Calling home from cruise

[MrMike45]

Without going into a lot of details, I am looking at options for being able to call home to "check-in" a few times a day from a cruise to Bermuda (leaving from NY).

- Obviously option #1 is getting a global plan with our cell phone carrier. But in talking with Sprint customer service, it doesn't really seem like just getting a global voice plan is an option. It's a global plan which includes data and text. We chose the 250 internet mins as one of our perks, so don't need data. And don't plan on texting at all. Again, this is more so quick 4-5 min calls once or twice a day to check in on something.

- Option #2 is calling from the ship. I don't remember exactly, but I think it's something like $4 a min to call home from the ship, which is insanity.

- Option #3 is the reason for my post and need some clarity on if anyone can advise. Would a calling card work from the ship? Can you dial an 800 number for free from your stateroom, or does that still cost $4 per min? And if you can dial an 800 number, would the calling card be accepted from sea (those calling cards are usually based on where you are calling from and where you are calling to).

 

Option 3 would be the most ideal, and cheapest, if it's possible. If anyone has used a calling card before or can confirm if it does or doesn't work, that would be much appreciated.

 

Thanks, Mike

[shof515]

the cheapest and easiest thing to do is use either the ship wifi or the wifi at port and use a service like google hangout, facebook messager , skype and few other apps that do voice calling

 

i have hangout on my phone and it works perfect

[MrMike45]

the cheapest and easiest thing to do is use either the ship wifi or the wifi at port and use a service like google hangout, facebook messager , skype and few other apps that do voice calling

 

i have hangout on my phone and it works perfect

 

Thanks Shof for the quick reply. Unfortunately, this is a project we are having done on our house, so I don't think asking the contractor or one of the workers to download Skype or hop on Google hangouts would work. Agreed, that is by far the cheapest and easiest option (especially with 250 mins of wifi), but I need an old fashioned way to make a phone call for this one.

[js]

We were just on the Getaway Western Caribbean in February.

We have Verizon. We were able to make calls and text in ports (and were able to text on ship but we never tried to call) and our bill was about $20 or $50 more total adding the plan while we were away.

For calls from the ship they are $7.99 a minute and if your getting work done and need to connect

sometimes you just have to say "it is what it is" and pay whatever difference.

If it were me, the first thing I would do (as I'm doing again for my cruise next month) is go to your

cell carrier and add a plan for your vacation.

 

Good luck!

[cruisinsc1]

The other party does not need Google Hangouts installed. There is a Hangouts Dialer option which can call any number. All you need is wi-fi.

[shof515]

Thanks Shof for the quick reply. Unfortunately, this is a project we are having done on our house, so I don't think asking the contractor or one of the workers to download Skype or hop on Google hangouts would work. Agreed, that is by far the cheapest and easiest option (especially with 250 mins of wifi), but I need an old fashioned way to make a phone call for this one.

for google hangouts, the other person does not need google hangouts installed

 

from the google hangout app on your phone, you can make and receive regular calls. you can dial any phone number and it will ring the other person phone just like a real phone

 

depending on your phone, you might need the google hangout dailer to make calls.

[MrMike45]

Ahh ok, clearly I have never used Google hangouts. I know skype is an app both people need. Will have to download and play around with it. Thanks for the tips!

[eileeshb]

Ahh ok, clearly I have never used Google hangouts. I know skype is an app both people need. Will have to download and play around with it. Thanks for the tips!

Skype has a similar capability called skype out but they charge for it, but they charge local rates you just need to load credit in your skype account.. also your contractor may already have an app like viber or whatsapp which also work over wifi. It may be worth asking them if they have any such app already rather than assuming they don't.

[MrMike45]

Just an update...was on the phone with Sprint for over 30 mins. They have this new global roaming plan inwhich Bermuda is included. But there is a fine print item in that cruise ships are not. Need to be 100 feet from the ship for those rates.

 

Off the ship - for $25 flat fee

Unlimited 2G data (slow but ok)

Unlimited text

Voice calls at $0.20 cents per minute.

 

After the fine print...while on the cruise ship, same $25 flat fee plus

Data is $0.99 per mb

Text is $0.30 for text sent / $0.15 for text received

Voice is $2.99/per min

 

So I asked the guy, I don't need the data or text. I put airplane mode on my phone. How can I just make a call?

 

"Well, you can't. You need to turn off airplane mode"

 

Won't that result in a ton of email and data streaming in and any text messages that were sent to me?

