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Princess LTE fee is a rip off


sachielles
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Glad you came back! But apparently you didn't do enough research before your cruise to know how a ship's internet works. Sadly, you had an expensive mistake. Do some research now so it won't happen again. You can do a Search here on CC to find all about how each cruiseline does their internet.

 

 

 

 

 

It's OK to try another cruiseline - always good to see how each line works. I've tried 3 of them and will try a 4th in a few months.

 

 

 

From talking to ATT it's seems that Royal Caribbean is the best in terms of their internet package and not charging their passage for an extra surcharge for LTE.

 

 

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I feel for you. I have a pretty simple cell phone - it's a smart phone but a Tracphone, pay as you go. I have it for that very reason, I can't screw up. I've read here at CC where parents let their kids use their phone to play games with and the next thing they know they get a big huge bill. Reminds me when my kids were 5 & 6, and they spent a couple of hours dialing those 900 numbers to speak to Santa! Boy was I p*ssed when I got the phone bill, my kids had no idea! So, yes, there's scammers every where if you're not careful, gotta be on guard constantly.

 

 

 

Yes I have to admit I'm one of those people that can't be without internet. Next time I will make sure I choose a cruise that has better internet plans.

 

 

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Ok my bill told me I'm not. Do you have stocks and or work for Princess?

 

 

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I have never been charged for cell phone usage while on the ship in port. I also set my phone to notify me that I need to allow for roaming so that I can cancel if I am somewhere that I know is not cost friendly to my cell usage. Unfortunately, you did not read information regarding cell phone and data usage while on board. That info is all on the Princess website. I don't have a cell service that has "agreements" with any cruise line so I suppose that I could say they all all a ripoff to me.

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Yes so when we docked but still on the boat and have LTE--we were charged extra by Princess.

 

 

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Princess charged you $2000? Or your cellphone company did?

 

Please answer this honestly.

 

You should have received text messages warning you when you were connected to the ship's cellular service.

 

Also, was this your first cruise?

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I have never been charged for cell phone usage while on the ship in port. I also set my phone to notify me that I need to allow for roaming so that I can cancel if I am somewhere that I know is not cost friendly to my cell usage. Unfortunately, you did not read information regarding cell phone and data usage while on board. That info is all on the Princess website. I don't have a cell service that has "agreements" with any cruise line so I suppose that I could say they all all a ripoff to me.

 

 

 

No I had an international plan which charged me $10 daily for roaming. However if I was still on the ship when it is being docked Princess controlled the LTE tower. I didn't know that.

 

 

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No it's my 4th but my first with Princess and I'm not impress with them. They also were trying to sell all kind of packages every time we used the dining room. Really aggravating!!!

 

 

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Ok, so you've cruised before but you weren't aware you have to turn off cellular service on your phone to avoid extra cellular carrier fees?

 

There's a reason everyone here is arguing with you, and I promise it's not because we own Princess stock.

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Princess charged you $2000? Or your cellphone company did?

 

Please answer this honestly.

 

You should have received text messages warning you when you were connected to the ship's cellular service.

 

Also, was this your first cruise?

 

 

 

Nope the fee was going to Princess. Att has to pay Princess when their LTE tower is used.

 

 

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No I had an international plan which charged me $10 daily for roaming. However if I was still on the ship when it is being docked Princess controlled the LTE tower. I didn't know that.

 

 

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Ok, so you thought you were using whatever the local land-based carrier was, but your phone went to the nearest tower, which was the ship's. You should have received a text message warning you were using "cellular at sea" or something like that. I'd go through your text messages and find the text to see what it looks like, because Princess isn't the only cruise line that does it.

 

It's possible if you call your cellphone carrier and plead your case they will cut you a break. Unlikely but possible.

 

By the way, your $10/day international carrier should also send you a text message letting you know when you've connected and that you're on the $10/day rate. That's what my Verizon plan does, anyway.

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Ok, so you've cruised before but you weren't aware you have to turn off cellular service on your phone to avoid extra cellular carrier fees?

 

There's a reason everyone here is arguing with you, and I promise it's not because we own Princess stock.

 

 

 

I turned off my phone and didn't open it until I docked. So with my international plan I was not supposed to be charged more than $10 daily. However as long as I was on the ship my LTE was through the Princess tower. They in turn charged ATT for the usage. I bought a $200 internet plan from Princess but it kept eating up the minute every time I logged on. If I logged on for the. Minutes I would be charged for 25 minutes.

 

 

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Ok, so you thought you were using whatever the local land-based carrier was, but your phone went to the nearest tower, which was the ship's. You should have received a text message warning you were using "cellular at sea" or something like that. I'd go through your text messages and find the text to see what it looks like, because Princess isn't the only cruise line that does it.

 

It's possible if you call your cellphone carrier and plead your case they will cut you a break. Unlikely but possible.

