AT&T Wireless on Carnival Question

[seventhwardhustler]

Forgive me, technology is passing me by, so I'm asking for best practices/advice:

 

AT&T has packages but not for Carnival (sigh). My cruise plan is to purchase Carnival's social package and have my family/co-workers (yes) send "call me" messages through FB messenger, since that seems to be included in the social package.

 

According to Cruise Critic advice, keep phone in airplane mode to avoid non-FB texts until you are ready to receive them. When ready, only use Carnival's wi-fi to retrieve them. I will only do this once per day.

 

Then, for phone calls out, I sign up for AT&T's international roaming to get a decent rate.

 

Am I missing something? Any advice?

[bar1068]

Forgive me, technology is passing me by, so I'm asking for best practices/advice:

 

AT&T has packages but not for Carnival (sigh). My cruise plan is to purchase Carnival's social package and have my family/co-workers (yes) send "call me" messages through FB messenger, since that seems to be included in the social package.

 

According to Cruise Critic advice, keep phone in airplane mode to avoid non-FB texts until you are ready to receive them. When ready, only use Carnival's wi-fi to retrieve them. I will only do this once per day.

 

Then, for phone calls out, I sign up for AT&T's international roaming to get a decent rate.

 

Am I missing something? Any advice?

 

Well, the "experts" will chime in soon, but I don't think the international roaming gets you "decent rates" on the ship. Cellular calls onboard go through Cellular at Sea at $2.50 per minute. The international plan could get you something decent in port.

[SadieN]

Calling from the cabin is $1.99/minute. No charge for unanswered or busy signals. Calling in your cell phone goes thru Cellular at Sea $2.49/minute.

 

Confirm AT&Ts plan is valid for at sea.

 

 

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[Wheatie59]

International roaming DOES NOT apply when you're on the ship. If you make a call from your AT&T phone on the ship, out of range of a shore-based tower, you will be charged marine rates. Last I looked that's $2.50 a minute. I was unable to find any AT&T plan that had better rates for Carnival. Use the phone in your cabin or wait until you're in a port where your roaming plan works.

If you have an iPhone and are sending and receiving texts to other iPhones via iMessage you can do that over the social plan. Texts to non iPhones don't work over WiFi. Connecting once a day won't get those. If you get non-iMessages texts on the ship you'll have to take your phone out of airplane mode and pay the exorbitant rates for the texts.

[ScrapbookJ]

Good question, following!

[figdu]

Here is the link for AT&T international roaming: In short Carnival does not participate in their plan.

 

https://www.att.com/shop/wireless/international/roaming.html

[seventhwardhustler]

Calling from the cabin is $1.99/minute. No charge for unanswered or busy signals. Calling in your cell phone goes thru Cellular at Sea $2.49/minute.

 

Confirm AT&Ts plan is valid for at sea.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

ok, got it!!

[seventhwardhustler]

International roaming DOES NOT apply when you're on the ship. If you make a call from your AT&T phone on the ship, out of range of a shore-based tower, you will be charged marine rates. Last I looked that's $2.50 a minute. I was unable to find any AT&T plan that had better rates for Carnival. Use the phone in your cabin or wait until you're in a port where your roaming plan works.

 

If you have an iPhone and are sending and receiving texts to other iPhones via iMessage you can do that over the social plan. Texts to non iPhones don't work over WiFi. Connecting once a day won't get those. If you get non-iMessages texts on the ship you'll have to take your phone out of airplane mode and pay the exorbitant rates for the texts.

 

this is good to know because i do have an iphone.

[seventhwardhustler]

Here is the link for AT&T international roaming: In short Carnival does not participate in their plan.

 

https://www.att.com/shop/wireless/international/roaming.html

 

i originally thought the at&t package was an alternate on-ship plan so thanks, all, for the clarification.

Edited June 8, 2016 by seventhwardhustler

[coevan]

Of course you need a signal to use a cell phone. If you are at sea away from cell towers, your only choice is CCL. I also have ATT's international plan and texts are .50 outgoing and free incoming. We used iMessage voice at all foreign ports, which is free. You do have to get use to the delay when talking.

[SadieN]

but let me get this straight that this package only kicks in when i'm OFF the ship, right?

 

 

Yes.

 

Also check to see which countries the various international plans cover.

 

Also check into Skype with or without video but you'll need wifi for that.

 

 

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[peppergal]

Also keep in mind that if you turn your phone on to make a call on the ship, you are likely to get charged for downloading all the voicemails that may have built up while the phone was off. My sister got around this by calling ATT and having them temporarily turn off her voicemail for the duration. It took about 3 calls to find a rep that understood what she was trying to do.

