Best way to call home

[Christapie]

Real dilemma. We own our own business and need to be able to communicate with home once a day. So, anyone experience satellite phone options, phone cards in ports, or any other options.

 

Thanks for input. Really NEED this cruise but need to keep the fires burning at home.

[Toto2Kansas]

If email is an option instead of calling, it would really save you some money. Phone cards don't always work from all of the ports, calling from the ship is not worth even talking about because of the expense and a satellite phone is also quite high.

Vs. 35 cents a minute for email, it is your best option.

[camperhawk]

I agree Toto, set up an internet e-mail for checking in with my son and anything emergent that may come up, also used it for printing my boarding passes to fly home! Worked out well.

[GloriaF]

yahoo, hotmail, and excite are free email sites. I dont use this email except when cruising, so it has no junk mail to sift thru ~ just the few messages that I really care about reading.

 

You did not specify which itinerary you have - St. Thomas, Puerto Rico and St John are US Territories, so if you have a cell phone nationwide no roaming plan they are covered free of extra charges.

[Christapie]

Thank you to those who have responded! We are sailing the 10 day southern route on the Sun in Jan.

 

Do you all suggest That I check my email at a cafe on the islands?

[Christapie]

I guess I should go to my cell phone provider and ask them what is covered.

[sunprincess]

There is internet available on the ship. You can also find internet cafes in port.

 

If you are doing Sounthern route you may get cellular service.

I had it in several ports - San Juan, St. Thomas to name 2.

Check with your carrier & see what they suggest.

 

Good Luck :)

[mtaylor04]

We have our cell phones through altell. We had not service on ours phones the entire time we were in the Carribean this past June. We had to rely on email only.

[Mississippian]

I have a Globalstar Sat phone, use it all the time in the States since it works everywhere without a tower. I used it on a Western Caribbean trip and it worked everywhere except Cozumel, for some reason.

 

I felt a fool standing on the top deck to use it. I loan it later to my cousin, who had a balcony. He said he was able to use it from the balcony, although I suspect you might have to wait sometimes for a satellite to come into view.

 

My Globalstar plan is $100 per month for 400 minutes, which I think is cheap, since it does work everywhere.

[MrsFops&FopsC5]

When I was on the CB in St. Thomas had "local service" (no roaming) with Sprint. You may want to check your carrier to see if they have service where you need it. I would agree that e-mail will be your best bet for daily access.

[GloriaF]

Cell coverage will depend on your carrier and your plan. You must have a nationwide free long distance/no roaming plan for free access in the US Territories such as Peurto Rico and St Thomas and St John.

 

Some carriers offer a special addition for international coverage for very little. I have Cingular/ATT and they have one for Europe for only an additional $5.99/month, but not one for the Caribbean. So check with your carrier and see if you can do an add-on on a temporary basis or change plans just for the trip, etc.

 

Internet cafes will be cheaper per minute access, the ship is 35 cents/minute and the connection is often slow so it can add up quickly. Unless you are a platinum or elite member, then it is free.

[Perky1]

There is an internet cafe on the ship. We went there every night after supper and sent and rec'd ours. We own our business too.... but trust me there is not too much that can't wait till you get back. I guess that would depend on your type of business.. but I never heard from mine on either of the two cruises we did. We just kept in touch with the kids.

[LeaninLeeward]

Christa-

I used my AT/cingular phone alot on our cruise (with Gloria F~ Hi Gloria!).

 

We had a change of itinerary everyday it seemed because of Wilma.

A couple things I didn't see mentioned that worked for me...

I used SMS service on the cell phone (text messaging). I found it worked when cell coverage did not. I fired off a bunch of messages on the cell and whenever we were around an island that wasn't visible to us it would send and recieve. Make sure you have a pleasant tone alert as mine awakened the cabin at 4AM one night! I found that it was very useful, in fact I was able to rent several cars in ST. Maarten and set up a tour in St. Thomas for 18 ppl using it.

