Using Cell Phones On Westerdam

[ruthiegirl]

Can anyone tell me if I can use my cell phone on the ship my service rep tells me I can if the ship has a tower. I was told the fee is $1.50 per minute. Your insight is appreciated.

[Aussie Gal]

Ruthiegirl,

I know that your cell phones are different to ours in that you cannot use yours in Europe and we cannot use ours in the States but when we were in Europe on the Prinsendam in October I used mine a lot when on the ship. I rang and sent SMS's (text messages) all the time and we were charged by Telstra here at home the same rates as if I had sent the messages from here. Using the cell phones has nothing to do with the ship, it is if there is a tower on land near to the ship

We were in the Black Sea and there was only one day when I couldn't receive or send a message and that was a sea day and we were miles from anywhere. Otherwise we were within distance of a tower. I would turn my phone on in the morning and either Bulgaria or Ukraine or Turkey etc. would show up on the phone and they would send to me a welcoming message telling me which network I was tuned to.

Jennie

[dakrewser]

You can use it in some ports - it's nothing to do with the ship.

[BaumD]

Soon, it will have something to do with the ship. Both NCL and RCCL are planning to add "cell service" through the ships system. Not sure how it will work (or what it will cost), but it is coming in the next few months.

[CaptData]

If you cell phone has gsm capibilites, then when you are near land it should work. Check with your cell phone company. Mine work on 4 diffrent wave length things. Most of the islands are covered but I can use it in ND. (go figure).

[cruise_nut480]

The ships are installing mini cell sites. These sites will uplink to a sat. A separte company is running this service. I think I read that the service will be about a $1.50 / min. You willl not have to be in sight of any land. I beleive that you will need a GSM phone. I don't think CDMA phones will work on the system. Still this is a great system and much nicer then paying the $6.95 a min for the ships phone system.

Larry

[Lokalona]

On this most recent cruise my cell phone worked in St. Thomas and Tortolla, It didn't work in Bahamas. I travel a lot and find in US territories it works but not outside of that. I think it was picking up St. John or St. Thomas in Tortolla since they are a stones throw. We rented a Global Cell phone this past cruise as we had a family tradgedy going on at home. It was very pricey, $200.00 for 8 days. It did send and recieve as long as there was a clear view of the sky. It was free for incoming calls and $1.99/per minute outgoing. World Cell rents them.