Cell phone?

[angeleyes031802]

I am new to cruising and going on the Saphire Princess in April I was wondering if a cell phone will work in board and if so then is it out of the country roaming or how do the bill the minutes? I have a 9 month old that is going to be staying with Grandma and I want to know the best way to get daily updates. With all the violance in mexico we decided not the time to take him on vacation right now.

[Pam in CA]

I am new to cruising and going on the Saphire Princess in April I was wondering if a cell phone will work in board and if so then is it out of the country roaming or how do the bill the minutes? I have a 9 month old that is going to be staying with Grandma and I want to know the best way to get daily updates. With all the violance in mexico we decided not the time to take him on vacation right now.

Some people have had success using their cell phone while onboard the ship while at sea, most haven't. To use it, you have to use the ship's cell phone service which I believe is something like $2.99/minute on top of any international roaming charges your cell phone provider would charge you. My guess is that since it uses satellites, coverage areas would be spotty, at best.

 

The easiest and cheapest way to stay in touch with your child's caregiver is to use email via the ship's Internet. You can either purchase a package or pay .75-cents/minute.

[CZEE]

I am new to cruising and going on the Saphire Princess in April I was wondering if a cell phone will work in board and if so then is it out of the country roaming or how do the bill the minutes? I have a 9 month old that is going to be staying with Grandma and I want to know the best way to get daily updates. With all the violance in mexico we decided not the time to take him on vacation right now.

 

If you want to use your phone in other countries and you have ATT, you need to know if your phone is a quadband phone, and sign up for their world traveller program. It discounts minutes in foreign countries. There's an app on their website that walks you through the entire process.

 

Not sure how the ship handles cell service. However, there is a section on the Princess website on how to contact ships. E-mail, as Pam suggested, works well and is the least expensive option. If the info is time-sensitive, then calling the ship might be the fastest way if your phone doesn't work.

[Colo Cruiser]

We have AT&T and use it all over with no issues. Onboard and when at sea the ship has cell service though MCP. The charge through MCP is $2.49 per minute. It is not always activated though. We pick up shore side service in the ports.

[satxdiver]

Princess ships use the facilities of MCP (Maritime Communications Partner). MCP has installed its cell tower on Princess ships (and others). You will be using their service when the ship is in international water. The cost is determined by your cell carrier who will be billed by MCP for using their tower. My carrier, AT&T, as well as several others here in the USA charge $2.49/minute. The ship is required by both international and local law to turn off the ship cell tower when entering a nation's territory. At that point and while in port, you will be using the cellular facilities of that country. If your cell carrier has an agreement with that county's carrier and your cell phone is capable of communicating with their equipment, you can make calls. The price is determined by the agreement between your carrier and the foreign carrier. Consult your carrier for details.

 

AT&T and T-Mobile use GSM technology for their cellular services. Sprint and Verizon use CDMA. The two are not compatible and cannot be used on the other's cell towers. Most of the rest of the world uses GSM. In addition there are four frequency bands used in the world. Two are used in the USA and Canada. The other two are used in Europe and other areas. If you have a GSM cell phone with quad (four) band capability then you have a "world" cell phone and it will work in most of the rest of the world IF your cell provider has an agreement with that country's cell provider!

 

With AT&T you do not have to sign up ahead of time to use your GSM quad band cell phone in a cooperating cellular area but the cost will be more than if you had added and paid for international roaming. Check out the prices.

 

One last caveat. Not all AT&T or T-Mobile GSM cell phones are quad band. The less expensive tend not to be and therefore will not work in large portions of the world even if they are GSM. Check your cell phone capabilities first.

[KruzPrincess]

On my recent cruise on the Sapphire, it was $2.49 per minute. I didn't make any calls, but my phone said roaming. My carrier has information regarding charges for cell phone use on their website. Check with carrier to find out how they handle cruise ship calls.

[aggiemom06]

Anybody have info on texting while on board at sea. If you can text anytime then that might be a better way to communicate back home.

[Tall Stacks]

Just returned from Golden Panama Canal roundtrip from Ft. Lauderdale. Visited Cartegena, Limon & Grand Cayman, as well as going on smaller ferry through the rest of the Canal to the Pacific side. My service is Verizon and it would work most of the time while onboard and in the ports, but not all. Received this in my text message inbox first day we were out of Ft. Lauderdale:

 

"Welcome to VZW Cruise Ship Service. Calls are $2.49 per min. Text Msgs. are $.50 to send and $.05 to receive. Email is Pay Per Use only $0.02/KB".

