Questions on phones, Wifi etc , keeping up with teens

New cruiser here..... I've read as much as I can on this ... but still confused:

Do I understand this correctly - and what do you folks do to stay linked up ( or NOT LOL ) - I know I need to talk to Verizon - but wanted to see what your experience is.

Iphone: - Make or receive a call ... I get hit with my carriers raoming charges ..... correct ?

If I text - I get hit with some additional charge ....

If I use the internet ( through my data package - and I do not need WIFI ) - that must also have a roaming charge ?

If I listen to voicemail or read a text - do I get charged for that while on the ship ?

Do you usually turn off your phones. ( I plan to take them away from the teens and put in safe )

What if there is an emergency back home and someone needs to locate you - should they call the ship ?

I know I sound very stupid - but not sure how this works. I really do not plan to be on / using my phone on vacation ... but just looking for information.

Great questions! I'll be cruising for my first time and want the answers to these questions as well.

In addition to the OP's questions, I had a couple extra myself. When we land in San Juan, PR, our phones will work fine right? Bc we're on US soil. Same for St. Thomas since it's US soil also?

Let me take a stab:

New cruiser here..... I've read as much as I can on this ... but still confused:

 

Do I understand this correctly - and what do you folks do to stay linked up ( or NOT LOL ) - I know I need to talk to Verizon - but wanted to see what your experience is.

 

Iphone: - Make or receive a call ... I get hit with my carriers raoming charges ..... correct ? If you are on the ship, you will get hit with Cellular @ Sea's charges, approximately $2.49 a minute. If on port, it will be whatever international roaming will charge you.

 

If I text - I get hit with some additional charge .... Correct, I believe 50 cents a message.

 

If I use the internet ( through my data package - and I do not need WIFI ) - that must also have a roaming charge ? - Your data package doesn't exist outside of Verizon's network. On the ship it will be expensive. In port, it will be expensive.

 

If I listen to voicemail or read a text - do I get charged for that while on the ship ? Since you need to dial in to listen to the VM and receive the text to read, you will be charged.

 

Do you usually turn off your phones. ( I plan to take them away from the teens and put in safe ) From sail away until disembarkation morning.

 

What if there is an emergency back home and someone needs to locate you - should they call the ship ?

 

I know I sound very stupid - but not sure how this works. I really do not plan to be on / using my phone on vacation ... but just looking for information. If there is an emergency, it is possible for someone to call this ship, but expensive.

Yes...all cruiselines have numbers to contact the ship...your brochure or boarding documents will have that info. It can be pricey, but in an emergency, it's worth it.....you wouldn't use that number for silly stuff!

New cruiser here..... I've read as much as I can on this ... but still confused:

 

Do I understand this correctly - and what do you folks do to stay linked up ( or NOT LOL )

When you get on the ship decide on where you will meet your teens on disembarkation date.

I try to keep it as simple as that.

Great questions! I'll be cruising for my first time and want the answers to these questions as well.

 

In addition to the OP's questions, I had a couple extra myself. When we land in San Juan, PR, our phones will work fine right? Bc we're on US soil. Same for St. Thomas since it's US soil also?

When I visited these ports last year I asked my phone provider (Verizon) about using my cell phone there. For me, texts from Puerto Rico and St. Thomas were free (i.e. part of my regular unlimited texts) but phone calls were not. Calls from these ports were cheaper than from the ship or from other ports, but were did still incur a per minute charge. This may or may not be true for you -- check with your phone company before you leave.

The best idea is to take the phone away from the kids. My neighbors did not do that and when they came home they had a huge phone bill because their teens texted their friends at home the same way they do when they're at home.

Just off of Princess, southern caribbean. We have ATT and my phone has international capability (not a smart phone). This is what we did to keep in touch with kids at home:

1. Got an international texting plan on my phone for use in port. $10 for 50 texts; overage pretty cheap. (My plan I have to keep on for the month as it is pro-rated for something like 15 messages a week)

2. Could receive texts for free. Phone off most of the day. Turned it on several times each day to check for incoming messages. Kids were to send a "call us now" or "check email" as needed.

3. Used Princess' free "e-card" in the internet cafe to send quick messages to kids and family.

4. If needed, would have paid per minute for internet to check email or made calls on ship's cell tower and just paid the price.

Your calling texting plan and service using the ship's tower/MCP are two different worlds, so keep that in mind. Your service plan will apply only when using a tower on land. Search your cruise line's website under "keeping in touch". There may be a chart or table showing cell services available on each ship and the costs. Also check with your provider.

From Canada here ... needless to say, we will not be using our phones on US soil.

Friends just got back from a week vacation ... to find a $10,000 phone bill waiting for them. Yeouch!

the phone company did work with them and waived most of it, but, still, shocking

We usually look at the days schedule, plan a few things that we want to do as a family, and then we just expect that our teenagers will show up to those. (and they do!) then off they go again.

This time we're in connecting cabins and I'll be bringing some paper so that I can jot notes to them as to where we'll be if they want to join us, etc.

I wish they could use their ipod touches to text each other (for free), but, with no wifi, that can't happen.

ETA : I have a few expectations as to what we do as a family ... we tend to eat most of our meals together (lunch and breakfast depend on the day, but dinner is a must). We do a couple of activities together (ie: see a movie, go to a presentation etc) and then the evening shows are a must. DD#1 meets all of her newest most bestest friends on holidays. DD#2 prefers to hole up by herself and draw to her hearts content.

