FREE 15 Minutes of Ship-to-Shore Phone Time

[TheShag]

Good day experienced RSSC cruisers. Looking for further information on this topic. Could not find it anywhere and have an upcoming 1st time cruise so wanting to decide about getting phone/data plans in place prior to sailing. Thanks!

[makai 7]

15 minutes doesn’t last very long if you want to be in touch.  It is great if you are at sea and need to manage an emergency situation.  If you want to stay in touch on shore it is better to get an international cell plan.  

[mj_holiday]

Put your phone on airplane mode and then in settings enable wi-fi calling. This will let you make/receive calls over the internet. 
Will need some kind of plan for off the ship like at the airport. 
I would think any calling on the ship phone would be some kind of urgent need. 

[seasidemn]

1 hour ago, mj_holiday said:

Put your phone on airplane mode and then in settings enable wi-fi calling. This will let you make/receive calls over the internet. 
Will need some kind of plan for off the ship like at the airport. 
I would think any calling on the ship phone would be some kind of urgent need. 

Thank you! with that being said, what about internet availability and cost? many people have suggested "whatsapp" for internet calling.

[TheShag]

I was trying to get at exactly what it means. Like, 15 minutes anywhere in the world for free as part of cruise package? Local calls to the respective port depending on where the ship is? Satellite calling from anywhere while at sea?

[makai 7]

Calls to anywhere in the world.

i had to call Miami from somewhere in Japan when at sea.  Worked fine.

 

Had to use their option- the internet was so abysmal that WiFi calling did not work.  Couldn’t send an email - text only emails took over 2 days to send.  It was a total nightmare trying to take care of some urgent issues unless we were ashore using our mobile phones, or ship to shore calling.

Edited October 22, 2023 by makai 7

[Jim Avery]

Ship to shore calling is just that.  From a phone (wired type) on the ship via satellite uplink (separate from the ship's wi-fi uplink) to a satellite shore station.  From that point it is a regular land line call to your final number and any charges would apply.  After your first free 15 minutes sat phone time is still very pricey.  Back in the '80s when I first got it on my ship a call home was charged to me at $10 per minute....  Back then $10 meant something.  Not much of a perk imho. 🍹

Edited October 22, 2023 by Jim Avery

[RachelG]

We just use our normal Verizon phones and pay the $10 per day.  Now when out in the ocean, if you can’t get a signal the ship to shore phone is the only option, but it is very challenging to connect to at times.  I have been so frustrated with it.  Worth $10 per day to have good phone service from Verizon.

[carolina cruisin]

Have used WhatsApp and works great. Once you reach silver status (21 days) - you get 1 hour of satellite phone time.  That has also worked well for us every time we used it.  BTW If your cruise is 21 days or more, your silver status will be effective the first day you embark.

[cruiseluv]

The best thing you can do is use WhatsApp

[cruiseluv]

6 hours ago, RachelG said:

We just use our normal Verizon phones and pay the $10 per day.  Now when out in the ocean, if you can’t get a signal the ship to shore phone is the only option, but it is very challenging to connect to at times.  I have been so frustrated with it.  Worth $10 per day to have good phone service from Verizon.

I also have Verizon. If you’re using this for more than 10 days it’s more cost effective to use their one month for  $100. That’s what I do when I’m traveling in Europe ( not cruising) 

[2012_Alaska_bound]

11 hours ago, cruiseluv said:

I also have Verizon. If you’re using this for more than 10 days it’s more cost effective to use their one month for  $100. That’s what I do when I’m traveling in Europe ( not cruising) 

 

I use AT&T which is also $10 /day.  They cap it at $100 for the month automatically, so anything over 10 days is "included".

[wcsdkqh]

50 minutes ago, 2012_Alaska_bound said:

 

I use AT&T which is also $10 /day.  They cap it at $100 for the month automatically, so anything over 10 days is "included".

And, if there is an additional phone on the account, it is an additional $5 per day, as opposed to the $10 for the initial phone.

[Dolebludger]

We have been at the “Gold” level with Regent for some time, so we get a total of three hours free phone time. But we have never used it at all! If we have to contact somebody “back home” we just email them. Now, we all know that sometimes Regent’s WiFi doesn’t work. But those times usually are fairly short before it comes back enough to send a simple email (no pics or anything). Since the subject came up here I think I’ll try the phone next cruise. But a question. How do we know when we have used up our free time?

[Gpilon]

On our Splendor TA in April, we got a notification of a possible hack for our AmEx Platinum card. Resolved quickly but glad we had that 15 minutes to make us right. 

[papaflamingo]

On 10/22/2023 at 11:20 AM, seasidemn said:

Thank you! with that being said, what about internet availability and cost? many people have suggested "whatsapp" for internet calling.

If you have "wifi calling" enabled on your phone you won't need WhatsApp.  As mentioned, simply put your phone in "Airplane" mode and connect to the internet.  Your phone will show you in Wifi calling, i.e. if ATT it'll say "ATT wifi" where it shows the carrier.  Now you can use your phone just like you're at your own home.  WhatsApp is good if you're calling internationally to avoid international rates but you'll still need to be on the internet, and whomever you call will need WhatsApp to receive the call.  But if your phone is in wifi calling then it doesn't care where in the world you call from, the rates are exactly like you would pay at your house.  

 

Edited October 25, 2023 by papaflamingo

[Sailor Sam 407]

6 hours ago, Dolebludger said:

We have been at the “Gold” level with Regent for some time, so we get a total of three hours free phone time. But we have never used it at all! If we have to contact somebody “back home” we just email them. Now, we all know that sometimes Regent’s WiFi doesn’t work. But those times usually are fairly short before it comes back enough to send a simple email (no pics or anything). Since the subject came up here I think I’ll try the phone next cruise. But a question. How do we know when we have used up our free time?

If you ask at Reception, they will be able to tell you your phone time remaining.

[makai 7]

“But those times usually are fairly short before it comes back enough to send a simple email (no pics or anything)”

 

unfortunately, on our RT Tokyo cruise earlier this year, the internet NEVER worked enough to send text only emails.

[fb0075]

SOOOOOO EASY!!!

[Portolan]

Just to clarify some posts which may be confusing: the ship-to-shore phone service ALWAYS works.  It's what the ship relies on for communications and safety of navigation.  Wi-fi calling (which we use with AT&T) IS dependent on the separate wi-fi system and may or may not work well.  It has for us most of the time.  We advise those who need to reach us to call our cell phones which take incoming calls via wi-fi.  If the connection is good, fine.  If not, we'll call them back on the ship-to-shore phone.  Besides 1 hour at Silver, 3 hours at Gold, it rises to 9(!) hours at Platinum.

 

If you have the benefit, use it for all your outgoing calls as the quality/reliability will be better. 

[cwn]

2 hours ago, Portolan said:

……Just to clarify some posts which may be confusing: the ship-to-shore service ALWAYS works.  Besides 1 hour at Silver, 3 hours at Gold, it rises to 9(!) hours at Platinum.

 

If you have the benefit, use it for all your outgoing calls as the quality/reliability will be better. 

We used every bit of our time talking the the kids and grands ….. great perk not having to deal with a bad contectiob.

[blueexpedition29]

On 10/23/2023 at 10:50 AM, wcsdkqh said:

And, if there is an additional phone on the account, it is an additional $5 per day, as opposed to the $10 for the initial phone.

Be careful : the month is based on your billing period, not calendar month or not 30 days from first use.