 

I did not turn on international service before we left home. My sister, traveling with us, has a different provider and she did turn on the international service. She had service most of the time, both onboard ship and off in the ports. I don't know what her rates were.

 

Hope this helps.

[traveller99]

I got to thinking of this, with my upcoming canal cruise. Here is a link to the Verizon site. Hope this helps.

ENJOY!

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

[coupleoffish]

I called verizon wireless and told them each place and ship i was on and the lady told me price of calls and price of texted for each place including while out in water.

[want2cruiseagain]

I have a question concerning using I-phone. If I don't want to use the phone, but want to use my Ipod on the phone, will I still be roaming with the phone on, or is there a way to turn the phone part off?

[zdcatc12]

Princess ships use the facilities of MCP (Maritime Communications Partner). The ship is required by both international and local law to turn off the ship cell tower when entering a nation's territory. At that point and while in port, you will be using the cellular facilities of that country.

 

Is it safe to assume then that on a nortbound trip, once the ship hits the Dixon entrance and crosses back into the US, that the ships cell tower is turned off for the rest of the cruise, since it will no longer be in international waters?

[Northender]

We use Mobal for all our out of the USA calls. You buy the phone and put some $$ on it. We used it on our Trans Atlantic last September, it worked everywhere, Iceland, Scotland, etc. Just getting it out of the drawer for our Ruby Cruise in April.

 

Once home, you just put the phone away until the next time you need it.:) If you want the website, I will post it. They show all the rates, etc. Not expensive at all.

[Philip217]

Princess ships use the facilities of MCP (Maritime Communications Partner). MCP has installed its cell tower on Princess ships (and others). You will be using their service when the ship is in international water. The cost is determined by your cell carrier who will be billed by MCP for using their tower. My carrier, AT&T, as well as several others here in the USA charge $2.49/minute. The ship is required by both international and local law to turn off the ship cell tower when entering a nation's territory. At that point and while in port, you will be using the cellular facilities of that country. If your cell carrier has an agreement with that county's carrier and your cell phone is capable of communicating with their equipment, you can make calls. The price is determined by the agreement between your carrier and the foreign carrier. Consult your carrier for details.

 

AT&T and T-Mobile use GSM technology for their cellular services. Sprint and Verizon use CDMA. The two are not compatible and cannot be used on the other's cell towers. Most of the rest of the world uses GSM. In addition there are four frequency bands used in the world. Two are used in the USA and Canada. The other two are used in Europe and other areas. If you have a GSM cell phone with quad (four) band capability then you have a "world" cell phone and it will work in most of the rest of the world IF your cell provider has an agreement with that country's cell provider!

 

With AT&T you do not have to sign up ahead of time to use your GSM quad band cell phone in a cooperating cellular area but the cost will be more than if you had added and paid for international roaming. Check out the prices.

 

One last caveat. Not all AT&T or T-Mobile GSM cell phones are quad band. The less expensive tend not to be and therefore will not work in large portions of the world even if they are GSM. Check your cell phone capabilities first.

 

Actually there are more than 4 frequency bands. The fifth is used only in Japan.

Although Japanese mobile telephones will work with all 5, the rest of the world can access a maximum of 4.

[caribill]

I have a question concerning using I-phone. If I don't want to use the phone, but want to use my Ipod on the phone, will I still be roaming with the phone on, or is there a way to turn the phone part off?

 

Put it in airplane mode.

[angyl]

Not only put it in airplaine mode, make sure International Roaming is disabled! It is by default! Iphones constantly are "on" and sending and receiving data so you don't want to have it out of airplane mode if you don't want to make or receive calls and you don't want to enable IDR unless you are prepared to be socked with hugh charges. Don't accidently hit the button that says Google Earth or any icon that has GPS to find you. Also change your email settings from Push to Manual (Fetch) so it doesn't seek out email messages. I am pondering not even taking my Iphone to Alaska because they probably don't even have good coverage there. They say when in Alaska at US ports your phone will hit the nearest cellular tower (not your ship but some other ship like 12 miles out) and you will get socked with 2.49 a minute even in Alaska. I may take my sim card out and put it in my very old Samsung p107. Make sure you google iphone international data roaming horror stories or something like that to see the hundreds of people who took their iphones internationally and left them on and got clocked with huge charges (thousands of dollars not hundreds).

