cell phone on Explorer/Bermuda

[Lefty1]

has anyone used an international cell phone on the ship or in bermuda and if so how does it work.

my husband has his own business and i guess in case he needs to touch base with work, wants to know what he should do about using a cell phone - he has nextel now and when he called them they recommended an international cell phone but not sure how it works or if it will even work on ship.

any help would be grateful

[financialgrl]

Recently off the Explorer during hurricane Bertha. I know sometimes heavy atmospheric conditions mess with signals. Before leaving I called Verizon and had to have international calling added as a feature (the capabilitiy itself is free, your calls are not). I was told I needed to update roaming capabilities in the US before getting on ship. Telephone use on ship is expensive ($2.49/minute) so we kept it in safe. In Bermuda it was cheaper (I think it was $1.20 or $1.30/minute) and it worked great in Hamilton and Horseshoe Bay. Strong bars everywhere I went on the island.

 

I heard others say that phones worked sporadically on the ship and as I said above, maybe due to the storms in the area. In any case most said that the place they could get reception if they had it was on their balconies.

 

One other thing - At dinner one night someone at the table with small kids, said he rented a satellite phone because they wanted/needed to contact home to check on small kids. He said he was told that should work anywhere in the world but had some minor trouble with it but was able to use it each day at some places on the ship. So, take it from there.

 

BTW, I think the first compass said you can always call from your stateroom but that is $7.95/minute. Yikes!

[Linda/Ohio]

We've used the satellite phones a few times--same reason--we own a buisness and need to have contact. Going to Bermuda again-so we will need to check it out. I believe we used worldphone.