Cellphone onboard

[Brazilian Cruiser01]

Hi there!

I work online all the time! Do you know which operator in Us has the best service while we are onboard? For data?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[Rob_Jen]

Not sure on the carrier but this brings up a good point. Sorry to hijack this thread but here is a PSA.

 

Those of you that have Cell phones and Ipads (tablets) with cellular cards - do not forget to disable the cellular service when you get on the ship (or before it leaves port). When the ship is in international waters the rates will go up and fast.

 

We forgot to disable them on one of our phones and ipad and after 2 days there was a message from the carrier stating our accounts were disabled due to excess charges over $600 each.

 

Just a PSA

[moki'smommy]

If you are trying to make phone calls, Cellular At Sea is $2.49 per minute + any charges from your carrier. If you are looking at internet usage, we have actually found DCL's service to be the best and most reasonably priced of any line we've cruised. It is priced by mb, not by time.

 

We've used AT&T and Verizon phones on various cruises. The thing is that you are not using your date time from the carrier (or if you are, you are gonna spend a fortune!). You are just using your device as a terminal...in that case, our devices have been by Apple. Obviously while in a US port, you can use your US plan....like St. Thomas, most Alaskan ports, etc. Just be sure you are connecting to a US tower. Particularly in Alaska, the nearest tower can be in Canada which would generate international roaming charges.

[Maddysdaddy]

Hi there!

I work online all the time! Do you know which operator in Us has the best service while we are onboard? For data?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

If you're talking about data use, then you will need to purchase a package from DCL. Last time I sailed, they sold packages based on minutes, but I believe they now sell packages by the amount of data used.

 

The online connections are done via satellite, so you need to be prepared that it can (and likely will be) a very slow connection. I have always had to work on board, and email was fine, but anything intensive like trying to log on to my office server via Citrix was almost impossible.

 

Your best bet for faster speeds is to do the bulk of your intensive work either very early in the day or very late at night, when others are sleeping.

 

If you are asking about cell service, I believe those connections are provided via something called Cellular at Sea. I have never needed to call from the ship, so I will leave it to others to bring you up to speed on that. (and I see that Moki's Mommy did just that while I was typing my response)

Edited January 22, 2016 by Maddysdaddy

[Cedricandsophie]

I would suggest using onboard wifi instead of cell phone data. It will be cheaper in the long run. 1000 mb is $89. For calls on the ship we always use Skype thru wifi.

[NJ Cruiserman]

I believe that both cell service and Wi-Fi service are ultimately provided by the same carrier, Cellular at Sea. I believe so because on a recent cruise on another cruise line the ship's satellite service malfunctioned and both cellular service/cellular data, and the ship's Wi-Fi went down at that time. Even if I am wrong about this, all cellular service is provided by Cellular at Sea for all cellphone carriers. While the service is the same, the rates vary tremendously. My plan with Verizon was $30 for 100 (or maybe 500) minutes and 100mb of data, while the same plan for my wife's AT&T phone would have cost $120, although data alone would have been about $25 or $30. This cost also usually includes international coverage, so if you are in port you should be able to use the same package.

Edited January 22, 2016 by NJ Cruiserman

[Steelers0854]

Your very best bet is to get a VPN service if you, or your work, don't have one already and connect while your in port. Follow the crew off the ship and you will generally see them gathered around free wifi hotspots calling home etc, they all know where all the free wifi spots are in each port. This won't cost you anything and hopefully you don't need to be "online" to do your work and can work offline with the occasional check in.

[moki'smommy]

I believe that both cell service and Wi-Fi service are ultimately provided by the same carrier, Cellular at Sea. I believe so because on a recent cruise on another cruise line the ship's satellite service malfunctioned and both cellular service/cellular data, and the ship's Wi-Fi went down at that time. Even if I am wrong about this, all cellular service is provided by Cellular at Sea for all cellphone carriers. While the service is the same, the rates vary tremendously. My plan with Verizon was $30 for 100 (or maybe 500) minutes and 100mb of data, while the same plan for my wife's AT&T phone would have cost $120, although data alone would have been about $25 or $30. This cost also usually includes international coverage, so if you are in port you should be able to use the same package.

 

This makes no sense to me. Wifi is provided by the ship. Yes, the cruise line contracts with someone to provide service, but the pricing and the "deals" are thru the various cruise lines. I do know that another line told us that they were in the process of changing internet providers for their ships, so that makes me think there is more than one.