Take the phones from the kids and remove the batteries.

All phone and data service is going through the ship. It isn't free but it IS slow.

Tell the kids where/when you expect them to be.

Give the people at home the ship's emergency number, explain the cost of that call and explain what an emergency is-pretty much something that would require you to short-stop the cruise and find an airplane.

I certainly would not trust teens to not use the phone - I'd lock it away (maybe without the battery). However, for myself I will not turn my phone off or lock it away on the ship because my iPhone has so many other uses for me. I turn off all communication for the phone (put it in "airplane mode"), but still use it for other things. Then, when I'm at port, I use an international SIM card in my phone (unlocked) to use talk/text/data.

simply coffee, if your phone is unlocked, you can get an amazing deal on using your phone in the US by replacing the SIM card, as little as $3 per day for unlimited talk and text, plus a little data from Roam Mobility (they are a Vancouver company and offer free shipping on their SIM cards). If you have an unlocked phone - or if you travel a lot, it might be worth getting your phone unlocked - check out their website. Disclaimer: I have no stake in the company, but I just love their product and wish I'd had it sooner.

Normally I turn off my phone, however, on this cruise I have possible job interviews I need to be checking my voice mail for (and returning those calls)

When calling on the ship I'll be charged the ship roaming fees. How much will the mobile company charge for long distance? Canadian so I'm sure it will be a fortune.

Normally I turn off my phone, however, on this cruise I have possible job interviews I need to be checking my voice mail for (and returning those calls)

 

When calling on the ship I'll be charged the ship roaming fees. How much will the mobile company charge for long distance? Canadian so I'm sure it will be a fortune.

Rather than checking voice mail on your phone, can you get an email of your phone's voice messages - some services, like Rogers, can do that for you. Then you can check it on the internet, which is cheaper (I think) then checking it on your phone. That's what I do when I'm away for business.

Rather than checking voice mail on your phone, can you get an email of your phone's voice messages - some services, like Rogers, can do that for you. Then you can check it on the internet, which is cheaper (I think) then checking it on your phone. That's what I do when I'm away for business.

Thanks thats a good idea re the email. I'm with rogers so I'll give them a call

Regardless though I'm going to have to return the calls of any potential employers that want to prescreen me for an interview. I'm going to check with Rogers to see if there is some sort of roaming package.

simply coffee, if your phone is unlocked, you can get an amazing deal on using your phone in the US by replacing the SIM card, as little as $3 per day for unlimited talk and text, plus a little data from Roam Mobility (they are a Vancouver company and offer free shipping on their SIM cards). If you have an unlocked phone - or if you travel a lot, it might be worth getting your phone unlocked - check out their website. Disclaimer: I have no stake in the company, but I just love their product and wish I'd had it sooner.

THANK YOU! I'm going to pop in to a "dealer" near me that carries this and check it out.

On our last cruise with Princess we had free WIFI in our PH Suite. I have an app on my iPhone that uses VOIP on WIFI to make phone calls. The App is Friend Caller Pro. You buy time from FCP in $10 chunks and the calls are 1 cent a minute on WIFI and the VOIP will send your regular phone number as Caller ID to the person on the other end. We also did Video Calls with Skype back to our Granddaughter showing her the Suite and deck. That was a blast. When we do our Eastern Med cruise we have another PH Suite with Free WIFI. You can also buy WIFI time in the Internet Cafe on most ships or in the library area. Sure is way less than $2.49 per minute to talk.

On our last cruise with Princess we had free WIFI in our PH Suite. I have an app on my iPhone that uses VOIP on WIFI to make phone calls. The App is Friend Caller Pro. You buy time from FCP in $10 chunks and the calls are 1 cent a minute on WIFI and the VOIP will send your regular phone number as Caller ID to the person on the other end. We also did Video Calls with Skype back to our Granddaughter showing her the Suite and deck. That was a blast. When we do our Eastern Med cruise we have another PH Suite with Free WIFI. You can also buy WIFI time in the Internet Cafe on most ships or in the library area. Sure is way less than $2.49 per minute to talk.

Unless you booked prior to July, suites no longer have free WIFI.

Anyone have used Roam Mobility's data/voice/text plans and if so how is the coverage and connection quality in Icy Strait Point, Juneau, Ketchikan? I am guessing it is on US's T-Mobile network.

:confused:

Roam Mobility does not appear to have partnership with TMobile Alaska. They charge a premium for their service. Wyoming, Idaho and Montana has similar Roam Mobility issues.

Love Roam Mobility for my USA travels.... just not Alaska.

Hi we ended up getting an AT&T go plan worked well

The ship isn't really all that big. Finding people isn't real hard when you know their habits and likes as well as when they've told you where they'll be.

Teenagers still play the age-old game of skirt-chasing. This actually makes it pretty easy to find them.

NCL has the iConcierge iPhone app that uses wifi on the ship. That is free. Web browsing that uses cellular or browsing wifi outside the confines of the ship will cost. Turn off the cellular service and leave the wifi on for iConcierge there appears to also be messaging and some kind of phone service on the app. Last cruise never had occasion to use those as just wife and I. Next cruise we are a group of 8 so looking forward to testing that out.