Norwegian cell service/ wifi?

[racetech]

New cruiser here. Just wondering what to expect as far as cell service or wifi aboard ship. I know I wont have much cell service and really plan to leave phone on airplane mode while at sea. What about wifi is there any free wifi on ship? Or is it pay only. What about ports can you find free wifi there? I really dont mind locking my phone in safe for 7 days lol. Just curious as to what to tell fam and friends, if I can give updates once in a while or not. Norwegian Getaway if it matters. Thanks!!

[notronjeremy]

There are a variety of Wifi plans available where you can pay for a certain number of minutes, a pay as you go plan ($1 per minute), and a several unlimited plans. If your cell provider and phone supports Wifi calling (not all do) that should work to some degree. There's an Internet cafe (located right by the Atrium) where they can help you get setup if you have free Wifi via a promo or decide that paying for it is justified.

[gambit57]

Where are you travelling? However, the short of it is, if you don't want to pay for anything, set your phone to airplane mode for 7 days.

[sanger727]

Be careful with cell service. Unless you pre-arrange an international plan with your phone company you’ll pay roaming rates everywhere you go. Cell service is available on the ship but it’s via a satellite service and very expensive. If you are ok with using WiFi, just put your phone in airplane mode and then turn WiFi on. At the very least have your data roaming turned off. Data roaming is what leads to people coming home to a cell phone bill in the thousands.

 

 

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[BirdTravels]

New cruiser here. Just wondering what to expect as far as cell service or wifi aboard ship. I know I wont have much cell service and really plan to leave phone on airplane mode while at sea. What about wifi is there any free wifi on ship? Or is it pay only. What about ports can you find free wifi there? I really dont mind locking my phone in safe for 7 days lol. Just curious as to what to tell fam and friends, if I can give updates once in a while or not. Norwegian Getaway if it matters. Thanks!!

 

You will have good cell service on the ship. You at charged by YOUR phone company based on their rates. We have AT&T and they charge $2.50 per minute (we get charged if a call comes through, even if it is not picked up). $0.50 per message for text messages. $1.30 per message for any text message with a photo or video. $8.19 per MB for data (that's $8190 per GB).

 

WiFi on the ship is not free. The Getaway has been piloting a tiered internet plan with access to social media sites for $35 per week, basic wifi for $189 a week, and streaming wifi for $245 per week.

 

You can find "free" wifi in all ports. But be cautious, like any "free" wifi at home, some of those stores have less than generous intent and are there to hack any device connecting to them sell your personal data.

[TOMTOMRN331]

What cell service do you have? If you are a frequent traveler or cruiser I would recommend T Mobile great free international coverage included (not an ad).

 

Also the ship wifi is great. Did you get a promotion package with your booking ?

 

 

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[erdoran]

I have AT&T and for $10/day I get the same plan I have at home when travelling. Does anyone know if this includes while cruising on NCL? It's actually a business phone and I need to be in touch with my office while I'm away, so my work will pay for it, but I don't want to unknowingly run up a huge bill when I can "get away" for "one low flat rate". Thanks

[sanger727]

I have AT&T and for $10/day I get the same plan I have at home when travelling. Does anyone know if this includes while cruising on NCL? It's actually a business phone and I need to be in touch with my office while I'm away, so my work will pay for it, but I don't want to unknowingly run up a huge bill when I can "get away" for "one low flat rate". Thanks

 

 

 

The plan should work in ports but I don’t think it covers you at sea. While at sea you will have connection but will pay a roaming rate.

 

 

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[Heyref]

The plan should work in ports but I don’t think it covers you at sea. While at sea you will have connection but will pay a roaming rate.

 

 

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Correct - I am from Canada, and have a plan called 'Roam like Home'. $10 a day. Works in ports - not at sea

[Heyref]

I was on RCI Harmony of the Seas last month, and we were able to use iMessage to communicate with family and friends both on the ship, and at home. We had phones on Airplane mode, connected to the ships wifi, and it worked!!! Same experience for my dtr, who was on Regal Princess in December.

 

Will that work on Getaway??

[racetech]

I use Verizon prepaid. So I dont have a plan that can be charged thousands lol Im also a bit more limited on options, so I probably dont have any adds for temporary international or anything like that. But ill be sure to check on it. I really dont need the phone anyway. Im just curious as far as connecting a tablet once in a while and sending email. Thanks for all the info!

