AT&T Cruise ship cell plan

[searanch queen]

AT&T has a "Cruise Ship Passport" plan for $35.00 that give you 15 mins of talk and data. Has anyone ever used this? Also, I would like to know if you will get a bill from Oceana because you use the ship signal as well.

[Fam_Cruise]

1) This is a new plan, and lame at that.

 

2) I have not used this, nor do I intend on using it as I do not see significant value.

 

3) All of your personal mobile phone usage, whether through this plan or on a per minute, per text message, per MB of data is billed though your mobile phone carrier and will show up on your wireless carrier's monthly bill. You will not see any charges for use of your mobile phone on the "CellularatSEA" network from Oceania. If you use your smart phone to check email, surf the web, or otherwise access the internet over Oceania's wireless network (WiFi) then you would see charges for wireless access on your Oceania bill, but that has nothing to do with the "CellularatSEA" network and as such would not see any charges from your wireless provider for accessing Oceania's WiFi.

 

This AT&T "Cruise Ship Passport" plan does not include data usage which will still cost $.0195/KB (about $20/MB) when checking email, surfing the web, or otherwise accessing the internet via the "CellularatSEA" GPRS network.

 

The details of the AT&T plan is shown below:

 

For just $35 a month, the package provides the following services while on the cruise ship's cellular network:

 

• 15 minutes of voice

• 15 messages sent (text, picture and video)**

• Overage rates are $2.49/minute, $.50/text message sent, and $1.30/picture or video message sent.

 

Here is a link to the AT&T plan info.

 

I suppose if you used all 15 minutes of voice and send all 15 text messages then you would save. If you paid for all that separately it would cost $44.85, but that is only if you use all the included minutes and text messages.

 

The overage rates shown above are AT&T's regular rates if you do not have a plan.

 

I generally don't text so in my case, and in the case of others who may be considering getting this package for ONLY for the voice portion, then it really doesn't pay as it would cost you $37.35 without the plan. A savings of $2.35 if, and that's a big if, you use all 15 minutes. I generally don't make calls when on the ship unless absolutely necessary. Even then, I will usually wait until I am in port and make the call at a much lower rate.

[lovermonkey]

I just got off the phone with ATT. They no longer have this plan.

[L8RNR]

Correct. We sailed on the Marina 3-17-11 and wanted the same plan but they cancelled it prior to us leaving..

[pacheco18]

The best plan is offered by T Mobile which unfortunately may soon become AT&T.

 

 

For $20 a month (prorated -- $10 if you are on a cruise for 2 weeks) you get unlimited email. it has nothing to do with Oceania and you are not billed through Oceania. It is $20 prorated -- period.

 

Calls from the ship are $4.99 a minute but less on land (each country has a different rate). We almost never make calls, but email is constant for my business.

 

Surfing the web is extra, but I really have no need to do so on vacation unless I am looking up the answer to the trivia question of the day. LOL

 

All in all, it's a good deal and far cheaper than anything any cruise line has to offer.

[skigrams]

Don't know if any of you are familiar with Magic Jack. You pay only $19.95 per year and you can use it at home which I do for calling my Canadian friends, but you can also purchase a headset like you would use for Skype and use the Magic Jack to call back to the states from any port. All you would need is either your laptop and someplace with wi-fi or just a computer cafe that would allow you to plug into the USB connections on their computers. You would of course, have to pay the internet charges but they are always very reasonable compared to the internet charges on the ship.

 

I have a friend who has been traveling with his Magic Jack and showed me how to do it since I already had the Magic Jack. Worth looking into for anyone who has to check in back home.

 

www.magicjack.com

 

Good luck, Bobi

[Senior Citizen]

I always travel with my MagicJack. Before I leave home, I forward the home phone and cell phones to MagicJack. Then, people can call and leave a message which goes into my email. When I get into my email, I can listen to the messages. I also make calls on my MagicJack when I'm at a hotel with free wifi---but you can use it wherever you can plug it in. I think you need a high speed connection so it might not work with a ship's satellite connection.