Cell phone use in Ports

[Pam in KY]

We will be sailing on the Eurodam Feb. 18th. Curious as to whether or not we would be able to use our cell phones (ATandT) to access texts and e-mails in ports (Grand Turk, San Juan, St. Thomas, Half Moon Cay). Would like to check in with family and avoid the ship charges for wi-fi...

[Randyk47]

AT&T is a provider in San Juan and St Thomas, just like being in the US so you'll have no problem in those ports. I can't speak to Grand Turk, never been there, and I'm not aware that there is any cell phone service at Half Moon Cay other than the ship. Half Moon Cay isn't exactly a big island with a major city on it. :)

[kyriecat]

When we stopped at HMC in April, the ship turned off the cell phone tower so my phone had no service until we left and they turned the tower on again.

[PRWeezer]

With the exception of US Territories you will be subject to International data/roaming charges. Grand Turk and the Bahamas are both listed on their website for access. You may already know this, but on AT&T you can add on features, such as a 50-text Global package or 50 MB International data (or more as needed). Depending on how much you use your phone this may be a more cost effective route.

 

One other trick on AT&T is that you can add the feature, then back off it if you added too much, if you do it within your billing cycle. For example, for a recent International trip I chose a 275 MB data package but then only used about 1/2 that, so I changed the feature back-dated to the beginning of that billing cycle, saving a few bucks.

[sail7seas]

I've used my phone on AT&T plan many times in San Juan and St. Thomas and had no extra charges.

 

 

[Pam in KY]

Am I reading these answers right? So it looks like I can at least use my phone "normally" in San Juan and St. Thomas????

[djhsolara]

Yes...that is what they're saying. You'll be able to use it on Grand Turk but will have roaming charges.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[djhsolara]

And I don't know how you have your email set up on your phone, but if it "pushes" through you may want to turn that off while on the ship...otherwise you may get international data rates for the emails pushed through. We simply keep our phones on airplane mode when we're not using them while on a sailing.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[PRWeezer]

And I don't know how you have your email set up on your phone, but if it "pushes" through you may want to turn that off while on the ship...otherwise you may get international data rates for the emails pushed through. We simply keep our phones on airplane mode when we're not using them while on a sailing.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Very good point! I now do the same on my iPhone after some unexpected, high charges because I had not realized some apps were still working/churning data because I hadn't completely closed out of them...which is when an AT&T rep told me the trick about back-dating an International data plan.

[Himself]

I have VERIZON and San Juan and St. Thomas are extended network and so no extra charge. The non American ports would be "roaming" and that can get quite dear.

[kyriecat]

You might want to double-check with Verizon about St. Thomas. I'm leaving on a cruise in a couple weeks that includes a stop in St. Croix. When I checked on Saturday none of the US Virgin islands were included in their network. They said it was $1.99/minute. Puerto Rico is included.

[Riversedge]

Am I reading these answers right? So it looks like I can at least use my phone "normally" in San Juan and St. Thomas????

 

Absolutely. We've done it many times. We keep our phone turned off the rest of the time and depend on internet onboard to keep in touch.