Using Smartphones when at sea (new but also old issue?)

[Pylon]

We are planning a cruise with Princess for later this year and we have never used a smartphone on a cruise ship before, so I am interested in any feedback those who use a smartphone may have to avoid unexpected charges. Our wi fi is covered as part of the Princess Plus plan. At home we have a Canadian provider and my plan has unlimited calling and texting in Canada and the United States. It also has 50 gbs and unlimited international texting. 

 

First, correct me if I am wrong but when at sea I understand based on research the following do’s.

·         Put phone on airplane mode.

·         Turn off locater apps.

·         Turn off cellular data.

·         Turn on Princess wi fi connection through Princess app.

 

With this, one appears to be able to use without further charge What’s app, Facetime and email.

 

Is this correct?  Anything to add on dos and do nots?

 

Further, my understanding is that Skype has the only internet service that allows a person to make a call to a land line in Canada (if Canadian resident) if such a call needs to be made. If made from a country to Canada, there is a modest connection and per minute charge. But what about from a ship at sea? (For context, I once had my wallet stolen in the U.S. just before boarding with a back up credit card and had to make a number of calls to Canada to cancel credit cards, some off the deck with my flip phone before the ship left the dock and some through the ship’s satellite after the ship left the harbour, which took at least 1 hour as the charges piled up which the Princess Pursers desk graciously waived I might add. I thought that was pretty classy by Princess and have remained loyal.)

 

Does anyone know if a Skype to land line connection is through Cellular at Sea or the Princess wi fi and is covered in the Princess Plus plan?

 

Caveat, I found an old article from 2017 on using a smartphone on a cruise ship in which the author noted that “Cellular at Sea” would crowd onto his smartphone’s network and download stuff including voice messages despite being on Airplane mode. He shut the phone off to avoid further downloads and later was charged $18 American for one message.  But that issue did not come up in later articles until one recently, raising whether the matter is still an issue.

 

In particular, a poster to a recent article on using smartphones at sea advised that Cunard is warning passengers that their provider may charge them for voice mail even if in Airplane mode and connected through the ship’s Wi Fi.  Does anyone know if this is an issue?

 

On Cunard’s website I found the following (see bold) which talks about making calls rather than about  receiving voice or text messages.

 

... whilst connected to the Guest Wi-Fi, your device should not be incurring any cellular data costs from your phone carrier. 

However, it is your responsibility to ensure that you are not using cell phone signal or data. To avoid roaming charges on board, please turn off cellular data in your device settings or activate airplane mode (you may need to re-activate your device’s Wi-Fi afterward). 

 

You will still be charged by your phone carrier for any voice calls or text messages you make, regardless of whether you are connected to the ship’s Wi-Fi.

 

We recommend confirming your data roaming capability and charges in advance of your voyage. Cunard is not responsible for charges incurred via your network carrier.

 

Thanks for any input.

[Rick&Jeannie]

First of all...you DEFINITELY do not want to be making ANY cell calls while at sea!  CRAZY EXPENSIVE!  Use wifi calling and/or WhatsApp.  All you do is go on airplane mode, turn wifi back on (since turning on airplane mode turns off the wifi setting) and then connect to the ship wifi.  (Assuming that you have purchased the internet plan, or it is included with your fare via Plus or Premier).  You don't need to worry about "locator apps" or turning off acellular data.  Turning on airplane mode takes care of that for you. 

 

Your carrier data plans and such do not come into play here...you are using the ship's wifi and internet to communicate.  Depending on what type of phone you are using will determine whether or not you can text.  I use an Android...I cannot text while on a ship because the Android system relies on a cellular signal...which you will not have.  The Apple system uses the internet, so so will be able to text with an iPhone.

 

Feel free to ask any further questions...hopefully I've covered what you wanted.

[Sprocket]

I’ve had a Canada/Us plan for years with no issues.  I use Facebook messenger and FaceTime to keep in touch with family.  
My plan covers Hawaii but not Alaska, so if Hawaii is your destination maybe double check with your provider to make sure you will be covered.

Port days I make sure I am connected to a tower before making calls etc and enable the ships wifi about an hour or so before departure.

I have an older smartphone and occasionally after getting off the ship in ports I have to turn my phone off and on to order an Uber might be just a me issue though.

I am with Telus and asked if I could use wifi calling and was told no, so you may want to confirm you will be able to.

[mnocket]

I'd look into wifi calling.  It's a standard feature of most smartphones.  You can easily find instructions for turning it on either through your phones Help function or by searching online.  Even better, you can then give it a try at home before you leave so you're comfortable using it once onboard.

[Pylon]

Thank you for the replies.

 

As for WI Fi calling, Bell advises that it is not included if the plan covers Canada and the United States, only if it only covers Canada. My plan is Canada and the United States. So Wi Fi calling is not an option available under its service which I did not realize might be an option until a few minutes ago. 

