Communicating with home while at sea.

[tipsygirl]

We will be sailing on Riviera In a couple of of weeks. I need some advice/clarification on staying in touch via calls, email and text while on the cruise. I am used to unlimited Wi-Fi on other cruise lines. We are in a Concierge Suite which I understand we will be able to connect with Wi-Fi on only one device at a time. I can purchase a “cellular at sea” package from ATT for unlimited text and limited calls. Will this be necessary? We need to be in touch daily with our pet sitter, usually by text.

 

Cindy L

[Host Jazzbeau]

We have had no trouble 'tag teaming' on the one connection.  It works great for email and texting – on our Macs and iPhones.  [Not sure how texting without a cell phone plan works in the non-Apple world 😉] 

[PaulMCO]

WiFi works -- if doing no voice calls.  Just use Whatsapp or Messenger to communicate with the sitter. 

[mauibabes]

You should have no problem emailing and texting, even if you need the ATT package.  We and the rest of our Senior travel clan have switched to T Mobile several years ago. Cheaper and Unlimited data and text and the Free WiFi works just fine to share but you can add WiFi for the second person if needed.  Probably not enough time for you to consider a change but when you get back, check it out. By far T Mobile is superior to ATT. 
 

good luck,

Mauibabes

[pilgrimage]

You may be able to use WiFi calling on your phone - it depends on if it is enabled.  It may vary by phone, but for me, I go to settings...connections and there is a "Wi-Fi Calling" switch directly below "Wi-Fi".  If you have that, once you are on board, go to airplane mode, then enable Wi-Fi just like you would normally.  If you have the Wi-Fi Calling switch on, you can call and text with no charges.  I was able to do this on my recent Riviera cruise - texts were slow and the voice was spotty but it worked.  What I don't recall for sure is if I was only able to do it when logged onto our streaming-enabled account, or if it worked on our "normal" free Oceania account.

 

Regarding adding a second WiFi account, I had a pleasant surprise when I went to upgrade our single account to "streaming", which is normally a $10/day charge.  I was under the impression that we would still have only one account, but they actually created a 2nd account and added the streaming to that, leaving the original included account, but only charged $10/day (so no charge for the second account).  I don't know if that was a mistake or just a nice gesture on the part of the staffer at the internet cafe.  This was a couple of days into the cruise (12/23 sailing, so this was recent).

[PhD-iva]

I’ve heard horror stories of huge bills after a cruise if “internet at sea” is accessed. I am cautious while cruising. I go into airplane mode, and turn off cellular (? - I’m not sure what I do!)
I’m not v good w technology, On my last pre-covid land trip, I did everything the Verizon tech told me to do to be able to avoid their $10/day intl calling/data plan and I couldn’t get any service. Oh, well, I paid the daily fee and stayed in touch w home.

Maybe someone else has some knowledge how to avoid the high “at sea” charges?

[tipsygirl]

When we travel in Europe I turn off "cellular" and turn on WiFi calling to avoid roaming charges. I guess the same would apply here.

[mauibabes]

We turn phone to Airplane mode on the ship to avoid the $1+ a minute call charges because received calls cost too.  We get enough garbage calls and we don’t want to pay fees for them while on vacation. 
T Mobile all over Europe phone costs were $.25 a minute. 
Good Luck,

Mauibabes

[tipsygirl]

Sounds like we need to check out T Mobile. 

[HiFi43]

I’ll add my 2 cents worth to Mauibabes. We’ve had T-mobile for trips and cruises all over the world for many years. We did all the research and tried others. There is no comparison if you are a world traveler…we have used it in Europe, Africa, South America, Asia, Australia and never paid more than 25 cents a minute for a long distance call. It automatically connects to the service partners all over the world and lets you know when you enter a new country that you are connected and that the 25 cent rate is in effect. It also allows you to use the internet for free though the cell service you are connected (not at the fastest speed but well enough).
 

On board we agree that airplane mode prevents you from getting calls from people or solicitors who don’t know you are traveling. And even with the slower speed internet on cruise ships we have made Wi-Fi phone calls all over the world while at sea  if we timed those calls away from the time everyone is using Wi-Fi. Plus we have the T-Mobile senior plan which is very reasonable.

[emd138]

I have used the wi-fi calling with the standard internet that is provided.  I was on Sirena on the last cruise before COVID shut things down, and unfortunately spent WAY too much time on the phone with work as things got crazy back here at home.  I also did a lot of voice calls with Microsoft Teams, and didn't have any issues.  I also turn my cellular off and put it in airplane mode to be on the safe side.

 

[KirkNC]

On 1/23/2022 at 3:56 PM, tipsygirl said:

Sounds like we need to check out T Mobile. 

Beware, we had T Mobile and our account was frozen as in their words “we were outside the US too much”.  In conversations, they said their international plan is for the occasional visit outside the US.  At the time, pre-Covid, we were travel 8-10 months per year.  We now use Google Fi and pay the same for data or phone calls that we do in the US with no international limits.