Cell Phones on board NCL

[colonius]

Some observations that I made regarding the cell phone service on board the Pearl - and which probably apply to other NCL ships. This might be helpful especially for those people who use the wrong kind of phone at home.

 

NCL's carrier is Cingular, the network is a GSM 1900 MHz network and only active as long as you are in "international waters". Network ID is 901-18, none of our phone can resolve that ID into a network name.

 

Apparently you are treated as if you were on the regular Cingular Network in the USA. "Apparently" means that all my observations, especially with prepaid phones, point in that direction. "Apparrently" also means that no substantial information is available on board. In any case, I will not be responsible for any funny roaming charges caused by the advice I am going to offer.

 

At this time, there is a significant problem with the network on board the Pearl: touch-tone sequences are garbled up in transmission, so there is no real chance to use a calling card service, for example. Cingular is aware of the problem and has promised to fix this.

 

Also, you are essentially on a satellite network, so there is a substantial round-trip delay for your conversation. If you made intercontinental phone calls in the 80s, you know what I am talking about.

 

Please offer your comments to verify or debunk any of the information below!

 

Let us break this down by region/country and cell phone used at home:

 

US Phones:

If you have a CDMA or TDMA network phone (like Sprint PCS) you are probably out of luck using your own phone - see "Prepaid Phone Recommendations".

 

If you are a Cingular GSM customer, you will in all probability be treated as if you were on your home network.

 

I have no idea what happens, if you are customer of an "enemy" home network, like T-Mobile USA. Either you might get no service or pay substantial roaming charges.

 

 

Canada and other GSM 850/1900 MHz countries

 

Your telephone will work (unless you have a CDMA or TDMA phone), for Canada this means that all recent Rogers and Fido phones should work. However, you will pay roaming charges (probably substantial).

 

 

Europe and all GSM 900/1800 Mhz countries

 

Your GSM phone will only work if it is a tri-band or quad-band model. In any case, most European networks have terrible roaming agreements with Cingular, charges of 2.00 to 3.00 Euro per Minute (up to US$ 4.00 per minute!) are the norm. So if it works, it will be expensive.

 

 

Prepaid Phone Recommendations

 

This only covers one service, Tracfone, at this time. I am happy to add information for any other prepaid service that has been verified to work on board NCL.

 

Tracfone phones can be purchased cheaply in the USA at stores like Target (prices start below $20). While they come with a few minutes, you will probably want to add minutes right away, according your anticipated usage during the cruise. You can buy and activate a Tracfone, even if you are not a US resident. Buying phones and airtime card over the internet only works with a US-based credit card, though. Please be sure to activate your phone before your cruise - and be sure that you get a GSM-based Tracfone. In a few areas, there might still be a few CDMA Tracfones on the market.

 

Tracfones work on the NCL/Cingular network just like anyplace in the US. Calling back to the US just costs 1 unit per minute (regular price). Calling international (including Canada) is not directly supported by Tracfone, so you would have to dial an access number (800-706-3839) from your phone and dial your international detination from there. If it works (my wife's Nokia 1100 dials the access number perfectly on board, my Motorola C139 doesn't) calls are the same price as domestic calls. International cell phone numbers are largely unsupported.

 

Bottom Line: for little money, you can be reached on board, call the US and with some luck most of the world. No funny charges possible, it is prepaid after all.

[bakechef]

Thanks for the info, only sprint is not TDMA, TDMA was the technology that was used by most GSM companies before converting to GSM, while there are some TDMA towers, these phones are no longer made and are increasingly rare.

 

I wonder how long you will be able to use the tracfone before that changes?

 

Thanks

 

MAC

[mkk]

DH called Cingular before our recent Jewel cruise and was told that while at sea..a message such as "Cingular at Sea" or "Cellular at Sea" would appear on the phone...roaming charges would occur..

When in port..Phone would say "Cingular" and our regular service would then be in effect with no additional roaming..(of course this depends on your plan)

We found this info to be true and did not use the phone while out to sea or at foreign ports...

[garycarla]

Your call may appear to be normal, but in fact it is not. You will be billed $2.49 per minute for the call. Your phone should show "something at sea",I forget. With the Pearl being new, something might not be set up correctly right now.

 

There have been some reports of Tracfones working with no extra charges. I have to believe this is a problem that Cingular has not figured out how to fix yet. In the meantime, I would surely pick one up and take it on the cruise with you. That is dirt cheap compared to the $2.49 per minute.

[garycarla]

I can not think of any reason that someone would want to use a calling card from the ship. You still have to pay for the call to get to the calling card company, so why not just call direct to whomever you are calling.

 

Keep in mind that 800 calls, or ANY kind of call from the ship is going to cost you the same thing.