 

"Yes it would"

 

So this plan would cost me hundreds of dollars realistically if I made 10 mins of calls a day and needed to turn on my phone/turn off airplane mode to do so

 

"It seems that way"

[Cyclops32]

There is even a better option. If you have a newer phone your carrier may offer wifi calling. My Samsung S8 and Verizon are working on the cruise I am on now. I upgraded my free 250 to unlimited. Then turned on airplane mode and then turned on WiFi calling. My cell portion of the phone is now disabled and phone works as normal

 

Sent from my SM-G955U using Forums mobile app

[kayhil3]

Best option is the iconcierge from NCL. Down load the app from home, connect on the ship. You pay a one time fee of 9.99 and calls from the ship to home are only .79 per minute. We have used it a few times with no problems at all.

[mking8288]

OP, would you mind sharing what kind/type of phone are you using (nobody is going to "hack" into your device for disclosing that info on CC) on the Sprint network ? Is it an iPhone (6, or 7, etc.) or an Android, like a Samsung or LG ??

 

You will be docked in Bermuda for 2.5 days so for you to call home a few times EACH day while away, you will need a plan ON the ship and OFF on the islands. From your profile, you've been to BDA 4 times before - what did you do previously? You've sailed NCL ships plenty of times too ?

[BirdTravels]

Without going into a lot of details, I am looking at options for being able to call home to "check-in" a few times a day from a cruise to Bermuda (leaving from NY).

- Obviously option #1 is getting a global plan with our cell phone carrier. But in talking with Sprint customer service, it doesn't really seem like just getting a global voice plan is an option. It's a global plan which includes data and text. We chose the 250 internet mins as one of our perks, so don't need data. And don't plan on texting at all. Again, this is more so quick 4-5 min calls once or twice a day to check in on something.

- Option #2 is calling from the ship. I don't remember exactly, but I think it's something like $4 a min to call home from the ship, which is insanity.

- Option #3 is the reason for my post and need some clarity on if anyone can advise. Would a calling card work from the ship? Can you dial an 800 number for free from your stateroom, or does that still cost $4 per min? And if you can dial an 800 number, would the calling card be accepted from sea (those calling cards are usually based on where you are calling from and where you are calling to).

 

Option 3 would be the most ideal, and cheapest, if it's possible. If anyone has used a calling card before or can confirm if it does or doesn't work, that would be much appreciated.

 

Thanks, Mike

 

Mike,

 

We were on the Breakaway last week. Here's what we did....

 

We had 250 minute perk (which is 1 GB of data on the Breakaway). That's a lot of data.

 

There is a $2.99 plan on Skype for unlimited voice calls to land lines in the U.S. We used that, in combination with the ship's wifi ,to call home every day. Worked great. only had 1 drop (which we reinitiated immediately) during the cruise. Since we cruise multiple times a year, we just leave the Skype plan active and use it whenever we are at sea.

 

Also, while in Bermuda, our carrier (AT&T) offers a $10 flat rate international plan which allows us to use our regular minutes and data while in port. That being said, it works o.k. for phone calls, but the data rates are really bad at the port. 2 cruise ships, plus all of the America's Cup visitors hitting the cell towers at the same time was pretty bad. We switched back to the ship's satellite wifi which provided much better service than the Bermudian phone system for data.

 

 

An alternative would be to activate the NCL iConcierge service on your phone. They charge $0.79 per minute to call home. I would recommend investing a bit of effort to get the Skype flat rate plan working for voice calls.

[babynurse06]

I didn't see anybody mention it yet, so just in case...If you have an iPhone and not an android, you can use FaceTime audio. You don't have to install anything. It's just like making a regular phone call, but you use wi-if rather than your cell service. I would imagine the google app mentioned abound is the equivalent for android.

Edited June 6, 2017 by babynurse06
Typo

[Moby0215]

Mike,

 

We were on the Breakaway last week. Here's what we did....

 

We had 250 minute perk (which is 1 GB of data on the Breakaway). That's a lot of data.

 

There is a $2.99 plan on Skype for unlimited voice calls to land lines in the U.S. We used that, in combination with the ship's wifi ,to call home every day. Worked great. only had 1 drop (which we reinitiated immediately) during the cruise. Since we cruise multiple times a year, we just leave the Skype plan active and use it whenever we are at sea.

 

Also, while in Bermuda, our carrier (AT&T) offers a $10 flat rate international plan which allows us to use our regular minutes and data while in port. That being said, it works o.k. for phone calls, but the data rates are really bad at the port. 2 cruise ships, plus all of the America's Cup visitors hitting the cell towers at the same time was pretty bad. We switched back to the ship's satellite wifi which provided much better service than the Bermudian phone system for data.

 

 

An alternative would be to activate the NCL iConcierge service on your phone. They charge $0.79 per minute to call home. I would recommend investing a bit of effort to get the Skype flat rate plan working for voice calls.

 

 

 

I agree that Skype is a valid option however I would not agree that 1GB is a lot of data. It would equal about 445 pages of the web surfed.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[uneamie]

I didn't see anybody mention it yet, so just in case...If you have an iPhone and not an Android, you can use FaceTime audio. You don't have to install anything. It's just like making a regular phone call, but you use wi-fi rather than your cell service. I would imagine the google app mentioned abound is the equivalent for Android.

