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Cell service (Verizon) on Star

doncolleen

By doncolleen,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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chengkp75

chengkp75

Posted
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Verizon added service ($40.) to my plan so that I can use my phone while at sea and in the various ports of call. Just wondering how well it will work? On the Star in one week!

 

It will work fine, since the cell tower is onboard. Verizon is $1.79/minute.

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chengkp75

chengkp75

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Phone service on the ship at sea will depend on satellite reception. We were 100 miles off the Spanish coast last week and had periods of bad service.

 

That's fairly rare unless the weather is really bad, especially in that area.

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BirdTravels "Live from...." Rare

BirdTravels

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And do understand that what you pay Verizon has nothing to do with the additional charges you will have to pay NCL for using their service on the ship. It's a little expensive.

 

Actually, you pay the contract rate with Verizon (voice and data). There is no additional charges by NCL. Unless you buy wifi services from them.

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BirdTravels "Live from...." Rare

BirdTravels

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Posted (edited)
I would love it if you would report how it worked after your cruise. I have Verizon and would like to be able to text with the kids on the ship when we cruise in December.

 

So member of our family have iPhones, so we use iMessage (internet text messaging vs. telephone company text services) to text back and forth. We have been on multiple NCL ships this year and have purchased wifi plans that allow us to text (via iMessage) back home to the US. Satellite-based internet works fine for texting and email. Kinda slow for surfing the web.

 

We actually buy one wifi plan and successfully cycle 4 phones (personal and work) and 2 iPads using the single plan throughout the day.

Edited by BirdTravels
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piper45maru

piper45maru

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Do of you purchase the plan with Verizon can you use your phone for calling or texting without using NCL wifi service?

 

 

I bought the $40 Verizon plan with 100 mins, outgoing texts, and MBs of data for a Western Med Epic cruise a couple of months ago, and it worked in ports and at sea for calling and texting without having to pay for any NCL Internet services.

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piper45maru

piper45maru

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You won't technically be on Verizon service. You'll be on a local carrier that Verizon partners with. You also get a free text message (if you ha debt turned that option off through your account) when you enter a new country.

 

As far as how you tell, I'm sure it varies by phone, but on my iPhone up in the left corner, it says "Verizon" and then either LTE, 3G, etc. In Europe, it gave the name of the local carrier instead of Verizon. So, however you normally tell what service you have/what your signal strength is will remain the same. I also turned off wifi while I was on the ship.

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txagfan

txagfan

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Posted
You won't technically be on Verizon service. You'll be on a local carrier that Verizon partners with. You also get a free text message (if you ha debt turned that option off through your account) when you enter a new country.

 

As far as how you tell, I'm sure it varies by phone, but on my iPhone up in the left corner, it says "Verizon" and then either LTE, 3G, etc. In Europe, it gave the name of the local carrier instead of Verizon. So, however you normally tell what service you have/what your signal strength is will remain the same. I also turned off wifi while I was on the ship.

 

Fair enough. I've traveled internationally as well and am familiar with what you're discussing. Just seemed like with the service being specific to cruise lines it seemed relevant that you would need to remain on a Verizon service. Worst yet is if I called Verizon they are just AWFUL to explain anything.

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piper45maru

piper45maru

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You also get a free text message (if you ha debt turned that option off through your account) when you enter a new country.

 

So, I was on my iPhone, and apparently it decided to autocorrect "haven't" to "ha debt". Sorry about that!

 

Fair enough. I've traveled internationally as well and am familiar with what you're discussing. Just seemed like with the service being specific to cruise lines it seemed relevant that you would need to remain on a Verizon service. Worst yet is if I called Verizon they are just AWFUL to explain anything.

 

I don't think the Verizon international service is specific to a cruise line. There were times that I would get a text saying welcome to "cruise ship" but I just took that to mean that we had meandered away from any country's specific service and were on sat service. I didn't take it to mean I was on Norwegian's service specifically. And to further ensure this, like I said, I made sure that wifi was always off so not to incur even an accidental charge from NCL.

 

And Verizon customer service is THE WORST! When I was researching the international plans before I left for my Epic voyage, all I could find were examples of many, many people reporting that talking to a live person about the plan was pointless and frustrating. So, ultimately, I decided to trust what was on their website, brace myself for a shocking bill if that wasn't true, and then armed with my research, be prepared to fight (which is so not me!). I was pleasantly surprised when everything came through as expected.

 

As a matter of fact, it was so easy that I just switched my Verizon plan today to deal with my upcoming 4-day cruise to the Bahamas. I wasn't going to bother since it's only 4 days, but then I realized it might be nice to post pics of GSC and be able to contact family if needed. Had I not had a simple/good experience (for a change!) with Verizon on the Epic, I'd never even consider this, as I consider my phone on vacation as rather an albatross.

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mickev99

mickev99

Posted
Posted
I bought the $40 Verizon plan with 100 mins, outgoing texts, and MBs of data for a Western Med Epic cruise a couple of months ago, and it worked in ports and at sea for calling and texting without having to pay for any NCL Internet services.

 

 

Awesome! My kids are 11, 11, and 12 and we want to give them a LITTLE bit of freedom on this cruise (I'm a little paranoid) so we want to give them one of our phones and keep the other with us (husband's and mine) so we can text them on the ship. We don't want to have to buy wifi so we will definitely be signing up for this. On the last cruise they enjoyed hanging with us, but they might want to do a few different things.

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roger001

roger001

Posted
Posted (edited)
Do of you purchase the plan with Verizon can you use your phone for calling or texting without using NCL wifi service?

 

With Verizon while at sea, without any plan, the ship's "cellular at sea" lets you text for .50c each sent and receive for .05c. That's SMS text only, no pictures. And you can call for what was $2.50 a minute, but on the Verizon site appears to be $1.79 a minute now. However, for data use you would have to buy a plan (or it will cost you fortune). And for wifi on board, you purchase it through the ship. At port stops you may be able to find some free wifi.

Edited by roger001
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txagfan

txagfan

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Posted
Awesome! My kids are 11, 11, and 12 and we want to give them a LITTLE bit of freedom on this cruise (I'm a little paranoid) so we want to give them one of our phones and keep the other with us (husband's and mine) so we can text them on the ship. We don't want to have to buy wifi so we will definitely be signing up for this. On the last cruise they enjoyed hanging with us, but they might want to do a few different things.

 

 

Turn off the cellular data option.

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  • 1 month later...
keeponcruising

keeponcruising

Posted
Posted

I bought the $40 Verizon plan for my Escape cruise I took last week. I really only received texts and missed all texts the day in Tortola. I had someone tell me after the cruise that they texted me on Wednesday, but I never received the text. Also, the email did not work either. My phone did ring one day with a solicitor.

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paulh84

paulh84

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Posted (edited)

I wish CC would publish an accurate up to date to article on this topic. There is so much misinformation on some of these threads.

 

I bought the $40 Verizon plan for my Escape cruise I took last week. I really only received texts and missed all texts the day in Tortola. I had someone tell me after the cruise that they texted me on Wednesday, but I never received the text. Also, the email did not work either. My phone did ring one day with a solicitor.

 

If you had purchased the Verizon cruise ship package, you would not have had coverage in Tortola to receive any texts. The ship will turn off the satellite coverage while in/near port. You would have needed an International Package to have coverage while on land.

Edited by paulh84
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