What do you feel is the best way to communicate with those back at home?

[coevan]

Let's see, based on my suggestion it cost me $5, yep 5 whole dollars, to be in touch for a week on my last cruise. About the same as one day of the lowest priced wifi plan on the ship. That seems to meet the requirement of not spending much.

 

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You mean to be in touch with people on board the ship? $5 is for the Hub

 

 

Rob, a satellite receiver is not a tower.

[ParrotRob]

You mean to be in touch with people on board the ship? $5 is for the Hub

 

 

Rob, a satellite receiver is not a tower.

 

A microcell aboard a ship is both a cell tower and a satellite transceiver. Stay in your swim lane, communications and technology is not it

[mz-s]

A microcell aboard a ship is both a cell tower and a satellite transceiver. Stay in your swim lane, communications and technology is not it

 

If you want to be a pedant, which it seems that you do, what exists on ships are cell sites and not cell towers.

[Organized Chaos]

Right. I think it's so rude when someone asks a simple question for everyone to add why they don't want to be contacted on a cruise. Why even bother to respond if you can't be helpful or why bother to comment if it's a snarky remark. It really doesn't matter why someone wants to be connected since it's THEIR vacation!!

 

To answer the question, Facebook messenger is a fantastic way to stay in touch with those at home for WHATEVER REASON you want.

Welcome to Cruise Critic, where too many people think their way of taking a cruise is the only way. Unfortunately, those people are often the loudest, so to speak.

 

I'm not sure if it's been mentioned in this thread, but FB messenger can be used even without a fb account. It'll simply use your phone number instead. The person on the other end does need to have it too. Not that I use it myself, I don't care for fb. We prefer to use iMessage, but had planned to use fb messenger as a back up on our last cruise since it seems to be very reliable on board.

[ParrotRob]

If you want to be a pedant, which it seems that you do, what exists on ships are cell sites and not cell towers.

 

Coevan seems to think it's not cellular at all and magically turned your device into a satellite phone. Of course, he also thinks you can't text on board and you can't use Facebook from a social Wi-Fi plan.

 

And the cellular site is up top on a mast, so that certainly sounds like a tower to me.

[sanmarcosman]

If you want to be a pedant.

 

Pe-dant, pe-dant

 

[bobandsherry]

You mean to be in touch with people on board the ship? $5 is for the Hub

 

 

Rob, a satellite receiver is not a tower.

Sorry, I just won't continue discussion with you as you either won't or can't read.

 

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[SadieN]

Quickest way is to call from your Cabin phone. $1.99/minute. Expensive compared to most of the other alternatives but brings peace of mind if you need to connect quickly.

 

 

 

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[ParrotRob]

Sorry, I just won't continue discussion with you as you either won't or can't read.

 

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Good choice. He also doesn't understand the first thing about mobile communications, but likes to pretend he does.

[Lottacruises]

You could send some letters from the ports

[Harrier1961]

Here comes all the parenting advice.....

 

 

 

And here comes the totally unnecessary and totally rude snarky remarks...

 

 

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[buckeyefrank]

You mean to be in touch with people on board the ship? $5 is for the Hub

 

 

Rob, a satellite receiver is not a tower.

 

Good Lord! We're talking semantics here. OK, so technically speaking there is not a cell phone "tower" on the ship. That would take up 90% of the deck space. When you refer to a cell tower, you are effectively meaning the software / hardware that connects your cell phone to the cellular network. The exact same software and hardware IS on every major cruise ship. Your cell phone does NOT connect directly to the satellite. It connected to the software / hardware on the ship (AKA THE TOWER), which connects to the satellite.

 

There is no difference between AT&T and Cellular at Sea. They BOTH do the same thing and have the same equipment. The only difference is where the equipment is located. AT&T is on land and CAS is on ships.

[Organized Chaos]

And here comes the totally unnecessary and totally rude snarky remarks...

BNBR isn't wrong. When a handful of users continually imply, day after day, that their way of cruising is the only good way, especially when they try to tell others how to parent, I think they are the rude & snarky ones and deserve to be called out because they have a negative impact on these boards.

[Organized Chaos]

Good Lord! We're talking semantics here. OK, so technically speaking there is not a cell phone "tower" on the ship. That would take up 90% of the deck space. When you refer to a cell tower, you are effectively meaning the software / hardware that connects your cell phone to the cellular network. The exact same software and hardware IS on every major cruise ship. Your cell phone does NOT connect directly to the satellite. It connected to the software / hardware on the ship (AKA THE TOWER), which connects to the satellite.

 

There is no difference between AT&T and Cellular at Sea. They BOTH do the same thing and have the same equipment. The only difference is where the equipment is located. AT&T is on land and CAS is on ships.

Cell towers and cell sites. This message brought to you by the same people who argue over the semantics of formal and elegant. :D

[buckeyefrank]

Cell towers and cell sites. This message brought to you by the same people who argue over the semantics of formal and elegant. :D

 

And "Service Charges" vs "tips" haha

[ParrotRob]

Good Lord! We're talking semantics here. OK, so technically speaking there is not a cell phone "tower" on the ship. That would take up 90% of the deck space. When you refer to a cell tower, you are effectively meaning the software / hardware that connects your cell phone to the cellular network. The exact same software and hardware IS on every major cruise ship. Your cell phone does NOT connect directly to the satellite. It connected to the software / hardware on the ship (AKA THE TOWER), which connects to the satellite.

 

There is no difference between AT&T and Cellular at Sea. They BOTH do the same thing and have the same equipment. The only difference is where the equipment is located. AT&T is on land and CAS is on ships.

 

You know that, and I know that. Good luck trying to convince him of that. I wonder if he realizes that some cell sites on land use satellite uplinks too.

[grandmarnnurse]

I give them the emergency contact number for the ship.

 

 

 

If it is not an emergency, I do not want to hear from anyone at home when on vacation.

 

 

 

Everyone can catch up when we get home.

 

 

 

That’s EXACTLY what we have done for years. When we started out cruising, cell phone usage was new, so we didn’t even have a cell phone, so this was no big deal. Now days, everyone thinks they need to be constantly in touch or available. Kind of defeats the idea of a vacation. My family knows how to reach me for an emergency, and ONLY an emergency. I always let them know my ship information. My children have teenage children, and when they cruise, they do the same. They do not purchase any WiFi packages. Our one son tried it once, and his teens paid more attention to their devices than the cruise, so they no longer purchase it. It may do kids good to learn how to totally unplug.

 

 

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