Cell phones at sea

[Wavelet]

On Sat. we will be cruising the Mediterranean. We purchased an internet pkg through Princess and a cell phone pkg through AT&T. We discovered the cell pkg will "work" on land, but at sea we will be using the ship service (?) which is very costly with the international charges. My question is this- if I use my Iphone to text my non traveling kids who also have an Iphone will I still be charged huge amts? I'm not the most tech savvy and this is our first overseas cruise so any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[NukeIT]

Best way to do is. To use wifi in ports and iMessage with your kids. You can almost always find a cafe to grab a bite or a beer in that offer free wifi. That way you don't have to pay anything for the messages back and forth.

 

If you were to send iMessages via cellular network you will be paying data rate per kilobyte, or you can turn off iMessage and actually text message paying a per text fee.

 

I wouldn't suggest either while at sea since leaving the wifi connection established will burn thru your internet plan quickly. If you need to communicate while at sea you can write an email off line, sign in and then send it.

 

 

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[Boytjie]

On Sat. we will be cruising the Mediterranean. We purchased an internet pkg through Princess and a cell phone pkg through AT&T. We discovered the cell pkg will "work" on land, but at sea we will be using the ship service (?) which is very costly with the international charges. My question is this- if I use my Iphone to text my non traveling kids who also have an Iphone will I still be charged huge amts? I'm not the most tech savvy and this is our first overseas cruise so any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

If both sides have iphones and are on wifi you will be able to text each other using iMessage (you know it is iMessage when your texts show in blue instead of green).

[saratoga]

On Sat. we will be cruising the Mediterranean. We purchased an internet pkg through Princess and a cell phone pkg through AT&T. We discovered the cell pkg will "work" on land, but at sea we will be using the ship service (?) which is very costly with the international charges. My question is this- if I use my Iphone to text my non traveling kids who also have an Iphone will I still be charged huge amts? I'm not the most tech savvy and this is our first overseas cruise so any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

If all you want to do is text message, you don't need internet access from the ship. When the ships cell service is turned on (more than 10 miles from land) your phone will connect to the ships cell tower. My last cruise while connected to the ships cell tower, it cost 50 cents to send a text message and 5 cents to receive a text message. The charges appear on your phone bill with no charges from Princess on your on-board account.

 

On land, you will get a text message from the cell provider when you enter their coverage area that will list the charges from sending and receiving text messages.

 

As others have offered, when connected to wifi, you can imessage without additional cost.

 

To avoid large data roaming charges, turn off cellular data or block roaming data.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

Edited July 8, 2014 by saratoga
typo

[Calgon1]

Cellular service at sea is offered as an amenity on most of the cruise ships. Many people may think that their cell phone works as usual at sea, but this is not the case.

 

No matter what provider you have signed up with or what data plans are available to you, cell phone usage at sea is an additional fee (satellite service fee). You need to factor into your budget if you decide you just have to have your cell phone with you on your cruise. Even plans that offer limitless long distance and data plans will not be accessible at sea.

 

The way it works, is that your cell call is first, picked up by the ships cell tower (one of those big, "golf-ball" shaped things on the upper deck). Then, it goes through the satellite equipment and is beamed up to a satellite. It is bounced through the satellite network and sent down to a ground based cellular network. You are charged extra for that service no matter what plan you have with your provider. In addition, the bill does not show up on your ships invoices of billing, it shows up later on your own bill from your cellular service provider. The charge for satellite service is approximately $9.75 per minute, or portion thereof!

 

TAKE NOTICE OF YOUR SMARTPHONE

 

Don’t forget that the new smartphones of today all have automatic connect and you will also be charged international roaming charges if you forget to turn your phone off. In other words, if the phone is on, you are charged . . . BIG TIME.

 

If it says "maritime" your call will be billed as a satellite call.

 

Therefore, you must keep your phone off so that it won’t pick up services as you travel from port to port. If you want to change your settings prior to the cruise, you can call your service provider and find out how to do it.

