cell phone while in Europe

[Carol From California]

Was on a Regent cruise in July (Baltic) and took my Verizon cell phone with me. We were also in Europe for 7 days (at hotels) pre and post cruise. We take a Magic Jack with us and plug it in to the laptop...use that for phone calls. It works great at the hotels and is hit and miss on the ship. I try not to use the cell phone for phone calls, except of course for emergencies because the rates are very high. They also put a phone plan on my phone which lowers the per minute charge for phone calls. Do not use your phone on the ship to make phone calls because it is around $2.50 per minute. You can use it in port and Verizon will give you the phone call rates for each country. Not all droids will work in Europe. I have the Razr Maxx. It is a global phone. The data plan was VERY INEXPENSIVE. Call Verizon and speak to their global department. They can give you all the details. If your phone is not a global phone they will send you a phone to use for your trip. I think they send a Blackberry. Some of those models are global phones.

 

The year before we went on a Regent cruise to Europe and at that time I had a Droid 2 Global. There are very few Droids that work in Europe. The Razr Maxx (phone I have now) is an excellent phone and I highly recommend it.

[Rainbow58]

Was on a Regent cruise in July (Baltic) and took my Verizon cell phone with me. We were also in Europe for 7 days (at hotels) pre and post cruise. We take a Magic Jack with us and plug it in to the laptop...use that for phone calls. It works great at the hotels and is hit and miss on the ship. I try not to use the cell phone for phone calls, except of course for emergencies because the rates are very high. They also put a phone plan on my phone which lowers the per minute charge for phone calls. Do not use your phone on the ship to make phone calls because it is around $2.50 per minute. You can use it in port and Verizon will give you the phone call rates for each country. Not all droids will work in Europe. I have the Razr Maxx. It is a global phone. The data plan was VERY INEXPENSIVE. Call Verizon and speak to their global department. They can give you all the details. If your phone is not a global phone they will send you a phone to use for your trip. I think they send a Blackberry. Some of those models are global phones.

 

The year before we went on a Regent cruise to Europe and at that time I had a Droid 2 Global. There are very few Droids that work in Europe. The Razr Maxx (phone I have now) is an excellent phone and I highly recommend it.

 

Thank you very much for such a great solution! I'm going to check it out right away!

[jes058]

There is a program you can download on the android or iphone which allows you to place or receive calls free. Do a search to learn all about it and download Viber. A friend of ours was in Pakistan and incurred no charges on cell phone calls sent or received; however, he was not on a cruise. The only problem on a cruise ship, until you are in port and on land, the cell phone should be off, or you will incur a huge cell phone bill.

[rallydave]

There is a program you can download on the android or iphone which allows you to place or receive calls free. Do a search to learn all about it and download Viber. A friend of ours was in Pakistan and incurred no charges on cell phone calls sent or received; however, he was not on a cruise. The only problem on a cruise ship, until you are in port and on land, the cell phone should be off, or you will incur a huge cell phone bill.

 

Before everyone gets excited about this "free" app, from looking at the program and FAQ's, it doesn't appear to be much different than Skype or other similar type programs. Free only applies to Viber to Viber phones and you do still need access to wifi or 3G meaning you will be using phone data which isn't cheap overseas. Check it out however it doesn't appear to be totally free unless the people you are calling or texting have also installed Viber and have it active.

[trvlrs]

There is a program you can download on the android or iphone which allows you to place or receive calls free. Do a search to learn all about it and download Viber. A friend of ours was in Pakistan and incurred no charges on cell phone calls sent or received; however, he was not on a cruise. The only problem on a cruise ship, until you are in port and on land, the cell phone should be off, or you will incur a huge cell phone bill.

 

Viber works great but here is what you need to know:

1- Most important, BOTH, the caller and the receiver, need to download the app

2- Works on wifi for free (text and calling)

3- If no wifi available you will be charged data roaming charges

 

I use viber and it works like a charm. Check the charges with your carrier. It can be hefty. It cost me nothing because T-mobile offers free international data roaming. Hope this help...

[trvlrs]

Before everyone gets excited about this "free" app, from looking at the program and FAQ's, it doesn't appear to be much different than Skype or other similar type programs. Free only applies to Viber to Viber phones and you do still need access to wifi or 3G meaning you will be using phone data which isn't cheap overseas. Check it out however it doesn't appear to be totally free unless the people you are calling or texting have also installed Viber and have it active.

 

It's not quite like Skype. With Skype, you need to be "available" to receive calls. Viber works like a regular phone.