POH Verizon

[Royal2000H]

Hey

we're going on the POH this coming up week and are wondering if there is cell phone reception at sea there with verizon or at least in the ports.

 

We have a plan where we can be anywhere in the US (incl Hawaii) without paying roaming fees, etc....

 

the question is, does the ship cruise close enough to land to get reception.

 

Thanks!

So excited!!

[fw2007]

We sailed POH 08/6 through 08/13 and also have Verizon. Some of the time we were out to sea the phones would lose reception but that mostly occurred late at night. The ship is docked or sailing close to islands so much of the time that we rarely were without phone service.

 

There were also a few dead spots on the ship - the gift shop and theater come to mind.

 

Have fun!!

[beachchick]

We had good service on PoH throughout the islands as long as we were close enough to land to pick up the cell towers. We even had good reception around the back of the Na Pali coast.

 

beachchick

[momof5js]

We have Verizon also with nationwide roaming. We sailed the week of July 23rd & seemed to have service all the time. However we tried to use our phone only while off the ship. I had read on here that if you use your phone on ship then it's routed thru the ship cell tower. And you pay $4.95 per minute.

 

We haven't got our new bill yet, so I'm waiting to see if we have those charges or not.

 

So be careful.

[bakechef]

We have Verizon also with nationwide roaming. We sailed the week of July 23rd & seemed to have service all the time. However we tried to use our phone only while off the ship. I had read on here that if you use your phone on ship then it's routed thru the ship cell tower. And you pay $4.95 per minute.

 

We haven't got our new bill yet, so I'm waiting to see if we have those charges or not.

 

So be careful.

 

Actually, if the ship has cell service, verizon charges $2.49 per minute, as does most other cell carriers, the exception being T-mobile that charges $4.99 per minute.

 

I don't believe that NCLA ships have cell towers. So any signal you get will be from land, so no roaming should be charged.

 

MAC

[Royal2000H]

how can we know if we're connected through a regular tower or the ship's tower?

 

wouldn't want to be using the phone for an hour of internet (or talking) to later find out that I spent $150

[GreatLakes]

I stopped into the Verizon store and specifically asked about service while cruising Hawaii. They informed me I would have service while in ports, but to not keep the phone on while at sea since they did not have towers on the ship and I would be charged a hefty fee for the cell phone use. I will just keep my phone turned off while cruising, and turn it on when off the ship.

[bakechef]

how can we know if we're connected through a regular tower or the ship's tower?

 

wouldn't want to be using the phone for an hour of internet (or talking) to later find out that I spent $150

 

You should see a SOLID roam indicator. A blinking roam indicator would mean you are roaming for free.

 

I don't believe ships towers offer the internet side of the service.

 

If your banner says Verizon Wireless you should be OK. Call Verizon for further clarification.

 

MAC

[beachchick]

Actually, if the ship has cell service, verizon charges $2.49 per minute, as does most other cell carriers, the exception being T-mobile that charges $4.99 per minute.

 

I don't believe that NCLA ships have cell towers. So any signal you get will be from land, so no roaming should be charged.

 

MAC

 

That's correct. The NCLA Pride of X ships do not have cell towers onboard. Any signal you get is from one of the land towers. The good: No "roaming at sea" charges--Thank goodness. The bad (well, for others; I'm happy about it): No service when too far from the islands to have a signal.

 

If you're on one of the ships that have cell towers onboard, you can expect at least $2.49 per minute roaming on top of whatever your normal charges might be. It doesn't matter whether your phone says "roaming" because the "X-phone-company at sea" is the roaming indicator. The company which operates the cell tower at sea will charge for the service, no matter who your phone carrier is. And be careful about using your phone in port while on the ship because often/usually, the onboard carrier "nabs" the call and routes it through the ship tower--so you get dinged for the "at sea" charges even though you think you're picking up service from a land tower. (No personal experience with this, but have heard easily 50 reports from others who got surprised with a nasty bill when they returned home.)

 

beachchick

[CC Help Michell]

I stopped into the Verizon store and specifically asked about service while cruising Hawaii. They informed me I would have service while in ports, but to not keep the phone on while at sea since they did not have towers on the ship and I would be charged a hefty fee for the cell phone use. I will just keep my phone turned off while cruising, and turn it on when off the ship.

 

Another good reason to keep the phone off while cruising is that there are no towers, but your phone wants to find one. We couldn't figure out why we were having to recharge our batteries so often the first couple of days, until we realized that since we'd left the phones on, the poor things were working their little hearts out trying to find a signal! Once we turned them off on the ship, the battery depletion returned to normal rates.