Text, and Internet Data everywhere except Brunei and Vietnam. Worked great. Also, used an app (Wifi Hotspot) that allowed others to us our T-Mobile connection.:):):)

 

 

 

Did you have data when you were at sea? Or did you put your phone on airplane mode at sea? Thanks for the input!

[PescadoAmarillo]

We used our T-Mobile plan throughout the 2015 World Cruise. Had cell everywhere at 20 cents per minute, FREE International Text, and Internet Data everywhere except Brunei and Vietnam. Worked great. Also, used an app (Wifi Hotspot) that allowed others to us our T-Mobile connection.:):):)

 

 

OT, but glad to see you posting, Curt. I was getting concerned!

[BigTimeCruiser]

Did you have data when you were at sea? Or did you put your phone on airplane mode at sea? Thanks for the input!

 

We put our phones in airplane mode, since we didn't want to connect through the ship's cell tower. Used data in the ports and on land.

[BigTimeCruiser]

OT, but glad to see you posting, Curt. I was getting concerned!

:):)

 

All is OK...thanks..

[Viesczy]

There's no fire you're going to be able to put out and you're only going to be worked up by your inability to affect said outcome.

 

Unplug.

 

Relax.

[victory2020]

Agree with Meanee that the "best" and cheapest way to receive calls or place calls from anywhere in the world while cruising on ship is to use one of the wifi apps like WhatsApp if you subscribe the ship's internet pkg. In fact we each carry our smartphones so we can easily contact one another on the ship via wifi. Back in the old days before wifi or smart phones, we would carry walkie talkie on the ship which was inconvenient and too much hassle.

 

I'm new to smartphones & I have free internet package on ships. How does this work? Download app & make calls from that? Is it easy to connect your phone to the internet on the ship?

[caribill]

I'm new to smartphones & I have free internet package on ships. How does this work? Download app & make calls from that? Is it easy to connect your phone to the internet on the ship?

 

First of all, will you be wanting to make regular phone calls as you do at home using your carrier's cell phone towers or will you be making phone calls using the Internet if your carrier allows that?

 

If you will be making regular phone calls, then you will go through the ship's cell phone connection and this does not involve the Internet. You will get charged higher than normal fees when doing so. You need to check with your carrier to find out what the costs are for calling while at sea.

 

If you are somehow able to make calls over the Internet, you would sign on to the Internet just like you sign on to the Internet when using your smart phone on land. You will check for available sources and select the ship's Internet. The first time you will set up the use of your Internet package and create a password. Future times you will sign on by entering sign on information including your password. Be sure to sign off the ship's Internet properly or your minutes will get used up while you are not really trying to use it.

Edited August 6, 2015 by caribill

[YWW]

I'm new to smartphones & I have free internet package on ships. How does this work? Download app & make calls from that? Is it easy to connect your phone to the internet on the ship?

 

A free* app that you can download called "WhatsApp" using Wi-Fi allows you to text or make calls (or receive calls) to anyone also with the same app anywhere in the world. These calls or texts are all free since WhatsApp doesn't charge you anything. Making calls using this app is really no different than calling on your regular phone and even more simple since you just press the green call button next to the person you want to call and it'll start ringing on the other end. In our case after we sign up for the internet pkg on the ship, we just turn on the "Wi-Fi" system in our smart phones so we can call one and another should we decide to do our own separate thing in different parts of the ship. However, in order to preserve the internet minutes, your phone should not be left on constantly while on the ship since it can deplete all your internet minutes. We use this app everywhere we travel. It's especially useful when traveling overseas when your cell phone has no service or reception since the Wi-Fi feature can still maintain contact with your family at home. The sound quality is also amazing, better than our AT&T landline connection.

 

There's another free app called "Viber" which does essentially the same thing as WhatsApp but it does provide you the added option to call anyone in the world on any phone without this same app at a nominal cost but Wi-Fi calls to another smart phone with the Viber app is free. Viber is absolutely free since there's no renewal fee. However, we prefer WhatsApp since it tends to have better connection/reception and easier to attach pictures.

 

When the ship docks at a port, we just go to town and find ourselves a Starbuck or similar to use their free Wi-Fi since the ship's Wi-Fi speed is very slow to send out pictures. Texting and calling are fine.

 

*Free during the first year, 99 cents each year after.

[victory2020]

I'm not tech savvy at all. So to use an app, the other person must have a smart phone with the same app?

[PescadoAmarillo]

I'm not tech savvy at all. So to use an app, the other person must have a smart phone with the same app?

 

No, at least not with Vonage. I phone my mom (NOT tech savvy either) and my name appears on the Caller ID on her regular phone. She would have no idea whether I'm calling her over the internet or not.

[shredie]

There's no fire you're going to be able to put out and you're only going to be worked up by your inability to affect said outcome.

 

Unplug.

 

Relax.

 

Easier said than done. LOL.

[Meanee]

I'm not tech savvy at all. So to use an app, the other person must have a smart phone with the same app?

 

Depends.

 

If you are using WhatsApp, or Facebook Messenger (it can now call), you would need other person to be on same platform.

 

If you are using Skype, Google Voice, or your carrier WiFi calling, then you can just dial a number.