S. Caribbean Verizon cell phone coverage

[tuliplvr]

Hi- Leaving on Sat on AOS Barbados route going also to Antigua, St. Lucia, St. Croix, and St. Maarten. Wondering if your verizon phone worked on any of these islands. Thanks!

[weeza]

I used my verizon cell phone on my last cruise. It was back in Feb so it's alittle hard for me to remember, but I know for sure I had no service available in St. Lucia. I know I had trouble while at the ports, but I got service while out at sea. It seems me that once we pulled away from the port, my service returned.

[reallyitsmema]

Here is a link to Verizon's international dialing. Rates differ from island to island. Make sure you activate international dialing before you leave for your cruise. It is free to activate.

 

http://b2b.vzw.com/international/Roaming/index.html

[Alexis]

Hi- Leaving on Sat on AOS Barbados route going also to Antigua, St. Lucia, St. Croix, and St. Maarten. Wondering if your verizon phone worked on any of these islands. Thanks!

 

I have posted this many times on here. First, I do not use the text message.

I did the Deep Southern route, Western route and the Eastern routes.

I have Verizon and it cost me $2.49 per minute outside of the US and San Juan. Free on my minutes until I left there. If not, I could still have used it in ports for the same price, and I often did. ;)

If they have raised the price since. I do not know.

A flat $2.49 per minute for each call. On board or ashore in ports all over the Caribbean.

The ship would have cost $7.95 per minute to use their phones/service.

Verizon put me on International roaming and it would roam and pick up anywhere we went except Margarita Island, Venezuela. No phone or computer service there for the whole day.

It is definitely worth it to use your own by first checking with your own company.

Before you leave home and the US, call your company and have them put you on International Roaming. They do it right over the phone. It automatically switches over when you need it on the ship or off the ship. My connections for my whole 13 day Southern Caribbean trip, 7 day Eastern trip and 7 day Western trip, were always as clear as if the person were standing next to me. I never had a problem anywhere.

[tuliplvr]

Thank you!

[Chervette]

Actually, prices on shore have come down a bit as of Feb 2010. $1.99/minute vs $2.49 on board. There is a good recap of costs at each island and covering the capabilities of specific ships at http://b2b.vzw.com/international/Roaming/rates_coverage.html. Be sure to call Verizon at *611 or (800) 922-0204 to set up this capability BEFORE you leave the US mainland.

 

In any case, this will beat the cost of using a ship's ship to shore system by a very wide margin. Some ships we've been on charge as much as $7.50/minute.

[kyriecat]

Unless you have a global phone (GSM mode) you will not have service in Antigua, St. Lucia, and some of the French side of St. Martin. St. Croix is CDMA mode. The Dutch side of St. Maarten and Barbados have both CDMA and GSM coverage. If you have a global phone, it may flip-flop between GSM and CDMA depending on which signal is stronger.

[reallyitsmema]

Unless you have a global phone (GSM mode) you will not have service in Antigua, St. Lucia, and some of the French side of St. Martin. St. Croix is CDMA mode. The Dutch side of St. Maarten and Barbados have both CDMA and GSM coverage. If you have a global phone, it may flip-flop between GSM and CDMA depending on which signal is stronger.

The OP already sailed last May so I bet they found that out already.;) The PP pulled this thread up from last May which would explain why the rates have changed too.