 

But can it be used via the Princess package? Unlike Verizon and AT&T etc., Bell Canada provides no separate plan that could apply when calling while on a cruise. 

[NavyVeteran]

My US plan with AT&T specifically does include wifi calling. If your plan does not include wifi calling, then you cannot make normal phone calls when connected only to wifi (not to cellular). I am not using a cruise plan or foreign plan with AT&T - I am using wifi, and they don't care where in the world the wifi is.

 

The Princess package provides wifi - it doesn't provide or fail to provide wifi calling. I don't know if Princess still has cellular service onboard, but if they do it is expensive. There are several third party apps that allow you to contact others over wifi, but they are more complicated to download and use than wifi calling using your phone provider. Other people can give you recommendations. I've never used them since the AT&T wifi calling works so well and is so easy to use.

 

In general, anything that does not work at home with airplane mode and home wifi won't work on the ship.

[Rick&Jeannie]

2 hours ago, Pylon said:

But can it be used via the Princess package? Unlike Verizon and AT&T etc., Bell Canada provides no separate plan that could apply when calling while on a cruise. 

I think you are confusing your "local" data plan with the ship's wifi capabilities.  Using the ship wifi has absolutely NO bearing on any data plan you may have in place with your phone carrier.  You absolutely *should* be able to use wifi calling *if* your phone has the capability.  The ship wifi gets your signal out on the internet and then delivers it to wherever it needs to go in order to be "transferred" into the regular phone system.  It has no idea that the call is originating from a ship at sea.  You are paying for this functionality by purchasing the Princess wifi package.

[Steelers36]

4 hours ago, Pylon said:

Thank you for the replies.

 

As for WI Fi calling, Bell advises that it is not included if the plan covers Canada and the United States, only if it only covers Canada. My plan is Canada and the United States. So Wi Fi calling is not an option available under its service which I did not realize might be an option until a few minutes ago. 

 

But can it be used via the Princess package? Unlike Verizon and AT&T etc., Bell Canada provides no separate plan that could apply when calling while on a cruise. 

Aren't you paying a hefty price for the US coverage?  I presume you have calling to US and within US and from US to Canada?  I do know some folks prefer to keep their single number and pay the extra to do so.  I am wondering if somehow Bell has reduced the cost for US coverage (but not thinking they would do that).  We have separate Florida numbers for when we are in USA.

[SCX22]

If you have an iPhone, you can call other people with an iPhone through FaceTime Audio and use the ship's wifi.

[villageidit]

11 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

I use an Android...I cannot text while on a ship because the Android system relies on a cellular signal...which you will not have.  The Apple system uses the internet, so so will be able to text with an iPhone.

I have an android also (Samsung S23) I just double checked and I was sending and receiving texts over wifi on my last cruise. I have AT&T as a carrier and we were in the middle of the Atlantic so no chance of a stray connection to a land cell tower. YMMV

[Rick&Jeannie]

9 hours ago, villageidit said:

I have an android also (Samsung S23) I just double checked and I was sending and receiving texts over wifi on my last cruise. I have AT&T as a carrier and we were in the middle of the Atlantic so no chance of a stray connection to a land cell tower. YMMV

Huh! I'm using a Samsung S22...as far as I can tell, I cannot do that.  Also on AT&T.

[NavyVeteran]

3 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Huh! I'm using a Samsung S22...as far as I can tell, I cannot do that.  Also on AT&T.

Is wifi calling activated?

Turn on airplane mode at home, and then connect to wifi. If you can do it at home with wifi in airplane mode, then you can probably do it on the ship. If you can't do it at home, then you probably can't do it on the ship.

[Rick&Jeannie]

4 minutes ago, NavyVeteran said:

Is wifi calling activated?

Turn on airplane mode at home, and then connect to wifi. If you can do it at home with wifi in airplane mode, then you can probably do it on the ship. If you can't do it at home, then you probably can't do it on the ship.

Oh...I'm quite aware of what you say...have done so for years (or as long as wifi calling was available as an option.)  Wifi calling *does* seem to work...just no texting.  I am generally included in group texts (all of our travelling companions are on iPhone...) and I never get them until we roll into port and I go off of airplane mode.  I have tested at home (calling, that is) with no issues.

 

I have to depend on WhatsApp to text...but few of our friends have that...only my son.

Edited August 29, 2023 by Rick&Jeannie

[Pylon]

Thank you again for the replies up to when I started drafting this post. (Three have come in since which I have not read.) I am going to try and summarize the replies and fell free to correct me if I have something wrong.  I am also going to add something for Steelers36. The post is relatively long.

