Cell Phone Questions

[Annefran]

Morning All,

 

My DD & I are headed out on the Explorer next month for a 12 night Caribbean cruise. We both have Verizon cell phones. I've been researching whether to rent a Global Cell phone for the cruise or just add temporary international service to our phones for the cruise. I don't plan on making a lot of calls (at least once a day) but want to be able to phone home to check in on my elderly mother etc. I wasn't sure we would be able to use our regular cell phones while at sea, we have 2 seadays going and coming back on this cruise. Would appreciate your experiences or assistance with any information you have.

 

Thanks and Happy Cruising, Anne:D

[cb at sea]

We, too, have Verizon, and could get no signal most of the time! (Explorer may have added some sort of tower by now...I don't know)

If you are in port, it's very easy to call from a pay phone using an international calling card that you purchase at that port. E-mail is also a possiblity and a very economical way to "touch base".

Realize that should something happen with your mom that requires your presence, YOU will be called!

When I called Verizon to check on the temp. Int'l service, they were about as uninformed about the whole thing as I was!!!!!!

[poohs4me]

We also have verizon and I was wondering the same thing. I actually called them and they said I had to do nothing. I thought you had to enable some international calling, but they said no. They did say we needed to dial *228 to obtain the newest cell tower locations or something like that. I will probably try calling them again before we go because something definately did not seem right.

[Annefran]

Thanks for your input. Anyone else rent a cell phone to take with you or upgrade your own cell for the cruise?

[azdteapot23]

Thanks for your input. Anyone else rent a cell phone to take with you or upgrade your own cell for the cruise?

 

To rent an international phone through Verizon is very expensive. I looked into doing it for a 2 week business trip I had in Italy. They require a $300 deposit and then charge something like $15 a day + 70 cents a minute.

 

I have verizon and had no problems getting a signal with my regular phone in St. Thomas and St. Maarten last year. My parents called me when I was in St. Maartan and we talked for 10-15 minutes. The bill for that call was about $1 a minute.

 

I didn't have to do anything special to get my phone to work there. As soon as we pulled into port my phone started ringing with a voicemail from verizon saying something about being in an international calling area.

[Brooklyn1985]

Morning All,

 

My DD & I are headed out on the Explorer next month for a 12 night Caribbean cruise. We both have Verizon cell phones. I've been researching whether to rent a Global Cell phone for the cruise or just add temporary international service to our phones for the cruise. I don't plan on making a lot of calls (at least once a day) but want to be able to phone home to check in on my elderly mother etc. I wasn't sure we would be able to use our regular cell phones while at sea, we have 2 seadays going and coming back on this cruise. Would appreciate your experiences or assistance with any information you have.

 

Thanks and Happy Cruising, Anne:D

Last year I went to the caribean and my verizon phone worked almost perfectly on Carnival Valor. It was very rare when I could not get a signal. Cost me a fortune in calls . . . . . but it worked!

 

Also if you are bringing a laptop look into "skype", you can make calls using a pair of headphones if you have an internet connection.

[Brooklyn1985]

Morning All,

 

My DD & I are headed out on the Explorer next month for a 12 night Caribbean cruise. We both have Verizon cell phones. I've been researching whether to rent a Global Cell phone for the cruise or just add temporary international service to our phones for the cruise. I don't plan on making a lot of calls (at least once a day) but want to be able to phone home to check in on my elderly mother etc. I wasn't sure we would be able to use our regular cell phones while at sea, we have 2 seadays going and coming back on this cruise. Would appreciate your experiences or assistance with any information you have.

 

Thanks and Happy Cruising, Anne:D

Last year I went to the caribean and my verizon phone worked almost perfectly on Carnival Valor. It was very rare when I could not get a signal. Cost me a fortune in calls . . . . . but it worked!

 

Also if you are bringing a laptop look into "skype", you can make calls using a pair of headphones if you have an internet connection.

[Bean72]

My DH's Verizon phone worked pretty well on most days on Liberty, my nextel didn't work at all.... although, here in the states, it's not much better!!

[Alexis]

I had a family sickness and called daily.

Your own cell phone is cheaper.

I have Verizon and it cost me $2.49 per minute outside of the US/San Juan. Free until I left there on my minutes. If not, I could still have used it in ports for the same price, and I did often. ;)

The ship was $7.95 per minute to use their phones.

Before I left home, I called Verizon and they put me on International over the phone. On the cruise, it would roam and pick up anywhere we went except Margarita Island, Venezuela. No phone or computer service there for the whole day.

It is definitely worth it to use your own by first checking with your own company.

My service was perfect the whole trip. I had no cut offs or interruptions at all. I had a clear signal every time I used the phone from where ever I called from all over the Southern Caribbean.