 

I honestly see no reason that you would want to use the wifi thru your cell phone carrier. We have found the data prices on DCL to be better than we can get anywhere else. Put the phone on airplane mode, make sure ALL background apps are turned off, and our usage was minimal despite daughter spending A LOT of time on line. A 1 gig package lasted for the 14 night cruise and had some left over. But then, she wasn't downloading movies or gaming.

[NJ Cruiserman]

This makes no sense to me. Wifi is provided by the ship. Yes' date=' the cruise line contracts with someone to provide service, but the pricing and the "deals" are thru the various cruise lines. I do know that another line told us that they were in the process of changing internet providers for their ships, so that makes me think there is more than one.

 

I honestly see no reason that you would want to use the wifi thru your cell phone carrier. We have found the data prices on DCL to be better than we can get anywhere else. Put the phone on airplane mode, make sure ALL background apps are turned off, and our usage was minimal despite daughter spending A LOT of time on line. A 1 gig package lasted for the 14 night cruise and had some left over. But then, she wasn't downloading movies or gaming.[/quote']Apologies for posting something that makes no sense to you. International travel plans with Verizon include cellular call minutes at no additional charge. So if OP uses 50 minutes at $2.49/min that is over $125 plus tax while the Verizon plan includes at least 100 minutes for $30.

I agree that the ship's wifi charge of $89 per GB is cheaper than cellular data.

If the phone is set to airplane mode calls cannot be made or received. The phone should be set to Data Roaming off just before the ship sails. And yes, background apps that use push data should be turned off.

But how does connecting with wifi work on DCL? Can the family share it, using one device at a time? Is a device connected to wifi until it is disconnected? Is reconnection automatic like in home or office networks?

[moki'smommy]

Apologies for posting something that makes no sense to you. International travel plans with Verizon include cellular call minutes at no additional charge. So if OP uses 50 minutes at $2.49/min that is over $125 plus tax while the Verizon plan includes at least 100 minutes for $30.

I agree that the ship's wifi charge of $89 per GB is cheaper than cellular data.

If the phone is set to airplane mode calls cannot be made or received. The phone should be set to Data Roaming off just before the ship sails. And yes, background apps that use push data should be turned off.

But how does connecting with wifi work on DCL? Can the family share it, using one device at a time? Is a device connected to wifi until it is disconnected? Is reconnection automatic like in home or office networks?

 

OK, I understand a little better...so you are saying that one can do a Verizon international plan and can get 100 minutes for $30 which includes the Cellular at Sea charge. Interesting...I'll still opt for not getting phone calls while cruising, but I do realize there are people who can't do this.

 

Connecting to DCL wifi is easy. Yes, a family can share multiple devices--you purchase the plan and set your own password. You can share that password with anyone you choose and/or keep it to yourself but use multiple devices. And as you noted, each password is limited to one device at a time. A device is connected until it is either logged off or turned off. No, it is not an automatic reconnect--when you log back on, you must enter your password again. Before you actually connect, you get a screen (which doesn't use any of your mb) that tells you how much you have used and how much you have remaining. You then hit the connect button to complete the log on.

 

There is a person in the internet cafe (classic ships) or at GS (Dream and Fantasy) specifically dedicated to helping guests with the initial purchase, turning off any background apps, etc....in general getting their wifi set up the way they need it done. However, I'd suggest that you not assume they have turned off all apps for you. In addition, DCL usually offers a 50mb plan free provided you sign up before midnight on embarkation day. This provides a great way to figure out any quirks in the system before you are paying for usage. And on a short cruise, this may be all the date you need!

[MagicMike]

In regards to Verizon, you can use http://www.verizonwireless.com/tripplanner site to determine costs for your particular trip/cruise.

 

Cellular at Sea is the carrier that is used on just about all cruise ships, you will be billed by Verizon for services you use through them.

 

Without Preferred Bundle pricing costs are:

Calls: $1.79 per minute

Texts: .50 per text sent, .05 per text received

Data: $2.05 per MB, (for those used to having GBs on their Verizon plans, each GB is 1000 MB, so for 1GB of data on a cruise ship it will cost $2050)

 

Preferred Bundles:

$25 for 100MB of data with calls an text as above

$40 for 100MB of data, 100 minutes of calls, 100 sent texts and unlimited received texts.

On the preferred bundle, overage for data is $2.05 per mb, calls- .25 per minutes and sent texts - .25 per text.

 

All this will be at 2G speeds! On most phones that is indicated by a 1X icon and not the 3G or 4GLte icons.

 

Disney offers 1GB of wifi data at $89 last i heard.