Calling Home

[jmeans23970]

Does anyone know the best way to call home when you are crusing? Like are there any special calling cards, or prepaid cell phones that would be useful, or is the rates the ship provides the best way?

[salty dingo]

Cheapest way is to either get an international cell phone plan, and call when on shore, or go to an internet cafe and rent a phone to make a call.

 

There is no cheap way to call from the ship while at sea.

[Kiln Wood]

Cheapest way is to either get an international cell phone plan, and call when on shore, or go to an internet cafe and rent a phone to make a call.

 

There is no cheap way to call from the ship while at sea.

 

Agree!!!

[nancydee]

On my trip in January, I bought a U.S. long distance card in upstate New York (7/11 I think).

I tried to call my DS 12 with it from the port in Nassau and they wouldn't take it, so I figured I'd just call collect.

DON"T DO IT!!!!!!!

When the bill came in...$56 for a 6 min call to Canada!!!:eek:

[MicksMom]

Texting is much cheaper if that is an option. DD taught Grandma how to reply to texts & we checked in that way. (Dad had just gotten out of hospital.) Just need to contact your carrier ahead of time to activate international plan. We have Verizon & it was 50 cents to send & 5 cents to receive texts.

 

Some ships now have $1.99 per minute calls from your room.

 

Happy Cruising!!

[JLHB]

Does anyone know the best way to call home when you are crusing? Like are there any special calling cards, or prepaid cell phones that would be useful, or is the rates the ship provides the best way?

Be careful if you call from Mexico. We couldn't find a calling card in the port, so we used our credit card at a pay phone..... $49 for each 1 minute call..... and we made 3 calls. We had no idea until our bill came in at the end of the month.

[Larry'sLady]

and I called before we left & had International calling put on our cell phones. Texts were .05 to receive & .50 to send. Calls from the ship were $2.49 per minute, in port they were $.99 per minute. Very reasonable. I had a sick puppy dog and talked & texted my husband every day. It costs me $26 for a 5 day cruise. Was really pleased with the cost. Be sure and call when u return to have Int Calling removed. They charge 3.99 per month or by the day. That cost us $.90 because I didn't call as soon as we got home.

[jmeans23970]

Cheapest way is to either get an international cell phone plan, and call when on shore, or go to an internet cafe and rent a phone to make a call.

 

There is no cheap way to call from the ship while at sea.

 

Not the cheapest way per say, but really the best. I was really wanting to find a prepaid international phone, but didn't know if such was available

[zqvol]

and I called before we left & had International calling put on our cell phones. Texts were .05 to receive & .50 to send. Calls from the ship were $2.49 per minute' date=' in port they were $.99 per minute. Very reasonable. I had a sick puppy dog and talked & texted my husband every day. It costs me $26 for a 5 day cruise. Was really pleased with the cost. Be sure and call when u return to have Int Calling removed. They charge 3.99 per month or by the day. That cost us $.90 because I didn't call as soon as we got home.[/quote']

 

 

I have to say that is pretty funny because those are Verizon's prices without an International plan.

[MSRussell]

If you don't find a price you like on the phone issue, you and your loved ones can always set an account on Carnival's Web Site.

You can post to each other on the Currently Onboard forum for free.

If you don't bring your laptop and post in your room, you can always use their computers.

Melanie

[Peg_S]

Unfortunately, I don't think you get to know the ship's price until you board. I used my cellphone to call home before sailaway and let DH know ship's calls were "cheap", and I would call once or twice on the cruise to check in. Cellphone went into the safe for the entire cruise. Worked great. Otherwise, we had planned on not calling at all, unless emergency.

 

Peg

[cincycruisincouple]

Calls from your room are only $.99/min on the Legend. That's a lot better than the $2.49/min on Verizon's international plan!

[BKJK]

Does anyone know how much it is to use the phone in your room to call home on the Carnival Dream...

[NJoyCruise]

If you have a wifi enabled phone (i.e. iPhone, Android, etc.) you can call home for FREE! I do this all the time. I have an iPhone, have iCall installed as well as Skype. All you have to do is as soon as you get out, search for a signal. I've always found one whether in Canada or Mexico, or Freeport...you can even see lots of the Cruise workers on their laptops and headsets calling "home".

 

At one beach in Mexico, I think it was Paradise, they even gave me their wifi password which was really nice. I was able to call home using iCall. I also use my facebook to post updates to family. Sweet!!!!

[SteelerCruiser]

we usually buy a phone card from the terminal building. you can get one for $5 or $10 and it works out to about $.50/ minute for us to call home. when you walk into the terminal building there will be several payphones on the left where you can use the cards at. right beside the phones there is a machine on the wall that sells the cards.

 

1 tip though is you may want to bring a handwipe to wipe down the phone b-4 use as they tend to be a little icky.

[mikel24m]

I know I posted this before and they might have fixed it by now.We called home from our cabin a few cruises ago and were on for less than a minute (just calling to make sure the house, cat and everything else was ok ) and we were never charged a dime.I think we did it a few times during the week

[uncleboo]

that sounds to cheap I thought the rate is $7.99 per minute

 

please advise

thanks

[Disconnections]

that sounds to cheap I thought the rate is $7.99 per minute

 

please advise

thanks

 

Nope

Legend was $0.99

 

[bunchesofun]

Not to hijack this thread but didn't want to start another one on nearly the same subject. Does anyone have the phone number that Carnival gives out for people to get hold of us in case of emergency? I've tried searching the website but can't get it to come up. We have prepaid cell phones so can not get any kind of plan to use on the trip. We will be on the Pride in May. I'm just writing instructions for our house sitter and wanted to put it down as a MAJOR emergency number. Thanks in advance.

[velotaco]

Does anyone know the best way to call home when you are crusing? Like are there any special calling cards, or prepaid cell phones that would be useful, or is the rates the ship provides the best way?

 

We use Skype. It's usually about 2 cents a minute for most countries.

[MiamiSpartan]

I never call any longer.

I tell people to email or text if they want to get ahold of me

[Larry'sLady]

I have to say that is pretty funny because those are Verizon's prices without an International plan.

 

 

It wasn't an International Plan. Had to have International Calling put on our phones so we could call each other while out of the country. You had to use certain additional numbers to call.

[Larry'sLady]

After reading the replies to this thread, I have learned I could have saved more money. That was my first cruise but will be on the Legend in July. Do not plan to use the phone. My dog died after I got home,:( so I won't be checking on him; & my husband will be with me. Thanks for the good info.

[purplekisses]

My husband use the phone in the cabin twice to check on his mother who had surgury while we were on the Legend week of March 27th and I can verify the charge was $.99 per minute. The first call was $2.97 and the 2nd call was about the same.:)