I also used the SAT phone on the desk but am taking those charges off my taxes as work related. Unfortunately you have to pay 1st.

I aslo had several emails sent to me confirming my bookings and news from home about flight changes sent to the ship. I don't think they regularly support this service but in an emergency or becasue of the changes by Wilma they did!?! sent to: yourshipname@Princess.com

They were not timely though, usually took a day or two to get.

 

hope this helps.

LL

[cruznliz]

Though e-mail is the most economical, I wouldn't completely discount the ship phones for quick/short calls. My mother called me collect from a pier in Mexico to wish me a Merry Christmas last year. Two minutes cost me $80. From the ship it would have been $10. :eek:

[Pam in CA]

I would set up more than one means of communication because there is no guarantee that either the internet on the ship or that your cell phone will be working. When you cruise, you really need to set the expectation with those at home that you might be inaccessible for a day or more.

 

The ship's communication system whereby someone can send you an email at shipname@princesscruises.com (example: starprincess@princesscruises.com) is really for family information (the birth of a child, a death) or emergencies. I know of many cases where the email was not delivered because it was either business-related or a "Hi, how are you, hope you're having fun" email. The ship is under no obligation to deliver an email sent via their communication system in cases where it's used in lieu of passenger communication systems available, such as the internet or phone in your cabin. Not trying to be negative but I wouldn't want you to plan or expect that your employees could contact you via the shipname@princesscruises.com email address.

 

One other thought... if it's that critical that you be in touch or there's the possibility you might have to leave the cruise to take care of a business emergency, make sure you have insurance that would let you cancel or go home during the cruise.

[iancal]

Depends where you are going. Many Caribbean ports have phone booths right beside the pier....DO NOT USE THESE. They accept VISA and are VERY expensive. I think Grenada and St. Lucia are like this. Go into town and get a phone card, then use a 'local' pay phone. Our phone card worked in St. Thomas and Martinique. In Grenada and St. Lucia we were fortunate to be able to use the cell phone belonging to our private tour guide. I think for a 10 minute call in both locations, we were charged about $8. You are much better off using internet cafes on land than using the ships internet. We found the internet on board to be extremely slow, about 1/3 of the speed on land, hence you are paying considerably more or 35cents per minute. It was also 'down' for a portion of the time.

[calliecat]

You can always use the phone in the room for $4.99/min (Ouch).

We did this in Panama last Christmas because we were wanting to know if the snowstorm had hit our home( it had....11 inches and we had someone coming out to our house in the country to take care of the cats and the outside dog). We talked REALLY FAST. This might be an option if nothing else would work. We had good reception.

[funforsun]

Bring your own laptop and enter the 21st century using Skype for an internet phone connection. If you are in a suite, the internet will be included in your cruise price, and skype is free if the number you are calling has skype as well. Just have someone at the office download Skype as well and call to your hearts content. Do it, it's great.

[dsl laber]

We were on an RCI So Caribbean route Jan 2004, and I had Sprint service (at no extra charge) in all of the ports if I'm not mistaken. Phone worked coming in and out of port. San Juan, St Thomas, Antigua, Barbados and St Maartens. (Can't remember using phone in Maartens tho!). What cruise are you on in Jan? We are booked on Southern Explorer route 1-29-06 on the Golden.

[BigBit]

If the high speed internet on the ship is of decent throughput, I agree with pharmaguy - you could try Skype - http://www.skype.com. You set up an account with them, and then use Skype Out to make phone calls over your computer. In addition to the high speed connection, you need a speaker and microphone (I use my laptop built in mike and a set of cheap earbud headphones). Cost of Skype out from most places is 2 eurocents per minute. Of course, you may have to pay for internet charges too, but I bet that it beats $4.99 per minute for a ship to shore phone call.

 

I use Skype all the time when I travel for business. Not quite as clear as a phone connection, but certainly acceptable.