Phone Bills on Cruises

[wenocancer2]

I am traveling with my sister and my niece. Neither of them have ever cruised. I am encouraging no cell phone use for the week (we are on the Conquest--San Juan, St Kitts, St Maarten, Grand Turk) but my sister says her daughter won't be able to stand not texting and sharing pictures with her boyfriend back home in the States. I'm not sure they totally comprehend the cost of this. And truthfully, I don't really know either because I have never allowed my family to use their phones on cruises.

 

I'm hoping some of you might be able to share your costs from your cellphone carriers for when you used your cellphone while cruising. We just want to get a ballpark of what the potentials could be.

[shof515]

if you have verizon wireless, they have an international plan for cruising. take a look here: https://www.verizonwireless.com/support/trip-planner-tool/

[amyh13]

If they are just messaging and posting pictures, buy a wifi package. Carnival has very reasonably priced wifi. I bought a $60 package last year (I think it has gone up) and was able check email, check weather, imessage and use soical media for the whole week. You can only be on one device at at time my DH also purchased it.

[ABQrobin]

we always buy the wifi package so we can check e-mail at home, plus send texts and photos to our son back home.

[klfrodo]

3 options

1. Buy the wifi plan

2. Have sister let daughter have free range, then come back and tell us how much the bill is

3. Have sister be a parent and not a friend and take the damn phone away. What? Daughter not satisfied with free cruise?:eek: yep, those parent police are out in force :)

Edited December 28, 2016 by klfrodo

[JVilleGal]

A International texting plan with Data and Roaming turned off is cheap!

 

 

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[Kevin]

If they have t-mobile they can just use their phones in port like they are home. On the ship they would need the wifi plan.

[drakes2]

I only use my phone while in ports. Always find free wifi.

 

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[CruisingRavyn]

Carnival offers a social media package for $25 per cruise. If she has an iPhone she will be able to use iMessage. If not she can use FB messenger or other social media to communicate back home. Just make sure her phone is in airplane mode when on board.

 

 

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[cynt]

3 options

1. Buy the wifi plan

2. Have sister let daughter have free range, then come back and tell us how much the bill is

3. Have sister be a parent and not a friend and take the damn phone away. What? Daughter not satisfied with free cruise?:eek: yep, those parent police are out in force :)

DING! DING! DING! DING!

Klfrodo #3 option is the winner.

Be a PARENT!!!! Or leave her at home. We traveled with 3 teens. Rule #1 no cell phone usage. Airplane mode for the duration of cruise. We had no problems. It wasn't up for discussion or debate. The teens met new friends and had a blast.

#puturparentbritcheson

 

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[originalgeek]

My first tip is nobody gets to tell you or your friend how to parent. Nobody here knows better than you and your friend how to do your parenting jobs.

 

Tip 2: the social media is package is 5 dollars a day but if you purchase it for the entire cruise you get a break on the price. Depends how long your cruise is.

 

Social media package is separate from the HUB app. You can do both if you need to communicate off ship. (Hub is only for on ship).

 

They both start the same in that you get on ship and turn on airplane mode then go in and turn wifi back on.

 

This lets you get on ship wifi. If all you want is hub then you're done.

 

But if you want to talk to people back home then you must buy a wifi package. The social package is very limited but let's you send texts and go to social media sites.

 

What you probably don't want to do is make phone calls on ship using ships cell service. That is the expensive thing. Keep your phone in airplane mode though and you needn't worry about that.

 

 

 

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[mindymariexxo]

2 years ago I was on a 7 day cruise with my mom and our friend. My boyfriend and I had just gotten serious, and I have my own cell phone plan, so I decided to use my phone responsibly and take my chances with the bill. I kept my phone on airplane mode except for in the evenings, where I would switch airplane mode off to send and receive messages periodically (turn it off and respond then turn it back on, wait 30 minutes or so to turn it back on and respond again). On US ports where I could use my phone for free (Puerto Rico and St. Thomas for me that cruise) I'd turn it on and use it to post pictures from the previous few days and used my phone the same as I would at home.

 

All in all the way I used my phone for a week raised my phone bill by about $80 for the month I think. I think it was $80 well invested since I am now engaged to the man!

 

My uncle didnt turn his phone on airplane mode on a 3 day cruise about a year ago. He played a few games that he thought didn't use internet and didn't send or receive texts or calls. For the most part his phone was in the room and he assumed he wasn't using data because he wasn't on it. His phone bill was over $400 more than usual. Now every time he cruises I remind him to turn his phone off because I got so sick of hearing him complain about how he didn't understand how it could be so expensive when he was hardly even on his phone.

[luddite]

Tell them it will be spendy and that THEY should probably do some research into the expected cost. Your obligation will have been met.

[Cruisin' Chick]

On our last cruise, my daughter was 15. We did buy an Internet package and shared it -- and it did last for the 14 day cruise. I suggested we try to use it late at night or early in the am (when there's fewer people in the Internet cafe), and somehow we didn't end up in the cafe at the same time so it worked out. I used it to check my email and go on social media. she went on Facebook and that was it. Our phones were off except when in port. she rarely calls people even when home (must be inherited from me) but rather skypes or use something similar.

[donaldsc]

Who is the parent here. Your sister should confiscate her daughter's phone and give it back at the end of the cruise. She can manage w/o communicating with her boyfriend for a week. It will not kill either of them and if it does the relationship was lousy to begin with.

 

DON

[sanger727]

The primary issue is data costs while in roaming mode. If they send text only messages, can do that relatively cheaply. If they send photos, it will use data. We are talking like $100s for a gig, So choices are to

stick with wifi and turn it on in port when having lunch and/or get wifi on the ship.

Or get a cellular international plan that includes data in ports

 

Whatever she does, don't let them just leave their phones on and acting normally, the background data will kill them w charges. Keep phone in airplane mode except when sending messages. Do not use cellular data on the ship. Will be most expensive option by far.

 

 

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Edited December 29, 2016 by sanger727

[broberts]

I am traveling with my sister and my niece. Neither of them have ever cruised. I am encouraging no cell phone use for the week (we are on the Conquest--San Juan, St Kitts, St Maarten, Grand Turk) but my sister says her daughter won't be able to stand not texting and sharing pictures with her boyfriend back home in the States. I'm not sure they totally comprehend the cost of this. And truthfully, I don't really know either because I have never allowed my family to use their phones on cruises.

 

I'm hoping some of you might be able to share your costs from your cellphone carriers for when you used your cellphone while cruising. We just want to get a ballpark of what the potentials could be.

 

There are numerous variations. Best to have sister contact her daughter's provider for specific charges that would apply. But to give you a very general idea:

https://www.verizonwireless.com/solutions-and-services/international-travel/

https://www.att.com/offers/international-plans/cruise-packages.html

[navybankerteacher]

3 options

1. Buy the wifi plan

2. Have sister let daughter have free range, then come back and tell us how much the bill is

3. Have sister be a parent and not a friend and take the damn phone away. What? Daughter not satisfied with free cruise?:eek: yep, those parent police are out in force :)

 

Good post. Of course to maximize the learning experience of travel, let daughter have whatever she wants - and then deduct the cost from her future allowance.

[Underwatr]

Limited texting is cheap, even using the ship's tower. On my plan receiving is free and sending is 50 cents. Voice calls are another matter.

 

Make sure cellular data remains off (texting doesnt require cellular data). Luckily T-Mobile doesnt roam onto the ships' cellular data connection.

[sail7seas]

Sugesst that if boyfriend muts hear form her, HE can pay the Bill.