 

By the way, your $10/day international carrier should also send you a text message letting you know when you've connected and that you're on the $10/day rate. That's what my Verizon plan does, anyway.

 

 

 

Well I didn't get a text. Also I knew the plan worked because I didn't get charge extra when I spent two days at the embankment port. I was only charged $10 daily. Att told it was the Princess tower that picked me LTE.

 

 

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What kind of phone do you have? We were in Europe in April and we paid for the international $10 per day through AT&T and had no problems even while we were at sea but still close to land enough to connect to towers. We never connected to the ship's wifi and even when we did, you would have had to log in to be using the ship's internet. That can't really happen by accident as far as I can see.

 

 

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No I had an international plan which charged me $10 daily for roaming. However if I was still on the ship when it is being docked Princess controlled the LTE tower. I didn't know that.

 

 

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Again, it pays to read the information on the Princess website and your phone should have a setting to turn on that will alert you to what service you are connected to if it is roaming. I've never had an issue when in port or docking (or even close to port) because I get an alert and can cancel or change to another available local cell service. And, yes, I have done it with the out of country plan that my cell service has. You don't always get the speed, but you do get what is offered in the region where you are at the moment.

 

BTW, not trying to be snarky, just suggesting that you should not assume things will work the way you think they might without reading all of the pertinent information from your cell service provider and Princess. Sorry that you had to find out the expensive way.

 

I bought a $200 internet plan from Princess but it kept eating up the minute every time I logged on. If I logged on for the. Minutes I would be charged for 25 minutes.

 

Did you log off by doing the logout.com that they tell you to do. If you don't do that the minutes continue to run for a while even though you are off line. It is in the instructions when you first log on every time.

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What kind of phone do you have? We were in Europe in April and we paid for the international $10 per day through AT&T and had no problems even while we were at sea but still close to land enough to connect to towers. We never connected to the ship's wifi and even when we did, you would have had to log in to be using the ship's internet. That can't really happen by accident as far as I can see.

 

 

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Respectfully, you're confusing the "cellular at sea" connection on board with the ship's paid internet service. The OP insisting the $2000 charge came from Princess (when it clearly came from ATT) is confusing the issue.

 

That said, I've never been able to connect to anything but the ship's tower when I'm onboard once we leave the US, even when docked in another port. The phone finds the closest tower. But most of my cruises have not been on Princess.

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What kind of phone do you have? We were in Europe in April and we paid for the international $10 per day through AT&T and had no problems even while we were at sea but still close to land enough to connect to towers. We never connected to the ship's wifi and even when we did, you would have had to log in to be using the ship's internet. That can't really happen by accident as far as I can see.

 

 

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Also other cruise lines have better deals with ATT. We were told by ATT that Princess didn't have a tower contract with them after the fact.

 

 

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What kind of phone do you have? We were in Europe in April and we paid for the international $10 per day through AT&T and had no problems even while we were at sea but still close to land enough to connect to towers. We never connected to the ship's wifi and even when we did, you would have had to log in to be using the ship's internet. That can't really happen by accident as far as I can see.

 

 

The $10 per day AT&T does not cover the ships cell service/data when at sea.

It also has nothing to do with the Princess@sea onboard service.

It is land based package coverage only. You don't need it to log into the ships wifi/internet. ;)

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I think the biggest lesson that you could learn here is that Cruise Critic is for doing research BEFORE your cruise, not sailing blind and then coming here to complain. It's tough crowd. [And rightly so!]
How right you are! We have sailed the Caribbean, California Coastals, Mexico, the Panama Canal, Alaska, Hawaii, the Baltic, the Med, and South America on Princess. If our phone is roaming we ensure that we are connected to a local cell tower and not the ship's tower. With those precautions we haven't had a problem using AT&T.
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I was NOT at sea but docked on land. I was on the boat but not at sea.

 

 

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Your phone connected to the closest tower, which was the one on the ship. You should have received a text message telling you what carrier you were on when you turned on your cellular service.

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How right you are! We have sailed the Caribbean, California Coastals, Mexico, the Panama Canal, Alaska, Hawaii, the Baltic, the Med, and South America on Princess. If our phone is roaming we ensure that we are connected to a local cell tower and not the ship's tower. With those precautions we haven't had a problem using AT&T.

 

 

 

It seems if you are onboard the ship and near the ship it goes to the Princess tower. For example Royal Caribbean has a contract with ATT which allows its customers to not be charged when on land/using the tower.

 

 

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I was NOT at sea but docked on land. I was on the boat but not at sea.

 

 

Not the fault of and has nothing to do with Princess.

There is no cell signal to connect to onboard while in port.

You were connected to a land based cell tower while in port.

You should be yelling at AT&T and yourself for not researching before you cruised.

End of story.

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It seems if you are onboard the ship and near the ship it goes to the Princess tower. For example Royal Caribbean has a contract with ATT which allows its customers to not be charged when on land/using the tower.

 

 

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I won't re-post again, but, see my post #64 above.

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