Long Beach -> Catalina.....International Waters?

[QTPieRye]

Does anyone know when cruising from Long Beach to Catalina and/or Ensenada if the ship is in international waters? Asking for cell phone purposes. Somebody told me that they used their Sprint cell phone the entire cruise received texts, phone calls, etc. and that they did not get extra charges from the cruise ship or their carrier. Anyone?

[xbatt8]

Not gonna say it won't happen, just that I doubt it. I think that "someone" was pulling your leg. Your cell will have to connect to towers on land, and the range just isn't that great (MAYBE between LB and Catalina - but after that - no way). If you go outside the range of your land based tower, then you are at the mercy of Cellular At Sea, which Carnival charges you to use. Plus, Ensenada is quite a ways into Mexico. No way your US towers will reach that far, so unless you have some agreement with Sprint for free cell use in Mexico, you will get some hefty charges for using it there also.

 

All in all, plan to either pay charges, or take precautions (airplane mode, turning off data roaming, using free wifi in ports, etc).

 

Bob

[QTPieRye]

You said basically what I told her..... pretty much no way. Was not sure on the Long Beach to Catalina part though...... this is the same girl who swears up and down that she was required to show her marriage cert to board. I told her that the ONLY way that was required was if her passenger name and photo ID did not match due to marriage! Some people just don't get it!

[SadieN]

Ship doesn't go straight to Catalina. She goes out of the Channel then back in.

On the cruise can't even see land most of the time. Cell towers don't have that type of range.

 

IIRC T-Mobile now includes Canada and Mexico.

Edited November 2, 2015 by SadieN

[navyvet8395]

Also they have to be in International waters to be able to operate the Casino and shops. International waters is over 12 miles out in some areas.

[chengkp75]

You said basically what I told her..... pretty much no way. Was not sure on the Long Beach to Catalina part though...... this is the same girl who swears up and down that she was required to show her marriage cert to board. I told her that the ONLY way that was required was if her passenger name and photo ID did not match due to marriage! Some people just don't get it!

 

While I don't believe the "no charges" story for cell use, a zealous check in agent could require a marriage certificate if travelling on BC/DL where the names on the two ID's don't match. This recommendation by CBP, for a "bridge document", can be for marriage, divorce, adoption, etc., is mentioned by CBP on their website, and it is stated that this could berequested at disembarkation, but is rarely required.

[chengkp75]

As for the cell coverage, unless you set your phone to "no roaming", as soon as the ship leaves the dock, the ship's cell tower is activated, and that will be the strongest signal you get, so your phone will go there. And if you set it to "no roaming", depending on the tower height and intervening geography, you will lose signal about 6-10 miles out.