Using Cell Phones on Ship

[Tagoladad]

There is a "mention" in the Majesty of the Seas Compass that says if you are an ATT/Cingular customer you may be able to use your cellphone while at sea. Has anyone has any success using their cellphone while at sea? How about in port at Nassau? At CocoCay? I'm sure that it will work when we get to Key West, but I'd like to use it for the first three days of the cruise. Any advise, opinions or information would be helpful. Thanks

 

Tagoladad@aol.com

[dms_cruisers04]

Any advise, opinions or information would be helpful.

That was so the wrong thing to add to your post! :D

My opinion, leave it at home. You're on vacation, check in with whoever you need to check in with just before you board, turn it off and don't turn it on til after you disembark (or if there is an emergency). Relax and enjoy.

[tada]

My ATT/Cingular phone worked fine in all ports of call in the Eastern Caribbean, and worked on the ship when at sea. When at sea, the signal strength is pretty low, but I was able to call out.

[TrentS]

I've used it, the system is only turned on while at sea. It's off while in port and you have to use the local island's system then. I found it to work well from my cabin at sea though, good signal. Cingular charges $1.49 per minute, so it's not exactly cheap, but far less than using the ship's satellite phone.

 

Mike - Life isn't that simple for some of us, we MUST keep in touch, but MY advise is ONLY USE IT IN YOUR CABIN.

[aporter47]

Do you know that you were charged for the call?? I just want to know if it'll be worth being able to call in to check how things are at home, other than that I'll be leaving it off. We're leaving a 10 month old and 3 year old at home with Grandma. It it's not worth it I'll just keep updated by email.

[TrentS]

Yes, I was charged for the calls I made from the ship... On my Cingular Wireless bill - $1.49 per minute.

[mdmourges]

I have only had luck when we have been in ports that are in the US or US territories (makes senses). So, Key West, San Juan and St. Thomas worked but not St. Martin, Antigua, etc., unless, oc course, you have an international plan of some kind.

 

Mark

[Juan C]

My wife and I are sixth time cruisers and we are taking our 1st cruise without the little ones. My wife is paranoid of leaving the kids behind so I just called Cingular to verify that our phone can be used in the Bahmas. Your phone has to have the GSM technology. Global System ???, I called their International phone number and they said that the roaming International rate is $1.99 a minute.

[Shaden1982]

I too have Cingular, and was wondering how you dial......do you just dial normal...area code and number?

We will be on Marnier next week, and it will be nice to check in if it's possible, and the $1.49 or even $1.99 a minute isn't bad at all.

Thanks in advance.

[wireman180]

With Singular you just dial the number. Don't forget the area code if you use speed dialing.

 

Corky

[vickiw0318]

Wow! Yet another reason not to change to Sprint. (My family hassles me because I am the only one with a Cingular phone.)

 

Does anyone know if this works on the Rhapsody?

[Shanafan]

We used our Cingular service while we were on the Jewel in February. We were able to call with no additional charges from San Juan and St Thomas.

[CXR]

... and leave that phone at home. If you're that upset about leaving your children, then stay home and take care of them. Besides, NOBODY wants to listen to your conversations in the dining room or when trying to relax in the Solarium or while enjoying a show in the theatre. People survived without cell phones for several decades...another week wouldn't kill you. If there were a dire emergency where your babysitter needed to contact you on the ship, I'm sure there must be a way for her (or him) to do so. So... that said, go on vacation and enjoy yourselves. :)

[dc-snoopy]

You know, everytime the question of cell phones comes up there is someone who posts that tired old rag of "you're on vacation, just leave the cell phone at home" It's so nice that some of you have the luxury of being on vacation and being truly away from everything. Some of us don't have it so lucky. There are some of us with ailing relatives that we need to know if there may be a problem. There are some of us with jobs that do not allow us to be completely off-line from work (I've gone into it before, but I work for NASA and there are good reasons that I should be accessible in an emergency...even though I am rarely called on vacation, but I have been in *EMERGENCIES*). So you think that those of us who chose jobs where we make a commitment to provide that type of support are not allowed to have vacations? Wake up and welcome to the 21st century, the world doesn't work that way anymore. So "do us all a favor" and don't criticize those of us who need to stay connected for some reason.

 

I have no problems railing against those people who are rude and use their devices loudly while in public areas, but that happens at home too. How often have you been to a nice restaurant and then have to hear a loud conversation on one of those *!$#@* Nextel things with the loud speakers disrupting your meal. When I'm in a public place, my phone is on vibrate and on my person. I excuse myself to go somewhere not so public for a call. I try to use it in my cabin or on my balcony (both better places for reception anyways). The problem is with courtesy, not the devices or the requirement with the devices.

 

That said, the AT&T Maritime sevices offered on ships will provide service to any cellphone on board (even Sprint) when offered. You will just have to pay roaming fees. Since the service is provided by AT&T, you won't get any extra privileges being a Cingular customer vs being a Sprint customer. However, if you are a Sprint customer you have to contact Sprint to allow international calling on your phone. The default setting for US-based phones is no international calling (this saves them a lot of money from cell phone hijacking and theft). It doesn't cost anything, but they have to toggle a setting in the Sprint computer system to allow you to get and call International numbers on your phone. Once you do that, you can call using the AT&T Maritime services if the ship has that (as far as I know, right now, only the Voyager-class and Freedom have the towers).

