Cell Phones Onboard...

[firemanbobswife]

Not a glitch with "cheapie" smart phones from Walmart. If you want the phone to work outside the US, you need to buy the International plan ($60 per month)through Straight Talk, rather than the regular plan ($45). My phone is on the Straight Talk plan, as I was tired of contracts and paying huge amounts to the large cell companies. My phone is a genuine iPhone by Apple--not a cheap Walmart phone--that I paid out of pocket up front for $799!!! It all depends what plan you buy. I do not bother getting the International plan when I travel because I prefer to "unplug" on vacation.

 

 

Some people in my family have Straight Talk. May I suggest Cricket? I switched from AT&T when they raised the grandfathered unlimited data plans by $5 early last year. They unlocked my iPhone 6Plus and let me out of my contract. I went from paying over $110/mo to $45/mo all taxes included. Cricket is owned by AT&T and I still get the same exact coverage. Unlimited talk, text, data (8GB high speed). It even worked in Puerto Rico and St Thomas just like when I had AT&T. No International Plan needed. Straight Talk doesn't work outside of the continental US without the additional plan.

 

I have since given my iPhone 6Plus to my son and bought an iPhone 7Plus unlocked straight from Apple. Even paying full price for my phone, I am still ahead vs getting the subsidized rate from AT&T from AT&T and paying a higher bill each month.

[Sitzmark]

Why do some people get so twisted up about how other people spend their vacation? If half the people want to sit in their cabin on their phones I don't see how that is a bad thing, that is that many fewer people to deal with.

 

When we were on Disney they had an app that was similar sounding to hub, it was definitely nicer than the paper forms when we used it. We typically ditched the paper as soon as it arrived. The app included maps, menus, announcements etc. It also updated throughout the day if there were changes.

[xitappers2bx]

Loved the old days before cell phones, where we took cruises to truly getaway for family vacations.

 

In the early years of cell phones, we brought onboard One family cell phone on our cruise. Daughter made phone calls from a foreign port, & we came back with a $800 cell phone bill.

 

Did that once too about a decade ago. Never again

 

Since then, within the first 5 mins onboard, we all take out the phone batteries & all goes into the room safe for the next 7 days. Off the grid all week. Life is good.

 

Today, our kids (actually college grad adults now) insists on keeping the phone on & on airplane mode to use them as cameras. They make fun of us for still using our $100 pocket camera, until one dropped their smartphone in the water on the beach. Still laughing at their $650 experiment that salt water is bad for phones.

 

Well that sucks, but so does gloating. I surely didn't gloat when my kid accidentally dropped her phone in a pool.

 

We now have T-Mobile international plan, free/included with our basic plan, & so far all the foreign ports we've visited on cruises are included with free unlimited data (at 3G speed instead of 4G or LTE), free unlimited texts, voice calls at 20 cents/minutes (but we use free VOIP programs for voice calls). So we can at least check our emails & internet at each port, & safely inside the safe while at sea.

 

Best thing I ever did was move to t-mobile, we were able to use our phones in Europe and found the data to always be quite high. You can't connect to the wifi on the ship though (the ship2sea or whatever it's called). when you connect to their satellite, charges skyrocket, because you pay that charge, something stupid per MB.

 

Our parents still cruise with old fashioned walkie-talkies to communicate while onboard.

 

hate walkie talkies, so annoying, that cackle makes my head spin

 

So what's this new HUB app avail now?

 

just a way to stay connected on board and it offers info about the ship if you want it

 

Why would we need that while onboard now?

 

its $5 for the entire cruise, so why not? that way you'll be able to communicate when not in port without access to data

 

What's the advantages vs risks involved?

 

i'm not sure what risks you imagine, but i guess maybe walking into a glass door? seriously though, it's just a phone app. not the biggest deal in the world.

 

So are we going to see lots of people walking around glued to their cell phones while onboard now?

 

i've seen people glued to their phones on every cruise and land vacation i've been on in the last five years. it is what it is. if them being on their phones bothers you, maybe a private island for just your family is a better idea. or just ignore them.

[NavyCruiser]

"Well that sucks, but so does gloating. I surely didn't gloat when my kid accidentally dropped her phone in a pool."

 

Yep, the kids thought that it sucked too when we're gloating, esp now that they have to spend their own after-tax work $$$ to pay for the new phone, er... expensive camera.