Cell Phone Usage on NCL?

[Stuttsy]

Hi all,

 

1st time cruiser coming up in a few weeks. Curious as to how the usage of cell phones works on a ship. My father has been having some health issues and I am supremely interested in staying in touch with the family, just in case anything should happen.

 

If I call to check on him, what type of funky international rates am I looking at? Do these rates apply to sending/receiving texts? I'm cruising on the Majesty from charleston to florida and the bahamas on 3/21. If it means any difference, I am with Verizon with unlimited texts and picture messages.

 

Furthermore, if cell phone usage seems impractically expensive, what are alternative means of contacting home or being contacted by people at home, just in case?

 

Thanks!

[Heronymous]

Hi Stutsy,

I'm new too to Crusing so I researched this as well last week. You're definitely going to want to call your carrier and ask them for rates. When sailing on a cruise, you are charged international roaming rates as soon as you leave port and start using the ship's cell 'towers'. Most cell carriers have international roaming plans which reduce the cost of using the phone, but not by much. It's still VERY expensive to use the phone, and in most cases just leaving your phone on without even touching it will incur expensive charges, especially if your phone is a data-intensive phone such as a Blackberry or iPhone. Trust me, contact your carrier to get information word of mouth and make sure you note who you spoke to and when since some carriers have been known to give misinformation by inexperienced reps. Good luck!

 

Hi all,

 

1st time cruiser coming up in a few weeks. Curious as to how the usage of cell phones works on a ship. My father has been having some health issues and I am supremely interested in staying in touch with the family, just in case anything should happen.

 

If I call to check on him, what type of funky international rates am I looking at? Do these rates apply to sending/receiving texts? I'm cruising on the Majesty from charleston to florida and the bahamas on 3/21. If it means any difference, I am with Verizon with unlimited texts and picture messages.

 

Furthermore, if cell phone usage seems impractically expensive, what are alternative means of contacting home or being contacted by people at home, just in case?

 

Thanks!

[CruisnGram]

 

If I call to check on him, what type of funky international rates am I looking at? Do these rates apply to sending/receiving texts? I'm cruising on the Majesty from charleston to florida and the bahamas on 3/21. If it means any difference, I am with Verizon with unlimited texts and picture messages.

 

Furthermore, if cell phone usage seems impractically expensive, what are alternative means of contacting home or being contacted by people at home, just in case?

 

Thanks!

 

If you are at sea, you will be using the ships cell tower through Cellular At Sea and the price is $2.49 per minute for phone calls made or received. If you are in a port, the rate will be whatever Verizon's International rate is for that city/country. You can look that rate up easily on Verizon's website. You may also want to check if you need to add anything to your phone package prior to the cruise to make sure your phone works out of the US. Our's wouldn't in some ports.

 

One great thing about Verizon is that they do not charge you if someone calls you and you do not answer, and they leave a voice mail. You are only charged if you answer the phone or call to retreive the voicemail. That is not true for all carriers. Some charge for the time that it takes for others to leave a voice mail, but not Verizon. So, you can leave your phone on during the cruise to be available for emergency calls. When you see who is calling you, you can then determine if you want to answer the call and be charged, or let it go to voicemail and not be charged.

 

Texting is much cheaper even though you are charged per text. Having unlimited text plan doesn't alter the charges. It's 50 cents to send a text and 10 cents to receive a text, so that's an economical option.

 

CG

[pixiedustdawn]

Are you taking your laptop with you? Does it have a web cam and mic? Does your family (father) have a computer with a mic? webcam?

I find making the calls right over the computer the best way to keep in touch (as long as you get wireless)and free.

Dawn