Texting on Freedom

[SarahD112]

Was searching the web for cheapest way to stay in touch with kids on cruise and found this cruise critic post:

 

Our cell provider is Verizon. They have an international option that works for cruises. $40 a phone per month (prorated by time used so for a week cruise $10 per phone) Unlimited incoming texts, 125 outgoing texts daily and a small amount of minutes and data daily. There is a larger plan for $80 and a pay per text plan. I plan to activate the plan the day before and put us all into no data mode so we don't incur overages. I have also told my teen it is only 50 texts a day so she doesn't go over! For our family of four, this seems the most practical, considering how all options seem subject to limitations of the reception of the phones or Wilkie talkie or how slow data works.

__________________

What I see there is that the charge from Verizon would only be $10 per phone, not the full $40 if only used for a week? I'd happily pay $10 per phone, plus the .05 for incoming and .50 for outgoing.somehow I doubt this price, though. I'm thinking I'll have to pay the full $40 per phone even if only used for one week. Does anyone have any experience with this?

[Clarea]

I would double check on that plan, because "international" does not always include "cruise ships at sea". You want to make sure the plan covers cruise ships at sea, because 125 texts per day for that price seems too inexpensive.

[Kwaj girl]

Why not consider just leaving notes/messages for each other? VMs can be left and you can agree to meet at certain times/places throughout the day depending on the schedule. Disconnect! Put the cell phones new in the safe as soon as you board and leave them there until time to disembark. Save the $ for something else.

[Big_G]

We had two iPhones and 2 Droid Turbos when we sailed with our son and his wife on Freedom last week. Both families bought the 2 device plan at a discount and used Voxer to text between all four phones. Except for the constant internet drops, it worked pretty well.

[cruisinfanatic]

We had two iPhones and 2 Droid Turbos when we sailed with our son and his wife on Freedom last week. Both families bought the 2 device plan at a discount and used Voxer to text between all four phones. Except for the constant internet drops, it worked pretty well.

cost?

[Big_G]

cost?

We got in early on the by one device get the second free at $9.99 a day but I haven't seen that offered since. Voxer is free.

[Clarea]

cost?

I believe the undiscounted cost is now $13 per day for one-device surf only.

[reallyitsmema]

Was searching the web for cheapest way to stay in touch with kids on cruise and found this cruise critic post:

 

Our cell provider is Verizon. They have an international option that works for cruises. $40 a phone per month (prorated by time used so for a week cruise $10 per phone) Unlimited incoming texts, 125 outgoing texts daily and a small amount of minutes and data daily. There is a larger plan for $80 and a pay per text plan. I plan to activate the plan the day before and put us all into no data mode so we don't incur overages. I have also told my teen it is only 50 texts a day so she doesn't go over! For our family of four, this seems the most practical, considering how all options seem subject to limitations of the reception of the phones or Wilkie talkie or how slow data works.

__________________

What I see there is that the charge from Verizon would only be $10 per phone, not the full $40 if only used for a week? I'd happily pay $10 per phone, plus the .05 for incoming and .50 for outgoing.somehow I doubt this price, though. I'm thinking I'll have to pay the full $40 per phone even if only used for one week. Does anyone have any experience with this?

 

You are not reading the plans correctly, there is not one that has 125 texts a day. Here is a link to the plans:

 

http://www.verizonwireless.com/landingpages/international-travel/

 

If you use the planning a trip section, it will detail out all of the options for the ship you are sailing, countries you are visiting and for the phone you have.

 

http://www.verizonwireless.com/landingpages/international-travel/

 

If you all have smartphones, it might make more sense to buy a 4 device wifi package for the ship and communicate with that instead. It all depends on if you are looking for ship coverage, island coverage or both.

 

We text minimally on the ship so we do pay as you go on the ship. We just used a $2 travel pass while in Cozumel which worked great. It gave us access to our domestic plan including data without have to activate an international plan. We hadn't set it up beforehand, we received a text from Verizon once we were in Mexico, we responded back to confirm and activate the pass and we were good to go. We could have used a travel pass in Haiti and Jamaica at $10 each but chose not to. Once activated, the travel pass is good for 24 hours in that country.

