ATT Services for Spain and Onboard!

[cruzinblondie]

Hello fellow cruisers,

 

Preparing for our TA this October on the Carnival Magic and looking at connectivity for cell phone, texting and facetime. Does anyone have current information about charges from both ATT and Carnival and what might be the best options for us?

[Traveling Gram]

Att has an international text plan I just used and also a phone plan. I try to never use my phone while actually cruising because of cost but texting is OK. You use your same phone and number. Just remind everyone not to call unless it is an emergency. On land it is .99 a min. for calls.

Have fun.

 

Penny

[SATXLady]

For info from AT&T: http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/international/?wtSlotClick=1-005XJE-0-5?wtSlotClick=1-005XJE-0-5

 

Click on international roaming and you will find Cruise ships listed as well as each country. This page will also give you additional info you need to know about interational roaming such as making sure your phone will work and ensuring that international roaming is enabled on your phone.

 

When you select Carnival, you will find that it will cost $2.49 per minute on board. When you select Spain, you will find that the standard rate is $1.39 or $0.99 if you have the world traveler plan (which is $5.99 per month). You can also check on other countries you may be visiting as generally, it will be much cheaper on land than on the ship.

 

Home pay-per-use or package rates apply to all text, picture, or video messages received when roaming internationally. Sending is $0.50 for Text and $1.30 for picture or video messages.

 

Text/instant messages: Sending: 50¢; Receiving: 20¢ or deducted from your domestic data bucket

 

Picture/video messages: Sending: $1.30; Receiving: 30¢ or deducted from your domestic data bucket

 

Data usage pay-per-use rate is $.0195/KB, except in Canada where rate is $.015/KB. Some data plans are available but it is EXTREMELY expensive compared to stateside. Plans for Smartphones and Tablets (iPad) start at $24.99 for 20MB (that MB not GB) and go up to $199.99 for 200MB which is the equivalent of their cheapest ($15) smartphone plan available domestically. Unless you absolutely must have data on your phone, recommend you turn data roaming off all together. These plans only work in select countries and I don't see either Carnival Cruise lines or Satellite at Sea listed so I don't think the plans would work on board. Not sure if there is an additional on-board charge in addition to what AT&T charges or not.

 

You can use the WiFi on the ship if your phone uses WiFi and while you will have to pay, it's cheaper than paying the roaming rates.

 

FAQ here may give you additional info about staying connected on-board. http://www.cruisemates.com/articles/onboard/connected.cfm#axzz1OQ1lVmSo

[BKJK]

Be careful when texting, when I got home they charged me double sometimes triple for each text I sent. They charge by the size of the text..I was not aware of this. Att didnt mention that on the phone when I called about the plan...

[SATXLady]

Be careful when texting, when I got home they charged me double sometimes triple for each text I sent. They charge by the size of the text..I was not aware of this. Att didnt mention that on the phone when I called about the plan...

 

Actually, this is standard since by definition, an SMS text is I believe only 160 characters so it either is broken into multiple SMS texts or sent as MMS message. We just don't notice it at home, especially if we have a text plan.

 

In the old days, your phone just wouldn't let you send a text over 160 char.

[SadieN]

Another option--

 

You can use the Currently Onboard forum on carnival.com

(Located under Community Buzz--Forums--User Groups--Currently Onboard)

 

It can be accessed for free onboard and everyone needs to register (or share the same login). The problem is that everyone can read this.