 

The cost of the service varies depending on your home carrier, but for AT&T users it is about $0.79 per minute. You will have to decide if the cost warrants the usage, but in an emergency of course, there wouldn’t be a question but to use the ships network at any cost.

 

Most cruise lines also provide Wi-Fi based onboard Internet service. Rates for these services usually range from $0.75 per minute down to $0.30 per minute. The more time you prepay, the lower the rate is. The Internet up-/down-load speed is abysmal on the ship. You are (most likely) using "broadband" service now. you speed is somewhere between 6-30 Mb/sec. On the ship, it's usually closer to 512 Kb/sec. Think back a few years to your old "dial-up" service. Really s - l - o - w.

 

 

For more info, go to: http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=45

[gbldcl]

ATT offers cell phone packages on Royal Caribbean International, Azamara Club Cruises, and select Celebrity Cruises ships. NOT Princess.

[Colo Cruiser]

On Sat. we will be cruising the Mediterranean. We purchased an internet pkg through Princess and a cell phone pkg through AT&T. We discovered the cell pkg will "work" on land, but at sea we will be using the ship service (?) which is very costly with the international charges. My question is this- if I use my Iphone to text my non traveling kids who also have an Iphone will I still be charged huge amts? I'm not the most tech savvy and this is our first overseas cruise so any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

 

On my AT&T Iphone phone in the Med I turn cell data off so as not to incur data charges. I can still send/receive text (receive free, send .50 each). I can still make and recieve calls although you cannot access your voice mail with data turned off.Sometimes I will purchase a 200 text plan for $30 per month but I never purchase a voice plan as it seemed to be still way over priced.

 

You also cannot send or receive pictures with data turned off.

I do this both onboard with the ships cell service and onshore.

Edited July 8, 2014 by Colo Cruiser

[Mom33]

On Sat. we will be cruising the Mediterranean. We purchased an internet pkg through Princess and a cell phone pkg through AT&T. We discovered the cell pkg will "work" on land, but at sea we will be using the ship service (?) which is very costly with the international charges. My question is this- if I use my Iphone to text my non traveling kids who also have an Iphone will I still be charged huge amts? I'm not the most tech savvy and this is our first overseas cruise so any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

When you wish to imessage your kids from the ship, go on the ships wifi.Make sure you turn off data roaming and cellular data. You can even Face time on the wifi with no charges other than your wifi usage on the ship. The AT&T plan will cover you on land with or with out wifi. :)

Edited July 8, 2014 by Mom33

[PescadoAmarillo]

Therefore, you must keep your phone off so that it won’t pick up services as you travel from port to port. If you want to change your settings prior to the cruise, you can call your service provider and find out how to do it.

You don't have to ever turn your iPhone off. I used to say you had to turn it off during takeoffs and landings but even that has changed. Simply put your iPhone in Airplane Mode, double check to ensure Data Roaming is off (it automatically turns itself off when in Airplane Mode but can be turned back in again so I always check) and enjoy listening to music, watching videos, playing games, using your camera, using any content you have downloaded on your phone. It's free.

 

Then, to use ship's WiFi, turn just WiFi on, leaving the phone in Airplane Mode.

 

In the Med, there are bound to be plenty of places on shore offering free/cheap WiFi (ask the crew where they go). The OP mentioned that he purchased a cell package for land; it would depend on the package purchased whether it's inexpensive enough to text via cell service or simply use WiFi.

[Pam in CA]

When you wish to imessage your kids from the ship, go on the ships wifi.Make sure you turn off data roaming and cellular data. You can even Face time on the wifi with no charges other than your wifi usage on the ship. The AT&T plan will cover you on land with or with out wifi. :)

Right. Also, turn off Location Services. It's under Settings > Privacy.

 

The iPhone and iOS have iMessage which gives iPhone users the ability to text using WiFi without any charges as long as you are texting between iPhones. These texts do not count on your service plan. You know your phone is using iMessage if the text is blue. If it's green, it's using cellular.

 

Non-iPhone users are usually not aware of the above.

