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I am going on a cruise..

M

MACiVoy

macrumors member
Original poster
YAY FOR ME!

No really though, I was wondering about cell phone service. I am cruising the western caribbean..

I have the iphone 4 with verizon, one of my friends coming has the iphone 4 with att..

Any chance either of us will have service?
 
MACiVoy said:
YAY FOR ME!

No really though, I was wondering about cell phone service. I am cruising the western caribbean..

I have the iphone 4 with verizon, one of my friends coming has the iphone 4 with att..

Any chance either of us will have service?
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My mom and step-dad often take cruises, step-dad has sprint mom has at&t and neither of them ever get service at least until they get back in range..
 
Most ships provide cell service of some kind. Sometimes the ship will only have one kind of service (AT&T or Verizon).

The single simple fact is that they are going to charge you a hefty premium for it. Usually, it's an additional per minute charge equating to roughly the cost of a first born. The ones I've seen are usually $2.49 a minute on top of your regular usage/roaming charges.

http://b2b.vzw.com/international/Cruise_Ships/index.html
http://www.wireless.att.com/travelguide/coverage/cruise_ships_rates.jsp?PIDL=IRSD|IRWT
 
I brought my AT&T on my cruise to Hati, the Grand Cayman Islands, Cozumel Mexico, and Jamaica. At every stop and on the boat I picked up the local service provider. I made the mistake on sending out approximately 50 text messages and came back with a $300 cell phone bill. they charged me $.50 for every text and some charge for data when the phone was on.

My suggestion to you is turn your phone off. You're on a cruise... Enjoy the weather and your company. Leave your phone off.
 
Harpoon Spoon said:
I brought my AT&T on my cruise to Hati, the Grand Cayman Islands, Cozumel Mexico, and Jamaica. At every stop and on the boat I picked up the local service provider. I made the mistake on sending out approximately 50 text messages and came back with a $300 cell phone bill. they charged me $.50 for every text and some charge for data when the phone was on.

My suggestion to you is turn your phone off. You're on a cruise... Enjoy the weather and your company. Leave your phone off.
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Yeah, if you insist on having the phone on to listen to music, watch videos, take pics etc,etc... It's highly advised to turn on Airplane mode.. so at least you still get iPod functionality.. without the risk of running up "mystery" data charges...
 
psywzrd said:
Do cruise ships not have wifi? Skype and/or factime would be pretty useful on a cruise ship.
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It's pretty costly.
 
Thanks for the replies!

I just got a 3rd gen ipod nano for $30 bucks lol, lucked out! So I will bring that along with my iPad for media purposes..

I am going on a brand new ship on the celebrity cruise line called eclipse, so I just read there is actually an apple store on the boat!

Hopefully the new macbook pro gets released this thursday as "rumored" so I can pick it up tax free on the open seas, considering I live in chicago and get fisted with taxes lol..

How does one make calls on a cruise? Are there land lines?
 
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I made a 20 second call on a Disney ship in 2009 going to the Caribbean. I was charged $22.50. I called my Mom to say hi and I wanted to see what the charge would be.

You really should not use it on the cruise unless you have throw away money.
 
MACiVoy said:
How does one make calls on a cruise? Are there land lines?
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There should be a phone in each of the cabins where you can make calls. But I'm pretty sure the cruise line will charge you an arm and leg for them as well. If the ship does have wifi and you have Skype on your phone, use that to make calls if you need to. Otherwise, I would leave the phone on airplane mode for photo's, iPod, or updating Twitter/Facebook if you have wifi.
 
All the information you'll need:

http://b2b.vzw.com/international/Cruise_Ships/index.html

It doesn't say Eclipse is available but my guess is since it's new it will have full CDMA access it just isn't listed yet.

When I did my cruise last year I called Verizon and added a "Unlimited Global Data" rate plan for about $70. The thing is Verizon prorated the plan for the 8 days I was on the cruise, so instead of charging the full $70 for the entire month I was only charged about $15 for the week I had "Unlimited Global Data" on my account.

