Cell phones???

[spankyCT]

Did your cell phone work on the ship? We are taking POH and I want to know if I can use it on the ship or at least on the island when we get off?? Thanks!

[spankyCT]

By the way, We have Verizon!

[COWBOYGIRL]

Yes, I have verizon, and my cell phone worked fine, with the exception of when we left Kauai, for some reason at sea I did not have a signal

[llee24]

I heard from a friends friend came back from a cruise after using her cell and her bill came out sky high. I think u should check your carrier how they charge you first. :)

[lambs2]

Hint: If you do not want high cell phone charges on a cruise, or any other travel for that matter, set it to "no roaming". We found that our Sprint phone did not work most times while sailing, but did work in Oahu and a couple of the ports (not all, but I can not remember which ones so won't guess!)

[F11]

My Razor worked fine through Hawaii-but no ring tone!!!!

[garycarla]

My Razor worked fine through Hawaii-but no ring tone!!!!

 

Keep in mind that the NETWORK is the key, vs the actual phone. Some of the carriers have a tower on the ship that works, even at sea.....

 

If you do a search of your carrier you will find many postings.

[sweetpea-2]

Did your cell phone work on the ship? We are taking POH and I want to know if I can use it on the ship or at least on the island when we get off?? Thanks!

 

:( not once we set sail .... US cellular is just for the US I guess.....so maybe we should switch to verizon ;)

[rosiej]

We have Cingular, and are wondering how easy it will be to place a call without roaming charges. Anyone have any experiences with Cingular they can share? We are leaving the kids at home :D and one of our cars in the shop :eek: while we are away and would really like to be able to check in on both.

[shoreguy]

http://www.ncl.com/news/pr/pr070706.htm

 

Most of the details for NCL onboard cell service. One carrier only that supports GSM or CDMA phones and you roam at rates set by your carrier

 

NCLA is not equipped check your carriers coverage

 

NCL America ships are deployed close to shore in U.S. waters so passengers can access local cell phone towers.

[shoreguy]

We have Cingular, and are wondering how easy it will be to place a call without roaming charges. Anyone have any experiences with Cingular they can share? We are leaving the kids at home :D and one of our cars in the shop :eek: while we are away and would really like to be able to check in on both.

 

What ship ? where ? onboard NCL you will pay $2.49 per minute. NCLA should be no roaming depending on plan on the Islands and when service is available at sea.

[garycarla]

We have Cingular, and are wondering how easy it will be to place a call without roaming charges. Anyone have any experiences with Cingular they can share? We are leaving the kids at home :D and one of our cars in the shop :eek: while we are away and would really like to be able to check in on both.

 

As mentioned above, need to know what ship and where you are traveling. Also, do you have local or national coverage.

 

Side note re: car in shop while you are gone. Be careful about who you tell that you are away while you are gone.

[luv2cruz11228]

I have Cingular as my cell phone carrier and the phone worked throughout the whole cruise on NCL Spirit out of New York. But they did charge roaming fees. Most of the NCL ships have Cingular satelites. You can go on there website and check it out. I used the phone from New York to Florida because I knew the Bahamas would be international. But they considered that we were in international waters while we were sailing. My phone also did not show it was roaming. I called Cingular and they said that the phones usually do not show when they are roaming. But they did adjust my bill and only charged me half of the roaming charges. That's a lesson learned. So definitely check with your cell phone carrier. They will be able to give you the information.

[rosiej]

What ship ? where ? onboard NCL you will pay $2.49 per minute. NCLA should be no roaming depending on plan on the Islands and when service is available at sea.

 

We will be on the Pride of Hawaii and we have national coverage. People have also mentioned to set the phone to "no roaming" to avoid roaming charges. Any call that we need to make will be able to wait until we have a good signal, assuming there are Cingular towers on the islands.

 

P.S. The "shop" for our car is our neighbor across the street. The "neighborhood watch" on our block is EXTREMELY good, and we are cautious as well. There will always be at least one car in the driveway. But I know what you mean.

[Ga_Girl]

We live on Oahu and have Cingular, so there should be coverage on the islands as Cingular is a big provider here.

 

Also, my understanding is that waters around Hawaii are NOT considered international thus the reason for not allowing casinos on board as they are not legal in Hawaii. I suppose that doesn't mean that your cell phone number couldn't still call it "international waters" and charge you roaming!

 

Susan

 

ETA: Here's what Cingular's site says: "Cruise Ship Roaming: Roaming charges do not apply when roaming within the service area of land-based networks of the 50 United States, Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands (if you go to Guam and Northern Mariana Islands you are roaming). Cruise ship roaming rates apply for calls placed while on the ship." Sounds like if you make a call from the ship, you're going to get charged regardless.

[rosiej]

Thanx for the info on Cingular. Service, while on land, in port, sounds promising. We'll probably call Cingular after a couple calls, just to make sure.

[Ga_Girl]

I e-mailed Cingular to ask them specifically about the Hawaiian cruises and their cell phone policies. Here is the reply I got. I hope this is helpful.

 

"Dear Mr. XXXX,

Thank you for taking the time to e-mail Cingular Wireless regarding your cruise ship roaming inquiry. I am happy to help you with your inquiry.

You are able to use your handset while on the cruise ship. Customers using the cruise ship network will be charged standard international roaming rates of $2.49 per minute. This rate includes airtime and long distance. There is no separate long distance component charged for international roaming. While roaming on the cruise ship, the customer's phone will display "Cingular". Usage while on board the ship - ONLY in the U.S. at the original port of embarkation and final port of debarkation - will be billed at domestic rates. All other usage while on board the ship and at any other port will be charged at the standard international roaming rate of $2.49 per minute even if you are in sight of U.S. land. Once the ship begins its cruise, the cruise ship network will be "on" until the cruise completely ends."

 

 

Sounds to me that while in Honolulu, you can use your phone anywhere even on the ship. After we leave Honolulu, you can only use it on shore without incurring the $2.49 per minute.

 

 

Susan

[Audiocracy]

If you have Cingular, the best way to make sure you're not charged roaming fees is if you set you rphone to "no roaming" (varies with the phone) and only make calls while docked. Once the ship gets underway, the onboard cell phone tower gets turned on and that is what your phone will lock onto. Once they approach port and dock, they turn the ship tower off and you will conect to a land tower. Cingular should have good coverage in hawaii. Here's a link to their "secret" street level coverage map!