 

I have had Sprint for years since I switched from Verizon (then BellAtlantic) due to the superior custom service. And before you disagree...I've only had mediocre service from SprintPCS...however, the customer service of BellAtlantic and Verizon in the MD area is very poor. I'm already tied to them for my local and DSL service...I'll be d***ed if I'm going to be tied to them for my cell phone service too and have to put up with that sad excuse for customer service in all aspects of my life. And the Cingular service in the DC-metro area is one of the weaker products around...coverage is the worst of the major carriers...there are more "black-out" zones and more areas where the service switches to roaming, if you program your phone to allow it, or drops out if you don't. I've had many friends who have switched to other services in this area from Cingular as it isn't reliable enough.

[TexasDH]

You can use the phone on deck (for the best reception) and noone will be bothered! ;)

[AltaJoe]

... and leave that phone at home. If you're that upset about leaving your children, then stay home and take care of them. Besides, NOBODY wants to listen to your conversations in the dining room or when trying to relax in the Solarium or while enjoying a show in the theatre. People survived without cell phones for several decades...another week wouldn't kill you. If there were a dire emergency where your babysitter needed to contact you on the ship, I'm sure there must be a way for her (or him) to do so. So... that said, go on vacation and enjoy yourselves. :)

 

I may have missed something, but I don't believe that the poster specified that they wanted advice on cell phone coverage so that they could bother people in the dining room or the solarium or while you are enjoying a show in the theatre. Further, I'm guessing that your fingers started typng before your brain hit on the fact that cell phones can be used in the privacy of ones own cabin.

 

I thank the people who have taken the time to write helpful posts on this subject. I too am interested, as I don't have the luxury of dropping off the face of the earth.

[1corona4u]

I may have missed something, but I don't believe that the poster specified that they wanted advice on cell phone coverage so that they could bother people in the dining room or the solarium or while you are enjoying a show in the theatre. Further, I'm guessing that your fingers started typng before your brain hit on the fact that cell phones can be used in the privacy of ones own cabin.

 

I thank the people who have taken the time to write helpful posts on this subject. I too am interested, as I don't have the luxury of dropping off the face of the earth.

 

That's just the thing, people will be on the phones EVERYWHERE since it's second nature for them now. This is a hot button issue, so expect more of the same....

[AltaJoe]

That's just the thing, people will be on the phones EVERYWHERE since it's second nature for them now. This is a hot button issue, so expect more of the same....

 

Yeah, you're right. I guess I'm just in one of those moods where I'm taking people a little too literally. I'm sure that CXR's "If you're that upset about leaving your children, then stay home and take care of them." was intended to be light comedy and not the slam that I read it as. I apologize to CXR.

[zeldajanuary]

... and leave that phone at home. If you're that upset about leaving your children, then stay home and take care of them. Besides, NOBODY wants to listen to your conversations in the dining room or when trying to relax in the Solarium or while enjoying a show in the theatre. People survived without cell phones for several decades...another week wouldn't kill you. If there were a dire emergency where your babysitter needed to contact you on the ship, I'm sure there must be a way for her (or him) to do so. So... that said, go on vacation and enjoy yourselves. :)

 

However, we are apparently in the minority with our "tired old posting" .

[Tagoladad]

just got off the 4 day majesty and out Cingular phone worked great on the ship. I didn't get a bill yet so I'm not sure about the charges (my sister said that as long as the phone said "Cingular" we were in our "calling area" and there would be no extra charge). My wife always exercises good manners and never disturbed anyone on the ship.

[gail-s]

I had wondered about this as well. Our tablemates used their cell phones to call home from St.Thomas on our last cruise. DH and I have never tried. Snoopy, I switched from Verizon to Nextel. I had Verzion (BellAtlantic ^Nynex^Verizon) for 10 years and finally their poor customer service did me in. Up here in MA Cingular has a really bad reputation, so, most of the people we know are either Verizon or Nextel. I'm curious how much Nextel would charge for a call from the Caribbean.

[kathi29]

I'm curious how much Nextel would charge for a call from the Caribbean.

 

DH's Nextel didn't work at all when we were on the Western route. Not sure about Eastern, but we will know in a few weeks. That said, it's hard enough to get a decent signal in Florida, I highly doubt there will be service near any of the ports.:)

[zuscruiserz]

My MIL is having her 3rd cancer surgery Monday, which will be our first day at sea on the Vision. It was a last minute thing, we just found out about it this week. And yes, we plan to keep in touch with her by cell phone, daily if possible, to check on her progress as she will be in the hospital for 10 days. This will not only give peace of mind to DH, but will be uplifting to my dear MIL as well.

 

We would never leave our cell phone at home, there is ALWAYS a chance of an emergency! This one just happened to come before our cruise.

 

And no, my MIL did not want us to be there for the surgery (across the country from us), she would rather have a visit from us when she is well.

 

So, please don't flame the people that decide to bring cell phones, those on this board will probably be the politest ones with those contraptions, using them when it won't be disturbing to others.

 

Concentrate instead on those other rude boors who, after having too much to drink, decide to thrill all with their imitation of what an adolescent monkey (or other obnoxious animal) looks and sounds like, just before throwing up and passing our on a lounge chair. Those are the people who are the most offensive IMHO.

[skyking]

I used my Cingular phone in port on the Western run as well as some on the ship while at sea. Usually we have to be parallel the cost for it to work. I have a national plan and was never in ROAM and I DO NOT pay roam charges SO I am not to sure how much I will get charged, but I dont expect anything. We shall see!

 

Tim

[cindybythebeach]

Verizon works in San Juan and St. Thomas with no roaming fee if you have the America's Choice plan.