Do HAL ships have fax numbers?

[Sue's Mom]

My mobile phone is not tri-band so I do not propose to take it when we cruise in a couple of weeks. I have given our daughter the details from HAL's website about telephoning the ship, in case of emergency. But we are not going to be aboard for a lot of the time and I would like to give her a fax number.

[jtl513]

I don't know ... but why not just use email?

[RuthC]

If you're not on the ship, you won't be there to receive a fax.

 

Your cabin telephone has voice mail. You will get a message just as quickly if the emergency number is called and a message is left on your cabin phone.

[Krazy Kruizers]

In your documents you should have been given a couple of cards with all the ship's telephone overseas numbers on it. Just make certain that you give your daughter the correct number along with your cabin number.

[sail7seas]

Voicemail on the ships is not always totally reliable.

 

We had an instance where a Captain called us and left a message. Really.

 

We never recieved it. There was no red message light and later when he asked us about it, we checked the phone again and Nope......no message.

 

[WeLoveCruising]

I had to receive an emergency fax once, on the Ryndam. It was from work (ugh!, but it was a real emergency and I needed to be reached). However, the fax was delivered to my room two days after it was sent, and it clearly was marked "URGENT".

 

On other occassions, I had to call DH while he was on the ship and I was home. The phones arent that reliable, either, and its hit or miss that the person you're calling will be in their cabin to get the call. And if they're not, as S7S said, I dont trust the voicemail in an emergency.

 

When we cruise, we check email from home daily to make sure all is ok.

 

On another note, there is cell phone service (albeit expensive) available through some carriers on the ship. You dont need a tri-band phone for it. I have Verizon and it works fine (something like $2.95 per minute?), but I know certain plans do and do not work onboard.

 

Edited:

Oops, just read that you are from the UK, so the on board cell service probably wont work with your phone (Sorry)

[Jade13]

Voicemail on the ships is not always totally reliable.

 

We had an instance where a Captain called us and left a message. Really.

 

We never recieved it. There was no red message light and later when he asked us about it, we checked the phone again and Nope......no message.

 

 

So, maybe he tried to call you but left the message on the wrong cabin number, which would not mean the message machine was broken. On the smaller older ships I have been on they used to leave the notes right in the cabin (but maybe those ships did not have phones in the cabins. I can't recall).

[Jade13]

I had to receive an emergency fax once, on the Ryndam. It was from work (ugh!, but it was a real emergency and I needed to be reached). However, the fax was delivered to my room two days after it was sent, and it clearly was marked "URGENT".

 

On other occassions, I had to call DH while he was on the ship and I was home. The phones arent that reliable, either, and its hit or miss that the person you're calling will be in their cabin to get the call. And if they're not, as S7S said, I dont trust the voicemail in an emergency.

 

When we cruise, we check email from home daily to make sure all is ok.

 

On another note, there is cell phone service (albeit expensive) available through some carriers on the ship. You dont need a tri-band phone for it. I have Verizon and it works fine (something like $2.95 per minute?), but I know certain plans do and do not work onboard.

 

Edited:

Oops, just read that you are from the UK, so the on board cell service probably wont work with your phone (Sorry)

 

The roaming with Seamobile is $4.99 per minute (at least with T-Mobile), which is less than the $16.00 per minute to call the ship. I believe the person calling needs to give a credit card number prior to connecting to the ship etc. It would be better for the OP to purchase a Mobal phone for $49.00 or $99.00. It comes with pre-paid minutes etc. They can use it on another trip as they keep the number.

[Sue's Mom]

It would be better for the OP to purchase a Mobal phone for $49.00 or $99.00. It comes with pre-paid minutes etc. They can use it on another trip as they keep the number.

 

 

That idea sounded good - until I read that it is only available to North American residents.

 

Oh well, I suppose I will just have to find time to check emails, although $16 per minute is nothing in a dire emergency.

[WeLoveCruising]

The roaming with Seamobile is $4.99 per minute (at least with T-Mobile), which is less than the $16.00 per minute to call the ship. I believe the person calling needs to give a credit card number prior to connecting to the ship etc. It would be better for the OP to purchase a Mobal phone for $49.00 or $99.00. It comes with pre-paid minutes etc. They can use it on another trip as they keep the number.

 

I've called the ship many times for $15-$16 per minute from my home phone, (my DH used to work for HAL), it didnt require a credit card and it was just billed to my home phone.

 

We've done the mobile international phone, too. I agree if they need that kind of accessibility that its the best choice.

[Jade13]

[quote name=WeLoveCruising;

We've done the mobile international phone' date=' too. I agree if they need that kind of accessibility that its the best choice.[/quote]

 

We were with a driver in Italy going from Siena back to Rome and our T-Mobile would not work and neither would our Italian drivers phone with local service, yet I pulled out the Mobal and connected to the US right away. It has a UK number and the charges per minute were fairly close to T-Mobile roaming since I have the two bills to compare. So now I've put the Mobal away but will take it along when we go to South America, just in case.

[WeLoveCruising]

We were with a driver in Italy going from Siena back to Rome and our T-Mobile would not work and neither would our Italian drivers phone with local service, yet I pulled out the Mobal and connected to the US right away. It has a UK number and the charges per minute were fairly close to T-Mobile roaming since I have the two bills to compare. So now I've put the Mobal away but will take it along when we go to South America, just in case.

 

Yes, we must have used the same service. My DH went on the Westerdam in Europe last year and used one of those phones. It had a UK number and was pretty reasonable, I thought. I think we called Verizon and they referred us to the company. They took our Credit Card number and the international phone was fed ex'd to us the next day, with prepaid minutes.

[sail7seas]

So, maybe he tried to call you but left the message on the wrong cabin number, which would not mean the message machine was broke.........

 

 

No, that was not the case.

 

When we told him we never received the message, he said they 'had been having trouble with the phones'.

 

I think he probably dialed the phone correctly..... ;)

[sail7seas]

I don't think AT & T service works on the ships.