 

 

Another option if you do it right is to set up an unconditional forward to a google voice number and let that take/transcribe messages for you that you can download via wifi. That way you can call out (and pay the per minute rate) but all incoming calls never go out of the US, and you don't get charged. The trick is to make sure it is an account level unconditional forward (so it never reaches the ship tower or ATT voicemail) and not a handset defined forward where the decision is made after it passes through the ship tower.

[CruiseReg]

Also keep in mind that if you turn your phone on to make a call on the ship, you are likely to get charged for downloading all the voicemails that may have built up while the phone was off.

 

This *only* the case if and ONLY if you have International data roaming enabled on your phone. Without turning this on, you'll only have basic cell phone functions (ability to make/receive calls and to send text messages [not iMessage]). So unless you make or accept a call, you won't get any downloads.

[firemanbobswife]

Which ports are you visiting? Puerto Rico and St Thomas are considered the US for AT&T. You can do everything as normal no International Plan needed and no roaming charges.

[seventhwardhustler]

Which ports are you visiting? Puerto Rico and St Thomas are considered the US for AT&T. You can do everything as normal no International Plan needed and no roaming charges.

 

i'm on the magic and those are two of the ports. i really didn't even think about that. thanks!!

[firemanbobswife]

i'm on the magic and those are two of the ports. i really didn't even think about that. thanks!!

 

 

You're welcome. Have a great cruise!

[Wheatie59]

Its not that Puerto Rico and USVI are "considered part of the US for AT&T". They ARE part of the US.

[originalgeek]

Its not that Puerto Rico and USVI are "considered part of the US for AT&T". They ARE part of the US.

 

Right. I would never have thought I couldn't use my phone there like I was in the continental US. What's cool is my T-Mobile account is good in Canada and Mexico also "as if" I were in the US. We confirmed that the other day with them. (Not sure if it's all plans or just a feature of our specific plan). PLUS wi-fi calling is always an option if I can find an open network.

[firemanbobswife]

Its not that Puerto Rico and USVI are "considered part of the US for AT&T". They ARE part of the US.

 

 

Seriously? Well just so you know Verizon doesn't consider St Thomas "Part of the US" or "THE US" when it comes to cell phone plans. DH had Verizon and I had AT&T. I had service, he didn't. So perhaps you should take them to task on what IS and IS NOT the US.

[vwrestler171]

Seriously? Well just so you know Verizon doesn't consider St Thomas "Part of the US" or "THE US" when it comes to cell phone plans. DH had Verizon and I had AT&T. I had service, he didn't. So perhaps you should take them to task on what IS and IS NOT the US.

 

St Thomas is a US Territory so there may be the loophole that Verizon used.

[firemanbobswife]

St Thomas is a US Territory so there may be the loophole that Verizon used.

 

 

Very well could be.

 

I really hate when people on here try and get technical and have something smart to say when it comes to trivial things. I really don't care what island is considered part of which country. All I was saying is as far as cell service goes, AT&T works the same as in the (Continental) US.

 

Bottom line is the cell company can determine where they have coverage under what plan and what they consider the US no matter what anyone says. Just letting the OP know service will work the same with AT&T in those 2 ports.

[Psweets]

What about using FaceTime , is that covered under the social plan?

 

 

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[firemanbobswife]

What about using FaceTime , is that covered under the social plan?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

 

Not under the Social Plan but maybe on the Premium. I didn't try it but I did take my mom shopping with me in St Thomas via FaceTime :)

 

[Sabalon]

What I did was this:

 

I turned off cellular data - that way my iPhone didn't try to update my apps, news, get voicemail, etc. I then put the phone in airplane mode - disabling all radios.

 

Now with cellular data turned off, once a day I'd take it out of airplane for a little bit. At that point my text messages would come in and (IIRC) incoming text messages are free. Once I received them, i'd turn airplane back on

 

I left wifi turned off for battery reasons making my phone a glorified iPod. In port I'd turn wifi on and use whatever free I found, but would not turn the cellular radio on.

[coevan]

Seriously? Well just so you know Verizon doesn't consider St Thomas "Part of the US" or "THE US" when it comes to cell phone plans. DH had Verizon and I had AT&T. I had service, he didn't. So perhaps you should take them to task on what IS and IS NOT the US.

 

 

That is not he reason, Sprint uses cdma technology and AT&T uses GSM. AT&T's 4G signal is very fast in the Virgin Islands, fast enough to stream.