cell phones - verizon

[funnyfarm9988]

This is out first cruise. Going to Bahamas in May. There will be 4 of us and we all want to do something different. 2 happen to be 19 years old or close. What would be the best way to keep in touch. I heard there are plans with Verizon but could not find anything about Bahamas. I have no problem paying 10.00 a day for service with me and my daughter. Any ideas or suggestions.

[dulcimergirl]

You would be better off turning the phones off and putting them in the safe. Keep post-it notes and everyone post where they are going, and all meet up for meals in a designated spot.

Some first time cruisers don't and really run up hundreds of dollars in phone bills on a 7 day cruise. I also have Verizon and would never use them on a cruise. JMO..

 

Good luck, have a great cruise!

 

You will find the ship small enough you will run into your relatives everywhere. ;)

[RHilla619]

Are you saying keep in touch with each other while on board? Or those back home? Either way adding on an international plan through Verizon for the week is not the way to go. Carnival has wifi on the ships and sells different packages, the one that you would be looking for especially for your 19 year old is the Social Media package that cost $25 for the whole week. They would put their phone in "air plane mode" and connect to the ships wifi, using their iPhone apps they can access Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and WhatsApp. As far as communicating with each other and those back home you can use the messenger function on Facebook to pretty much text each other.

[funnyfarm9988]

Im not that concerned with the on the ship as I am with her and her friend in Nassau and Freeport. In case something happened, they got lost or hurt. Her friend is concerned about not able to talk to family, but Im not that concerned with that. We are right across hall on the boat and I am fine with that. How did ya'll do it when you had young adults and doing excursions. Any opinions and ideas would be appreciated.

[marc3565]

Im not that concerned with the on the ship as I am with her and her friend in Nassau and Freeport. In case something happened, they got lost or hurt. Her friend is concerned about not able to talk to family, but Im not that concerned with that. We are right across hall on the boat and I am fine with that. How did ya'll do it when you had young adults and doing excursions. Any opinions and ideas would be appreciated.

 

Use the above advice for the social media package. They can both share one package and take turns . There can only be one device active at a time per package. When you are on shore for the excursion you can bring a phone and turn it on to call only if there is an emergency.

[jazm2011]

You should probably contact Verizon for information specific to your situation.

 

For what it's worth (I'm on AT&T), I ensure my data-pushing is turned off before each cruise. (That's the part that can bite you without your knowledge!) And then while in port, will turn my phone on to text or make a phone call, if necessary. However, prior to all my cruises, I always look up the cost of calls-per-minute for each country we're visiting so I know in advance how much it will be. Typically it's around .99 - 1.49 per minute. For the rare cases I needed to make a call, it was cheaper for me to pay by the minute than purchase an international plan for the month. But that may not be the case for you.

 

I always told my (adult) kids who were back at home and/or watching the pets for us - text if you need to contact me and i'll follow up appropriately. Texting is way cheaper than listening to a voice message! (Texting internationally is NOT included in your normal monthly text plan).

 

On the one occasion our adult kids were with us... I don't recall needing to reach each other via cell. Thankfully there were no emergencies that required them to reach us outside of knocking on the cabin door, using the cabin phones or running into each other around the ship.

[funnyfarm9988]

thanks all. I think we will use texting on the islands, but not really worry about anything on the ship. I think we will be fine. First time cruise and daughter growing up is scary. LOL

[pcvtmom]

If you call Verizon with the dates and ship you will be on, they will quote a price for you. Or, if you aren't going to use it on the ship, just get them to add international calling, specifying Bahamas as your location.

[Miller_KC]

The pricing changes every time I take a cruise but here are the current prices for on board the ship for each phone. They also have an international package that covers most of the Caribbean but I don't know if it bundles with the Cruise ship package or is additional.

 

Pay as you go:

Voice: $1.79 / Minute

Text: $.50 each sent / $.05 each received

Data: $2.05 / MB

 

Cruise Ship Package $40 / Month:

Voice: 100 minutes included

Text: 100 sent included/ unlimited received

Data: 100 MB included

Overages $25/MB data, .$25 / Minute voice, $.25 / text sent

 

International package is $40 for the same coverage.

 

On shore pay as you go voice minutes is $.99 in Mexico. $1.79 in most other Caribbean countries and $2.99 / minute max.

 

I would just buy the social package on board for emails and otherwise leave the phones off. Use the pay as you go if you have a real emergency.

[3some]

This is out first cruise. Going to Bahamas in May. There will be 4 of us and we all want to do something different. 2 happen to be 19 years old or close. What would be the best way to keep in touch. I heard there are plans with Verizon but could not find anything about Bahamas. I have no problem paying 10.00 a day for service with me and my daughter. Any ideas or suggestions.

 

Verizon does have a daily plan that automatically uses your domestic plan allowance for Talk, Text and Data when you travel to supported countries. However, Bahamas is not included in the $10/day daily plan.

http://www.verizonwireless.com/landingpages/travelpass-countries/

 

The monthly plan which includes the Bahamas is $40 for limited minutes, text and data (100,100,100MB). If you'll only be needing it for a couple of days, the pay-as-you-go is probably cheaper:

Voice Text International Data

$1.79/min .50 send,.05 receive $2.05/MB

[Jenn1974]

We hung a white board on my most recent cruise inbetween our cabins. It was to let people know where we were or set a meeting time. It ended up being a fun joke thing between the people in the state rooms around us but it helped for a couple days. IF sharing a cabin you can hang it inside the cabin.

[nycruiser2006]

My daughter and I were on the fascination last month. She got the social media plan. I did as well. We were hoping to be able to use iMessage between each other, but it only worked for the first hour or so. Once we were in international waters our Verizon phones kept saying "must activate international calling plan ". She kept in touch back home through Facebook messenger but did take her phone off airplane mode a few times to call her boyfriend. Her phone call charges were $190.0!!!!!!! Yes, she paid for it! Haha

In general we were not happy with the connection speed, it would randomly not work at all, etc. she ended up upgrading to the next level, downloaded a text app and was able to text back home.

[zqvol]

Im not that concerned with the on the ship as I am with her and her friend in Nassau and Freeport. In case something happened, they got lost or hurt. Her friend is concerned about not able to talk to family, but Im not that concerned with that. We are right across hall on the boat and I am fine with that. How did ya'll do it when you had young adults and doing excursions. Any opinions and ideas would be appreciated.

 

 

Is there really a need to stay in touch on excursions or is it just the possibility that you might need to get in touch in an emergency?

 

 

If it is the emergency situation just use the phone and don't worry about the cost.