 

First, Navy Veteran in Texas seems to have answered my main question which is whether there is any way to call from the ship to a landline in Canada other than to pay a steep charge. (For clarification I do not mean Whats App to another person with Whats App, Facetime to another person with Facetime, or Skype to to another person on Skype).

 

The answer appears to be no. While Navy Veteran notes that his third party AT&T Wi Fi calling feature works well for him, Bell Canada (and Telus, based on what Sprocket indicated) do not allow WI FI calling from out of Canada to Canada as part of their service. The call appears to need to be made in and to another number in Canada as far as I can tell and that is not even available if you have a plan that also covers the United States. Presumably Rogers does not allow this either. Navy Veteran also notes that while there may be other third party Wi Fi calling apps, they are difficult to download and get working.  

 

If you recall, the reason why I want to know this is because on a cruise a few years ago, I had to telephone several financial institutions in Canada from a ship leaving port (in Texas I might add) at their land line numbers to cancel credit cards.  Princess never told me the actual cost of doing so, but my estimate was it was between $600 and $1000 U.S. to make the calls. You cannot use What's App or Facetime to make those type of calls as far as I know.

 

But, unlike the other apps, my research also suggests that Skype is one of the few apps that allow a Skype to Canada land line call (for Americans, I assume to the United States?), for persons travelling in another country such as Australia. I was researching this because we were booked on a cruise from Honolulu to Sidney for this year but had to cancel.)  There is a per minute charge and a connection charge but they appear to be relatively modest; Skype also appears to allow Skype to a land line within the foreign country you are located in (e.g., Australia on a trip) for a relatively modest charge. Obviously one could get a SIM card and a pre-paid plan in that other country if there for a while.

 

In the case of Skype, you need to preload your Skype account with cash to pay the charges if  a Skype to landline call is made. While Skype seems to have fallen out of favour compared to Whats App and Facetime, I plan to try and learn how it would work if a person made a call through the Princess Wi Fi from their Skype app back to Canada?  Would the charges be relatively modest or the extremely high charges that can occur such as with Cellular at Sea. (Alternatively, if necessary a person can always pick up the telephone in the cabin and call a land line in Canada at those $10 a minute or more rates).)  

 

A few commenters have noted that they have not had any concerns to date with unexpected charges for voice mail or text messages received on a ship which some persons on the internet are suggesting is possible despite engaging Airplane Mode.  But that does not mean it cannot happen and as mentioned, Canadians appear to at the mercy of of their Canadian provider and its offshore arrangements. 

 

Finally, Steeler36 in Toronto. First, the Steelers? That is almost as bad as cheering for the Leafs. Second, I notice in my general review of some of the information on the Princes board, that you are engaged with a lot of up to date information especially interesting for Canadians.  Thank you.

 

Third, on your question about Bell, let me begin that I am one of those persons who has been a long time holdout against using Smartphones although I did have a smartphone for work (forced so to speak). But like some of us old geezers, we are essentially being forced to use Smartphones to do things. One can debate whether this should be the case, but I would suggest many of us holdouts are not very happy about this.

 

I made the jump to a second hand Smartphone three weeks ago, and I am trying to learn the ins and outs. I was using an old Acatel fliphone on a pay as you go basis on the Chatr 3 G network that dates to before Rogers acquired Chatr. As of July, that service no longer works in the United States. So, I reluctantly made the move and in the process, the dealer who I purchased the smartphone from also happens to be a vendor exclusively for Bell Canada. 

 

As you know, Rogers, Telus and Bell Canada have it pretty nice carving up the Canadian market for cable television and streaming, internet and cellphones. As you indicated, "I am wondering if somehow Bell has reduced the cost for US coverage (but not thinking they would do that).  We have separate Florida numbers for when we are in USA."

 

At the exact time I was buying the smartphone, the vendor determined I was eligible for what seemed a pretty good deal to me, but I will let you decide if that is the case. For $40 a month, I could switch from Chtr to Bell and get unlimited call and texting in the Canada and the United States with 50 GBs. The regular cost is $65 a month which is down from around $100 or so if I recall. This $25 discount was available for two reasons. First, Bell came through our neighborhood installing fibre cable this summer to replace the older cooper telephone lines, and we have an old time Bell landline. If I kept the land line (the condition, there always is a condition), I could switch from Chatr to the Bell cell plan at a $25 a month discount. I decided to do so, but my DW is on the Rogers network keeping our options open in the future.  

 

When I was researching Bell's Wi Fi calling feature, I noticed that it once again changed some of the features of the plan. Bake and Shake seems to be a science with the telecoms in Canada. Now it seems the Canada United States plan that is $65 a month only covers 25, not 50, gbs. I may be one of the last persons to get the 50 gb plan and at a $25 a month

discount. I wonder if Bell noticed and reduced the gbs by 50%, but that would be suggesting Bell is on top of its came, which some may question. 

