Emergencies at home

[indy406]

We're sailing on Infinity (Greek Islands trip) in a few days and I'm trying to find a phone number to leave with relatives back home if they need reach in an emergency. I see conflicting information on the Celebrity Web site so consider none of it reliable. Does anybody know if a good phone number to reach the Infinity from the U.S. — and yes, we pray this isn't something that will be necessary. 

[PTC DAWG]

Not much you can do from a ship..but I do think all ships have a phone number for this case..

 

Check your cruise docs.

Edited April 10 by PTC DAWG

[Ex-Airbalancer]

35 minutes ago, indy406 said:

We're sailing on Infinity (Greek Islands trip) in a few days and I'm trying to find a phone number to leave with relatives back home if they need reach in an emergency. I see conflicting information on the Celebrity Web site so consider none of it reliable. Does anybody know if a good phone number to reach the Infinity from the U.S. — and yes, we pray this isn't something that will be necessary. 

If you have a wifi package someone  would be able get hold of you 

 

[1Virgo]

I m sorry. no answer for a direct phone number.  You will have wifi onboard so perhaps the next best thing would be texting and just check a few times a day.   We had to do that and for us, worked. 

Have a great cruise.  

[mnocket]

From the FAQs on the Celebrity website...

 

How do I contact a friend or family member aboard a Celebrity cruise ship?

For all Celebrity ships:
• Dial: 1-877-266-1020(applicable country code)+1-321-953-9002 (outside the United States)
• Dial the appropriate number above. 
• The caller will be asked to enter the credit card number and expiration date. 
• The system obtains a real-time hold for $79.50 ($7.95 x 10 minutes) and initiates the call to the ship. The $79.50 hold is the maximum that will be held. Actual charges will be calculated based on the number of minutes used on the call. 
• A voice prompt directs the caller to the specific ship. 
• The call is connected to the ship. 
• The call rings through to the designated department onboard (Radio Station or Purser Desk). The call is then routed to the guest's stateroom. 
• The PBX monitors the call. If there is no answer, the call will ring back at the designated department onboard (Radio Station or Purser Desk) and a written message is taken for delivery to the guest's stateroom.

[Arizona Wildcat]

Had a relative with an emergency notification needed.  Simply called the reservation number, provided the ship and booking number and was put thru to the ship.  There are easier ways but that worked.

The Celebrity website as said - too many do not read stuff - has everything you need.

Edited April 10 by Arizona Wildcat

[PTC DAWG]

13 minutes ago, 1Virgo said:

I m sorry. no answer for a direct phone number.  You will have wifi onboard so perhaps the next best thing would be texting and just check a few times a day.   We had to do that and for us, worked. 

Have a great cruise.  

WiFi calling and texting seems to work fine on my IPhone even with the basic package included with AI. Not that I use it much. 

[RichYak]

1 hour ago, indy406 said:

I'm trying to find a phone number to leave with relatives back home if they need reach in an emergency.

Your mobile phone number.

[OceanCruise]

There should be contact information in your cruise documents

[gerelmx]

Best is to use WhatsAPP

[Rick&Jeannie]

5 hours ago, PTC DAWG said:

WiFi calling and texting seems to work fine on my IPhone even with the basic package included with AI. Not that I use it much. 

This is what I was going to suggest as well. Just get it set up on your phone before you leave home. 

[justcrusn]

My wife says i am a tech nerd, probably guilty as charged.

I feel the need to point out that you CANNOT text on wifi.

If, you have an iphone, you can imessage, or facebook message or whatever, but NOT a text message. Not everyone uses apple, so if you or anyone you wish to communicate with is on android, that won’t work.

One easy way to tell is to look at the color of the message, if it’s green, it’s a text, if it’s blue it’s an imessage. 
Our burglar alarm for instance, sends text messages for any event, you won’t get those on wifi.

 

[mac_tlc]

2 minutes ago, justcrusn said:

My wife says i am a tech nerd, probably guilty as charged.

I feel the need to point out that you CANNOT text on wifi.

If, you have an iphone, you can imessage, or facebook message or whatever, but NOT a text message. Not everyone uses apple, so if you or anyone you wish to communicate with is on android, that won’t work.

One easy way to tell is to look at the color of the message, if it’s green, it’s a text, if it’s blue it’s an imessage. 
Our burglar alarm for instance, sends text messages for any event, you won’t get those on wifi.

 

That’s why we use WhatsApp to “text” with our Android friends…..

 

Not sure what our alarm uses but we have gotten notifications of an “event”.

 

mac_tlc

[Carolinabanker]

A couple of potential options: email, iMessage if you have an Apple device, WhatsApp.

[RichYak]

2 hours ago, justcrusn said:

My wife says i am a tech nerd, probably guilty as charged.

