Mobile Phones on Celebration

[tummysmummy]

My husband has a question about mobile phone coverage - hoping someone will be able to answer him!

 

Who is the mobile service provider for the Celebration?

 

Thanks!

[jodanuke]

I think they have their own sysytem. With their own very own high charges.

[jenny wren]

The ships usually use a ?satellite/maritime service which is very expensive so its best not to use that and just wait until you are within reach of a land based service.

 

We did this itinerary last year and although we have a quad band phone and it was enabled to use all over the world we could not use it in Israel....anywhere in Israel.....I'm with Orange/Tmobile....checked with them on our return and they did not know why it wouldn't work...so be warned !!:)

[davecttr]

The mobile phone links to cruise ships are provided by 3rd party companies which use onboard satellite links etc. The charges are high because the equipment is very expensive and the satellite time costs lots of money. For cruising in the med I found my simple £16 PAYG orange phone worked just fine but whatever you do, don't have it switched on while at sea as the phone will use the ships system.

 

last summer used the phone in

Turkey

Greece

Italy

France

Spain

plus lots of med islands.

[Cymro1953]

Just to add to Jenny, Dave and Jodanuke's comments.

Just because you are in port don't assume that your phone has automatically changed to the local mobile phone provider.

If you are on board, or even on the dock close to the ship, you could still be connecting through the ship's mast at extortionate rates.

Check your phone's screen to see if you are connected to the local provider and if unsure turn the phone off and back on again.

 

Berwyn

[kruzseeka]

I agree with all of the above points - make sure you're connected to a local network but like jenny we have found some inexplicable 'blind spots' at different destinations.

 

My DH and I are both on Orange (now is that a mistake? Perhaps we should be with different providers to increase our chances of success) and sometimes one of us gets connected and not the other! :confused: We're both on quad band handsets (not that any of this technical stuff means anything to me!) but given we appear to have similar phones/same provider how come we have different results when trying to connect?

 

We've been into the shop, checked things out on Orange website (good idea to check costs in different countries as well you may be able to defer making calls until you're in the cheapest locations) but still can't understand it. On Orange if you text e.g. 'FROM FRANCE' to 452 it will text back with costs. You may need to register on 'Roaming' or something of the sort with your provider if you haven't already.

 

Thomson are pretty good though at spellling out for you the differences in making calls home - either from your cabin (ship's satellite - expensive) or using your mobile in port and on the ship. In your ticket booklet there is a section on 'Keeping in touch' which is good to explain the options.

 

I find it all very unpredictable - sorry if anything I've said doesn't make sense to those who know what they're on about - but I DO get very confused! :confused: :D

[Cymro1953]

Hi Kruzseeka,

It's not just Orange with unpredictable results. DW and I are with Virgin Mobile and have roaming enabled and used it before with no problem.

But recently in Mexico I could use my mobile and she could not.

 

And both our sons are on Orange and had no problems using phones when they came with us on the Colourful Coasts cruise.

 

Berwyn

[davecttr]

Hi Kruzseeka,

It's not just Orange with unpredictable results. DW and I are with Virgin Mobile and have roaming enabled and used it before with no problem.

But recently in Mexico I could use my mobile and she could not.

 

And both our sons are on Orange and had no problems using phones when they came with us on the Colourful Coasts cruise.

 

Berwyn

Luckily for me my orange PAYG comes with international roaming already switched on. I checked out the orange site and made a list of the valid local providers for each country and when phoning from the ship checked to see if one of those was being used. You can select the provider but I did not need to use that option.

 

I agree it can be a bit hit and miss but it never took more than a couple of tries to connect.

 

In the carribean this jan I used the ships phone via my cabin handset and it worked fine. As I only wanted to make 4 calls in the fortnight i calculated that it would be cheaper to use the ships phone rather than invest in a new tri or quad band. The total call cost was less than £30.:)

[Cymro1953]

Hi Dave,

Luckily we didn't need to use her phone while in Mexico, but I found we were not the only ones. We spoke to another couple with one working and one not.

Never had that problem before through the Med and N. Africa on cruises.

 

She's now on Orange herself, she's now got an I Phone.

 

Berwyn

[CRUISIN LINDA]

Hi Dave,

Luckily we didn't need to use her phone while in Mexico, but I found we were not the only ones. We spoke to another couple with one working and one not.

Never had that problem before through the Med and N. Africa on cruises.

 

She's now on Orange herself, she's now got an I Phone.

 

Berwyn

Hi Berwyn,

 

We are both on Orange and we often find we are on different networks when abroad. :confused: The funny thing is that this year in the Caribbean,we had a signal nearly all the time we were at sea but no signal on land in Mexico (Costa Maya and Cozumel):rolleyes: It was my birthday when we were in Cozumel so didn't get my Happy Birthday texts until we set sail for Cuba:eek:

 

We find it is best just to text, when you have a signal - much cheaper - never use phones on ships or in hotels except in case of emergency - too expensive;)

[Cymro1953]

Hi Berwyn,

 

We are both on Orange and we often find we are on different networks when abroad. :confused: The funny thing is that this year in the Caribbean,we had a signal nearly all the time we were at sea but no signal on land in Mexico (Costa Maya and Cozumel):rolleyes: It was my birthday when we were in Cozumel so didn't get my Happy Birthday texts until we set sail for Cuba:eek:

 

We find it is best just to text, when you have a signal - much cheaper - never use phones on ships or in hotels except in case of emergency - too expensive;)

 

Hi Linda,

I agree, I tell family not to phone unless it's an extreme emergency. I don't want to pay to receive the call.

 

Berwyn

[jenny wren]

Yes we're on Orange with roaming enabled and quad band phone and the only places where it hasn't worked were Israel last year and Dubai in 2007 (most surprised at that one as it worked in Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Oman!!) we only ever text though and don't accept incoming calls. :)

[Cymro1953]

we only ever text though and don't accept incoming calls. :)

 

Definitely Jenny, especially with my provider wanting to charge me £1.50 a min for the pleasure of receiving calls in the Cruise area

 

Berwyn

[tummysmummy]

The mobile phone links to cruise ships are provided by 3rd party companies which use onboard satellite links etc.

 

I think hubby was actually wondering what specific provider it is - he is a techno-geek and finds this kind of stuff interesting! :rolleyes:

 

Thanks for all the useful info though - I'm sure he'll have fun reading through it!

 

Personally, my phone goes off the minute I'm on the plane and doesn't go back on again until I touch down again in Blighty at the other end! I'm on holiday and I don't want to be disturbed!! :D

[davecttr]

I think hubby was actually wondering what specific provider it is - he is a techno-geek and finds this kind of stuff interesting! :rolleyes:

 

Thanks for all the useful info though - I'm sure he'll have fun reading through it!

 

Personally, my phone goes off the minute I'm on the plane and doesn't go back on again until I touch down again in Blighty at the other end! I'm on holiday and I don't want to be disturbed!! :D

 

Sorry can't help you for Celebration but a net search gives On-Waves in partenership with Harris Maritime Communications as the provider for Thomson Dream