Cheapest way to call home????

[magandanae]

Always make sure to check with your carrier on roaming rates. I work for T-Mobile and the rate to use it on the cruise is $4.99 a minute! I've had many customers cry over $500 +bills that had no idea! If you are a T-Mobile customer go to www.t-mobile.com/international to check your rate. You can even look by cruise line and boat. When I traveled on the Fantasy out of New Orleans I picked up T-Mobile until we reached the ocean. I turned off my voicemail and internet while I roamed and still text messaged. If you have a text message bundle it's free to recieve and .35 to send. That is how I communicated. I have purchased a tracfone to try out while on my next cruise, however the majority of my ports are going to be free roaming (PR, USVI)so I will not be attempting it off the cruise. Will let everyone know how it goes.

[ljcraftcrazy]

We have service thru Qwest (using Sprint towers) and we called from St Thomas and San Juan and this is considered LOCAL calling - my teenager was thrilled to be able to call all of her friends those days- check the maps from your provider - you may be surprised

[babygirl0329]

FREE! In Grand Cayman there are several shops that have FREE internet and FREE phone service back to the States! I was able to check my email and make phone calls. There's nothing better than FREE!

 

Good Luck,

Keri

[FabFourLover]

I called T-mobile and this is what they said:

1) set up something called world class roaming which just means your phone will actually work. There is no charge to turn on this service.

2) In Puerto Rico there are no charges it just uses your minutes like at homw if your plan has no long distance charging. Mine does not so I can use my phone in PR. HOWEVER....Carnival Miracle has it's own AT&T/Cingular tower so you have to do a "manual network selection" to NOT choose that tower and use one on PR or you'll get charged the on-board fee of $4.99 per minute.

3) US V. Islands, same as PR except there may be some local charges but she couldn't tell me what they were.

4) BVI - is another country and all international rates apply

5) Any calls from the ship use the ships tower at $4.99 per minute

6) Charges are rounded up to the next minute so if you call to check your voice mail and it takes all of 25 seconds, you're billed $4.99 for a full minute

I still don't know what to do. If I call my mom and talk to her for 5 minutes on the ship, that's almost $25 bucks!!! Geez!

[magandanae]

The Customer Care rep told you correct. Cingular owns the tower and chargers T-Mobile what they want which they then pass along. As well I suggest to all my customers to have your vm removed. If you phone is on and someone leaves you a 2 min voicemail and your phone is on they deposited the vm using the tower on the cruise therefore costing you $4.99 a minute. Best to keep your cellphone off until your in PR or USVI. Or buy a prepaid Tracfone, I purchased mine off ebay for $10 they are new at walmart for like $15. Try it out...

[magandanae]

If your mom has email have her email you to keep in contact. add the 400 sms bundle for 4.99 and your phone @tmomail.net is an email address. It cost you nothing to recieve and .35 to send sms (text message). To send a sms send it to 501 as the # and the email address in the subject followed by your msg. Keep it short and sweet as a lot of phones will let you type a lot however that may actually be 2-3 sms. That's your best bet for cheap communication.

[FabFourLover]

If your mom has email have her email you to keep in contact. add the 400 sms bundle for 4.99 and your phone @tmomail.net is an email address. It cost you nothing to recieve and .35 to send sms (text message). To send a sms send it to 501 as the # and the email address in the subject followed by your msg. Keep it short and sweet as a lot of phones will let you type a lot however that may actually be 2-3 sms. That's your best bet for cheap communication.

ROFLMAO...my mother can barely work the microwave, hyperventalates at the ATM machine and still has someone pump her gas!!! Email...that's a good one. Thanks for the laugh:p :D :) :p :D :)

[magandanae]

If your mom has email have her email you to keep in contact. add the 400 sms bundle for 4.99 and your phone @tmomail.net is an email address. It cost you nothing to recieve and .35 to send sms (text message). To send a sms send it to 501 as the # and the email address in the subject followed by your msg. Keep it short and sweet as a lot of phones will let you type a lot however that may actually be 2-3 sms. That's your best bet for cheap communication.