[beachgal58]

i canceled my contract with verizon b/c of this reason! they charged me $30 roaming from st thomas a few yrs ago, it didnt say roaming on the phone and some nut told me if they have the tower, it is fine! uh-huh..they wanted to take the charge off...no thanks...i went to k-mart adn bought a tracfone for $20, it came with 60 minutes on it. and the service as well..i now own 2 tracfones, i use all over, they subtract minutes accordingly. long distance they will subtract 2 instead of 1...we go to st thomas on alot of cruises, i called my mother in st louis and talked for about 15 min..i couldnt even tell they took off about 10 minutes..we love the tracfones, if u dont want to renew the service, throw it away. its worth it to me. i bought one just to use for vacation, the phone was about $18 and it cost me $20 for 60 min and 3 months of service..i still have that one too. i have to buy service every 3-4 months, about 120. a year. if u dont use the minutes, they roll over as long as u keep the phone service and they offer u another month for $5 so it cost me $25 andi get 4 months/60 min..u can add more time if u need it. and no monthly bill! they have them that text also..and the calls r very clear and dont cost me, and..if i misplace the phone so what? someone steals it they get my 20 bucks worth and thats it. k-mart has these phones for 14.95 right now.... dont think i will ever have a monthly bill from a cell phone again..even got one for my folks..they love it too..hope this helps..cindy

[abhb]

We have Verizon and used it on NOS in January. DH actually got a job offer on the ship just before we sailed. Called home a few times. Phone only worked in certain places on the ship. We had a PR room and got no signal. Got our Veriozon bill yesterday and was charged only about $10.00 for the calls for the roaming time. We did have them put international service on our phones before we left. We have unlimited test and did that alot on the ship.

[Amlee]

You need to call 611 from your phone and have idial added to your phone. This doesn't cost you a thing.

 

Your phone will work on the ship on sea days, but the cost is $2.49 a minute for calls. .50 for text sent and .05 for text received.

 

 

To see if Verzion has coverage to the islands you are visiting follow the link below:

 

http://b2b.vzw.com/international/Roaming/rates_coverage.html

 

Scroll to the bottom and you will see all the cruise lines that Verizon has service on. Roll your curser over the RCI and you will see a list of cruise ships come up.

[OttoCal]

From Mariner in January. We only used the phones while we were docked, as there the local roaming charges of 99 cents to 1.29 per minute applied, as opposed to while sailing, when it was at least 2.49 per minute.

 

Texts/pics received: 5 cents each,

Texts/pics sent 50 cents each.

 

So:

6 minute call from Jamaica: $7.74

 

7 minute call from somewhere: $9.03

 

11 text/pix messages sent: $5.50

 

20 messages received: $1.00

 

Hopes this helps for planning, and for the OP if you are planing to call every day, you should plan your budget accordinly, you could easily rack up $100 or more on those quick calls. You do need to activate I-Dial or International Dialing on each line you intend to use.

[Annefran]

Thanks so much everyone for your experiences and information. It was extremely helpful. I'd rather use our own cell phones instead of renting. Just need to ensure that they will work on sea days and in most of the islands we are visiting. I looked up the islands and I think it did indeed cover them. I'm planning on visiting a Verizon store's customer service to talk to them a week before we sail to ensure we have the best and cheapest coverage. Thanks again, Happy Cruising to you all! ;)

[Amlee]

Thanks so much everyone for your experiences and information. It was extremely helpful. I'd rather use our own cell phones instead of renting. Just need to ensure that they will work on sea days and in most of the islands we are visiting. I looked up the islands and I think it did indeed cover them. I'm planning on visiting a Verizon store's customer service to talk to them a week before we sail to ensure we have the best and cheapest coverage. Thanks again, Happy Cruising to you all! ;)

 

 

Sadly most of the stores are not very informed about international travel, much less cell at sea. It's best to call Verizon's International people directly. I hope I can do this. Their # is 1 800 711 8300.

[rockinrobin614]

We just resigned up with verizon and have unlimited text. Does anybody know if we will get charged if i were to text home from the cruise ship? Going on my first cruise without relatives and they want to be able to check up on me.

Thanks

[Amlee]

We just resigned up with verizon and have unlimited text. Does anybody know if we will get charged if i were to text home from the cruise ship? Going on my first cruise without relatives and they want to be able to check up on me.

Thanks

 

.50 to send

.05 to receive

[ME Guide]

Hi Beachgal,

Thank you for your information about tracfone. I too have been sold on this phone and pay by the year to keep my minutes for the limited use but hundred percent security it gives me. No monthly bills and in the long run, has paid for itself and helped with my peace of mind when I'm on the road.

I'm cruising the Caribbean in April. I wonder if it will work in places like Cozumel, Caymen, Labadee? I read on some thread that the sims card could fry? Any ideas?

I just might take the chance. Would like to call my elderly mom a couple of times.

thanks again for your post