Cell Phone on Board - NE Cruise

[jennbk28]

My parents are going on a New England cruise this weekend for a week (Caribbean Princess) The ship leaves from NY and up to Maine. I know they can use the cell phone on shore but can they use it on the ship? I know you can't in the Caribbean cruises but didn't know if you could on the NE cruises.

 

Thank you...

[dbdave]

Sure you can use a cell phone if you happen to be close enough to the coast to pick up a signal but that will probably be a very limited amount of time.

[jbpinkie]

You also have to be very careful, as sometimes you will think you are pulling land signal and actually be getting signal from the ship itself. Many ships are now equiped with their own "towers" for lack of a better word. I have heard of many thinking they were getting land based signal and then having the bill be much higher than anticipated. To be certain, I would wait till they are at the pier or quite close.

 

Hope they have a wonderful trip!!

[daldog]

My parents are currently on Royal Princes from NYC to Cananda, and they called on their cell, althought I think they were in Boston in port.

 

And I once called them on my cell from St. Martin (in port) on Caribbean Princess and never saw any unusually high bill.

 

We both have Verizon - don't know if your service makes a difference too. We had to call Verizon before we left and they programmed it for something.

[MiddleagedM]

Not sure about Princess, but on the last three cruises I've been on, Celebrity, Carnival and NCL, I was able to use my cell phone (and e-mail on blackberry) while in port and at sea. It worked on a New England/Quebec cruise, Western Caribbean and Bermuda.

 

My provider is AT&T and I'm sure it was using the ship's service, but it worked none-the-less.

[BruceMuzz]

Caribbean Princess does not have a cell tower until her January dry dock. If you make a telephone call from the ship on your mobile and get through, the charge is regular roaming with your mobile provider.

When the ship is at sea, you can get the best reception by going up to the outside highest deck.

[adamboysmom]

We were there last week and had no cell reception unless we were on shore or still docked. Once the ship got a little away from land, we had no service.

[DanJ]

I managed to get a signal from a cruise off the coast of Nova Scotia a few years ago, and we were far enough out that I couldn't see land. And the weird part of that was I couldn't get a signal from downtown Halifax the next day LOL.

 

A concern I would have, especially in the Caribbean in the winter with lots of ships out there, is even if your ship doesn't have a tower and you assume you picked up a land based signal, you might actually pick up the signal from another ship you don't happen to notice a couple miles away from you, and you still get the big bill.

[twocats]

Last year we used Verizon a couple of times (limited time) on the ship on the same itinerary but beware: Even when I used my phone within a block or so from the ship it was charged to my ship account. I was told later that there was a sign posted near the gangway that shared that information but I never saw it Very big(!) bill when I returned home! When in doubt use a phone card in the port area.

[rcacace]

Last year we used Verizon a couple of times (limited time) on the ship on the same itinerary but beware: Even when I used my phone within a block or so from the ship it was charged to my ship account. I was told later that there was a sign posted near the gangway that shared that information but I never saw it Very big(!) bill when I returned home! When in doubt use a phone card in the port area.

 

I would think that practice would be illegal since workers in the dock area might also be charged for making calls & they certainly have the right not to be charged. Sounds to me like someone forgot to turn the ships system off before they reached land.

[Philip217]

rcacace,

 

You are correct. It is illegal - and also impossible, unless there is a serious equipment malfunction.

And there is no sign on any ship warning that shoreside calls will be charged to the ship tower. It doesn't happen.

 

The companies that install the cell towers on ships are legally forbidden from competing with land-based signal providers.

 

Each ship-based tower has something called a "sniffer antenna". This extremely sensitive machine searches for a land-based mobile telephone signal. As soon as any signal is detected, the sniffer antenna shuts down the ship-based cell tower. This normally happens several miles out at sea.

 

When the ship departs a port, this same sniffer antenna continues monitoring shore-based signals. As soon as the last one disappears, the ship's cell tower automatically powers back up. This normally happens several miles out at sea.

 

When this sniffer antenna turns the ship's cell tower on or off, there is a danger of your call being dropped if you happen to be using your mobile telephone at that time.