Hmm...if you have the 250-minute wifi on the ship...I wonder how much of the data is used for calls? Say I want to make a 5 minute call home to my son. How much data would that be? I'm thinking I may do better texting a message on Facebook.

[mking8288]

I agree that Skype is a valid option however I would not agree that 1GB is a lot of data. It would equal about 445 pages of the web surfed.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Skype has been my defacto global audio calling app, even from mainland China's business class hotels where the famous firewall isn't a usual problem (VPN tunnel not always used) - it's free to call back to the U.S. and low rates to call elsewhere, work even in 2G/Edge speed then (Windows Mobile & Blackberry days, not too long ago ... really) before iPhone 4's and Androids emerged with Google being the "force" behind it. Skype audio calls will work reliably with a decent 3G speed & does not need 4G/HSPA+ speed ... wouldn't hurt - video calling do need 3G for sure.

 

Hangouts work just as great and across platform, so I have the Hangout Dialer also installed on the travel backup, iPhone 5S - to make & receive calls over WiFi or cellular data. iMessage and FaceTime, however, do not work across different OS or platform - pro's & con's for all these devices.

 

As for 1GB worth of data on the Breakaway - BirdTravels might have more recent data about # of minutes out of usage ... from my results last year, that 1,000 MB data translated to about 1,000 minutes worth on "on" or connected time - that was a lot of hours being "online" - upload speed was faster than download; and, devices with 5Ghz band WiFi "radio" do have the advantage of less congestion or airwave "traffic". As always - YMMV - waiting for NCL to roll out the newest 3 tiered plans, thus far - no confirmation or reports of that being launched on the BA or the Gem.

 

Standby ... iConcierge App (free mobile App) is getting updated, finally - last version released was Nov. 2015, long overdue. It is not directly related, except for its paid VoIP calling functionality when connected to ship's WiFi inTRAnet.

[josumello]

We used Verizon wifi calling on out So American cruise. Had free wifi so that even made it better!! Just install wifi calling and put airplane mode on then put wifi on. Easy and no cost.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[mking8288]

Hmm...if you have the 250-minute wifi on the ship...I wonder how much of the data is used for calls? Say I want to make a 5 minute call home to my son. How much data would that be?

For the Breakaway ship, based on past usage - that 5 minutes WiFi audio call should use no more than 1.5 to 2MB worth of data (measured by the MB, not minutes) from my usage/calculations last time on the BA, as noted in post above - our 250 minutes/1,000 MB lasted a long time, the App's usage metered logged just over 1,000 minutes worth of "connected" or "on" WiFi time.

 

Video calling with wider bandwidth would consume more data. As long as you stay with audio calling, whether it's Skype, Hangouts, FaceTime/Message audio, etc. - you should be good with plenty of usage data remaining, by the MB ... on the Breakaway only, as other ships are measured by the minutes.

 

Our next sailing on the BA is getting us 250 minutes/1000 MB (unless changed) - plus we get another 30 minutes being Platinum, 2 of us should (??) get a total of extra 60 minutes - or, another 120 or 240 MB worth on top (if each Platinum member get the 30 free minutes ... to be confirmed)

[MrMike45]

OP, would you mind sharing what kind/type of phone are you using (nobody is going to "hack" into your device for disclosing that info on CC) on the Sprint network ? Is it an iPhone (6, or 7, etc.) or an Android, like a Samsung or LG ??

 

You will be docked in Bermuda for 2.5 days so for you to call home a few times EACH day while away, you will need a plan ON the ship and OFF on the islands. From your profile, you've been to BDA 4 times before - what did you do previously? You've sailed NCL ships plenty of times too ?

 

I have a iPhone 7+. And yes we have been to Bermuda many times and on the Breakaway many times. Truthfully though, I have never had a situation like this before. We usually get the wifi and drink package. So I have always been able to hop on my iPad and email or Facebook message to keep in touch back home. I think I've made 1 call from the ship in all the cruises we've taken

[MrMike45]

Ok a lot of options here. Admittedly, as you might have gathered, contacting home has never been a major priority for us. We don't have kids. And like I said, email and Facebook always worked fine for contacting family or friends. As for work and the such, the cruise was always our escape and a minor disconnect from the real world.

We're having work done in the house and the contractor is a family friend's company. Since part of the work involves our bathroom being redone, the week we are in Bermuda was a good time to schedule it. And being a family friend for years, were ok with leaving the keys with him. Probably unsmart, but that's another issue.

However calling home to make sure stuff is ok, make calls on things, etc will be needed.

The iconcerige and Skype seem like the best bets based on all your recommendations. I don't mind paying a few bucks per call. But at 7.99 a min, $30-40 per call would get expensive. And sprint sucks. Cannot not recommend them more. The only reason I haven't already switched to Verizon is because I'm waiting for the new iPhone to come out in sept.

