Cellphones

[tollfarm]

I am sure this question has been asked but can you use your cell phone on the ship and if you can is it the same as roaming in the US.

[A&Jfamily]

I am sure this question has been asked but can you use your cell phone on the ship and if you can is it the same as roaming in the US.

 

Depends on where you are - if you are close to land, you will still get your land based service. After that, it switches to Cellular at Sea - you should call your provider for the rates.

[David-n-Rita]

I am sure this question has been asked but can you use your cell phone on the ship and if you can is it the same as roaming in the US.

 

Not sure who your carrier is so I can only speak for my ATT nationwide plan, although most carriers seem to have relatively comparable plans. We have Blackberrys with Nationwide coverage and unlimited blackberry data plan nationwide. We just returned from a trip on the Victory out of San Juan and just today got my bill covering that time frame.

ATT said nationwide plans covered Puerto rico and US possession (St Thomas) - it did we used both the internet in Puerto rico as well as the phone and both while we were in ST Thomas and their were no extra charges

Fellow passengers told us that while we were physically on the ship but docked in Puerto Rico or St Thomas, we would be accessing the ship tower not ATT therefore get international roaming. - not true, we did use it plenty for the internet while docked (to save our shipboard internet minutes for when we were no in the nationwide area) - there were no charges; all came under ATT nationwide even when using it in our room and docked in St Thomas of Puerto Rico. We also used it while we were about a 1/2 hour out of Puerto Rico and still picked up land towers.

You can turn off data services and phone services manually and use a Blackberry to access the ships WiFi and use their plan. We turned our phones off when out of the areas covering nationwide and used our laptop for internet.

 

Hope this helps - I do believe you can get a "shipboard roaming" added to your plan and pay less per call I think

[tollfarm]

Thanks for the info that is what i needed to know

[TrustNoOneKMC]

I have AT&T, and I did not use my cell at all while on board. However, after we got off the ship back at port canaveral, I noticed my phone still said "cellular at sea" meaning it was still accessing through the ship's tower, and roaming charges may have applied. I turned my phone off, then back on again, and the phone went back to normal status.

[salty dingo]

I do not think you can get any better rate than $2.49 per minute on the ship for cell phone calls. I have heard that blackberry data rates for email are reasonable.

[big_duck]

Fellow passengers told us that while we were physically on the ship but docked in Puerto Rico or St Thomas, we would be accessing the ship tower not ATT therefore get international roaming.

 

If you think about it, that statement is totally illogical. The tower has no way of knowing you are on the ship and not just close by. I'm sure the locals wouldn't appreciate the cell bills going up every time a ship is in port.

[*Mach*]

If you think about it, that statement is totally illogical. The tower has no way of knowing you are on the ship and not just close by. I'm sure the locals wouldn't appreciate the cell bills going up every time a ship is in port.

 

 

You're right, Don... By international agreement the satellite cellular communication systems on board ships are shut down in port.

There have been a couple instances when the systems were not shut down and folks were charged a BUNDLE for making calls.

If there's any question check the display on the phone... it'll display 'Cellular at Sea' and roaming if you're connected to the ship's system...

:)

[GeckoGirl]

I have Verizon and I recently asked them about using my cell since we will be going to Grand Cayman and Cozumel in 3 weeks. They said that while on the ship (Carnival Inspiration) it will be 2.49 a minute. In Grand Cayman it is 1.49 a minute and in Cozumel it is .99 a minute. So I will probably wait till I get to the islands to make any calls if I need to.

 

Previous cruises I never turned my cell on, but now I would like the option to make a call and check on things if I want to.

[bplazo]

My sister on her last cruise had a $1,000.00 phone bill from her cruise. She had all her kids calling her all the time to ask what she was doing. It was her first cruise and I do no think that she realized the cost.

 

I do not even bring my phone. My husband will bring his so that he can make arrangements for taxis and such but we leave it off when we are on the ship.

[luddite]

Cell phones are not allowed on cruise ships. They annoy too many people.

[Guest bahamamama1]

My cel phone NEVER worked when I was on the ship till I returned back, close the the Galveston port. I have T-Mobile, but then again I had a cheap RAZR phone at the time, so who knows the reason why. I just used the phone in my room on the ship. Call me crazy, but I would rather pay out the wazoo and be able to just pick up the phone and call when I want and make a direct call than go thru the rigamarow (sp?) of trying to make calls otherwise.