 

Thanks. Correct me if I have anything wrong or missed something. 

 

[Travlin grrl]

You can also use Facebook for calls. One time I was on the ship in the dining room and got a call from my daughter through FB. I rarely call people through FB but was surprised that I had a good connection. It was a funny ringtone and thought it was an emergency because she never calls lol. I know your question is more about calling landlines, but FB is good for calling friends that don't have Whatsapp. 

[roadster08]

On our Alaskan cruise we had some issues with getting our smartphones, both Android and Apple, to update to the correct time zone when connected to the Princess WIFI.

 

It frequently took switching to the local cellular service to get the correct time. 

[t&atravel]

34 minutes ago, roadster08 said:

On our Alaskan cruise we had some issues with getting our smartphones, both Android and Apple, to update to the correct time zone when connected to the Princess WIFI.

 

It frequently took switching to the local cellular service to get the correct time. 

With Apple you can change the time manually.  You can then change it back to automatic when you have cell service. In settings go to general, date and time and toggle off the switch for automatic.  Then click on the date and time in blue and make either the time change, date change or both.

Edited August 29, 2023 by t&atravel

[mnocket]

15 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

I think you are confusing your "local" data plan with the ship's wifi capabilities.  Using the ship wifi has absolutely NO bearing on any data plan you may have in place with your phone carrier.  You absolutely *should* be able to use wifi calling *if* your phone has the capability.  The ship wifi gets your signal out on the internet and then delivers it to wherever it needs to go in order to be "transferred" into the regular phone system.  It has no idea that the call is originating from a ship at sea.  You are paying for this functionality by purchasing the Princess wifi package.

This is also my understanding.  👍

[2011mom]

I use google voice to call my mom on her land line, it uses wifi so I can use it while in airplane mode with wifi. It shows up as being from my google voice number (as opposed to my normal phone number) but it works perfectly and is totally free to call any number is the US or Canada from anywhere in the world, landline or not. And it's only pennies per minute to call pretty much anywhere else in the world. Everyone talks about whatsapp and skype but if you need to call a landline, they don't seem to work.

[Steelers36]

3 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

 

I have to depend on WhatsApp to text...but few of our friends have that...only my son.

I think WhatsApp is great.

[Pylon]

Rick and Jennie and mnocket,

 

Thanks for your input. My being confused is a definite possibility.

 

If I understand you correctly, you appear to saying that, if I purchase the Princess wi fi package and engage wi fi calling capability on my smartphone, I should be able to call a land line in Canada from the ship without incurring charges.

 

That would be great, but I wonder if this would work for Canadians with a Canadian provider.  As Rick and Jennie mentioned: "The ship wifi gets your signal out on the internet and then delivers it to wherever it needs to go in order to be "transferred" into the regular phone system [emphasis added]. 

 

That means for Canadians, such a call enters the Bell Canada national landline telephone network (which Rogers and Telus seem to piggy back onto for calls to landlines). I am concerned about this because it appears (and I am not sure) that Americans may be entering its the national telephone network under possibly more generous terms than we can enter Canada's network from outside. Canada has some of the highest rates in the world, and that was achieved by doing things differently than AT&T etc. 

 

If there are any Canadians reading this topic, and who have called a landline in Canada from the ship using the Princess wi fi package, while engaging Wif FI calling, please confirm the Rick and Jennie and mnocket understanding of my post. That is, I am confused which is entirely possible. Were you able to make such a call to a landline in Canada  without being charged?

 

Thanks for everyone's input.  

 

 

Edited August 29, 2023 by Pylon

[PacnGoNow]

34 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

I think WhatsApp is great.

It is great.  And I found out

if you’re traveling to South America, it’s a must.  They really use it more than anything, especially the tour operators, taxi drivers, etc.

 

[Rick&Jeannie]

@Pylon...any telephone anywhere in the *world* (except *maybe North Korea!) can call any other telephone in the world. The days of not being able to connect from some systems are long gone.  The systems just do not care where the call is originating from. They forward along and connect it as if it were a local call. You are *way* overthinking this and maybe stressing a bit.

[Y21]

I'm in the US and use Skype to make international calls (or any country combinations as long as Skype supports). Skype will let you know the rate and also let you know the number you are calling to is covered by your Skype plan.

Your party does not have to have Skype since it can call regular landlines or most cell numbers.

 

(I use Skype to make international calls because my Microsoft 365 subscription includes free 60min/month.)

Edited August 29, 2023 by Y21

[Y21]

Sorry for repeated posts.

I found an article explaining Wi-Fi calling in case this clarifies any confusion. 

I've used Wi-Fi calling from a ship and it worked great. 

What is WiFi Calling?