 

As for AT&T and traveling, I turn on World Connect for $5, Global Messaging for either 50 or 200 for $10 or $30 depending on how long I'll be gone, and 120MB Global Data for $30. Even if all you're doing is reading email without photos, you will use data. When I get home, I turn these off and the charges are pro-rated for the days turned on.

Edited July 8, 2014 by Pam in CA

[Wavelet]

You don't have to ever turn your iPhone off. I used to say you had to turn it off during takeoffs and landings but even that has changed. Simply put your iPhone in Airplane Mode, double check to ensure Data Roaming is off (it automatically turns itself off when in Airplane Mode but can be turned back in again so I always check) and enjoy listening to music, watching videos, playing games, using your camera, using any content you have downloaded on your phone. It's free.

 

Then, to use ship's WiFi, turn just WiFi on, leaving the phone in Airplane Mode.

 

In the Med, there are bound to be plenty of places on shore offering free/cheap WiFi (ask the crew where they go). The OP mentioned that he purchased a cell package for land; it would depend on the package purchased whether it's inexpensive enough to text via cell service or simply use WiFi.

 

Thank you to all who have responded. This has been very helpful. We (naively) thought that as long as we purchased a phone pkg we could use our phones to make calls wherever (land or sea) we were.

One last question - if the airplane mode is on and the wifi is on, will the total time the wifi is on be charged against the Princess internet pkg we purchased, or is it just while we are actually using (texts/internet) it?

[IECalCruiser]

Thank you to all who have responded. This has been very helpful. We (naively) thought that as long as we purchased a phone pkg we could use our phones to make calls wherever (land or sea) we were.

 

One last question - if the airplane mode is on and the wifi is on, will the total time the wifi is on be charged against the Princess internet pkg we purchased, or is it just while we are actually using (texts/internet) it?

You are only charged minutes when you are logged on. When logged on you are charged for every minute whether or not you are doing anything. Make certain to log off whenever you are done and have the screen come up showing how much time you used and the amount remaining on your plan. You can access Princess.com without logging on. I haven't tried iMessage so don't know if you need to log on to use.

 

 

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[Calgon1]

. . . We (naively) thought that as long as we purchased a phone pkg we could use our phones to make calls wherever (land or sea) we were. . . .

 

 

So did some really good friends of ours. They took a 7-day with their two teenaged daughters. About 5 weeks after the cruise their cell bill came in . . . $3,700.00 :eek:

 

Last cruise, saw a lady blabbing away for over 30 minutes in the Horizon Court, on an at-sea day. I tried to advise her about the satellite charges. Was abruptly told that she had, checked with another cruiser and was told that she could talk all she wanted because there was no extra charge for using cell on the ship!"

 

For the next two weeks (15-day Hawaii cruise) I never saw her without her cell glued to her ear. :rolleyes:

 

[jrzebird]

 

So did some really good friends of ours. They took a 7-day with their two teenaged daughters. About 5 weeks after the cruise their cell bill came in . . . $3,700.00 :eek:

 

Last cruise, saw a lady blabbing away for over 30 minutes in the Horizon Court, on an at-sea day. I tried to advise her about the satellite charges. Was abruptly told that she had, checked with another cruiser and was told that she could talk all she wanted because there was no extra charge for using cell on the ship!"

 

For the next two weeks (15-day Hawaii cruise) I never saw her without her cell glued to her ear. :rolleyes:

 

 

LOL. The only downside to that story is that you weren't there to see her face when she got the bill! I can't even imagine.

[Pam in CA]

FYI, regarding the cell phone usage on the ship, it will not be charged to your onboard account but by your service provider. So don't bother checking your folio to see if there's a charge.

[Posaune]

There have been many stories here on Cruise Critic of folks that thought they had all the settings down and came home to bills of $500- to the new high of $3750 we just heard about. Their kids changed the settings and texted, downloaded and called friends the entire cruise. And others were just totally ignorant and thought the phone could be used anywhere with no extra charges. I can not believe the people that have tried to get refunds from Princess, Carnival, etc.

[Colo Cruiser]

Right. Also, turn off Location Services. It's under Settings > Privacy.

