Cingular cell phone use on ship

[Linda-B]

I am going on the Sun out of New Orleans. I called Cingular and NCL and got different answers to my questions.

 

Cingular said there would be a ships charge($2.49 p/m) for the use from the moment you stepped on the ship- even at the dock in NO.

NCL said there would only be ship charges when the ship got to international waters.

Does anyone know the answer from past bills?

 

By the way--I was told that if you bring the phone with you on the ship and a message comes in and goes to voice mail(even with your phone off) you will be charged the $2.49 per minute.

[marshmouse]

I talked to Cingular and what I was told is that when you are in international water you are charged $2.50 a minute. When you are near an island that is included in long distance there is no charge, such as San Juan, St. Thomas, ect. The cheapest way to keep in touch is text messaging, because the most extra you would be charged is 25cents a message. Your phone will be roaming when you are not near a cingular tower, so you will know if you will be charged or not. I hope this helps.

[4406]

I just returned from the Sun and I took a $20 Trackfone with two 60 minute cards. (Activate it before you leave). It worked like a champ. Incoming text messages were free. Outgoing text were .3 (point 3) units and calls in or out were 1 min/1 unit. I had great reception except in the ports. That's when the ship switches off the cell service. As soon as you leave port, it works great and is much cheaper then any other cell service. You don't need to dial special codes, just the area code and number.

[TDSeest]

I am going on the Sun out of New Orleans. I called Cingular and NCL and got different answers to my questions.

 

Cingular said there would be a ships charge($2.49 p/m) for the use from the moment you stepped on the ship- even at the dock in NO.

NCL said there would only be ship charges when the ship got to international waters.

Does anyone know the answer from past bills?

 

By the way--I was told that if you bring the phone with you on the ship and a message comes in and goes to voice mail(even with your phone off) you will be charged the $2.49 per minute.

 

NCL is correct; you are only charged when the ship's cell tower is working which is in international waters. Cingular lied to me about this before a cruise about two years ago, when it first became available, and stuck me with a $1200.00 bill. I dropped them and refused to pay it. Nothing annoys me more than when customer service just makes up answers. It also annoys me that they charge roaming when you are on their service on their network.

 

But, no one else is any better.

[Brooklynos]

I work for Cingular and it is 2.49 a minute while using your phone(gonna leave mine off, too expensive!!!). Neither myself of my co-workers have heard of the 2.49 amin for voicemails left to you with your phone off or on. Now checking them is 2.49 a minute from cell because you are using you phone to check it. I will check on this and post back.

[Brooklynos]

I just talked to my friend in customer care. If your phone is powered off the whole trip until you are back in your car in Nola then you will not be charged is what I'm being told. What I am going to do is leave my sim card behind but use an old inactive sim card in my phone in order to use it's alarm clock and camera functions. You are charged if someone leaves you a voicemail for a one minute charge of 2.49 even if the message is longer assuming you don't retreive it. To be safe I would leave my cell phone behind or at lease use an inactive in it. Hope that clears it up.:)

[Bettyboop66]

Are all NCL ships like this? We will be cruising in Hawaii but after I read this I called NCL and they said that the ships tower isn't on while in port, I'm looking forward to calling people and making them jealous.LOL. But I don't want to pay $2.49 a minute. Has anyone cruised recently that has an answer for us?

[garycarla]

you might want to check a bit more, but many Hawaii folks have indicated their phone were picking up the land based towers in Hawaii.

[jahulsizer]

Are all NCL ships like this? We will be cruising in Hawaii but after I read this I called NCL and they said that the ships tower isn't on while in port, I'm looking forward to calling people and making them jealous.LOL. But I don't want to pay $2.49 a minute. Has anyone cruised recently that has an answer for us?

I am going on the Pride of Aloha in a couple of weeks and called US Cellular (my carrier) and I included roaming for a month and they said there should be no extra charge except the 10.00 for the 100 minutes I have.

[saints25]

what is a trackphone

[shoreguy]

Are all NCL ships like this? We will be cruising in Hawaii but after I read this I called NCL and they said that the ships tower isn't on while in port, I'm looking forward to calling people and making them jealous.LOL. But I don't want to pay $2.49 a minute. Has anyone cruised recently that has an answer for us?

