Calling home from Europe

[cruisetodive]

Thanks for the responses to "first time Atlantic crossing". Now my question. What is the least expensive method of calling from the Med.? I know this covers a lot of ground, and may be different from place to place. Will my cell phone be practical anywhere? Stops will include Morocco, Spain, France, Italy, Greece and Turkey. Thanks in advance.

[ddonalds]

The answer is - it depends.... I pay extra and my cell phone works all over the world (obviously, in roaming mode :D ). The plan I have makes sense for me because I travel so much - and the cost isn't bad. When I was in the Bahamas, it was cheaper to call from my cell phone than any other phoning option I could find. Some people have AT&T calling cards that work internationally - great option for those countries that support the functionality (some countries don't). There are dozens of ways, depending on the country and the phone options you have. You can research by country the cost of calling the US - and you can make your decisions based on that.....

[kitty9]

In order for your cell phone to work outside the US, you must have a phone with triband/quadband network and GSM or GPRS. If you don't have this, your cell phone won't work anywhere in Europe. You must also activate the international calling features on your phone, usually at an extra monthly charge. I travel frequently all over the world and used to rent an international cell, but now I use a Blackberry by T-Mobile. It works everywhere and connects to local networks very easily. Depending on the local provider and your own service, you can expect to pay anywhere from $1.99 to $2.49 a minute from Europe to the US. Don't bother with those calling cards. Many places don't take them and if they do you can spend lots of time just finding a phone that will accept them.

[harmer42]

I am going on the Emerald Princess in May and asked this question of my son. He gave me the following info-which he got from a friend who travels Europe on business all the time.

Make sure your cell phone is a QUAD, UNLOCKED, GSM, phone. Then you can insert a sim card from someone like the listing below and pay comparatively reasonable rates for calls to the US, and get incoming calls for free. Supposedly this sim card works in Greece and Italy and is refillable.

 

http://stores.ebay.com/ITALYSIMCARD

[marco]

While in Italy last year, we got a phone card while there. It was approx $5 for 100 minutes of international calling. It was good for from ANY phone in Italy. If there is something similar in other countries, even if you don't use up all of the 100 minutes, it would still probably be the best deal, price wise.