Cell phones in FP

[Cowgirlup]

We'll be sailing on the PG in July, and I was wondering if there is any cell phone access on board or in port? Just need to know how to keep in touch in case of emergency.

[oliverhazard]

We'll be sailing on the PG in July, and I was wondering if there is any cell phone access on board or in port? Just need to know how to keep in touch in case of emergency.

 

I am going on the Navigator in March and I had the very same

question!! Anyone know if you can use the phones on board

and in other places ie. Mexico.....:confused::confused:

[ChatKat in Ca.]

Vini is the local cellphone provider in Tahiti. I have a T-mobile GSM phone and used it without a problem - Roaming rate for T-mobile was $2.99 per minute in 2005. They have an agreement for roaming with Vini as does Cingular. You must have a GSM phone. Verizon Telephone does not work there at all

 

You can also ask for your phone to be unlocked if you already have a GSM phone and then at the airport you can buy a prepaid sim card to insert in your phone.

 

The ship now has cell service as well and it's billed to your phone with their cell tower. I have not used it, since it was not available at the time of my PG Cruise. My own phone worked in all of the ports on the 7 day Society Itinerary.

[Cowgirlup]

Thanks for the great info. I don't plan on using my phone but would like to leave the number for people to reach me in case of emergency. If worse comes to worse I can always use the e-mail service. But it sounds like it should be ok (I have Cingular).

[cuatsea]

We'll be sailing on the PG in July, and I was wondering if there is any cell phone access on board or in port? Just need to know how to keep in touch in case of emergency.

 

Regent is one of the cruise lines who have partnered with MTM, the major provider of digital satellite communication services for most of the shipping industry. If you have a "GSM" quad band cell phone (Cingular is the largest in the USA) it will work onboard the ship when at sea, and also at most of the port stops. If you have a CDMA based service (Verizon), it is likely NOT to work at the ports, but might work on the ship if Verizon has gotten around to sign a contract with MTM. We were on the Regent S.S. Mariner from Auckland to LA last year and our Cingular phone worked great thruout New Zealand and through out our cruise. If you haven't already added a "World Traveller" option, you should consider it as it will save you a lot of money for the airtime and long distance charges. Your home plan minutes won't work out there. Cingular charges only $4.99 a month, and you can add and drop it as needed. Hope this helps. George and Peggy:cool:

[Cowgirlup]

Thanks for the advice on adding the "World Traveller" option. I'm definitely going to do that.

[oliverhazard]

Thanks for the advice on adding the "World Traveller" option. I'm definitely going to do that.

 

That is GREAT info. I will be checking into that also. I have two small

boys so I want to use my phone, a lot!! I want to be a "world traveller"!:rolleyes:

[ChatKat in Ca.]

Verizon Wireless has not signed up as yet. You also want to be careful on board the ships. If you leave your phone on, you can be billed for incoming calls as if you are roaming. Anything that goes through the ships' cell tower will appear on your bill. Someone on the board here had a $1200 cell phone bill from Cingular.

[oliverhazard]

I am curious if anyone knows about Tracfones. Someone told

me that you can buy minutes but depending on the time of

the day you can be charged extra and more minutes than

you actually use. I am thinking that Verizion is still unusable

on the ships and out of the country at the ports.

 

thanks

OH:o

[jc719]

Does anyone know if text messaging is available in FP thru Vini (roaming Cingular) or on-board PG thru Regent's partner (MTN)? How about GPRS for GSM cell phone Internet access? Carrier is Cingular (orange), now AT&T.

 

When I look Regent up on Cingular's International Travel Guide, it only mentions Navigator, Mariner, and Voyager, no PG. Are we sure that PG is also provisioned like the others?

[Iamboatman]

Keep in mind that there are satellite phones on the ship. Also, although probably too much hassle for most, you can rent a satellite phone and the rates are much less expensive than $2.99 a minute! I own one and find it incredibly a useful and cost-effective way to stay in touch.

[garycarla]

The Cingular "World Traveler" plan will offer reduced per minute from most countries. Double check their website for details.

 

BUT - it will NOT offer a reduced rate onboard the ship. At one time it did, but now EVERYONE pays $2.49 a minute for cingular calls onboard the ship using the ships tower.

[oliverhazard]

The Cingular "World Traveler" plan will offer reduced per minute from most countries. Double check their website for details.

