Most economical way to call us from cruise

[Marysunshine]

I Just found out my adult (45 years old) will be having surgery while I am on this cruise with my granddaughter. What is the best way to ensure I can call back to the US to check on how he is doing? We will be in Athens and Crete when he is actually operated on. It's not life threatening or illness related or I wouldn't go at all. But it is a long surgery so I am concerned.

[EmElleSmith]

depends on who you carrier.

 

i'm doing a med cruise next week and use att.

 

called them and added international coverage for ONE month only.

 

this makes call $1 per minutes and I get 200 text messages. This is onland.

 

on the ship they are $2.50 per minute and .50 per text message.

 

It was like 6 bucks to add this global calling feature i believe.

 

hope this helps!!!

[sg1phileshipper]

I bought a sim card here last year http://www.telestial.com/. They had great rates for calling to Europe from the US and the Caribbean and I think they have options to call the US from Europe. The best deals I ever had on calling from my cell phone :D. The one I used was from http://www.simplecallingservice.com/. Calling to the US from Greece is $ 0.49 a minute plus a $0.35 connection fee. Receiving a call on your global number is free (this is a UK number). Receiving a call on your US number 0.19 a minute and no connection fee. Card you need to order is http://www.telestial.com/view_product.php?ID=LSIM-US04. Hope this helps

 

Cindy

[Baseball fan]

I bought a sim card here last year http://www.telestial.com/. They had great rates for calling to Europe from the US and the Caribbean and I think they have options to call the US from Europe. The best deals I ever had on calling from my cell phone :D. The one I used was from http://www.simplecallingservice.com/. Calling to the US from Greece is $ 0.49 a minute plus a $0.35 connection fee. Receiving a call on your global number is free (this is a UK number). Receiving a call on your US number 0.19 a minute and no connection fee. Card you need to order is http://www.telestial.com/view_product.php?ID=LSIM-US04. Hope this helps

 

Cindy

 

This is a good deal, but you must have an unlocked mobile phone to use another SIM card. Phones in the US are locked so you can only use them with the carrier you got the phone from. However, you can purchase inexpensive unlocked mobile phones on ebay. I have an unlocked phone from a friend in Europe and it is very convenient as I have purchased SIM cards in various places in my travels.

 

I've also used the ATT World Traveler plan for my shorter trips overseas.

[Cigar King]

Bring your laptop and use either Google Voice or Skype from a internet cafe. The cost will be trivial. We' still have most of the 5 bucks left we put into the account when we opened it. Make sure you set it up and test it before you leave.

[sg1phileshipper]

This is a good deal, but you must have an unlocked mobile phone to use another SIM card. Phones in the US are locked so you can only use them with the carrier you got the phone from. However, you can purchase inexpensive unlocked mobile phones on ebay. I have an unlocked phone from a friend in Europe and it is very convenient as I have purchased SIM cards in various places in my travels.

 

I've also used the ATT World Traveler plan for my shorter trips overseas.

 

I didn't know about the phones being locked in the US. That proves that you are never too old to learn :D

 

Cindy

[kycruiser72]

Bring your laptop and use either Google Voice or Skype from a internet cafe. The cost will be trivial. We' still have most of the 5 bucks left we put into the account when we opened it. Make sure you set it up and test it before you leave.

 

Agreed. We use Google voice to call back home to mom & dad. Instead of $2.50 a minute on Verizon it cost (depending on internet package) 50 cents a minute. One other thing I was going to try, but ended up not doing, was to find somewhere in port with free wi-fi and call from there. I decided not to take my computer off the ship. We ended up calling from the Solarium a few nights on this past cruise. That was nice.

 

jmc