[mking8288]

Most cellular plans coverage on cruise ships using satellite are not free as those connections are costly.

 

For ports and in 135 countries, we pay only $10 USD for 1,000 MB or 1 GB of 4G/HSPA+ fast roaming data. Gotta love Google's Project Fi that use T-Mo, Sprint & US Cellular networks. With Wi-Fi data on the ship at sea, we did just fine doing Wi-Fi calling on supported devices, including newer iPhones.

 

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[notronjeremy]

I need to use AT&T towers for work, but find AT&T plans to be a rip off so instead go with prepaid services that utilize AT&T towers.

 

Cricket Wireless was actually pretty good for my Caribbean cruise last year since their standard plan included calling from Mexico and the Virgin Islands at no extra charge. This year I was on Straight Talk (the AT&T version), which doesn't include an international option.

 

Another way you could try to call (if your carrier doesn't support WiFi calling) would be to use an app like Hangouts or Pinger to place the calls over WiFi. That's assuming you're on Android since I have no idea what VOIP apps are available on Apple.

 

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[racetech]

I need to use AT&T towers for work, but find AT&T plans to be a rip off so instead go with prepaid services that utilize AT&T towers.

 

Cricket Wireless was actually pretty good for my Caribbean cruise last year since their standard plan included calling from Mexico and the Virgin Islands at no extra charge. This year I was on Straight Talk (the AT&T version), which doesn't include an international option.

 

Another way you could try to call (if your carrier doesn't support WiFi calling) would be to use an app like Hangouts or Pinger to place the calls over WiFi. That's assuming you're on Android since I have no idea what VOIP apps are available on Apple.

 

 

 

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My g/f has cricket. Your saying it works at mexico ports? We will be going to costa maya, cozumel. Then belize and honduras any experience with cricket in these areas?

[notronjeremy]

My g/f has cricket. Your saying it works at mexico ports? We will be going to costa maya, cozumel. Then belize and honduras any experience with cricket in these areas?

Check their site for the latest info, but unless something has changed cricket should work just fine in Mexico. I remember being surprised when (on the way to some excursion in the middle of nowhere) I was able to use data. Wasn't blazing fast, but it worked and didn't cost any extra!

 

I don't think it would work in Belize and Honduras.

 

Also, I want to say I had to dial 011 and something before the number for the call to go through when I was calling the US using my phone in Mexico, otherwise I'd get an error message. This may have been an issue of my phone not being smart enough to figure out that was required on its own and adding it on behind the scenes. I guess it kind of makes sense since from the Telecom partner in Mexico's perspective you're making an international call from Mexico to the US and if you're leaving the international dialing stuff off they might assume you're trying to make a local (to Mexico) call. Since I haven't seen others bring this up I assume most US carriers make this automatically work out somehow.

 

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[racetech]

Check their site for the latest info, but unless something has changed cricket should work just fine in Mexico. I remember being surprised when (on the way to some excursion in the middle of nowhere) I was able to use data. Wasn't blazing fast, but it worked and didn't cost any extra!

 

I don't think it would work in Belize and Honduras.

 

Also, I want to say I had to dial 011 and something before the number for the call to go through when I was calling the US using my phone in Mexico, otherwise I'd get an error message. This may have been an issue of my phone not being smart enough to figure out that was required on its own and adding it on behind the scenes. I guess it kind of makes sense since from the Telecom partner in Mexico's perspective you're making an international call from Mexico to the US and if you're leaving the international dialing stuff off they might assume you're trying to make a local (to Mexico) call. Since I haven't seen others bring this up I assume most US carriers make this automatically work out somehow.

 

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Ok Ill look into it, thanks!!

[BirdTravels]

I have AT&T and for $10/day I get the same plan I have at home when travelling. Does anyone know if this includes while cruising on NCL? It's actually a business phone and I need to be in touch with my office while I'm away, so my work will pay for it, but I don't want to unknowingly run up a huge bill when I can "get away" for "one low flat rate". Thanks

 

Post #5 above has the AT&T rate on the ship. No $10 flat rate.

[erdoran]

OMG that is awful! I do have wifi calling actually--how much data does that use? I'll be on the Breakaway and get the "free wifi" which is some number of GB (have to look up the rules to know how much). And is it fast enough to use for voice? Sounds like it might be.