Cell phone usage

Is it necessary to get one of those international cell travel plans while in Europe? We've never worried about it for any of our other cruises, but we'll be gone a lot longer this time. If we use a free wifi spot, will there be an additional charge from Verizon? I don't expect to need to make many calls, if any at all. We'll have an internet package on the ship, so we can communicate through email. Even if we need to make a call or two, it would probably be cheaper to pay the $1.79/min than $40 for the plan....

When you all travel to Europe, do you get extra international coverage for while you're away?

We set off for Europe intending to stop at a Norwegian store and buy a sim card, but that didn't work out. It was too hard to find a place that offered what we wanted. In the end, we survived on WiFi and VoIP the duration of our land trip. We should have researched that before we took off.

So no extra charge for wifi usage? I'm just trying to figure out how this all works. DH called Verizon but of course they just wanted to sell us the travel plan for the month...I'm not sure he got a real answer on whether it's really needed.

No Wifi will not cost you anything.

Verizon wouldn't even know you're using WiFi. Just turn off mobile data+roaming in Settings, and turn on WiFi only.

You can download whatsapp for free texting using the app with wifi.

Is it necessary to get one of those international cell travel plans while in Europe? We've never worried about it for any of our other cruises, but we'll be gone a lot longer this time. If we use a free wifi spot, will there be an additional charge from Verizon? I don't expect to need to make many calls, if any at all. We'll have an internet package on the ship, so we can communicate through email. Even if we need to make a call or two, it would probably be cheaper to pay the $1.79/min than $40 for the plan....

 

When you all travel to Europe, do you get extra international coverage for while you're away?

I got the international plan from verizon with 100 free text messages and no charge to receive them plus 100 min of talk time and some small amount of mb of data. I only used the phone twice on the ship going out of the archipelago of Stockholm. Wanted to say hello and use some of the min. While I did not use all of the talk time, I like the idea I could use it. You can only us it in/near ports that are part of the plan--all my ports were. I used the texts and communicated that way and wrote most of the texts to one person who let everyone know. You can not send pictures via texts as that would use up data.

I did not use the data on the phone--too little and easy to overdo it. Long texts would come across as 2 or 3 texts. liked getting the free texts from others.

I did not buy an internet plan on the ship. There was free wifi in the hotels in copenhagen. the HOHO buses usually had wifi on it. One friend used the wifi on the HO HO bus when we were returning to the ship as we had already seen everything and she did not have to pay that much attention. She used FaceTime on her iPhone and called her family via FaceTime. We used he wifi in the tourist info place in Tallin. We even used their computers. It was easier and faster than my phone. If I was with someone who had a smart phone this could be a good way to communicate when in the ports--text or call. I was glad I had the service, especially since I did not buy an internet plan. You could use texts when docked as most of the time the local phone service kicked in which was associated with verizon. I did use my phone for the internet in some locations that had wifi, but it was not that quick and I did not want to spend my

time in a port checking my email intend of sightseeing.

If I went on this same trip again, I would get the verizon $40plan. I waited a couple of weeks when I got home and then canceled it

I got the international plan from verizon with 100 free text messages and no charge to receive them plus 100 min of talk time and some small amount of mb of data. I only used the phone twice on the ship going out of the archipelago of Stockholm. Wanted to say hello and use some of the min. While I did not use all of the talk time, I like the idea I could use it. You can only us it in/near ports that are part of the plan--all my ports were. I used the texts and communicated that way and wrote most of the texts to one person who let everyone know. You can not send pictures via texts as that would use up data.

I did not use the data on the phone--too little and easy to overdo it. Long texts would come across as 2 or 3 texts. liked getting the free texts from others.

I did not buy an internet plan on the ship. There was free wifi in the hotels in copenhagen. the HOHO buses usually had wifi on it. One friend used the wifi on the HO HO bus when we were returning to the ship as we had already seen everything and she did not have to pay that much attention. She used FaceTime on her iPhone and called her family via FaceTime. We used he wifi in the tourist info place in Tallin. We even used their computers. It was easier and faster than my phone. If I was with someone who had a smart phone this could be a good way to communicate when in the ports--text or call. I was glad I had the service, especially since I did not buy an internet plan. You could use texts when docked as most of the time the local phone service kicked in which was associated with verizon. I did use my phone for the internet in some locations that had wifi, but it was not that quick and I did not want to spend my

time in a port checking my email intend of sightseeing.