Anyway, just a few other questions.

For either the Skype app or the ncl iconcerige...do they work in airplane mode while connected to the ships wifi? And does the person I'm calling need the app as well?

 

Thanks all for the suggestions. Very much appreciated. And I'm sorry if I butchered this post. Typing on my phone while watching the hockey game

[uneamie]

I have a iPhone 7+. And yes we have been to Bermuda many times and on the Breakaway many times. Truthfully though, I have never had a situation like this before. We usually get the wifi and drink package. So I have always been able to hop on my iPad and email or Facebook message to keep in touch back home. I think I've made 1 call from the ship in all the cruises we've taken

That's what I'm thinking will be the best option for us. I will be staying in touch with my son who is on FB every day....he is living with us temporarily and is taking care of some pets for us...so I need to stay in touch. I think FB messaging might be our answer.

[mking8288]

I have a iPhone 7+. And yes we have been to Bermuda many times and on the Breakaway many times. Truthfully though, I have never had a situation like this before. We usually get the wifi and drink package ...

Ok, iPhone 7+ has tons of feature and works on both 2.4G and 5Ghz WiFi, perfect for the BA's systems.

 

One of my BIL and another long-time close friend on Sprint, know all about it as they've cruised with us. Others in the extended clan had already switched ... T-Mobile and AT&T, far happier. For work-related needs, I travel with 3 devices on 4 lines and get on T-Mobile, Sprint, AT&T and Project Fi to cover most places, not quite globally but ...

 

Skype calls are cheap to free, proven track records used by business & corporate travelers and secured with VPN. solid tech support. iConcierge calling is more expensive & very limited tech support, not live & at the "mercy" of the onboard internet cafe manager, LOL if there are issues - calls with it has been hit-n-miss even on the BA, did not use it recently on the Gem (different ship, irrelevant)

 

Parties being called on the receiving ends form iConcierge do NOT need the App, caller ID would show an unique 8 digit phone generated by the ship, not your regular mobile #. Skype calling require the App to be installed & running on both ends to take advantage of the free or inexpensive calling rates/discount, so that's a disadvantage.

 

Hangouts calling is another VoIP calling App, by Google - with its own "Dialer" App - calls over WiFi are free. Parties being call do not need any App installed on their end - it works like a mobile/cellular call otherwise - option to display for your regular cell # or Google Voice # - which you can sign up for free & get a new number. Hangouts work across different platform, I use it on my iPhone 5s when traveling - although it's more "nature" when I'm on my Androids. If you cruise on a periodic basis and often, and travel - you should learn about Hangouts, an extra option to call or video message on the go.

 

Check with your family / contractor to see what Apps and device he is using - to see if there is a shared "platform" (iPhone) and/or App that he's been using ?

 

Dockyard at Bermuda does offer a paid 3 days unlimited WiFi pass for $15 - as a backup while on the islands, it's good at a # of hotspots in town. But, I wasn't impressed by it and it was quite sluggish - far too many users with 2 mega ships docked there, plus the signal's reach or strength was limited, won't "hit" the upper decks of the BA.

 

Lastly, my impression of Sprint's voice calling is that it's usable, not cheap but better than it's data plan, which is throttled and kept at 2G/Edge speed when roaming international in places like Bermuda.

Edited June 6, 2017 by mking8288

[BirdTravels]

I agree that Skype is a valid option however I would not agree that 1GB is a lot of data. It would equal about 445 pages of the web surfed.

 

For those who followed our cruise to Bermuda last week (with all of the uploaded photos), and our daily calls home, we used a total of 1.8 GB and 7377 minutes logged on.

[mking8288]

For those who followed our cruise to Bermuda last week (with all of the uploaded photos), and our daily calls home, we used a total of 1.8 GB and 7377 minutes logged on.

Nice job w all the Tapatalk uploads - gotta go back & review some of the pictures again ... I had a feeling that you would have this info handy to share.

 

That's very modest usage - you didn't do much streaming (not sure if they are blocking it, as this has been their setup for a while) - practically connected all the time, 120+ hours or as much as 18 to 20 hours per day and just 1.8 GB in data.

 

Last year, we used about 1.55 GB of data in about 1,500 minutes, as we're on the usage "meter" and not "unlimited" for about 4.5 days worth - mainly at sea and evening when back on the ship @Dockyard. We connected to DigiCel's 3G while on the islands ... didn't experience any issues with cellular services.

 

This does support/validate my assessment that for light to moderate usage, someone on the BA can just use (if available as a "free" package) the 250/1,000 MB minutes/data plan for light use, like checking email & occassional web browsing - even a few uploads to FB, etc. without spending more for upgrade to the unlimited option.