Save on International Calls

[miamifla]

Calling from you cell phone on a ship can be very expensive. If you are signed up for the ship's internet you can get around the calling fees. Turn on wi-fi calling on your phone. Your phone will automatically use the internet for the call and it's free.:)

[reedl]

You just have to make sure you enable WiFi calling before your cruise.

 

Also make sure to put the phone into Airplane mode, and then re-enable WiFi to connect to the ship's WiFi signal. Otherwise you might use the ship's cellular tower.

[fishywood]

Quite a "Captain Obvious" post. Who who travels regularly, or makes even infrequent international calls from home, doesn't know about wi-fi calling :confused:

 

But still a couple caveats must be added:

 

The internet connection on the ship must be fast enough to support apps such as Skype, WhatsApp, or the like. A few ships have increased capacity in recent years but are still far outnumbered by ships whose internet runs no faster than the very first satellite service in the 1990s (meaning only a tick better than dial-up).

 

And even if you are on one of the ships with "faster" internet it still has to be cost-prudent for you to purchase one of their full-day and/or unlimited plans whether or not you will be spending many minutes on the telephone. Many people learn after their first cruise how wrong they were thinking they could not live without 24 hour access to home/work/the rest of the world and on subsequent cruises save the expense by keeping their devices locked in the safe except when in port.

[MicCanberra]

Calling from you cell phone on a ship can be very expensive. If you are signed up for the ship's internet you can get around the calling fees. Turn on wi-fi calling on your phone. Your phone will automatically use the internet for the call and it's free.:)

 

Welcome to Cruise critic. Thanks for your advice.:D

[Kamloops50]

you still have to pay for WiFi on most ships . Calls still aren't free .

Without a plan internet is about $o.75 per minute.

[Flatbush Flyer]

iPhone 6 and 7 have a "wifi calling" option in "settings." Do know, however, that every minute on the phone uses up your data allowance (unless of course, you've purchased unlimited data on the ship and the connection doesn't block/throttle the calling. Not sure exactly how much data is used. But, for example, if you use an AT&T Microcell at home in a bad cell service area, it will eat into your internet providers data limit (if any) at a rate of 1 MB/minute. (Note however that it doesn't use your AT&T data at all and there's no extra monthly charge for a microcell, which must be purchased unless your home is in an area that AT&T knows has service holes/dips)

In addition to "cable cord cutting" and greater reliance on media streaming increasing "wifi calling" is partially responsible for causing some ISPs to introduce data caps for users.

[WupperAV]

I never get my phone out and turn it on when travelling out of the US. we buy a burner and use it or Skype from a internet cafe. Ship fees are terrible and my wife needs some minutes for work but I don't care. If someone passes away a family member has the ships phone #.

[Underwatr]

you still have to pay for WiFi on most ships . Calls still aren't free .

Without a plan internet is about $o.75 per minute.

75 cents/minute is still far less than using the ship's cellular system (T-Mobile USA is the worst at $5.99 per minute for regular voice calls from the ship).

[WupperAV]

Pretty unappealing way to phone home.

Edited December 3, 2016 by WupperAV

[MicCanberra]

Okay for an emergency but I prefer to remain uncontactable unless it is an emergency.