[AZ Karaoke Girl]

I'll bite.........what is a Magic Jack?

Magic jack is a device you plug into your computer then you plug a phone line into it and when you make a call, it is recognized as email instead of voice so you don't get charged for long distance. We don't have long distance on our home phones so when we call family in other states, we plug in the magic jack to the computer and call them for free. My DH ordered it so I can't tell you how to get it but I'm sure you can get details if you google it. We paid $39.95 I think for the first year and activation then you pay $20? per year thereafter.

[mzloolue]

You may want to check with your cell phone provider on international text messages.

 

I have cingular and my daughters were able to text me from both Mexico and Europe for 50 cents per text.

 

Well worth it for the worrying mom.

[gusandgidgetsmom]

You can order magicjack on line for 39.95 to start (includes jack and first yr service) after that 19.95 a year. Never a long distance charge after that. If you are traveling use the free internet service with your laptop in hotels and it is great. If you have a small business it will work for you there as well.

IT is easy to hook up just plug in to port like a flash drive. Will work with either a corded or cordless phone.

Order at magicjack.com

You can make free calls in the US and to the US from international sites but not international from US

[Tenn/cruiser]

I called Sprint and let them know that I would be going on a cruise. They ask me for the ship and sail date. They had the cruise information in the Sprint system so they knew the ports that I would be visiting. The price was $2.49 per minute.

[tew060]

I bought a phone card when we arrrived in Cozumel last week off the Ecstacy. I could not get it to work AT ALL, so lost out on a $10 purchase. Now, it could have been the affects of the drinks at Senor Frogs that made it difficult to plug in all the numbers from the back of the card. Go figure!

[cruisinbuddy]

We called home, to Ottawa Canada, from Puerto Rico and Antigua useing our cell phone and the cost was @ $2.00 a minute.

[fireofficer5]

Smoke signals......................I tried.

[nolaAlive]

You can order magicjack on line for 39.95 to start (includes jack and first yr service) after that 19.95 a year. Never a long distance charge after that. If you are traveling use the free internet service with your laptop in hotels and it is great. If you have a small business it will work for you there as well.

IT is easy to hook up just plug in to port like a flash drive. Will work with either a corded or cordless phone.

Order at magicjack.com

You can make free calls in the US and to the US from international sites but not international from US

 

They say you can make international calls, but it costs extra.

 

"

Call any person on their magicJack number in any country and the call is free. Call back to the US from another country with your magicJack and it's free. Or, to dial directly from your magicJack number to an International number, registered magicJack users can purchase International minutes by logging in to their account at http://my.magicjack.com"

 

It is still VoIP and the cruise lines could easily block the ports. They probably would for at least a cople of reasons. 1) The broadband access on cruise ships is not so broad. 2) They don't like competition for the phone services they do sell.

[jmmarty72]

Another option I heard was to ask the crew where the go in port to make calls. They know all the ins and outs of international calling.

[nolaAlive]

Another option I heard was to ask the crew where the go in port to make calls. They know all the ins and outs of international calling.

 

Good advice.

 

That they do. Also bars, beaches, restaurants, etc., that either do not cater to tourists or are inexpensive in general.

 

One caveat is that cruise ship employees sometimes get discounts with their ID that others do not.

 

But they do all phone home (or where ever).

[gusandgidgetsmom]

nolaAlive,

We used the magicjack on two cruises with no problem. The reception was great. Since we were using Carnival's internet package I do not know why they would block the signal. It worked in port as well.

Thanks for hte clarification on the international calls. I did not know you could do that for an extra expense.

[Warm_CND]

I don't know one phone from another. We just went into Walmart and bought the cheapest phone for $30 which included 300 minutes. This is the phone we bought... http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5420747 As I said, I was pleased with the service, good luck!

 

Just an update. We picked up one of those phones. It did not work at all once leaving the u.s. ( We were in Cozumel, Grand Cayman, and Jamaica ). I have a few other uses for it so I am not disappointed I got one. But if any one was curious about Net10 and those ports. 0 signal for us.