AT&T Cell phones

[Bernall]

Does anyone have any experience getting a cell phone cruising package through AT&T? Cruising with 3 kids and want to be able to text if necessary while on cruise.

 

 

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[Teacherloves2Cruise]

I would also love to know how the AT&T package works. Thanks.

 

 

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[setsail]

http://www.att.com/att/global/affordable-world-packages/?cruise

[Teacherloves2Cruise]

Do you know if it "cellular at sea" at

CocoKey or not?

 

 

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[MS52]

AT & T and Royal Caribbean have a package you can buy. Starts at 50 minutes of talk for $30. There are also packages which include text and internet. You can check it out on the AT&T website but you have to call to purchase. We purchased it in January and found it very worthwhile.

[Clarea]

Does anyone have any experience getting a cell phone cruising package through AT&T? Cruising with 3 kids and want to be able to text if necessary while on cruise.

If you are only looking to text, then look at the numbers to determine if you want to buy a package. Without a package, sending a text is $0.50, receiving is free. Note that these are SMS (text only) messages, no photos, videos, etc.

[BlueSkySailing]

I used it back in Oct. I saved so much going with this plan and was able to talk for so much more. And my daughter loved getting my texts and pictures I was sending here. The only thing is you MUST call up at the end of the month to have it cancelled.

[Bernall]

I'm assuming that price is per phone, not per account?

 

 

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[PJB3]

Hopefully someone can clarify a few questions I have:

 

1. So do you leave your phone on during the cruise?

2. What if you only have the talk plan and someone stateside texts you. Are you then charged even if you don't open it up?

3. Someone said texting is just 50 cents per text. You don't need any plan for this? Again, what if someone texts you from home-are you charged?

 

Thanks for your help-maybe I'll just call ATT later today, but sometimes they are so confusing to listen to!!

[Clarea]

Hopefully someone can clarify a few questions I have:

 

1. So do you leave your phone on during the cruise? Not usually.

2. What if you only have the talk plan and someone stateside texts you. Are you then charged even if you don't open it up? With AT&T, you are not charged for received SMS texts, plan or no plan.

3. Someone said texting is just 50 cents per text. You don't need any plan for this? Correct for AT&T. Again, what if someone texts you from home-are you charged? Same answer as #2.

 

Thanks for your help-maybe I'll just call ATT later today, but sometimes they are so confusing to listen to!!

See answers in RED above.

[uksimonusa]

The plans are good if you will be making or receiving calls and texts, they do cut the cost, BUT AT&T prorate the minuets and texts allowed if you cancel the plan, so if you put the plan on before your cruise and then cancel right after the cruise, you will only have the plan for a week, and therefore will only be allowed 1/4 of the calls/texts.

 

The best way is to add the plan on the first day of the billing period that the cruise is in, and then cancel it on the last day of the period. That way you get the full benefit of the plan while cruising.

[stevea36]

The plans are good if you will be making or receiving calls and texts, they do cut the cost, BUT AT&T prorate the minuets and texts allowed if you cancel the plan, so if you put the plan on before your cruise and then cancel right after the cruise, you will only have the plan for a week, and therefore will only be allowed 1/4 of the calls/texts.

 

The best way is to add the plan on the first day of the billing period that the cruise is in, and then cancel it on the last day of the period. That way you get the full benefit of the plan while cruising.

 

The other benefit of using the AT&T Plan in the Caribbean is that any calls that you make while in port are covered by the plan so you get the same, discounted, rate for these calls, texts, data. (Note: If your cruise calls on Puerto Rico, St Thomas, or any of the other US Virgin Islands, your phone is considered to be "home" and calls are covered by your normal plan. the calls are not international!). Note, you must make at least one call, text, or something onboard prior to arriving at your first port to get these rates !

 

Steve

[rakes5]

The plans are good if you will be making or receiving calls and texts, they do cut the cost, BUT AT&T prorate the minuets and texts allowed if you cancel the plan, so if you put the plan on before your cruise and then cancel right after the cruise, you will only have the plan for a week, and therefore will only be allowed 1/4 of the calls/texts.

 

The best way is to add the plan on the first day of the billing period that the cruise is in, and then cancel it on the last day of the period. That way you get the full benefit of the plan while cruising.

 

We have used the phone only plan twice, and we were told that the plan is for the entire billing period. You couldn't just purchase it for a week only. Where you can run into a problem is, if your billing period ends during your cruise. Then we were told you need to get the plan for two periods if you want to cover the whole cruise.

 

For example, if your billing date is the 15th of the month, and you are on a 7 day cruise from the 12th to the 19th, you would have to buy one package for the 12th to the 15th, and a second package for the 16th to the 19th. Lucky for us, both of our cruises were within one billing period.

 

One advantage, if you go over the 50 minutes of calls, the per minute rate is also discounted.

Edited February 16, 2014 by rakes5

[Teacherloves2Cruise]

The other benefit of using the AT&T Plan in the Caribbean is that any calls that you make while in port are covered by the plan so you get the same, discounted, rate for these calls, texts, data. (Note: If your cruise calls on Puerto Rico, St Thomas, or any of the other US Virgin Islands, your phone is considered to be "home" and calls are covered by your normal plan. the calls are not international!). Note, you must make at least one call, text, or something onboard prior to arriving at your first port to get these rates !

 

Steve

 

 

Thanks Steve! You addressed my point of concern in all this. We will be taking a 3 night Bahamas cruise on Enchantment and need to be reachable. Correct me if I am wrong, by buying this package we will be covered under it on board, in Nassau and CocoKey, as long as we make a call on board that first night? Thanks so much for your help.

