Cell service on Gem?

I was told by NCL that the iConcierge App which I have used on Getaway does not work on Gem for calls to or from the US. I received confusing and somewhat contradictory advice from NCL and my carrier, ATT, about whether I can receive and make calls while at sea and what it will cost.

I will appreciate hearing of any experiences ATT cell customers have had on Gem.

Thanks

I was told by NCL that the iConcierge App which I have used on Getaway does not work on Gem for calls to or from the US. I received confusing and somewhat contradictory advice from NCL and my carrier, ATT, about whether I can receive and make calls while at sea and what it will cost.

 

I will appreciate hearing of any experiences ATT cell customers have had on Gem.

 

Thanks

Can't speak to ATT but we used Verizon on Gem a few weeks back and it was the worst we ever had pretty consistently as was the ship's wi-fi. That was for a trip from San Juan to NYC. Texting worked but our cell calls were often garbled.

You will be using the ship's cel tower. And you will pay for it.

Thanks for taking the time to reply. We will sail with low expectations.

:) They will be met.

I spoke to a rep. at ncl yesterday and she said the i concierge now works on the Gem the same as on the new ships. So all calls from ship to states should only be 79 cents per minute when you use it.

Thanks--but both the NCL rep and the supervisor I asked for when the rep seemed not to know what iConcierge was--told me it was not on Gem and the website does not have Gem on the list.

I used it on Breakaway and it worked reasonably well for the first few minutes before often dropping calls.

I did a further search of the NCL website and found a page which says it does work on Gem: https://www.ncl.com/apps

But, when I called customer service again, the rep told me it does not work on Gem for calls off the ship--nor on any other ship! When I told her I used it for that on Breakaway twice and gave her the webpage, she still disagreed with me, so I told her to check.

She came back saying it will work for off-ship calls.

A lot of people complain about NCL nickel and diming passengers, or turning the free Uptown Grill into an extra fee place, but my biggest beef is that they seem not to educate their phone reps or give them the tools to look things up.

Sadly, a lot of companies seem to treat phone reps as nothing but a cost center which should be outsourced overseas, forgetting that they have an enormous amount of interaction with customers and potential customers.

I did a further search of the NCL website and found a page which says it does work on Gem: https://www.ncl.com/apps

 

But, when I called customer service again, the rep told me it does not work on Gem for calls off the ship--nor on any other ship! When I told her I used it for that on Breakaway twice and gave her the webpage, she still disagreed with me, so I told her to check.

 

She came back saying it will work for off-ship calls.

 

A lot of people complain about NCL nickel and diming passengers, or turning the free Uptown Grill into an extra fee place, but my biggest beef is that they seem not to educate their phone reps or give them the tools to look things up.

Sadly, a lot of companies seem to treat phone reps as nothing but a cost center which should be outsourced overseas, forgetting that they have an enormous amount of interaction with customers and potential customers.

At least they are consistent - consistently wrong.

At least they are consistent - consistently wrong.

Seen other comments from passed cruisers that iconcierge working on the Gem....best to just use it for ship chats and text messaging than off ship calls

Seen other comments from passed cruisers that iconcierge working on the Gem....best to just use it for ship chats and text messaging than off ship calls

thanks

I think the on ship capability is good for families and groups, but as a couple, we only want it for the sharply reduced rates for off-ship calls.

Thanks for taking the time to reply. We will sail with low expectations.

:) They will be met.

You will be on a cruise.

Disconnect.

Disconnecting is one of the virtues of any vacation--but I have a family with a health issue who I need to be able to reach me.

Have sailed many times on the Gem and have ATT service, The best info is this ship wifi extremely slow thus expensive. Calls on the ship are also costly but possible in an emergency. I found that texting was 50 cents per text regardless of length. so a few extremely wordy tests was a good option. i would call Att to verify as they change policy all the time. I did in the past have a phone package but it as for RCCL and ATT reimbursed me a large bill from their mistake.

Thanks very much for your helpful reply. Did you ever try the NCL iConcierge app on Gem? It worked ok on NCLBreakaway for $.79/minute

Disconnecting is one of the virtues of any vacation--

but I have a family with a health issue who I need to be able to reach me.

I have hesitated to reply...

However, we also have had issues.

There was nothing I could do to help professionals assist.

The "connection" only could have interrupted our escape.

I also have friends that can't "escape", since they are captured by grandchildren that they take care of.

How wonderful for them!

As I have the Power of Attorney and Health Care Proxy for the relative, it is not about thinking that professionals need my assistance, but about assisting the relative who sadly can no longer make certain decisions which have previously arisen without warning.

Obviously, I hope they do not and would prefer being blissfully focused on the waves.

Your situation may have been different, or your decision in an identical situation may have been different. Everyone has to deal with such situations on their own and I respect whatever decisions others make.

At least they are consistent - consistently wrong.

And that's why the Miami headquarters is nicknamed ...the Miami puzzle palace. Lol

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And this is why I took the 250 free wifi minutes for our NYC to San Juan cruise in October

For the last several cruises I've just used my iPad wifi only tablet to just FaceTime audio with those back home

I was just checking in with our kids so no problem as they always have the Iphone in their hands

But fwiw I pre arranged a 9/10/11 pm timeframe for the audio chat when all of them would be doing homework

Other times we just texted/iMessage again using the 250 minutes. But some went through while not even logged in.

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