 

Not necessary when you turn off cell data, it shuts all data off.

[Wavelet]

Thanks to all who have replied to this thread. Without all this info I probably would have had a huge bill also(not $3000 though, I hope) !!

As an aside, I would like to say thanks for the numerous posts on various topics. This is only our second cruise and the various topics that have been brought up helped us prepare with packing, beverages, phones, excursions, etc. I know now that Cruise Critic is the go-to place for all cruise information! You are the greatest!

[RocketMan275]

Thanks to all who have replied to this thread. Without all this info I probably would have had a huge bill also(not $3000 though, I hope) !!

As an aside, I would like to say thanks for the numerous posts on various topics. This is only our second cruise and the various topics that have been brought up helped us prepare with packing, beverages, phones, excursions, etc. I know now that Cruise Critic is the go-to place for all cruise information! You are the greatest!

 

There is a much better place to go to get this kind of information. Call your phone service provider since they will be the one sending you the bill. Any other source of information (ie, cc) is just hearsay. Call your provider and get the facts. And, document the call in case there is a 'misunderstanding'.

 

For example, I called my provider (verizon) and they told me exactly what to do to avoid a large bill. They even emailed me the instructions specific to my particular phone.

 

With my provider, all I had to do was turn data off. I could still receive calls ($2.95 per minute). Little pricey but only if I answered the call otherwise no charge. I could still receive ($0.15 per text) and send ($0.50 per text). That's not too bad. No email unless I turned data back on. That gets expensive fast.

 

Airplane mode also works but you cannot receive/send text. You also will not see if someone is trying to call you. (You can always avoid the charges by not answering the call.)

 

One other bit of advice. If you have children with phones, make sure they fully and completely understand the consequences. Otherwise they may decide that they need to send pictures or play games and circumvent their settings. Of course, that raises the question of why children should even have a phone while on a cruise if they can't use it.

[Mom33]

There is a much better place to go to get this kind of information. Call your phone service provider since they will be the one sending you the bill. Any other source of information (ie, cc) is just hearsay. Call your provider and get the facts. And, document the call in case there is a 'misunderstanding'.

 

For example, I called my provider (verizon) and they told me exactly what to do to avoid a large bill. They even emailed me the instructions specific to my particular phone.

 

With my provider, all I had to do was turn data off. I could still receive calls ($2.95 per minute). Little pricey but only if I answered the call otherwise no charge. I could still receive ($0.15 per text) and send ($0.50 per text). That's not too bad. No email unless I turned data back on. That gets expensive fast.

 

Airplane mode also works but you cannot receive/send text. You also will not see if someone is trying to call you. (You can always avoid the charges by not answering the call.)

One other bit of advice. If you have children with phones, make sure they fully and completely understand the consequences. Otherwise they may decide that they need to send pictures or play games and circumvent their settings. Of course, that raises the question of why children should even have a phone while on a cruise if they can't use it.

 

The OP uses iphones in his family. When airplane mode is on, iphone users can text in an out with instant messaging by turning on wifi only.

[azbirdmom]

I usually buy the AT&T data plan when traveling internationally and I'm meticulous about taking my iPhone out of airplane mode and only using the data while on land. Well one day I forgot to change it back to airplane mode after touring in New Zealand. The next morning I pulled my phone out of my purse to take a picture on board (it was a sea day) and had an oh s*** moment when I saw that it wasn't in airplane mode. I quickly changed it and held my breath until I got my bill from AT&T. For those 14 hours or so that my phone sat in my purse unused, it was happily communicating with the cell service on the ship. The charge was almost $100 for just having the phone on. I contacted AT&T and told them my story. They took pity and forgave the charge. And I dodged a bullet and learned a lesson that I will never forget.

[STUR]

Both sides sign up for Viber there is no charge if both party's have Viber on there phones

sender and receiver We used it on the river boats in Europe it is slow but it worked

I was able to call Dayton, Ohio Cleveland, Ohio, Los Angeles Ca. and had no trouble

load the app in both phones an try it here and then use it in Europe Yu will not be able to use ia out to sea as there are no towers