I used the hell out of my Droid on the cruise ship, data wise, and not a single extra charge ever appeared on my bill beyond the prorated amount I paid for unlimited global data.

I'd call Verizon. I told them to activate the rate plan for the future date my cruise departed, and the day after I got home I called and had them remove the feature and return me to the standard unlimited rate plan.
 
I just went on a Cruise to Alaska with Royal Caribean. And when I went, I had Sprint for that short period. It worked on the boat, but I did not use it. The boat gets a signal from satellites for cell service. All of them work on the boat. They just are very expensive. Also WIFI they charge you per minute used on the WIFI. So you buy a package for so many minutes. Either way, we didn't use the phones at all till we docked, and we only bought a small package of WIFI to check our emails. That was all. Plus WIFI is not available in the rooms, only in the main areas of the ship.
 
As some of the members stated above, you are on VACATION. Your phone shouldn't even be on your mind. I believe I had mine on airplane mode just so I could use the camera.
 
NWI73 said:
As some of the members stated above, you are on VACATION. Your phone shouldn't even be on your mind. I believe I had mine on airplane mode just so I could use the camera.
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+1 to Airplane mode.

I sell cruises and we always advise people to either turn their phones off or put them in airplane mode. Most ships these days provide service, but as above posters have mentioned, the charges are outrageous.

As far as wi-fi, if you bring a laptop or iPad, you can purchase a minutes plan that can range from 30 minutes to 200 minutes. Most cruise lines provide a minimum amount of minutes for anywhere between $30 and $50.

When I went on my last cruise in November, I bought a wi-fi plan and actually used Facetime on my Mac to check in with my family at home.
 
thetexan said:
All the information you'll need:

http://b2b.vzw.com/international/Cruise_Ships/index.html

It doesn't say Eclipse is available but my guess is since it's new it will have full CDMA access it just isn't listed yet.

When I did my cruise last year I called Verizon and added a "Unlimited Global Data" rate plan for about $70. The thing is Verizon prorated the plan for the 8 days I was on the cruise, so instead of charging the full $70 for the entire month I was only charged about $15 for the week I had "Unlimited Global Data" on my account.

I used the hell out of my Droid on the cruise ship, data wise, and not a single extra charge ever appeared on my bill beyond the prorated amount I paid for unlimited global data.

I'd call Verizon. I told them to activate the rate plan for the future date my cruise departed, and the day after I got home I called and had them remove the feature and return me to the standard unlimited rate plan.
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Does the verizon iphone offer global access though?
 
Yeah, just put your phone on airplane mode and use it as an iPod. Cruises are a perfect opportunity to disconnect from the world.
 
gloss said:
Yeah, just put your phone on airplane mode and use it as an iPod. Cruises are a perfect opportunity to disconnect from the world.
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I have a sick mother :/

I guess I have "disconnect" anxiety, I have never been on a cruise but I am a newlywed and am just doing what it takes to make the wife smile 🙂
 
MACiVoy said:
I have a sick mother :/

I guess I have "disconnect" anxiety, I have never been on a cruise but I am a newlywed and am just doing what it takes to make the wife smile 🙂
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I feel the same way about "disconnecting". I would suggest buying the minimum data plan and checking your email every day. That way you can check in back home to give you some peace of mind.
 
Moyank24 said:
I feel the same way about "disconnecting". I would suggest buying the minimum data plan and checking your email every day. That way you can check in back home to give you some peace of mind.
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Yea I think thats what I am going to do..

Thanks everyone for your input!
 
You can usually access your e-mail from an internet cafe on the boat. They usually offer you some free time but time after that you would have to pay a small fee for. I would recommend that over the outrageous charges that cell phone service providers charge.

Besides, if you have to tend to an emergency you're on a boat in the middle of the ocean. Try to take a break and cut it out.

Best of wishes on the health of your mother.
 
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