Best/Cheapest way to Text Kids When on the Ship or Out of the Country??

We are with AT&T. What is the best way to stay in touch with the kids and family on the ship for the money? Is it paying an international plan so when you're in port, or using the ships wifi and using something like Facebook chat or something?

Thanks!!

We are with AT&T. What is the best way to stay in touch with the kids and family on the ship for the money? Is it paying an international plan so when you're in port, or using the ships wifi and using something like Facebook chat or something?

 

Thanks!!

The best is on board email or with ours they will email us if there is a problem. Even if there is an issue you can't deal with it anyway.

That the designated person at home deal with it.

We are with AT&T. What is the best way to stay in touch with the kids and family on the ship for the money? Is it paying an international plan so when you're in port, or using the ships wifi and using something like Facebook chat or something?

 

Thanks!!

On the ship, AT&T charges $0.50 per sent text. Received texts are per your domestic text plan. If you turn cellular data off, and don't make or receive any voice calls, that should be your only charge.

If you turn cellular data off, and don't make or receive any voice calls, that should be your only charge.

If you turn your cellular plan off, can you text? Or are you saying just turn on when needed?

We are with AT&T. What is the best way to stay in touch with the kids and family on the ship for the money? Is it paying an international plan so when you're in port, or using the ships wifi and using something like Facebook chat or something?

 

Thanks!!

take a look at this thread

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1656653&highlight=royal+cell+phone

If you turn your cellular plan off, can you text? Or are you saying just turn on when needed?

Turn cellular data off, not your cellular plan. You will still be able to send and receive SMS (short, text only, no photos) texts. I only say to turn off data because smart phones typically have numerous apps that constantly going out to the internet, and that will be very expensive from the ship.

Thanks, great advice!

Thanks, great advice!

One more point about messaging. On my iPhone, when I have cellular data off, I get no indication whatsoever if someone sends me either an MMS message or a group message. I have no idea how other phones handle this. In any case, you might want to tell people who may want to text you onboard to make sure they use text only, and no group messaging.

If you have an iPhone and your kids do as well, you only need wifi to iMessage each other. (iMessage is just texting between two iPhones) But I'm not sure if only getting wifi on the ship would be cheaper. I do know in a lot of ports there are free wifi areas.

There is an app for smartphones; called talk free; its by the company magic jack. Anyway u download it to your iPhone and you can make free calls anywhere in the world via wifi. I use this all the time when I travel overseas for business. It works well. There are no charges to your phone.

If you have an iPhone and your kids do as well, you only need wifi to iMessage each other. (iMessage is just texting between two iPhones) But I'm not sure if only getting wifi on the ship would be cheaper. I do know in a lot of ports there are free wifi areas.

There is an app for smartphones; called talk free; its by the company magic jack. Anyway u download it to your iPhone and you can make free calls anywhere in the world via wifi. I use this all the time when I travel overseas for business. It works well. There are no charges to your phone.

These are good ideas, but would require paying for the ship's WiFi at $0.65 per minute. Also, the ship charges for connect time, not data transmitted, so if someone using an iPhone on the ship wanted to check for an iMessage, they would have to connect to the WiFi and log in just to find out no one sent them a message. Much cheaper to use SMS messaging while at sea.

If you are iPhone/iPad users how about FaceTime? I used this when we were in the Dominican Republic the past few weeks and there were no charges!!!

If you are iPhone/iPad users how about FaceTime? I used this when we were in the Dominican Republic the past few weeks and there were no charges!!!

Perhaps in port, but there is no free WiFi while at sea.

If you are iPhone/iPad users how about FaceTime? I used this when we were in the Dominican Republic the past few weeks and there were no charges!!!

Where did you do this?

I tried both Skype and Face Time the last cruise and the connection is so slow they wouldn't work. We did get the international roaming just in case we needed to use in on shore, which we didn't. International roaming does nothing for you a board ship. I have heard that iMessage costs more than just plan texts, but I don't know that from personal experience. But if you go to settings you can turn off iMessages and just get SMS text.

Last trip we had a granddaughter coming so we kept the phone on all the time, except when in port. We received a ton of calls, text, and text photos when she was born. I believe it cost us $80 more than our normal bill.

The horror stories you hear are from people who use their phones while on shore and are subject to the local charges, which can be off the chart and nothing you can do about it.

Where did you do this?

On the beach and at the resort; no charges but there was free wifi:o