 

 

 

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[jerseygirl226]

Thanks for the info. We were hoping there was a way for our kids to let us know everything is ok at home and since they can text us with no cost, we'll have them send us a text a day to say everything is fine. If not ok, we won't care how much it costs to call them back.

[malacajo]

So glad to have read this post, when we go on our cruise in Sept, we are leaving our two teens, first vaca w/out them-these calling/texting plans are really important to us. One thing I do have to mention, of course the US Virgin Islands are considered "home", St John sometimes is not because of the tower, we had several people telling us that St John will pick up a different tower and they were charged accordingly..Just thought I would pass that info along-we will be in St John for our cruise, but will call our kids from St Thomas, before heading over...:)

[Irishfamily7]

Good question!

 

 

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[Ambiverol]

Thanks for the info. We were hoping there was a way for our kids to let us know everything is ok at home and since they can text us with no cost, we'll have them send us a text a day to say everything is fine. If not ok, we won't care how much it costs to call them back.

 

Exactly.

 

Just a heads up for iphone people who plan on receiving and possibly sending texts (not sure how other phones work). Disable data to ensure texts send/receive as SMS (green) and not imessages (blue). Otherwise, it counts as data, and you will be charged accordingly.

Edited February 16, 2014 by Ambiverol

[peg3632]

I used the AT&T cruise plan on the Jewel. Purchased the $60 for text and talk time. My text would not go through and when I called AT&T they said that since I had an iphone I would need to turn off the imessage and anyone I would text would have to turn off their imessage. since my family members all had iphones I chose not to text. I did use phone to talk to my family members. When I returned home, called AT&T and was told there were no extra phone charges. I complained about not using the text and they gave me a $30 credit. All good.

[vivianmarie244]

The other benefit of using the AT&T Plan in the Caribbean is that any calls that you make while in port are covered by the plan so you get the same, discounted, rate for these calls, texts, data. (Note: If your cruise calls on Puerto Rico, St Thomas, or any of the other US Virgin Islands, your phone is considered to be "home" and calls are covered by your normal plan. the calls are not international!). Note, you must make at least one call, text, or something onboard prior to arriving at your first port to get these rates !

 

Steve

 

I'm confused by the need to make one call or text onboard prior to arriving at the first port. Why is that needed?

 

I was thinking about purchasing the package that would allow for calls and internet usage. I was told that I needed to call to add the package the day before the cruise and could call the day after I return to cancel it. Then I would only pay for the week I needed it and not the entire month. Is that correct? You know how you get different answers from AT&T every time you call them. :rolleyes:

Edited February 18, 2014 by vivianmarie244

[LetsGetWet!]

Exactly.

 

Just a heads up for iphone people who plan on receiving and possibly sending texts (not sure how other phones work). Disable data to ensure texts send/receive as SMS (green) and not imessages (blue). Otherwise, it counts as data, and you will be charged accordingly.

 

 

 

 

 

I used the AT&T cruise plan on the Jewel. Purchased the $60 for text and talk time. My text would not go through and when I called AT&T they said that since I had an iphone I would need to turn off the imessage and anyone I would text would have to turn off their imessage. since my family members all had iphones I chose not to text. I did use phone to talk to my family members. When I returned home, called AT&T and was told there were no extra phone charges. I complained about not using the text and they gave me a $30 credit. All good.

 

iMessage - a solution looking for a problem! SMS/MMS messaging is industry standard, extremely reliable, works with ANY phone and is so cheap that almost everyone has unlimited texting. So what does Apple do? Invent a new text service that goes through Apple servers, is ONLY compatible with Apple phones, has lots of issues (my friends are always complaining) and doesn't work while you're cruising! Yeay Apple! :rolleyes:

 

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[uksimonusa]

I'm confused by the need to make one call or text onboard prior to arriving at the first port. Why is that needed?

 

I was thinking about purchasing the package that would allow for calls and internet usage. I was told that I needed to call to add the package the day before the cruise and could call the day after I return to cancel it. Then I would only pay for the week I needed it and not the entire month. Is that correct? You know how you get different answers from AT&T every time you call them. :rolleyes:

 

Yes it is correct that you will only pay for the week you needed it, BUT, the amount of minutes, texts and data allowed will also be prorated, so if you use more the 1/4 of the allowed minutes etc., the rest will be charged at normal rate. Best to start the plan on the first day of you billing cycle and cancel on the last day. Here speaks a voice of experience

[vivianmarie244]

Yes it is correct that you will only pay for the week you needed it, BUT, the amount of minutes, texts and data allowed will also be prorated, so if you use more the 1/4 of the allowed minutes etc., the rest will be charged at normal rate. Best to start the plan on the first day of you billing cycle and cancel on the last day. Here speaks a voice of experience

 

Got it! :D

 

But what of the need to make a call/text prior to arriving at the first port. Why is that needed?

[cjdixon4]

Got it! :D

 

But what of the need to make a call/text prior to arriving at the first port. Why is that needed?

 

I dont get that either...it makes no sense, and it just kind of complicates what should be a relaxing wnd carefree cruise. :(

[LetsGetWet!]

Got it! :D

 

But what of the need to make a call/text prior to arriving at the first port. Why is that needed?

I dont get that either...it makes no sense, and it just kind of complicates what should be a relaxing wnd carefree cruise. :(

To let the family know the ship didn't sink on the way to the first port? :D

 

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