T-Mobile on the Bliss

[LUVNICK]

I have a T-Mobile phone and am wondering if my phone will work on the ship. I have read alot of conflicting information and am hoping someone who has sailed on the Bliss can help me. I will need to be able send and receive text messages and also an occasional call. Thank you for any information you can provide.

[RD29P5]

It will work, however you are no where near any cell tower's. It will run the cell at sea or whatever they call it and it is not cheap, from what I have heard. Best thing to do is check with T-mobile they should be able to give you a ballpark on what it will cost.

[noobcruiser]

If you purchase the wifi package, wifi calling will work along with text messaging. Without the wifi package, RD29P5 is correct, except that Tmobile does not have a rate package for NCL's CellatSea. Which means that when at sea...you will likely pay the highest roaming rate if it works at all.

[roddy good boy]

I was surprised that I was able to use it in 2015 on a Mediterranean cruise on the Jade. I didn't realize it would work until my phone rang! I was then able to text, send pictures and call my loved ones in the evenings. I was cruising by myself that trip so it was really exciting to be able to stay in touch. I believe that t-moble was able to connect to the towers from whatever country we were near. My phone would name the various countries. I expected a huge bill when I returned, but I recall that it wasn't that expensive.

Noobcruiser is correct, sometimes it would say 'cell by sea'. I would then turn the phone off!

Edited August 22, 2018 by roddy good boy

[littlelulu01]

Our daughter lives in Alaska and is sometimes in very remote areas. In these areas Tmobile will work using gci. Data gets capped by gci but works for calls. Phone is unlocked iPhone.

 

Regarding Tmobile working in Europe. It’s a little different. European use doesn’t cap data like they do in the USA. Our Tmobile phones work pretty much in every country we go to and also on the ship too but in Europe we get a text welcome to Greece, Iceland... where as in Alaska they don’t text you, “welcome to America please have free access to gci because we have terrible service up here in Alaska.”

[mking8288]

Like other carriers, T-Mo has a variety of post and prepaid plan, and you need to have a fair understanding of how to use & change settings on your particular smartphone, turn off roaming data, airplane mode, etc.

 

For one of our backup plan, it's 50 cents per text message to send or receive in Canada, calls are $1.79 per minute. Call 611 to find out yours.

 

SMS/Txt Msg. generally works fine on the ship as long as you don't get a lot of them on a daily basis. If you only expect to get a handful of calls, keep them short & simple and even at $1.79 or $2.99 a minute, it's cheaper than signing up for the ship's variety of packages - and, worry about not exceeding your data allowance, metered by the minutes but sometimes, by the MB data used or transferred.

 

First, talk to customer care @ T-Mo's 611 first to confirm your plan & coverage, based on where you are cruising to. FYI, T-Mo's "free" roaming data is really 2G/Edge speed - rather slow & useless, about as fast as satellite WiFi sold via the ship. I don't recommend either one based on your described "needs" roaming at sea.

 

Sent via Moto G(6) on Project Fi/T-Mobile using Tapatalk

Edited August 23, 2018 by mking8288

[mrgoalie]

On the ship.....turn it off or you'll get one heck of a bill in a month. Trust me I had to beg them to remove most of my charges (close to $750) before I wised up years ago. The only reason I think they did it was because I am a 14 year customer.

Off the ship in every country or island it's free texting and .20 per minute calls under my plan.

Power it off or at least put into airplane mode and turn off the

wi-fi while onboard...or e$le, take your chances.

[fshagan]

It depends on your plan. We just switched over to T-Mobile for our British Isles cruise on DCL because it has unlimited text and data, and calls are .20 a minute throughout the UK and most of the EU. If you find a wifi connection the calls are free because T-Mobile uses wifi calling if available. You leave roaming on, in this case. The Seniors 55+ plan is two lines for $70 so it was as cheap as the prepaid plans we were on with Cricket (AT&T's network, but they don't offer service while you are in another country).

[LUVNICK]

Our daughter lives in Alaska and is sometimes in very remote areas. In these areas Tmobile will work using gci. Data gets capped by gci but works for calls. Phone is unlocked iPhone.

 

Regarding Tmobile working in Europe. It’s a little different. European use doesn’t cap data like they do in the USA. Our Tmobile phones work pretty much in every country we go to and also on the ship too but in Europe we get a text welcome to Greece, Iceland... where as in Alaska they don’t text you, “welcome to America please have free access to gci because we have terrible service up here in Alaska.”

Forgive my ignorance, what is gci?

[don't-use-real-name]

Forgive my ignorance, what is gci?

 

gci

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GCI_(company)

[LUVNICK]

Thank you for all your responses. I spoke to T-Mobile again and was again told that they do not have service on ANY Norwegian ship. Norwegian is not on there Cellular at sea list. I am so confused.

