Do cell phones work

[boilermom]

Just found out I will be taking a special int'l phone - do they work on the ship? Thanks ( Its Nextel)

[cruiser1163]

Yep! It's expensive, though. My brother's fiance turned 21 on our last cruise and called home to mom. They talked for about 15 minutes and were charged about $50.

[Firefighterhoop]

Each Cell phone provider is different. CHECK FIRST. I have heard of people being charged 2.95 a minute to 5.95 a minute!!!!:eek: Again, Check first!!!. I'd hate to get that suprise bill at the end of the month!

[boilermom]

yes - they told me 1.99/min - we are on Explorer southern and suprsingly t hey said it would not work in PR, St Thom or St marteen but would in Barbados Dominica Antigua with spotty service for St Kitts

[Gonzo70]

Its not your cell phone that is charging you if you use it at sea, it is RCL. They have their own cell tower on the ship and charge a fee (I forget the exact amount but it is about $2.50 a minutes). This gets billed directly to your cell phone along with whatever additional roaming and per minute fees your cell phone company charges.

 

The ship must turn their cell tower off when at and near ports as they are not authorized as a land based cell carrier. When in port if you have a signal you will only be charged your cell phone company's charges and not any RCL charges.

[crusinmama06]

Yep they work. But please don't be like my MIL who thought that her "free monthly minutes" would work on the ship...lol. She came home to a $499 cell phone bill :eek:

[PR1957]

Cellular services at Sea are provided by Wireless Maritime Services. Check out additional information including ships using their services and roaming rates at: http://www.cellularatsea.com/endusers.htm

[Lyncruiser]

Also, be very careful with the new Apple I-Phone (and presumably blackberries). We understood that if kept on while on board the ship and at sea, they will be in constant connection to the ship's tower in order to receive e-mails on a real time basis. Before we left on our cruise, we heard about someone who inadvertently ran up a $2,000 bill with their I-Phone. So, we insisted my nephew turn off his I-Phone the minute we left port and not turn it back on until we reached a U.S. location such as St. Thomas.

[robntawn]

Just an FYI...I know the OP has Nexxtel, but my info is about T-Mobile and Blackberry. If you have a Blackberry Internet/Email plan, you can use this overseas on any GSM network without incurring extra roaming charges. With T-Mobile, outgoing text messages are $0.35, and incoming messages are $0.15. Call costs vary by port, but Grand Cayman, Jamaica, and Cozumel are $1.49/min, Haiti is $1.99/min, and calls from the Freedom are $4.99/min.

[ColoradoMom!!]

OK - so with T-Mobile, I can use IN port at the above rates you mentioned? I looked in up on the T-mobile web site, and they are quoting $4.99 a minute on the Mariner, but like you said, cheaper rates according to ports. How far in off the ship do you think you should be to make sure your phone isn't still using the ship's signal? The rate difference is huge!

[robntawn]

OK - so with T-Mobile, I can use IN port at the above rates you mentioned? I looked in up on the T-mobile web site, and they are quoting $4.99 a minute on the Mariner, but like you said, cheaper rates according to ports. How far in off the ship do you think you should be to make sure your phone isn't still using the ship's signal? The rate difference is huge!

Supposedly, the ship's cell tower is turned off when in port. I plan on verifying this once onboard!

[PR1957]

The ships cellular service is turned off when in port. You can tell by looking at the display on your phone. You'll be connected to the ships network when at sea and then your phone will roam to a cellular provider on the island when in port.

[watsor1]

On the first cruise we were on that had cell phone service at sea "Celluar At Sea" I made an interesting observation. While I was having numerous cups of morning coffee, a lady sat down within earshot, whipped out that cell phone and started calling everybody in her phone book. She gabbed on that thing for about an hour and a half, always mentioning about how her "Cingular" service was working on the ship, and would end each conversation with a comment about how she was using up her "minutes".

 

I had a picture in my mind of the surprise she had when she opened her next cell phone bill.:D