Texting at sea

[cruzinlisa]

We are going on a cruise on Celebrity Constellation on 3/31 and for the first time, leaving our DD (3) at home with her grandparents. So we need a way to keep in contact with them and/or the baby sitter to make sure all is well. I know that ATT has a cruise package which I believe covers Celebrity ships for $30, but I am not sure that is best for us. I am afraid if we do talk to our DD, she will cry and miss us more. (Or that I will cry and miss her more). My in laws do not text, but their adult daughter who lives in their home does, as well as my baby sitter who will be caring for her during the day. I have heard it's like 50 cents per text, which I am okay with, we won't text that much. If we decide to just communicate a couple of times by text, how does this work. Specifically:

1. Do we need to sign up for a specific plan or can we just text

2. How do I avoid any other charges for roaming- I am not that familiar with international calling etc. I don't know if I get charged if my phone is on and thus looking for a signal or just if I use it.

3. I am assuming we can still do all of this with data turned off. Do we turn off roaming? We need to take it off airplane mode when we want to send/receive a text right? Should we even have it in airplane mode, assuming that data is off?

4. DH has an android phone (Galaxy S3) and I have an iphone. I am assuming its easier to just deal with his, so I do not have to worry about imessages or anything- right?

Sorry for the stupid questions, but I am obviously not that familiar with cell phone plans, etc.

Also, for anyone that has left a 3 year old behind, did you find it was more helpful for your child to talk by phone or just text the adult in charge.

[Hlitner]

Just a crazy thought which does not help with your issue. But when our daughter was about that same age (3) we left her behind with her Grandmother (who she called "Nanny") while we went off on a cruise. In those days, there really was no reasonable way to keep in touch other then making phone calls (from phone booths) at ports. When we got home we picked up our daughter and all was fine. The following morning we are making breakfast and our daughter started to cry because she wanted ice cream for breakfast. I explained to her that we do not eat ice cream for breakfast and her quick response was "at Nanny's house we do."

 

Hank

Bon Voyage

[Bonnie J.]

Check it out but if you text or call IN a port you would not use the ship's tower. Check with the company to see what charges are for international calls & texting. You could even find out who has wifi in the ports and go there. Bet crew members might be able to tell you where to go.

[Nebr.cruiser]

I've never tried texting on board, but we use the internet to communicate via either email or Facebook. Of course, that won't work if the grandparents don't use the internet.

[smeyer418]

I've texted aboard. Its $.05 to receive and $.50 to send. If your phone is on it can receive calls. I have verizon and once you connect with the ship's tower for voice even with an international plan you get charged for voice(until it moves to another tower) even when you shut it off.

[SrTrPro]

I am on the new Verizon plan that has free international texting. My understanding is that you have to have your phone "on" (but be sure to keep "data" off) to send and receive texts. You would not be billed for international roaming calls unless you actually place or receive a call.

 

Will be cruising next week - 15 night PC cruise on the Century. We have never used texting before - just changed to this plan - hope my info above is correct. If you did not have international texting, you would pay $.05 to receive and $.50 to send.

 

Bruce

[kitty9]

You need to turn off data roaming because if you don't, you'll come home to a huge phone bill. Smartphones keep scanning for things like emails and updates which are charged at $2.49 a minute. Also, don't use either smartphone for Internet use, because again, you'll be charged at the per minute rate.

 

Do the grandparents have email? You could compose email off line in the ships computer center, then sign on quickly to send the email, at a very low charge. For that, you'll be using the ship laptops, signing onto their wifi system, at a rate of about $.65 a minute. Like I said, if you compose your email off line, it would take a minute to hit send to deliver your email. You could also download your email from them, and then read those off line.

[Algebralovr]

The best thing to do is to call your carrier and ask them. In my case, I had to have my account opened to international use, then it is $0.50 to send a text and $0.05 to receive.

 

Another option is to get a Google Voice number. You can then send and receive text messages from a web page using the URL voice.google.com. It might be possible to send and receive them without even getting a number from that web page, since your DH already uses Google services for his Galaxy S3. Try it by having him sign into his gmail address and going to voice.google.com and using that to send your phone a text message. See if you receive it and can answer.

 

On the ship, you can log into the Internet for $0.75 a minute or purchase a package at a reduced rate. 38 minutes is $24.95 and was enough for me to use to keep in tough with my kids for an 11-nighter on Equinox.

 

Otherwise, enjoy your vacation from your daughter! It is a short cruise, and you can always contact them before you pull away, then from Señor Frogs in Cozumel, then from Key West, then again when you pull into US service area. That is only two days with no word. If you use google voice, you can probably use 10 minutes or fewer.

[cruzinlisa]

THe inlaws do not have internet, so email and facebook are not an option. If I text from the ship will it still be the .$50 or will it be more since it is on the ship. We have AT&T. I am still torn on whether to get a package that has calling available (ATT has one available for Celebrity), but i am not sure that it would be beneficial and not make her cry.

 

Hopefully her grandparents will not feed her ice cream for breakfast. :eek: She is there a lot so they spoil her with some things, but she does not ask for them at home. For instance, they give her tea sometimes (and even caught DH's dad trying to give her a sip of his Coke), but we only give her milk or water. She doesn't even ask at home. Of course we hardly ever have ice cream so it does not matter if she wants it or not. :D

[obnurse]

Once I got a smartphone I started using texting instead of e-mail using the internet cafe. I, too, must stay in close contact due to an elderly mom. It was SO much cheaper to text rather than use the internet cafe! Additionally, when I sent an e-mail, I sometimes didn't get a response until the next day, which made me crazy. With texting, I usually get an immediate response. I kept my phone off when I wasn't using it, but I would turn it on intermittently during the day to check it. This system worked well for my daughter (at home) and us. I think my bill was around $24 (for a 10 day cruise) to do it that way. I always called home from ports for short calls. The cost was less important to me than knowing all was well at home. It still worked out to be cheaper than using the internet cafe on board the ship.

[Kempa]

Remember to switch off whatever your phone does to check voice mails. I left mine on thinking that all I had to do was not answer, but it seems that the voice mail app would make an actual call every so often to check for voice mails.

[obnurse]

Oh! Thank you! Great advise :-)

[Lerin]

Just a crazy thought which does not help with your issue. But when our daughter was about that same age (3) we left her behind with her Grandmother (who she called "Nanny") while we went off on a cruise. In those days, there really was no reasonable way to keep in touch other then making phone calls (from phone booths) at ports. When we got home we picked up our daughter and all was fine.

 

Hank

Bon Voyage

I was thinking something similar.

When we go away we tell people to expect to hear not a peep from us except in DIRE emergency. No news is good news.

[Kaduka1]

Hank, that's awesome! Gotta love the kid and gotta love Nanny!