 

BUT - it will NOT offer a reduced rate onboard the ship. At one time it did, but now EVERYONE pays $2.49 a minute for cingular calls onboard the ship using the ships tower.

 

I did make a few calls with roaming... about 18 minutes for $40.00.

If you use the ship phone it is about $6.50 per minute according to

reception.:eek:

[jc719]

Just back from PG and here's my experience with my Cingular GSM phone:

1. The only carrier I ever saw was Vini, the local FP GSM carrier, and then, only when we were near the coast (which ws most of the time, except for the overnight movement). Vini has coverage everywhere we went on/near shore. I do not think there is cellular service on the PG like there is on the other RSSC ships. When we moved out to see, the signal quickly faded to zero once we more than a few miles off shore.

2. Voice worked fine (when there was coverage)

3. Text messaging worked fine (when there was coverage).

4. Other data services (GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA, etc) for cell phone Internet access did not work at all. Blackberry data service did not work at all.

 

I haven't seen a bill yet so have no clue what this cost, but I suspect Cingular's normal international rates. I only made one brief voice call and relied on text messaging otherwise.

[catmommy]

Hi Folks!

 

DH and I have Verizon so it would not have been an option in FP and Fiji. (based on what I was told.)

 

I'm not planning on having long conversations but we did want to keep in touch with family and the cat sitter in case there was a problem.

 

I looked at getting a unlocked gsm phone or renting but found both seemed too expensive with buying sim cards for both FP and Fiji. I was also concerned with running out of minutes and having to buy more on the fly.

 

So I purchased a phone through mobal, http://www.mobal.com, they have phones that just work overseas or can also work here in the US. It is a pay as you go plan with a UK number. The prices per minute seem ok especially when compared with calling from the ship. We will own the phone so we can just throw it in a drawer and take it out when we need to use it. It is a hassle with a UK number but at least I will get the number before I go and not have to wait to use the SIM card to find out what the number would be.

 

The cost of the phone was @$100 including shipping. The phone that works outside of the US only is half of that.

 

It should be coming in the next week or so, I will keep you posted on how we make out with it.

 

 

Caroline

[ronsex]

A liitle more info so you don't get unwanted surprises when you open your phone bill after a trip....

 

If you leave your cel phone turned on while on the ship and a call comes in that you do not answer and it goes to voicemail..... you WILL BE CHARGED for that call as if you answered it. If the caller leaves you a 3 minute message you will probably be charged a minimum of $2.39 X 3 minutes if you have the world traveller plan. More if you don't.

 

The only way to ensure you don't get charged is to keep your phone turned off.

 

However... if you don't care about the cost... it certainly is pretty convenient to be able to use your cel phone while you are in the middle of nowhere with no land in sight for days.

[oliverhazard]

I did leave my phone on all the time in case my children

had to reach me. I was lucky in which everyone knew that

I was "out of touch" except for my family. I did not

get any voice mails so I escaped that. I bought an international

phone card at Target and could not get it to work anywhere,

no pay phones. I actually got to return it to the store. As I said

previously, I used my cell and roamed but for 18 minutes and

about $40.00 it was worth it.:cool:

[catmommy]

I folks!

 

Just wanted to update folks on the phone I purchased for FP and Fiji. I have Verizon so using my phone was not an option and I decided against buying an unlocked phone and then trying to get "native" SIM cards. I did that because I thought it might be too expensive and with the SIM cards you don't know your number until you get to the country. I wanted to leave written instructions with the phone info in case of an emergency.

 

The phone I ordered from Mobal came very fast; it arrived two days after I ordered it and it came from the UK. So far the hardest part was putting in the SIM card and loading all of the phone numbers into the phone.

 

They bill to your credit card every 15 days or $100 whichever comes first. So far the charges seem pretty reasonable. I've made some test calls and it seems to work ok.

 

I got the phone that can also work in the US for about $100 dollars, a phone that does not work in the US is $49.

 

I will let you all know how it works out.

 

Caroline

[Admiral Horatio Nelson]

I work for Regent and have also worked for other cruiselines in the past. I always buy a local sim for my GSM phone when in any country, works out much cheaper usually.

 

I worked on PG last year and bought a SIM there, but it has much more restrictions than most GSM networks around the world. You can't send SMS messages out of FP, only locally which is pretty useless. You can make calls but the pre-paid calls are not cheap. The SIM was $50 (bought it at the airport in the post office) and came with $1500 francs (about $20) of credit.