[FunCruiser56]

We have used FB messenger app for "texting" of course u will have to have a Internet plan. Phones should be in airplane mode with the wifi turned on, so no chance of calls or regular texting coming through and u end up with a massive phone bill. We even used this way while on the Brilliance in Norway and Iceland. Zero charges on our bill and we were able to keep in touch with family at home plus track down our fellow cruise companions on the ship.

Bev

[KimKTN]

We have used FB messenger app for "texting" of course u will have to have a Internet plan. Phones should be in airplane mode with the wifi turned on, so no chance of calls or regular texting coming through and u end up with a massive phone bill. We even used this way while on the Brilliance in Norway and Iceland. Zero charges on our bill and we were able to keep in touch with family at home plus track down our fellow cruise companions on the ship.

Bev

 

To play it safe, before we leave port/leave country, we call verizon and have them turn the phones off so we don't accidentally get charged for service.

 

Also, if you have iphones, we realized when we were on vacation in Cayman a couple of years ago, we could get iMessages from other iphone users since we had wi-fi.

[reallyitsmema]

To play it safe, before we leave port/leave country, we call verizon and have them turn the phones off so we don't accidentally get charged for service.

 

Also, if you have iphones, we realized when we were on vacation in Cayman a couple of years ago, we could get iMessages from other iphone users since we had wi-fi.

 

You have the ability to turn the phone off, are you saying you suspend your service when you travel? Do they charge you a fee to reinstate? Never heard of someone doing this.

[KimKTN]

You have the ability to turn the phone off, are you saying you suspend your service when you travel? Do they charge you a fee to reinstate? Never heard of someone doing this.

 

I am not sure exactly what it is called that we do. (We did it for our cruise 3 years ago and trip to Cayman 2 years ago.) We are still paying for the service, but, we can't use the cell feature until we get it turned back on. A friend who worked at Verizon is the one who suggested we do this. With kiddos who wanted to use their phones to listen to music, we wanted to make sure they didn't "accidentally" turn it off of airplane mode if we were doing that option.

[Biker19]

With kiddos who wanted to use their phones to listen to music, we wanted to make sure they didn't "accidentally" turn it off of airplane mode if we were doing that option.

 

On a GSM phone, removing the SIM card could also work.:cool:

[dagunny]

We travel a lot Internationally and on ship. For this purpose, we selected T-Mobile and have their unlimited data plan. We get at least 120 countries with unlimited 2G web (really it's 3G now) and texts. You need to turn roaming on for that. However, on ship, turn the roaming off and you can do SMS texting and voice. Voice, on ship, is expensive at $5.99 a minute, however texting is .50 a text, which is doable. We never use the ships Internet, although because of our status we get a lot of free Internet, because it is too slow. We wait until we sight land and then turn the data roaming back on once we determine the carrier (you can check this under General options, About Device, and Status for an Android). You can also use PDAnet and tether your phone to a computer and use it - just turn on hide connection to the carrier). You could also turn on the hotspot if you have other phones and devices to use Wi-Fi from that phone.

Verizon and Sprint are CDMA technology and AT&T and T-Mobile are GSM/GPRS. CDMA only works in US, Mexico, and Canada. If you are going to do a lot of cruising or international travel, perhaps it would benefit you to look at other options. We used to have Sprint, but it wouldn't work in an apartment we were in and they sent us a remote cell tower that plugged into our router. Cheesy to say the least. As soon as our contract expired we switched and have been happy ever since. A really cheaper alternative is to use walkie talkies. But you will really annoy other passengers, especially if left on in the theater. My $.02.

[dgb281]

We use AT&T and it doesn't look like they have anything reasonable for international data. So we are looking into the VOOM packages to stay in touch with family at home. We have 5 cabins - can we buy a 5-device package and use it with different cabins?

 

The pre-cruise special savings is $9.09 for 1 device - which is 30% off. But it sounds as if they offer a buy one, get one deal onboard. Is it better to wait?

 

Plus, we are Diamond members, and I know we get a discount, but can we share it with the kids?

[Biker19]

If you get a 5 device package any 5 devices can be connected at one time - it doesn't matter whose device it is. The onboard price has been $13 for one device compared to $10 if you buy before boarding - those are per day prices if you get a package. The D discount is $20. What worked for us is to buy one day with one D discount (when you buy just one day it's $20) on day two and buy the package for the remainder of the cruise on day 4 and apply the second D discount to that.

[dgb281]

Thanks, Biker19, that's what I needed to know.