The famous "will my cell phone work" question...

Hi,

I'm officially on the June 16 Explorer of the Seas as of last night with my girlfriend!

I'm just wondering if anyone has been to these ports of call with a Verizon cell phone... and whether or not they had any service.

The ports are:

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

Philipsburg, St. Maarten

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Labadee, Haiti (was there on Voyager, I know there's no service here...)

Thanks! :D

Call Verizon and ask, that is what I did. I do know that in some areas you have to pay for international roaming, and the extra charge for connecting thru another provider, that is what they told me anyway. I have Verizon. Also it depends on the plan you have if it will work or not. Go on verizonwireless.com and click on the map for the plan you have and you can see if it will work where you are going, easier to just call and ask them, be sure to ask if you have to sign up for anything extra for it to work.

I know mine did not work in San Juan or St Thomas in 2004 and I have nationwide coverage, even works in Hawaii but not on the islands, without paying for additional coverage. Could have changed now.

Cell phones it is just hard to tell. Travel with a person who has a different carrier. Usually at least one will work. Sometimes they are supposed to work but do not.

Had that happen on a cruise with my parents. We ended up in cabins next to each other due to changes and we had balcony's. My dad was outside trying to call my sister to check up on things. He heard us outside so yelled are you getting a signal? I was, so just passed our phone to him. A cabin steward saw this and went I can open the divider since you are related. We told the steward no thanks. Yes we are related. But my husband and I are in our late 40's early 50's so my parents are far older. We like the divider and so do they. Actually I think my dad say heck no when he heard us being asked.

Hi,

 

I'm officially on the June 16 Explorer of the Seas as of last night with my girlfriend!

 

I'm just wondering if anyone has been to these ports of call with a Verizon cell phone... and whether or not they had any service.

 

The ports are:

 

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

Philipsburg, St. Maarten

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Labadee, Haiti (was there on Voyager, I know there's no service here...)

 

 

Thanks! :D

Verizon has Network in Puerto Rico, it pretty much stops there. Some of the islands have enough network from other carriers ... if you try to make a call it will tell you which carrier ... and to enter a credit card.

I don't have Verizon. However, San Juan and St. Thomas are part of the US and are considered part of most nation plans. St. Maarten may be a bit pricey for the extra charges. I notice a difference in signals. I have a AT&T one for work - GPS - it's sporatic. I have an old Digital Cingluar phone and it picks up everything loud and clear.

it helps if you have one of the tri-mode phones. Also, you must have America's choice or nationwide calling. Call ahead and they will put the roaming feature on for the Caribbean. Verizon swears they are doing away with an analogue signal, but I picked up analogue service a few times in the Caribbean. (it frustrates me that there are so few phones that are still tri-mode)

Your best bet is to use e-mail if you must communicate while you're on vacation. Even if you get a signal, it won't be at the all-inclusive rate you are used to! Be prepared for a large phone bill! With the exception of PR, you will be billed by some foreign entity and they can charge whatever they want!

Anybody know whether you can stay onboard on the repo cruises & not incur extra charges in ports like LA & San Francisco? Or does the ship's "tower" pick it up, & you get charged more because of that? (vs. connecting via a land WIFI signal). Maybe someone on the spring coastal S to N sailings can report back? Thanks! (We have the old AT&T, which uses Cingular but is still a slightly different animal.)

My phone (t-mobile) worked in San Juan and St Thomas. Nowhere else though.

we have Verizon and it worked in Puerto Rico but not St. Thomas. St. Thomas has sprint. We just bought a calling card in St. Thomas there at the mall beside the ship. Also we used it in Hawaii.

The ship's tower turns off when you are in port.

We had service with our Verizon cell phone in St Thomas and in Puerto Rico, and both had no roaming charges. No service elsewhere. (Our ATT cell phone had service in St Thomas, but we were charged roaming fees)

Hi,

 

I'm officially on the June 16 Explorer of the Seas as of last night with my girlfriend!

 

I'm just wondering if anyone has been to these ports of call with a Verizon cell phone... and whether or not they had any service.

 

The ports are:

 

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

Philipsburg, St. Maarten

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Labadee, Haiti (was there on Voyager, I know there's no service here...)

 

 

Thanks! :D

Onboard ship, no, Verizon will not work, they won't sign contracts with MTN, so no service onboard ship, St. Thomas, it will work, but you're roaming so there will be extra charges. There's a telephone station at the head of the pier in St. Thomas that charges 20 cents/min, you walk in, they hand you a phone, you make all your calls, and when you turn the phone back in, they give you the charges. It was very good quality, easy to hear, and inexpensive. The rest of your destinations, I don't have info for.

The ship isn't supposed to turn the MTN service on until they're an hour out to sea, so you're beyond shore based tower reach. That way you don't hook to their service and get charged extra. They don't want complaints from people standing on the piers who aren't even boarding their ships, so they aren't going to leave the service on when they're next to the pier. If you can get a copy of the February, 2006 "Cruise Travel" magazine,there's a very informative and easy to understand article in it about the cellphone at sea issue for all the major cruise lines.