I feel the need to point out that you CANNOT text on wifi.

If, you have an iphone, you can imessage, or facebook message or whatever, but NOT a text message. Not everyone uses apple, so if you or anyone you wish to communicate with is on android, that won’t work.

One easy way to tell is to look at the color of the message, if it’s green, it’s a text, if it’s blue it’s an imessage. 
Our burglar alarm for instance, sends text messages for any event, you won’t get those on wifi.

 

Last month while on a cruise, I had no problem sending and receiving txts with a friend who has an android device. I have an iPhone that was in airplane mode with wifi enabled. 

[billc23]

3 hours ago, RichYak said:

Last month while on a cruise, I had no problem sending and receiving txts with a friend who has an android device. I have an iPhone that was in airplane mode with wifi enabled. 

It may be related to having wifi calling enabled. The new iOS 18 will support the RCS standard allowing texting from iPhones via wifi to many other non apple devices.

[Pushka]

Use messenger or WhatsApp for communications. Only wifi needed at both ends. 

[ExArkie]

6 hours ago, billc23 said:

It may be related to having wifi calling enabled. The new iOS 18 will support the RCS standard allowing texting from iPhones via wifi to many other non apple devices.

I have an Android phone. After enabling wi-fi calling and using it once, I have been able to send and receive texts on wi-fi when off the cellular network. 

[cruisestitch]

If there truly is an emergency at home, wondering if this or that procedure will work on a phone isn’t on point.  The procedure given in post #5 will always work.

[Tierun]

On Ascent we used the Google messenger RCS app for texting and wifi calling with the premium wifi package. It worked fine with our Samsung phones. We were able to text and call our iPhone using kids with no problem 

 

[baggal]

On 4/10/2024 at 12:29 PM, mnocket said:

From the FAQs on the Celebrity website...

 

How do I contact a friend or family member aboard a Celebrity cruise ship?

For all Celebrity ships:
• Dial: 1-877-266-1020(applicable country code)+1-321-953-9002 (outside the United States)
• Dial the appropriate number above. 
• The caller will be asked to enter the credit card number and expiration date. 
• The system obtains a real-time hold for $79.50 ($7.95 x 10 minutes) and initiates the call to the ship. The $79.50 hold is the maximum that will be held. Actual charges will be calculated based on the number of minutes used on the call. 
• A voice prompt directs the caller to the specific ship. 
• The call is connected to the ship. 
• The call rings through to the designated department onboard (Radio Station or Purser Desk). The call is then routed to the guest's stateroom. 
• The PBX monitors the call. If there is no answer, the call will ring back at the designated department onboard (Radio Station or Purser Desk) and a written message is taken for delivery to the guest's stateroom.

 

If you need to return a call made to you,  I have found that Guest Relations is very helpful is placing a return call to the U.S.  But before you leave on the cruise, make sure you tell the person that might be contacting you to ANSWER THE CALL from a Miami phone number (the calls are routed through Miami headquarters) or even if their phone reads POTENTIAL SPAM.  This has happened to me twice.  First time we were still in port in the Med and I was able to text my daughter to answer any unusual phone number.  It was Miami.  Second time, my son was attending to our leaking roof that we discovered on the morning we were flying to Ft. Lauderdale.  His phone read potential spam and he didn't answer.  

[billc23]

9 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

If there truly is an emergency at home, wondering if this or that procedure will work on a phone isn’t on point.  The procedure given in post #5 will always work.

As long as the person is aboard the ship at the time the call is made...

[RichYak]

4 hours ago, billc23 said:

As long as the person is aboard the ship at the time the call is made...

Exactly. I don’t know why this is so complicated. Enable wifi calling on your mobile phone, purchase an internet package on board, and you’re always available in case of emergency. It’s simple and responsible. 

[markeb]

1 hour ago, RichYak said:

Exactly. I don’t know why this is so complicated. Enable wifi calling on your mobile phone, purchase an internet package on board, and you’re always available in case of emergency. It’s simple and responsible. 

And pay for international roaming if not included for when off the ship. It may not be cheap, but if it’s important it’s worth it. 

[bundtkate]

On 4/11/2024 at 6:59 PM, justcrusn said:

Not everyone uses apple, so if you or anyone you wish to communicate with is on android, that won’t work.

While you can't iMessage an Android user, you can most certainly text them just fine on WiFi. The key is to use MMS (needs a data or wifi connection) instead of SMS (requires a cellular connection). Admittedly, Apple makes this hard to do because they want everyone using iMessage so I always recommend Signal or, if you must, WhatsApp. Since the latter is owned by the data mining blue F site, it's not ideal but it's easier for many and better than nothing.

As a bonus, you can place calls on a data connection over either of these apps as well!