Using Facebook/Twitter on my phone charges while on ship?

[Pwnyboy]

If I were to get on Facebook and/or Twitter from my iPhone, would any charges be applied (i.e. the 75cents a minute charge the ship charges, or international fees from AT&T)? I guess for one, would it be even possible to connect using my phone? But if so, I would like to know if I could just message my friends from that on my phone at various times I got signal.

[happy cruzin]

I am pretty sure international data would apply - even if you are using just the app - without the ship wi-fi. AT&T does offer an international data roaming package that you could add to your account - for the time that you will be travelling. Yes, you can use your phone for internet access - but not without buying the internet time.

 

Nothing on the ship is "included" with you regular rate plan. Even text messages or calls that are free on land are charged for on the ship because you are going through their network - not AT&T's. The charge for calls is $2.49 per minute and I think the texts at like .50 each. There have been plenty of threads here from families that did not realize they would be charged for calls and texts that are "free" when they are at home.

 

One tip.....make sure your roaming data option is "off" to keep you from having a HUGE bill. Because everytime it goes out there to look for any of your data you would be charged the international data rates.

 

I would call AT&T's international department and discuss with them what will work for you - and they can tell you what fees would be involved.

[gadan1]

Nothing is free on your phone outside the US and data services can get really expensive out of the country. On my last cruise, we didn't use the data (email/internet/messaging) at all on the cruise and added ATT's $5.99 a month world traveler for voice calls in port (more than 10 minutes of calls and it was less expensive per minute). Did not use the ship's $2.49 a minute call service.

 

AT&T has a good document on their site of international travel info with the iPhone. It can be found here