 

There is no tower onboard the NCLA ships (pride of XXXXX) The Wind does have its own onboard cell service. When in a Hawaii port your calls should be like any domestic call on your plan. Make them all jealous:D

[garycarla]

what is a trackphone

 

Actually it is a tracfone. It is a prepaid cellphone service. No contract.

 

You can do a google search and get this

[hsc]

I used my cell phone on our Feb. cruise on the Star even on the ship when in port. I just received my bill and for over 65 minutes of cell phone use, my roaming fees are $31.00/ .59 cents a minute in Mexico. My text was $6.00/ .50 cents per text . My cell phone was turned off when I was not using it and I checked my voice mail when in port. Text messages are the sames no matter if you use it on ship or shore. If your cell phone says anything but Cingular at sea [believe me we had to be far out at sea] don't use it, you will pay the $2.49 per minute. Cheapest phone calls I have payed being out of the USA. Cingular has different set fees for different countries and islands, just check with Cingular, ask for the international calling specialist. Even at $2.49 a minute much cheaper than ship to shore. Just make sure that you add the countries to your calling plan the cost is $4.99 /mo. just remove it when you get back and it will be prorated.

[palmtre2]

I didn't know you had to add countries, I had explained to Cingular that I would be in the caribbean and Mexico (not really specific) and they added international calling to my bill for $4.99/mo. You know I still haven't taken it off my bill, so I can use it this year.

[tld9969]

When traveling in Hawaii; Cingular told me that you should just use you phone when you are on the island and you would not be roaming. If you use it on the ship you will have to pay the maritime cell rate. Which is not bad since we are docked till 8 pretty much every day.

[garycarla]

When traveling in Hawaii; Cingular told me that you should just use you phone when you are on the island and you would not be roaming. If you use it on the ship you will have to pay the maritime cell rate. Which is not bad since we are docked till 8 pretty much every day.

 

that is pretty good advice, BUT

 

(there is always a BUT)

 

As I understand it, there are no cell towers on the NCL-America ships, so you therefore can NOT make calls via the "maritime" rate. If you get a signal, it will be from shore, so you should be okay. But, if one of the other NCL ships happens to go to Hawaii, then it may have their towers turned on, and then you are using them for "At Sea" calls.

[LateCruiser]

It's a VACATION:D ! Leave them at home or turn them off. Give the NCL emergency contact number to your closest relative and go have FUN!.:) Remember, it wasn't too many years ago that we all got along just fine without them.

[watchdiva]

I agree with LateCruiser's philosophy and DH and I will NOT have our cell phones turned on once we embark. We will only turn them on again when we disembark so that we can call for car service in case our driver gets lost (again:eek: ). Our kids are grown and our respective jobs will just have to live without connectivity for 9 days.....

 

I'm old enough to remember cruising in the days before laptops, walkie-talkies on board, cell phones, etc. I'm on my hard-earned vacation and all of the "stuff" at work and otherwise will still be there when we return home.

 

We leave the ship's emergency # with our children and in over 20+ years of cruising it's only been used once (DH's mother passed away while we were cruising).

[LateCruiser]

WatchDiva - Have a great time on the Pearl. It is a "Simply Irresitable" ship. The crew was great, food was great, what more can I say. We loved her:) :) !. If you run into Clarence around the pool or in Spinaker's, tell him the Oklahoma bunch says hello (he'll understand).

[Ghia]

Amen, Latecruiser. Leave the phones at home. I don't like the idea of listening to someone on their telephone as I'm trying to enjoy a peaceful cruise. ;)

[MSEm]

Cingular has 2 plans:

INTENATIONAL: Gives you a discounted rates for calling FROM the USA to other countries.

WORLDWIDE: Lets you make and receive calls when in other countries.

 

Many Cingular reps think International and Worldwide are the same. They are 2 differnt plans. I had to go in to local center and I keep telling the rep WORLDWIDE. She keept saying International to the central office. Finally I got the pamplet on WORLDWIDE and showed her. "Oh, I though it was the same thing, I didn't know there was a difference.."

Good luck