How's the cell phone service?

[Chuck & Phyllis]

I have Verizon and it's suppose to work on Princess ships in international waters. Cost $2.49 a minute. Has anyone used it here? How was the reception? TIA

[VegasPier]

I have Verizon and it's suppose to work on Princess ships in international waters. Cost $2.49 a minute. Has anyone used it here? How was the reception? TIA

 

 

There is a extensive article here on CC regarding cell phones at sea. Go to the home page of CC and click on PLANNING which is located on the upper right side. You will be shown a rather long list of links. The one that you are looking for is CONNECTION@SEA.

 

I believe that the system that Princess uses is MCP, Maritime Communication Partner at www.MCP.com That site will give you some background info on what they provide.

 

I have very little experience with onboard cell phones. From my last cruise in Alaska I noticed that the onboard system is turned off in port. When it is restored after you have sailed out of port the system automatically connects with your cell phone. If someone calls you you will be charged. I put my iPhone in Airplane mode when I’m at sea and do not need to talk to anybody.

 

I experienced a rather unique situation while docked in Vancouver. While I was on the south side of the ship I could get Seattle cell connections. While on the north side of the ship my phone would connect with Canadian providers and I would have been charged roaming fees. Needless to say I made all my calls from the south side of the boat.

 

I don’t know about Version but AT&T offers a 30% discount on international calls for a $5 monthly fee. This will be useful when we are in port or touring on land excursions.

 

Cheers, VegasPier

[cruisin36]

I have Verizon and when I tried it on the ship it showed no service. I think you may have to visit your local Verizon store and have them set it up for the ship service.

[Avalon35]

I used verizon on mycell on the crown - no problem. Reception was fine.:)

[traveller99]

Easy, Easy, Easy... You must contact Verizon and have the International Roaming and International Dial services activated for your cell phone or it will not work on the ship or in port (though I don't know what countries you'll be visiting). I just did this today for my Verizon phone. The Verizon rep was great and set me up. It can be activated for the time that you are on the high seas & then de-activated once you return. VegasPier was correct about the ship turning the service off in port. They do this so that the locals near the port don't end up connecting to the ship's cell service and get whacked with the $2.49 p/min charges. Using your Verizon cell phone, just dial *611 >Send, then drill down to talk to a Rep. Tell them that you will be on a cruise on Princess and they'll take care of the rest. They also sent me a list of my counties that I'll be visiting and the local charges. Pretty cool... Give 'em a call.

Here's a link to the Verizon International Info Page...

ENJOY!

[financialgrl]

If Europe is on your travels, just know that they use a different system than we do (GSM) so your phone may or may not even work at all in some places. I have Verizon and when my Renew in Two contract came up about 9 months ago, I just made sure my new cell was GSM capable. Verizon and AT&T usually have about 3 or 4 models available in their store. I just got a basic simple Samsung Renown World Phone that I use for everyday use and it is GSM capable. They also had a few blackberries also GSM capable. Otherwise, my brother/SIL just rent a phone to take with them while in Europe.

 

Edited to add: The Samsung Renown I got is basic and is only for those that just want a phone for a phone so for calls it's okay. Otherwise the other 3 models available were capable of doing all the fancier stuff.

[xamsx]

Three cell phones, different providers (had both CDMA and GSM accessibility) - could get calls and text but no data with Verizon (CDMA). There are different signals and the Crown broadcasts a signal that is good enough for phone, not data. The Crown could only get CDMA (Verizon & Sprint), no GSM. This meant the GSM phones would not work at all on the Crown. (Not sure what happens when they hit Europe where it is all GSM.)

 

If interested in data, you will have to check your particular Princess ship to see if they have a strong enough signal for data, and if they are GSM and/or CDMA compatible.

 

Hubby did a lot of research on this matter and discovered that Princess is the worst for cell phone and data on the ships.

[grandmato4]

We've used our Verizon cell phone while cruising on Princess Ships for almost 3 years. No problems. We've always had decent reception and usually great reception. Mind you, we only make calls that can't wait until we're on land and keep the time spent talking to a minimum.;)

The first time you do have to contact Verizon ahead of time to have international dialing activated on your phone. No charge for that.