Cell phone use. Verizon

[BearcatBetch]

Hello i leave on my first cruise on saturday. Oasis of the Seas !! (: I am wondering how the whole cell phone thing is going to work. I don't understand roaming and roaming charges or anything so can someone explain it to me??
I have a Iphone from Verizon !
Will I be able to use my cell phone in Falmouth Jamaica, Haiti, and Cozumel?
If i have my phone turned on for alarm clock and picture taking purposes will I be charged??

Sorry if i seem stupid i really just have absolutely no clue. lol

Thanks

[Weezerwoo]

I have Verizon, too. I always call them before I sail, and let them know where I will be going. They will tell you whether each of your destinations has service, and what the per minute charge is. The cost to use the ship's service is relatively high.
I downloaded an app called "postagram"...it allows you to take pictures from your phone or ipad and send them as post cards anywhere in the world for 99 cents each.

Have a great time!

[mbarr85]

Originally Posted by BearcatBetch

Hello i leave on my first cruise on saturday. Oasis of the Seas !! (: I am wondering how the whole cell phone thing is going to work. I don't understand roaming and roaming charges or anything so can someone explain it to me??
I have a Iphone from Verizon !
Will I be able to use my cell phone in Falmouth Jamaica, Haiti, and Cozumel?
If i have my phone turned on for alarm clock and picture taking purposes will I be charged??

Sorry if i seem stupid i really just have absolutely no clue. lol

Thanks

I learned a very expensive lesson on my first cruise, when your on the ship or in port, don't use your cell phone! If you do, turn the airplane mode feature on that way you don't have any type of data transmitting or being received. Trust me, you don't want a surprise bill like I received a few years ago.... Other than that, have fun on your cruise!

[1025cruise]

As soon as I get on the ship, my cell phone is put into airplane mode, turned off, and then put in the safe, not to be turned on again until we get back to the home port. Don't need any additional charges.

Will your cell phone work, yes. You will end up with a very expensive bill. If you want it for an alarm clock and camera, just leave it in airplane mode. Also important since the ship's tower will re-adjust the time.

[paul929207]

My cell phone also spend our vacations in the safe, turned off.

[maryred]

If you must use your phone in port make sure the data stream is turned off. Otherwise all of those pending messages and updates will flood in as soon as you switch out of airplane mode. For most plans it's not the international calling and roaming minutes that adds up to a surprising bill but the per message and data byte charges.

[Athankfulheart]

We take our smart phones and turn off DATA rather than use airplane mode. This allows us to receive text messages from our children ( .05each incoming/ .50 each outgoing) from our kids. Call verizon and let them know that you are going and they will instruct you. Calls are 2.49/min from cell on ship or 1.99/min from cabin phone (carnival), so using cabin phone just makes more sense for me. I always worry about cell/time changes in ports so I wear/carry a watch. There are plenty of places to use WIFI ( again, keeping data turned off) for free acess to email, web, skype etc.

[Underwatr]

I believe there's a feature called "data roaming" that can be turned off before leaving the US (or leaving home for that matter). Then you'd be able to use the phone, set the clock, take photos, etc. without automatically ingesting megabytes of data through your phone's normal data activities. When in the US (or its possessions like Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands) the data will work as normal.

Sometimes the ship's time isn't the same as local time (and there's no guarantee that your phone will adjust to local time correctly) so be careful about letting your phone tell you waht time it is when youre in port.

[SeveNx7]

As everyone said i would shut off cellular data. Personally I'd use airplane mode and turn on Wi-Fi. You can use wi-fi with airplane mode on, Take advantage of free wi-fi zones make a call on skype or google voice if your on wifi and use iMessage for texting people with other iPhones! all free!

[JanineM]

IF you decide to use your phone, check Verizon's website. Just yesterday I discovered that they have a section on phone use on cruises and they list charges and roaming BY CRUISE LINE.

Very helpful!