Which Cell phone carrier is best for traveling in the Caribbean?

We have Verizon, but on our last cruise to the Caribbean and lesser Antilles people told us they were able to text and call with no increased roaming on ATT and Tmobile while in port. Is that correct? Would love more info!

We have Verizon, but on our last cruise to the Caribbean and lesser Antilles people told us they were able to text and call with no increased roaming on ATT and Tmobile while in port. Is that correct? Would love more info!

We have AT&T and pay extra in the Caribbean for calls, texts, and data. Perhaps the other people has some sort of international plan?

I've only recently switched to T-Mobile, specifically because they don't charge for data/texting internationally (list of countries is on their website). Wi-fi calls to U.S. are free (20 cents/min. to non-U.S. numbers).

I have AT&T but not the international plan. I get free coverage, no roaming charges at San Juan, St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix. All U.S. Virgin Islands. My AT&T coverage does not extend to the other Caribbean Islands.

I've only recently switched to T-Mobile, specifically because they don't charge for data/texting internationally (list of countries is on their website). Wi-fi calls to U.S. are free (20 cents/min. to non-U.S. numbers).

We have t-mobile also. Does that mean we can text one another while out to sea? That would be excellent news.

We have t-mobile also. Does that mean we can text one another while out to sea? That would be excellent news.

I would double check with the cell carrier. International coverage may or may not apply to cruise ships at sea.

We have t-mobile also. Does that mean we can text one another while out to sea? That would be excellent news.

Not quite, because you still must have either wi-fi or cellular signal to send the texts. The only such signal available on the ship is either through their internet or Cellular@Sea towers. According to T-Mobile's roaming pricing, it costs 50 cents to send a text using the ship's cell towers.

Our family has T-Mobile & has used it at numerous carib, middle east & european ports.

They use the local carrier at each port.

Free unlimited data & texts. Although it maybe only at 3G speed.

Think it average around 20 cents/minute for voice call.

But we downloaded the free Viber app, use the free data, & it makes decent free voice calls on Viber.

We have Verizon, but on our last cruise to the Caribbean and lesser Antilles people told us they were able to text and call with no increased roaming on ATT and Tmobile while in port. Is that correct? Would love more info!

Yes, there are free call.s

and

No, there are no free calls.

Eery single country can be different. Be careful about the answers you get.

Check with your carrier about international plans. My daughter added a one month international texting plan to her service which consisted of free texting anywhere in the US and Caribbean whether on the ship or off. I was leery of it while on the ship but when her invoice came there were no additional charges other than the fee for the one-month add-on.

We have Verizon, but on our last cruise to the Caribbean and lesser Antilles people told us they were able to text and call with no increased roaming on ATT and Tmobile while in port. Is that correct? Would love more info!

I have T-Mobile and when I went to Jamaica in February 2014 I was able to cal home and talk to my daughter in the US for free, but texting would have cost me a fee. Then 8 months later when I went to Mexico in October 2014, it was switched around and I was able to text anyone for free, but for calls to the US there was a fee, and calls within Mexico were free. Im not sure if that change was a change to the plan itself or just because they do Mexico differently. I haven't checked with t-mobile since then because I haven't traveled anywhere. But both times I was able to communicate with people in some way for free.

We have T-Mobile. Can text for free from most countries. Calls vary depending on the country. Made 2 calls from Denmark to Pennsylvania for a total of 30 minutes. Charge was 20 cents(total). Called Florida from St. Martin for 15 minutes. No charge.

When I enter a country, I get a message from T-Mobile telling me what the charges are for that particular country. For some reason when I enter St. Martin I get the message, "Welcome to Jamaica" LOL. Happens whenever we go there.

i have att and add the international package when traveling. we switched to att a year or two ago, but prior to that verizons (when we had vzw) international package was better.. not sure if it it still is or not though...

I've had T-Mobile starting with their predecessor (forget the name) since maybe 1995, and would never switch. The international service was and is great.

We just dumped AT&T for the land lines at our house and went with Comcast cable. We're saving an easy $100 a month over AT&T.

AT&T- Fuggetaboutit! :cool:

If you are traveling to Mexico AT&T has bought two Mexico cell phone providers. Nextel Mexico & Iusacell are now under the AT&T family, so you should have service without any charges.

As an Employee of AT&T I would say they plan on buying every company.

DTV / Cricket Wireless / Mexico providers.

If you are traveling to Mexico AT&T has bought two Mexico cell phone providers. Nextel Mexico & Iusacell are now under the AT&T family, so you should have service without any charges.

 

As an Employee of AT&T I would say they plan on buying every company.

 

DTV / Cricket Wireless / Mexico providers.

Since you work at AT&T I had a question for you. I have an unlocked S5 so I was going to get a sim card and get their pay as you go package for when we head down to FL and then the cruise. - we are Canadian - where do I get a sim card and how do I get it set up?

I don't have a smart phone, mine is a dumb phone. I can call home from San Juan (Verizon, extended network) but that is the ONLY time the thing comes out of the safe. Don't want to be bothered while on vacation.