[littlelulu01]

If you have Tmobile and the right plan and are comfortable knowing how to not use cellular at sea, the right Tmobile phone will automatically hook into whatever service provider is available. It’ll say, “welcome to cosmos Greece (or wherever). WiFi and texts free, calls .20/min.” If it says welcome to cellular at sea, don’t allow and turn to airplane mode unless you want enormous charges. If you’re out at sea the only time you’re likely to get signals is when you’re coming into port. Europe is different because the ship is often close to populated areas and so phone can pick up providers and Tmobile allows you to use just about any provider. Alaska isn’t very populated so even when you can see land, you might not be able to get a signal.

 

If you have to receive and make calls when the ship is underway, your best bet is to get the ship’s WiFi pkg and have a WiFi phone. I just prepurchased the premium pkg pre cruise for $204 (discount). I think it’s $25 more on board. If you have the internet free at sea perk it is a $125 discount but only off the onboard pricing so it is worth $100 Compared to pre cruise discount price just in case you’re debating switching perks.

 

If you can get by using the phone just for voice calls when you’re in port or close to port, then you should be ok with Tmobile and the right Tmobile plan that allows access to gci with capped data. The gci capped data for Tmobile users allows a very minimal amount of data use. Canada won’t cap your 4g data but they do have the .20/min talk.

[fshagan]

Thank you for all your responses. I spoke to T-Mobile again and was again told that they do not have service on ANY Norwegian ship. Norwegian is not on there Cellular at sea list. I am so confused.

 

T-Mobile will use wifi signals to send texts and make phone calls; if your plan includes wifi calling you might be able to use the ship's wifi to make calls (if they don't block calls, that is; not sure if NCL does that). I have heard of people using Facebook calling over the ship's wifi.

[littlelulu01]

T-Mobile will use wifi signals to send texts and make phone calls; if your plan includes wifi calling you might be able to use the ship's wifi to make calls (if they don't block calls, that is; not sure if NCL does that). I have heard of people using Facebook calling over the ship's wifi.

Sorry. I think they might actually block WiFi calling. In Europe My Tmobile phone worked fine for calls (likely because it was using a land cell provider) but husbands Verizon didn’t. He had a google phone number and had to use that for WiFi calls on a tablet.

[PelicanBill]

Call customer service again and go through your ports so you know what your plan covers (and any other options) for calls and data from each port. MAKE SURE you are connected to local cell services and not the ship when you do. Look at who you are connected to. The 2G data roaming they offer is pretty basic and low performing.

 

On the ship, as you found out, they have no agreement with Norwegian, which is the same for all carriers. You pay the highest per minute rates for calls, and you don't even want to know the charge for data. turn data off!

[mking8288]

OP, sign into your T-Mobile online account and you can review the coverage for your plan - both rates in your home area and while roaming elsewhere ... for voice calls, texting and cellular data (which can be very expensive). There is an online "Chat" function with T-Mo customer care to ask questions, give these a try.

 

You asked whether your "phone" will work on the Bliss and most smartphones with the proper radio bands or frequencies do work, the coverage and applicable rates varied according to your plan - that's the difference. T-Mobile do support WiFi calling, we have it enabled on our Nexus phones and also on a backup iPhone SE used mainly for WiFi Skype (VoIP) calling and texting.

 

We also do NOT know where you are sailing to and the ports of call, for example ... even with Verizonwireless, coverage for ships sailing Alaska is via local "free roaming" partners with towers, same as T-Mobile and with Sprint being one of the worst in years past.

 

None of the cellular (US-based) carriers have "free" coverage or plans that include, extend or can by purchased as add-ons onboard cruise ships, including NCL and the Bliss - all of them offered PAYG (Pay As You Go) if you use it at sea ... with satellite-relayed coverage, usually shown as "Cellular At Sea" (thus, if you don't see T-Mobile on the upper corner of the status bar ... you are roaming & most likely, if not for sure, there will be a per minute/per use charge for it) You just need to know and find out ahead, of what the rates are.

 

My motto has always been, in case of emergencies, the costs of the calls or text are priceless, whether it's at sea or anywhere in the world. If it's less urgent and it can wait, let it wait until ship is docked and you get a land tower's signal.

 

There is the simple direct-dial option to call from ship to shore/land for $5 a minute (in-bound call to the stateroom is $8 a minute) ... and the free NCL App can an option to use one of its optional feature (on the Bliss) to do VoIP calling for under $1 a minute (it was/is 79 cents on other NCL ships) - but those are different and feedback/reviews of how well it work varied widely ... (confusing, huh. Not really, just complicated)

[kpjb]

https://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/roaming

 

Go to that webpage, half way down under "Going on a cruise?" type in the ship name and it will tell you if you will have service. Hint: if you're on Norwegian, you're not on the list.

 

My T-Mobile works in every country free text and data, pay to call, so you're never THAT far away from getting service even without it on the ship.

[graphicguy]

In short, put your phone in “airplane mode”as soon as your ship leaves port. Enable WiFi calling. This will allow you to get and make calls on the WiFi while on board the ship. I did that on the NCL Gem a few months ago. Worked well, no extra charges, no extra fees, nothing blocked.

 

In ports, check with T-Mobile regarding the services they support in the countries you’re visiting. Just because they don’t support calls at sea, doesn’t mean you can’t call in a country they offer service.