Cricket Cell Phone Usage aboard a cruise ship

My Husband & I will be going on Royal Caribbean here in the fall/ winter. We both have cricket cell phones. Will they work on the ship? Has anyone went on a cruise that uses cricket wireless do they work? Please help! I talked to the a service rep that works at cricket & he told me to check with the cruise line & I did they couldn't give me a specific answer. Someone please help I want to stay in contact back home because my 2 dogs will be with a family member and if they need to get in contact with us I want to make sure they can. I know they wont work on the islands so we were thinking of getting a prepaid phone for the islands which I know wont work on the ship.

They will work, BUT you have to use the ship's satellite for connection...very expensive and your phone service will probably charge you for roaming.

It would be cheaper to buy some internet minutes.

They will work, but there will be a per minute charge. The calls will have to be routed thru the ship to a satellite and then back to earth

No.

Cricket, Consumer Cellular, etc will not work onboard a ship.

These services are restricted to land based cell service within the confines of the US.

This would include various islands and distant states like Hawaii and Alaska, but usage onboard a cruise ship is not considered 'within' the US.

They can certainly contact you via the ship's emergency number....you don't need to call them. They will call YOU, if there's an emergency. The phone number should be listed in your cruise brochure or online..or call the cruise line and ask.

No real need to use your cell.

For a few short calls to home, you could just use the phone in your cabin. It would be about $3/minute, maybe only $2/min. No big deal for a 2 min call to check up on things at home.

Another idea is to make friends with someone in your roll call thread (You did join your roll call, right?) who has a regular cell phone. Text messages are usually 50 cents to send and 5 cents to receive. Cell phone calls would be more than a call from the cabin phone.

On most ships internet access is sold by the day (24 hr period) or for the whole cruise and is kind of expensive. Lots of people buy an internet plan, so you could ask around in your roll call if someone would be willing to message or send an email for you to check up at home. I know I would be willing to do that small favor for someone if I had an Internet plan already.

Unless you are at sea for several back to back days skip using the ships internet connection unless you're addicted to your phone or table. Wait until you get ashore and then find a pub or restaurant with free WiFi. Many such places are all around cruise ports ;). If your virus protection is a good one buy a drink or snack at one of these locations and text or talk away for free. Ask a crew member where the best places for free internet are in port - they know and don't spend their hard earned money foolishly.

If you are out of the US I find it best when emailing to use Gmail. Two reasons. Google has good security and it is a .com and not a .net address. Some countries have a problem with .com address?

For a few short calls to home, you could just use the phone in your cabin. It would be about $3/minute, maybe only $2/min. No big deal for a 2 min call to check up on things at home. try $7.95 a minute unless you are Diamond or up in Crown and Anchor Society

 

it's far better to just leave a POA and the Vet's information with the dog sitters. Also call the Vet ahead of time and let them know that someone else is watching them.

in a real emergency you don't want to waste what could be HOURS trying to get through to you. I also suggest you leave a maximum dollar amount you are willing to spend/can afford so the vet can plan accordingly

The ship has an emergency phone number.

Give the sitters that number and tell them what an emergency is.

E-mail

According to the Cellular At Sea company, the ones that provide the satellite for the ship to communicate with cellular networks on land prepaid cell services won't work.

If I read the Cricket data clear enough you pay it forward and debit from your balance on the monthly account.

I have some of your same concerns like an old father, small business that depends on my decisions, family at home, etc. I find a wifi hotspot and call home from the Skype App I installed in my phone. The additional charge for a Skype number is well worth it!

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Cricket is an AT&T service and it is my understanding that they will work with the ship services. There are two main questions; one, is your phone equipped to work outside the US and two, is the phone compatible with the maritime system. These would be questions I would go and ask your carriers of the local customer service. A lot of carriers have recently upgraded their services.

We also have Cricket and bring our phone along but only for emergency usage. For checking in with people we just sign in to our email on the ship once a day to see if there is anything we need to take care of. This way is much easier we discovered in the past. It allows us a way to keep in communication in case there is a problem with our pets or other issues.

Hope this helps.

Pamela

Cricket is an AT&T service and it is my understanding that they will work with the ship services.

Can you cite a source for this?

Because Carnival says this: If I buy a prepaid cell phone, can I use it onboard the cruise ship?

WMS currently does not support any US prepaid cell phones with our service.

source: https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1129/~/cellular-phone-service

Cricket is an AT&T service and it is my understanding that they will work with the ship services.

Not correct. Cricket is an independent pre-paid carrier that leases the use of cell towers from (among others) AT&T. Because Cricket does not have the capability of pass-through billing for roaming charges their service will not work through the cellular-at-sea towers.

Not correct. Cricket is an independent pre-paid carrier that leases the use of cell towers from (among others) AT&T. Because Cricket does not have the capability of pass-through billing for roaming charges their service will not work through the cellular-at-sea towers.

Cricket Wireless offers voice, text, and data and is a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T Inc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket_Wireless

Nevertheless, Cricket (prepaid) will not work on a cruise ship, as stated by Fishywood:):D