Cell Phone Service Help

[kh6275]

I'm cruising on the Holland America Noordam from New York to Grand Turk, Tortola, St. Marten, St. Thomas & San Juan. Does anyone know what cell phone service will work and where? Thanks.

[Guest LoveMyBoxer]

When we sailed on the Noordam in December, we had service everywhere we went. The only thing we could not do was text or send pictures. We were even able to call our families on New Year's Eve/Day from the middle of the ocean. If you use your cell to tell time, bring a watch with you. The time on the cell kept changing all the time to really weird times. You will have a wonderful time, the Noordam is beautiful. Oops, sorry, forgot to mention, we use Verizon.

[Fblack]

Most HAL ships have Cellular@Sea. Most cell phones will work on board the ship, but it's expensive. Maybe LoveMyBoxer can tell you what they paid to make calls from the ship.

[Guest LoveMyBoxer]

This is what I posted on 1/25/07 when I got my bill:

 

Just received my Verizon cell phone bill from our cruise on the Noordam on 12/27-1/6/07. We only used our cell phone on New Year's Eve/Day to call at midnight to our Families. Just to let everyone know, since someone people wanted to know the cost, that while out in the middle of the beautiful ocean the roaming and call for 9 minutes was $9.21. Now I feel guilty rushing through "Happy New Year" calls. Doesn't seem as bad as we thought.

[twinkletoes4445]

When we were on the Zuiderdam, we had cell service. We have Sprint, and most of the time the service worked on the ship, while we were at sea. I don't believe we had service in Grand Turk or Tortola. But once we were out to sea, service returned. When we were in St. Thomas, not only did we have service, but there was no roaming, so we paid our regular fees. We also had cell service with no roaming when we were passing St. Thomas on our way to Tortola.

 

Hubby was told that there were no ship fees for using cell phones, that what we paid was what our cell phone company charged. They also turn off something (not sure what), but that's why we didn't get service on GT or Tortola (while we were on the ship). We also didn't have service on those islands.

 

A few years ago, we notified Sprint that we wanted international calling on our phones (we had a kid living in Paris), so we're guessing our bills will be similar to the ones from then, and the visits we've made to Grand Cayman. I think it was the roaming fee and $1.65 or so a minute. So it's not a bad deal at all.

 

We've not been to St. Marten or San Juan, so I don't know if the phones work there or not, but I am guessing that our phone would work the same in San Juan as they do in St. Thomas.

 

There's also been a lot of discussion about using cell phones on a ship...and people using their phones all the time. We only saw a couple of people on their phones in public places. We only used our phone while we were in our cabin, but as a business owner, it was blessing. As expected, a few things hit the fan and it was nice for hubby to be able to deal with these issues. It would be nice if we could just get away from all this...but it isn't possible for us...at least not at this time.

[noblepa]

Call your provider. Tell them where you're going and ask if they have service in those places. Even if someone here has the same provider, their experiences and costs may not be the same as yours. You may have a different plan that has different coverage. Only your provider can tell you definitively what will work where and how much it will cost.

 

You may have to ask them to activate a service. When we went on the Oosterdam last April to the Mexican Riviera, I called CIngular (our carrier). They had to activate international calling from Mexico. There was no monthly charge, but had I not called, it wouldn't have worked.

 

We're going on the Zuiderdam in April, to St. Thomas, San Juan, and Grand Turk. I checked Cingular's website and I'm pretty sure that St. Thomas and San Juan are covered and are in fact inluded in my plan, so I shouldn't even pay any extra. I'll call them and check on Grand Turk.

[Crusin-Suzan]

I used my Sprint phone in Mexico a few months ago and it was free. I do have no charge roaming on my phone but I did expect to get minute charges. We are going on the Rotterdam 4/5 to the Med and will call sprint to see if I can get international roaming.

[twinkletoes4445]

I used my Sprint phone in Mexico a few months ago and it was free. I do have no charge roaming on my phone but I did expect to get minute charges. We are going on the Rotterdam 4/5 to the Med and will call sprint to see if I can get international roaming.

 

Hopefully, it will work. Our son called us on his Sprint phone from France, Switzerland and I believe Germany.

[mamaofami]

Just got off the Noordam. For the first two days out, my phone said no service. Then I walked into the cabin one night and a second later the phone rang. It was my daughter hysterical because her passport was in my vault and she isn't on the vault. A few phone calls to the bank manager and then getting her the key (during which she set off my home burglar alarm and had to call the police not to come) solved the problem for her. Was I happy to have cell service?

 

Anyway, there were times on board when the phone said roaming and then two minutes later there was service. We had service in every port. We use verizon.

 

Actually, had the phone not worked, my daughter would have missed her vacation in St. John.

[innlady1]

Just got off the Noordam. For the first two days out, my phone said no service. Then I walked into the cabin one night and a second later the phone rang. It was my daughter hysterical because her passport was in my vault and she isn't on the vault. A few phone calls to the bank manager and then getting her the key (during which she set off my home burglar alarm and had to call the police not to come) solved the problem for her. Was I happy to have cell service?

 

Anyway, there were times on board when the phone said roaming and then two minutes later there was service. We had service in every port. We use verizon.

 

Actually, had the phone not worked, my daughter would have missed her vacation in St. John.

 

We had about the same luck with our Verizon. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. The atomic clock always had the hour wrong on the phone....very weird. Glad, for your daughter's sake, that you were able to have service!

[x lindsay x]

I had no issue texting on the Volendam with Cingular. The best part was that it only cost me $.10/message, no extra charge!!!!