cell phone service question

[bobbycruiser]

i will be leaving from brooklyn to go to bermuda, st thomas, san juan and grand turk next saturday. i do not plan to spend a lot of time on the phone but my father will be getting a surgical procedure done while im away. i was just curious as to where my cell phone would work and if the rates are ridiculous or not. i am pretty sure ill get roaming charges someplace but im not positive where or roughly how much.

 

some people have told me that verizon services san juan so no charges there but is this true?

 

please help me, any and all help would be awesome:)

[ShillyShally]

I used my Verizon phone in San juan with no additional surcharges - it was great! Now my Nextel did NOT work which was fine since that is my work one!

[C-Ked]

One thing I've heard is that if you're in an area where you don't get regular service, you should turn your phone off -- many wireless providers charge you international rates every time you receive a call, regardless of whether you pick it up or not. So I'd definitely check with your service provider to see where you're covered, and what their international rates are.

[phoenix1181]

From the ship it's $2.49/minute. That charge is assessed even if the call doesn't go through! I was calling an 800 number (I knew it wouldn't be free) and got a message in Spanish that I couldn't understand. When I got my bill, I was charged $2.49 for each attempt. My roaming setting needed to be changed for use on the ship, but it took awhile to figure that out!

[kitty9]

What ship are you on? Some ships have cell phones at sea service, and boy, I learned from experience, it's expensive, when you add on the access fees and roaming charges. If you call from the ship, if your ship has cell phone at sea service, the fees with roaming charges and all can run as high as $6 a minute !!! My last T Mobile bill was huge because of connection and roaming charges. You will get regular service in San Juan and St Thomas, but not anyplace else unless you have a phone with international calling features. You will need either a GSM or GPRS phone to connect in other places or on board the ship.

[suezyq50]

Call your provider and talk to them about. I was surprised how cheap it was.

[dforeigner]

Here is a site you may want to check out. Be advised that it is not up to date:

 

www.cellularatsea.com

[trish1c]

It's not uniform. My cabin mate & I both had Verizon. There were times standing next to each other that she had signal when I did not & vice versa. Text worked better than voice but it was inconsistent.

 

Certain ships have deals with certain lines & you can always make calls if you match but there are roaming charges.

[hockeymom97]

I agree with the last poster - both my Bf and I have Verizon and I had no problem getting service but he had many issues. But I also have a much newer phone than he does - I'm assuming that may have been the issue? the only time I had some issues with service is when we were out to sea. In all of the ports (San Juan, St Thomas, St Kitts, Grenada, Aruba and Bonaire) I had service.

[Dusie]

I wanted to check on things back home. I visited my Sprint provider ahead of time and they told me I might be able to get reception (with roaming charges) on several islands. I should just try. They did assure me that I would definitley get service on St Thomas with no roaming. That was true but, No other islands worked.

[Old Pete]

...If you call from the ship, if your ship has cell phone at sea service, the fees with roaming charges and all can run as high as $6 a minute !!!

Still cheaper that what the ship charges if you use their ship-to-shore.

I have Sprint and although never had a chance to use it in Caribbean, going to Alaska I made one call while at sea. The charge - aforementioned $2.49\minute.