T-mobile on the Royal Princess

I just switched to T-Mobile for the .20 calls in countries I am visiting and unlimited text and data.

However, I have been told that T-Mobile will not work on the Royal Princess. It is imperative that I am able to call a land line with a cell phone from the ship to keep in touch with my aging mother who doesn't have wifi/computer/etc. Has anyone tried to call with T-Mobile on the royal? why would it work on other princess ships and not the royal?

I think it will work, just not at that price. I haven't heard of any super low prices for cell service, for any carrier, on any ship.

You have to use the ship's tower, into satellite service. You are captive to the cruise line cell service, outside of the T Mobile system.

Thanks for the quick response. According to the T-Mobile website and also the representatives for some reason it will not work on the Royal. I have talked to about 3 reps. There is some kind of different maritime agreement. I know I'll have to pay $5plus per minute plus .50 for a text but I just don't think the Royal is included in the service.

I just switched to T-Mobile for the .20 calls in countries I am visiting and unlimited text and data.

 

However, I have been told that T-Mobile will not work on the Royal Princess. It is imperative that I am able to call a land line with a cell phone from the ship to keep in touch with my aging mother who doesn't have wifi/computer/etc. Has anyone tried to call with T-Mobile on the royal? why would it work on other princess ships and not the royal?[/quote

 

I have T-Mobile and used it on the Regal recently. I used the Skype app on my IPhone X and was charged only from my Skype account which was very minimal and I was able to easily make calls from the ship. Also had unlimited internet...

Make sure they have the number for the ship in case there is an emergency call needed. They will take a message and contact you with the information given them.

I have T-Mobile and it works great ashore or in port where you can get a mobile signal. Their service, or any mobile carrier will not work while at sea since you are too far from land. As you have found out, there is service, but very expensive.

I have T-Mobile and it works great ashore or in port where you can get a mobile signal. Their service, or any mobile carrier will not work while at sea since you are too far from land. As you have found out, there is service, but very expensive.

There are apps that will work with Wifi....Skype, Facetime and other VOIP apps can access ships wifi and if you had unlimited wifi on the Regal like we just did there is no problem....

I just switched to T-Mobile for the .20 calls in countries I am visiting and unlimited text and data.

 

However, I have been told that T-Mobile will not work on the Royal Princess. It is imperative that I am able to call a land line with a cell phone from the ship to keep in touch with my aging mother who doesn't have wifi/computer/etc. Has anyone tried to call with T-Mobile on the royal? why would it work on other princess ships and not the royal?

When you told the rep "Royal" did you you specifically say "Royal Princess" or just "Royal"? Royal is Royal Caribbean and may be different.

If you have T-Mobile you can access wi-fi calling. If you purchase an internet package you can use the ship's wifi and your per-minute call will be cheaper. Your mom doesn't need the wifi for those calls, just you.

We have AT&T and their cruise package is not available on the Royal or the Regal. Other posters have stated that you can use WiFi calling with T-Mobile. That would be your best option because your only cost is for the WiFi minutes on the ship. WiFi calling worked for us in the Mediterranean.

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We just returned from the 28 day Hawaii Tahiti cruise on the Emerald and other than some hiccups with getting WiFi calling configured on our phone it worked pretty well. So if your phone supports WiFi calling you just need internet minutes.

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We have T-Mobile and were in and around Australia last fall. If we were close enough to shore, I’d actually get cellular data from land and would use a voice app (Vonage or Skype...I prefer Vonage because my number appears on the Caller ID) to phone my mom. When we weren’t, I’d phone her using the app and ship’s WiFi. We never, in almost three months, made a call using local cellular for $.20 a minute; we used Vonage for $.01 per minute.

Another vote for WiFi calling. I used it for almost an hour in Canada where I had no plan. It worked great. Try going to Settings and looking for Advanced Calling. If your phone supports WiFi calling (and, unless it's old, it should) you should find the setting there or in something similar. You will, of course, need Internet access but it's likely much cheaper than using the ship's cell tower.

Also concur with the Vonage option but then I already use Vonage as my wife likes to keep the old landline number that her family called on for the last 35 years or so. I use it over my cable Internet but there is definitely a setup for cell phones with the account. If you have Vonage (I think I pay about $18.50 per month but it makes my wife happy and all political and spam calls go to that number as well as messages from doctors, etc. I don't get hassled on my cell.

Another vote for WiFi calling. I used it for almost an hour in Canada where I had no plan. It worked great. Try going to Settings and looking for Advanced Calling. If your phone supports WiFi calling (and, unless it's old, it should) you should find the setting there or in something similar. You will, of course, need Internet access but it's likely much cheaper than using the ship's cell tower.

Also concur with the Vonage option but then I already use Vonage as my wife likes to keep the old landline number that her family called on for the last 35 years or so. I use it over my cable Internet but there is definitely a setup for cell phones with the account. I think I pay about $18.50 per month but it makes my wife happy and all political and spam calls go to that number as well as messages from doctors, etc. I don't get hassled on my cell.

You have two choices when using T-Mobile on the ship. You can use the ship's Cell Phone system and pay over $5 a minutes. or.....You can use T-Mobile WiFi for the cost of using WiFi on the ship (many of us get lots of free WiFi minutes on Princess). In order to make phone calls over T-Mobile WiFi you must make sure to enable that option once you get T-Mobile. As long as your ship WiFi connection is decent (not always true) you will be able to make WiFi calls.

Hank

We just got off the Royal Princess in Southampton. We have T-Mobile with unlimited data internationally. Our calls from England or France are $.20 per minute. I used the phone several times onboard (not using the ship's wifi but just calling as usual). No problem at all - when T-Mobile was available. Some ports didn't have it, but most did.

Abby

We just got off the Royal Princess in Southampton. We have T-Mobile with unlimited data internationally. Our calls from England or France are $.20 per minute. I used the phone several times onboard (not using the ship's wifi but just calling as usual). No problem at all - when T-Mobile was available. Some ports didn't have it, but most did.

 

Abby[/quote

If you’ve made calls at sea using the ships mobile network, not WiFi, it will cost you about $4 a minute. No cell provider includes this.

I have used Wi-Fi calling on all Princess ships and I have T-Mobile. This year I used it on Crown, Regal and Emerald - no issues. But you MUST get it configured with t-mobile BEFORE you leave the US. It has to do with 911 agreements. Go into an office and make sure it works before you go. On our 60 day South America and Polynesian Islands cruise it worked in all places onshore except Falkland Islands and Bora Bora& Papeete.

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If you’ve made calls at sea using the ships mobile network, not WiFi, it will cost you about $4 a minute. No cell provider includes this.

For $50/30 days you get 50 minutes of talk with $2/min for overages and unlimited text.

For $100/30days you get 200MB of data with $2/MB for overages, unlimited talk and unlimited text.

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