If I went on this same trip again, I would get the verizon $40plan. I waited a couple of weeks when I got home and then canceled it

Thank you so much for sharing your experience, very helpful info! We've decided to get the $40 plan on one phone in case something comes up either with us or at home while we're gone. I'll feel better not having to worry about racking up charges in case we need to communicate. I'm happy to be incommunicado for a week or two, but a month is a long time, what with our son just leaving for his senior year at college and the doggies at the pet sitter's. DS always seems to have the most random issues/questions when he first gets back to campus!

It sounds like you're going for a talk/text-only plan, but in case anyone's considering a plan that includes data: be advised that they will charge you hefty "data roaming" fees if you use your cellphone data connection (not wifi) while on the ship, EVEN when you're in port. (We knew about this while at sea, but not in port - if you walk off the ship and use your cellphone data, it will be included in your package data plan, but if you walk back onto the ship with your data still turned on, it switches to roaming).

We learned this the hard way, so would like to save others the unexpected charges...

also if you go on Princess, they have this system that you can text other people on the ship while on the ship(makes no noise though) and you can see your bill and the events of the day. there is no fee for this. I used this while on ship to get together with some new friends.

Also on Princess, if you have an Iphone, messenger works and is free. I was able to Ichat with all my Iphone users for free on certain areas of the ship, mostly outside (by the pool for example). We were on the Regal last year and they had just rolled out their new program where you load the Princess app on your phone to see the daily schedule and chat with other passengers.

Thanks, I plan to use Princess@Sea and Princess Messenger to communicate with DH while on the ship. I was more concerned about staying in contact with my homies in the States if the need arises.

Also on Princess, if you have an Iphone, messenger works and is free. I was able to Ichat with all my Iphone users for free on certain areas of the ship, mostly outside (by the pool for example). We were on the Regal last year and they had just rolled out their new program where you load the Princess app on your phone to see the daily schedule and chat with other passengers.

I'm sorry if I didn't make that more clear. Yes, the people I was Ichatting with were at home and not on the ship. I was with my husband and didn't know anyone on the ship to talk to lol. I was able to keep in contact with my kids and family and friends through Apple Ichat for free.

I'm sorry if I didn't make that more clear. Yes, the people I was Ichatting with were at home and not on the ship. I was with my husband and didn't know anyone on the ship to talk to lol. I was able to keep in contact with my kids and family and friends through Apple Ichat for free.

I guess that the princess at sea messenger inadvertantly worked with the Apple Ichat system because I did not buy a wifi plan on the boat.

I have Verizon and if you do not have a plan you pay per message and it is cheaper for others to text you. It is not free. My friends who did this last year ended up with a big bill when they were texting home and each other and not keeping track of how many they did. They also made one call home which was expensive.My friends did that last year and ended up

taking the $40 plan on a recent cruise. With the verizon $40 program you are

advised to shut off data unless you are in a wifi area. Your free 150 (I think) talk minutes are only available when connected to a local carrier. Sometimes you are connected when the ship is very close to the land--you have to check your phone to see if it is connected. I used it on the ship as it was departing from Stockholm--since you are close to land for quite a bit of time as the boat leaves I was able to make 2 calls to my hometown. No charge for the call--have received my bills.

You do not have to be part of any program to have it work, but they charge per message.

Check their website and also call or visit them.

I did not have space on my phone to download the princess app--tried to do it before my cruise. However, on the cruise you can get the program without downloading the app. I just clicked on safari(have iPhone) and the program came up--you had to sign up and add people who you were going to text with.

Of course this only works while you are on the ship. Only thing I would have liked would have been a notification sound when I received a text. My roommate did not have a smart phone or service while out of the USA--it was a little annoying but when on land we were usually together. My other ship friends were connected to the princess program which helped keep in touch and locate and know what everyone was doing.

I bought a European SIM card for my (not smart) cell phone before I left the USA, with pre-paid minutes, which worked great for me. I only used it for calling places in Norway when I was there (such as to make restaurant reservations, to communicate with my AirBnB hosts, and to call a couple of Norwegian friends).

My Kindle Fire worked fine with all the many free WiFi hotspots all over Norway, including the free WiFi on the Hurtigruten ship (admittedly slow though) during my cruise. Hotels and the AirBnB places I stay all had free Wifi included in your room rate.