Since you work at AT&T I had a question for you. I have an unlocked S5 so I was going to get a sim card and get their pay as you go package for when we head down to FL and then the cruise. - we are Canadian - where do I get a sim card and how do I get it set up?

You could pick one up from walmart or just visit a Cricket Wireless store and pay for a month. Same network as AT&T, just half the price without a contract.

You could pick one up from walmart or just visit a Cricket Wireless store and pay for a month. Same network as AT&T, just half the price without a contract.

Thanks! Does Cricket work in St Martin and St Kitts or on the ship?

I check out their web site, thanks for the help!

I have Verizon and going on the Oasis March 21st. I never use my phone but this time decided to use it if I could. I called Verizon and they now have a new cruise ship plan/international plan. You can activate and deactivate after your cruise. $40.00 per month for - unlimited incoming text messages, 100 outgoing text messages, 100 voice calls/checking voicemails counts and 100MB for data(internet). This info is on the Verizon Web site. Hope this info helps.

Just got back from a western caribbean cruise. T-mobile simple choice cell phone plan was awesome. In Cozumel, Mexico and Roatan, Honduras, on shore we got unlimited inbound and outbound texts, 20 cents/min calls, and unlimited throttled data (128 kbps, which is slow, like twice dial up speed, but fast enough for google maps, facebook, email. High speed data is available for purchase). Not every country qualifies (for example, Belize was not included, and we didn't turn our phones on there. ). T-mobiles Simple choice international plan costs an additional ZERO $ on t-mobile simple choice plans. No prior activation is required. Just got off the ship and got text message from t-mobile announcing the service We even were cruising past Cancun, mexico and used that signal for 15 minutes. Well done t-mobile.

I have Verizon and going on the Oasis March 21st. I never use my phone but this time decided to use it if I could. I called Verizon and they now have a new cruise ship plan/international plan. You can activate and deactivate after your cruise. $40.00 per month for - unlimited incoming text messages, 100 outgoing text messages, 100 voice calls/checking voicemails counts and 100MB for data(internet). This info is on the Verizon Web site. Hope this info helps.

Is the $40 prorated for only the time used in the time?

Hello!

I have AT&T and my plan includes international roaming. I was able to text on ship and at port - Coco Key, St. Maarten (other one was St. Thomas but it is considered mainland and therefore a part of my phone plan) for $.50 outgoing and free (domestic rate) incoming. I have an iPhone and turned off all cell data for the entire trip after leaving Port Canaveral (except I turned it on for the St. Thomas day since it is considered domestic). For 80 outgoing texts and one 5 minute phone call home aboard ship, my extra charge with AT&T was about $43.00. I left a child at home and a child on her own trip so I wanted to stay in touch.

In port I used Wi-Fi where available. We were able to text to each other onboard as well. Since I wanted to stay in touch, I saved money doing this instead of purchasing the Wi-Fi package onboard.

I did talk to some folks who bought the unlimited on board internet plan and they said they were able to text easily over iMessage as well as post to FB and social media on their phones but not so easily with a computer.

I have Verizon and going on the Oasis March 21st. I never use my phone but this time decided to use it if I could. I called Verizon and they now have a new cruise ship plan/international plan. You can activate and deactivate after your cruise. $40.00 per month for - unlimited incoming text messages, 100 outgoing text messages, 100 voice calls/checking voicemails counts and 100MB for data(internet). This info is on the Verizon Web site. Hope this info helps.

Is the $40 prorated for only the time used in the time?

Yes you have to be careful. For example say your cruise leaves in the middle of your billing cycle. If you start it the day you leave and stop it the day you get back you'll only be charged for $10 BUT you'll also only get 25 minutes of call time instead of 100 etc... You definitely want to make sure you activate it the first day of your billing cycle and cancel it on the last day of your billing cycle to get the full 100 minutes/texts/data. You also have to cancel this because it automatically renews. It isn't a one time add on.

I am planning on using this on our cruise to keep in touch with our kids when we are gone. I found this fact out by doing some research from others that have used the plan. Fortunately our cruise starts on the 5th and our billing cycle starts on the 4th. I am sure it would be a pain if your cruise were to overlap two billing cycles. I guess you could start it mid month and end it mid month so the total is still $40 but you would have to watch your minutes and make sure you only use half of the minutes in one billing cycle and the other half in the next billing cycle. They sure don't make it easy.

I have a coworker with T-mobile and he loves the international aspect of the new T-mobile choice plans. I even considered getting a T-mobile account for our cruise and then cancelling it when I get home since I won't have a contract. The problem is we are on the Honduras, Mexico, Belize route and only Mexico is included in their plan. The ship and the other two ports are not covered while on Verizon's $40 feature every port we will go to is covered.

If you use this link:

http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/tripplanner/tripplannercontroller

You can see if the ports you are going to have the package available. For RCCL and all of my ports it supposedly works.