 

The company is called Vini but you might hear reference to Tikiphone, but it's the same thing.

 

Here is the site of the phone provider in FP (Vini):

http://www.vini.pf/wps/portal?SYMBOLNAV=webVisIntlEng

 

There is a roaming map on there (bottom left "Internationale"), showing partners in other countries for example. If your company has no partner agreement with Vini, your phone will not roam even if it's GSM so check the list.

 

As far as I am aware there is no cell phone tower on PG, I was there until October last year so unless it has been added since then there isn't one (I have asked a friend who is onboard for comfirmation).

[Admiral Horatio Nelson]

Just had confirmation about the cell phone tower on the PG. There isn't one. My contact said there are rumours of one but none yet.

[Montreid]

I folks!

 

Just wanted to update folks on the phone I purchased for FP and Fiji. I have Verizon so using my phone was not an option and I decided against buying an unlocked phone and then trying to get "native" SIM cards. I did that because I thought it might be too expensive and with the SIM cards you don't know your number until you get to the country. I wanted to leave written instructions with the phone info in case of an emergency.

 

The phone I ordered from Mobal came very fast; it arrived two days after I ordered it and it came from the UK. So far the hardest part was putting in the SIM card and loading all of the phone numbers into the phone.

 

They bill to your credit card every 15 days or $100 whichever comes first. So far the charges seem pretty reasonable. I've made some test calls and it seems to work ok.

 

I got the phone that can also work in the US for about $100 dollars, a phone that does not work in the US is $49.

 

I will let you all know how it works out.

 

Caroline

 

Caroline,

Any update to this on the PG trip? We too are doing the 14 day FP-Cook-Fiji and want a single phone option without ties. Prepaid with FINI looks like only a partial option since we hit Cook and Fiji.

 

TIA.

 

Steven

[catmommy]

Caroline,

Any update to this on the PG trip? We too are doing the 14 day FP-Cook-Fiji and want a single phone option without ties. Prepaid with FINI looks like only a partial option since we hit Cook and Fiji.

 

TIA.

 

Steven

 

The phone worked fine but there were problems with service in Tonga. Other than that I found that the phone worked well.

 

You buy the $49 dollar phone but I wanted to make sure that it was working ok before we left.

 

I also had a problem with my family calling me but I think that it was a problem with them being confused by the phone number. I was able to make calls to the states just fine.

 

But I would check it out very closely especially if you already have a Cingular or T-mobile phone.

 

But I was happy with the phone and will use it again when we are on the June 25 trip.

 

Caroline

[Margate Cruiser]

verison now has 2 world phones that they sell. But not in there stores. They sell them from there business office by phone only or on line. It comes with gsm mode when needed. It works well in most places around the world. The best service over seas is T Mobile by far. But it's not great in the states.

[Montreid]

Thanks again Caroline.

 

We have Cingular and an unlocked phone. I was wondering if we could simply bring the SIM that the $49 phone ships with. Sounds like it.

 

We're looking at cheap prepaid cards to England from the US ($0.02/minute) and then the $1.99 incoming for the phone is a great deal compared to the the 3.99 alternative.

 

Since we're doing the one-way from Tahiti-Fiji, we're only in the FP for four days really so not worth it for the Tahiti $99 prepaid SIM.

 

Thanks again, will definitely look closely at this option.

 

BTW, what is the prefix phone # for that you have? Definitely a UK #?

[parislady40]

Caroline, I have the mobal phone and found that it worked great as well. I also like the fact that you do not pay any roaming charges at all!!! You just pay for your outgoing and incoming calls. When you add up the dreaded roaming charges on other carriers, it is a real value. I also was able to use the phone on my last transatlantic trip. I sailed alone and did want to keep in touch with my family. I was on Holland America( they have satellite phone and data use for cell phones), and several people told me I would have charges on the phone as well as the ship's satellite charges. It was great that instead of the very very expensive ship's satelite phone costs, I paid $5.00 a minute. No ship charges at all. Yes, still expensive, but great to be able to make a call in the middle of the ocean without paying an arm and a leg. Plus the fact that I did not use it often, and could do so in the privacy of my cabin, so as not to disturb others. When you are within 2 miles of land, the mobal phone switches over to the local carrier on its own, and then the rate drops dramatically to about $1.95 for FP. Again, no roaming fees! Its a great little device. Will have mine when I sail in FP.

 

Ruth