Telephone calling cards

[RMVET]

We hope to be able to call home occasionally during a world cruise. From what we have heard about various communication methods, calling from the ship will be expensive and cell phones won't work, or won't work without huge roaming fees.

 

A calling card sounds like it might be a better solution, calling from various ports worldwide. The question is, what type of card to buy. The cards that we have seen on sale are for calls from the U.S. to other countries, not the other way around. Does anyone know of a calling card that can be purchased (before we go) that will enable us to call from non-U.S. ports? Or, do we have to purchase a different card for each country? Any information would be greatly appreciated.

[bgbaird]

In a career in the Navy, I used AT&T Direct routinely. You have a number to call from each country that connects you to an AT&T operator in the US.

 

http://www.usa.att.com/traveler/index.jsp

[Jimmers]

We had friends on our last cruise that had international calling put on their verizon cellphone. Susposedly there is no charge for this, you just have to ask for it. Then you can make calls while you are in port. They said the cost per minute wasn't that much at all.

 

As it was explained to me, if you call while the ship is at sea, the call goes off the ship's phone tower and you pay something like $10 a minute.

 

We're doing a TA next year so I'm interested in finding the cheapest way to call home from port myself. Guess it comes down to international cellphone or calling card?

 

Jimmers

[wrp96]

Generally it's best to buy a cheap calling card in each port. Try walking away from the pier a few blocks.

 

Also, don't assume that your cell phone won't work or will be too expensive. For example, AT&T has a link on their pages where you can look up whether your phone will work and what the charges will be to use your phone in each country.

[Benita]

I called ATT and had my cell phone unlocked so I could use SIM cards from other companies. I have a quad band GSM phone. We are going to India next month, so I bought a SIM card for India from Brighroam (http://www.brightroam.com) For $39.00, I have the card in my phone. It comes with an Indian phone number that I can give out to people (or I can call forward from my local cellphone). It costs only 20 cents a minute to get a call or 49 cents a minute to call the US (much better than the $4.00 or so that ATT will charge for using the cell phone for a minute)

THey have cards for all different countries - if it is a world cruise you can get a card that you can use anywhere. You register your credit card, so you are automatically billed for the calls to your card. If you do not have a quad band phone or can not get yours unlocked, they sell unlocked phones for a very reasonable price. For the world cruise, the phone number you get will be based in England. I elected not to call forward my calls, as I do not want to be interrupted for everything while on vacation, but have given out the Indian phone number to close family in case of emergency. There are different rates per minute depending on the country you are calling from - it is all on the website.

[cb at sea]

Definitely wait until you get into the foreign country and THEN buy a calling card! That card will be for calls from that country TO the US!!!! Buy only the amount of minutes you will need, and use a pay phone.

[cruisead]

And don't bother with the calling cards you purchase anywhere in the US, like the ones you get at Walmart or Walgreens. They don't work in most foreign phones. You have to purchase cards in each country you visit. Cell phones don't cost all that much per minute. You just have to make sure your keep your conversations short and call from ports only. If you're on a ship that has satellite at sea, where you can use your cells when your out in the middle of the ocean, those rates can be huge.