[kdg51]

Thank you colonius for the info about cell phones! May I add that you can usually get a free reconditioned Tracfone with purchase of card from their website. I usually go for the one year card, the others only keep your phone active for 60 days. Delivery is quick, but you must be home to sign for it. Then I alway seach for "tracfone codes" that will give extra when I add minutes. Recently they left me a phone message that my Motorola would not be supported much longer? Does that have anything to do with CDMA? I ended up with a Nokia 1100 and two 60 minute cards for $19.99. I think I should be able to stretch them to 90 minutes each. :D A few years ago I gave it a try and talked to my Dad from a beach in Tortola and I think it only used one unit per minute not two. Too bad I didn't try it the day before when I had to get a message to my daughter and called from the ship! :eek: I have built up over 700 minutes over the years...I very rarely use my phone but it is alway on just in case anyone needs to find me. It goes for several days or more without needing to be charged.

 

Waiting to here from other Tracfone users...I've heard some real horror stories about the roaming charges from some providers. At least with my tracfone, if it works, I know that there won't be any surpises when I get the bill!

 

garycarla...I don't remember the circumstances but I do recall getting a message every so often telling me I am using a Cingular network. I think they have contracts to use different carriers depending where you are calling from. Could that be why it worked for you on the ship?

[Glorious]

My friend is on the Pearl now and we have been texting each other throughout the cruise. Cingular 50 cents for her to send 10 to receive. She has made 3 calls. 1st call 1st night at sea was very good, I could even hear the storm you were all in. 2nd call was half way through the cruise and was very good. Today very poor dropped out twice. Cingular is 2.49 per minute and still is cheaper than ship's phones, but we have had just as much fun with the texting and a lot cheaper.

[kdg51]

I'll have to either find the instructions for my phone or ask one of the kids how to text message. I think I remember reading that Tracfone text messaging was half unit coming in and free outgoing...but maybe I'm wrong? :confused:

Don't want too many people to find me while I'm on vacation but 14 days is a long time to be away with no news from home. Found that I didn't use my laptop as much as I thought I would on the Majesty but maybe that was because it only worked on the deck with the internet cafe and not in the cabin.

[Snoopyto]

On my Cingular Blackberry, it shows as Colonius as Go18-blah blah. Cingular has told me it would say cellular at sea, if I was roaming. Regardless, I am not seeing minutes come off my web page, so I am sure that we will be charged 2.49/min. That said, I am using my blackberry Data for which I have international roaming on. I am able to send and recieve as well as send files. Granted this should be covered under my International Roaming plan, but we will see next month :)

[colonius]

Thanks for the info, only sprint is not TDMA, TDMA was the technology that was used by most GSM companies before converting to GSM, while there are some TDMA towers, these phones are no longer made and are increasingly rare.

 

I wonder how long you will be able to use the tracfone before that changes?

 

Thanks

 

MAC

 

OK, I could have written that more clearly. I wanted to give Sprint as an example for a CDMA based network (not TDMA). I assume Sprint still uses CDMA?

[colonius]

I can not think of any reason that someone would want to use a calling card from the ship. You still have to pay for the call to get to the calling card company, so why not just call direct to whomever you are calling.

 

Keep in mind that 800 calls, or ANY kind of call from the ship is going to cost you the same thing.

 

That depends on where you call and wether you use a prepaid phone like Tracfone, or a postpaid plan.

 

If you call international, it is almost always cheaper to call an 800-number and use a calling card service than to call directly. If Cingular charges $2.49 for a call from the ship to the US, international rates will probably start no lower than $3.49 a minute.

 

If you use a prepaid phone, direct international calls might be unavailable or limited, so you would have to use a calling card service or "International Access" number.

 

Please bear in mind that I tried to make recommendations both for the US-based and international crowd on this board.

[colonius]

Your call may appear to be normal, but in fact it is not. You will be billed $2.49 per minute for the call. Your phone should show "something at sea",I forget. With the Pearl being new, something might not be set up correctly right now.

 

There have been some reports of Tracfones working with no extra charges. I have to believe this is a problem that Cingular has not figured out how to fix yet. In the meantime, I would surely pick one up and take it on the cruise with you. That is dirt cheap compared to the $2.49 per minute.

 

Exactly. It also seems that Tracfone has extremely good roaming agreements with all the US carriers, so this might assure Tracfone use on board for quite a while.

 

As you said, at about $20 per phone plus airtime between 40 and 10 cents per minute, it just makes sense to pick one up for the cruise and not to worry if it works a year from now!

 

BTW: text messaging from my Tracfone works on board, too. 0.3 units per message.

[bakechef]

Exactly. It also seems that Tracfone has extremely good roaming agreements with all the US carriers, so this might assure Tracfone use on board for quite a while.

 

As you said, at about $20 per phone plus airtime between 40 and 10 cents per minute, it just makes sense to pick one up for the cruise and not to worry if it works a year from now!

 

BTW: text messaging from my Tracfone works on board, too. 0.3 units per message.

 

I have seen tracfones for $14.99 at target! Also at their web site you can get a refirb phone and 2-60 min cards for a grand total of $20 what a deal, I am definately going to pick up one of these for the trip!:D

 

MAC

[bakechef]

OK, I could have written that more clearly. I wanted to give Sprint as an example for a CDMA based network (not TDMA). I assume Sprint still uses CDMA?

 

Yeah sprint is still CDMA. Sorry I am a bit of a geek about this stuff:).

 

MAC