[addygirl216]

I am new to cruising and going on the Saphire Princess in April I was wondering if a cell phone will work in board and if so then is it out of the country roaming or how do the bill the minutes? I have a 9 month old that is going to be staying with Grandma and I want to know the best way to get daily updates. With all the violance in mexico we decided not the time to take him on vacation right now.

 

 

I was just in Mexico and added the 'mexico plan' to my cell for the duration of my trip - it was 4.99/month. Added only for one month. ALso, I'm heading to caribbean next week - added the 'world traveller' to my plan for that trip for 5.99

 

HTH

Nic

[angeleyes031802]

What does the mexico plan do? what carrier do you use? I was wondering about buying a prepaid phone and how that would work.

[rjrice1]

What does the mexico plan do? what carrier do you use? I was wondering about buying a prepaid phone and how that would work.

 

As for prepaid phones, I did check into them and found out you can make international calls while in the states, however they will not work out of the country.

I have T-Mobile and have WiFi available. Charge $10.00 per month.. wonder if I am near a WiFi would it work? What do others think????

[jeeper2]

I was just in Mexico and added the 'mexico plan' to my cell for the duration of my trip - it was 4.99/month. Added only for one month. ALso, I'm heading to caribbean next week - added the 'world traveller' to my plan for that trip for 5.99

 

HTH

Nic

 

 

In November I added the Mexico plan to my AT&T service for $4.99 or $5.99. The airtime charges were $.59/min., and my actual service charge was prorated to $2.00, as I did not keep the plan for a full month. It was quite a good deal!

[RN7997]

I added world traveler to my DH's phone. WOuld it have let me add it if his phone wasnt capable???? I need to know it will work b/c our kids are staying home. We have AT&T. ALso the 50cent text fee is that while on the ship too or off??? I know the charges for phone calls differ on and off the ship.

[CaroleLee]

I am new to cruising and going on the Saphire Princess in April I was wondering if a cell phone will work in board and if so then is it out of the country roaming or how do the bill the minutes? I have a 9 month old that is going to be staying with Grandma and I want to know the best way to get daily updates. With all the violance in mexico we decided not the time to take him on vacation right now.

 

We used Verizon wireless in Europe-if they are your carrier- call & enroll in an International plan from date of travel to --. As soon as you get back to US call & cx the plan. For 16 days in Europe(6/09) it worked out to an additonal $85.00 on cell bill-many calls for business. Cells will work when ship in port & on land. On the ship you may(sailing) you may be hit with huge charges.

Carole

[beachbaby830]

We used Verizon wireless in Europe-if they are your carrier- call & enroll in an International plan from date of travel to --. As soon as you get back to US call & cx the plan. For 16 days in Europe(6/09) it worked out to an additonal $85.00 on cell bill-many calls for business. Cells will work when ship in port & on land. On the ship you may(sailing) you may be hit with huge charges.

Carole

 

We used Verizon in Europe, but you need an "world" phone. The only one they have now is the blackberry tour....I'm buying a Mobal phone and when I trade my phone in in a few months, I'm not getting the "world" phone.

[PescadoAmarillo]

I used my iPhone extensively on our January cruises. I simply put it in Airplane mode, and also turned international data roaming off. The neat thing is that I was able to use the ship's WiFi while both of the above were turned off. We used Skype on land several times (set up an account and purchase a plan before you leave) when we had free WiFi, and it worked great for calls back home.

 

I don't think that, when you use the ship's MCP service, you have international roaming charges in addition to the $2.59 per minute charge. And if you do your research before you leave home, you might find that calls from the ship (using MCP) are the same price as calls from some international ports. And it's much nicer having conversations in the privacy of your cabin, than surrounded by taxi horns and traffic.

 

There is no doubt that, for international travel, AT&T is the best US cell phone service provider to have. We have been able to use our old quad band phones all over the world, and since they were unlocked, we frequently purchased a SIM card wherever we happened to be and made calls very inexpensively.

[sunsail]

We use Mobal for all our out of the USA calls. You buy the phone and put some $$ on it. We used it on our Trans Atlantic last September, it worked everywhere, Iceland, Scotland, etc. Just getting it out of the drawer for our Ruby Cruise in April.

 

Once home, you just put the phone away until the next time you need it.:) If you want the website, I will post it. They show all the rates, etc. Not expensive at all.

 

Could you please post the website. We go to San Carlos, Mexico every two weeks and my Sprint Blackberry stopped getting service there in mid-December.