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Cell phone vs cabin phone to call home

sonofthesouth8

By sonofthesouth8,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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sonofthesouth8

sonofthesouth8

Posted
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Ok guys my brother in law passed away Sunday Aug 17 and we are scheduled to be on Liberty leaving Saturday Aug 30. My wife and I would like to call home daily to check on her parents. The cruise is going to Nassau, St Thomas, San Juan, and Grand Turk. From what I have read I will be able to use my cell phone in San Juan with little to no additional charges. This may also apply to St. Thomas since that is still US territory but I'm not sure. I was wondering if we would be better off adding international service to our cell plan for one month or if we should just use the phone in the cabin for a couple of minutes each day. We have absolutely NO experience with this as we usually just turn our phones off when we get on the ship and turn them back on when we get ready to disembark. Or if there was a way we could use Imessage that would also be helpful.

 

Any insight is greatly appreciated.

Edited by sonofthesouth8
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Nadersmom

Nadersmom

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Don't know if it helps or not, but I can tell you that we used the ships phone in the cabin to call home during our first cruise. We went without our son and it was the first time we'd been gone that long from home. We had a set time each evening that we would call. Each night we'd call and time it so we didn't go over like 2 minutes. Doesn't seem like much time but it was still nice to hear his voice and let him hear ours for a few minutes. Was enough time to say that we missed him and ask how school was that day and listen to anything exciting that had happened.

 

Our cell phones get turned off and the batteries removed to ensure they don't turn themselves back on, (which believe it or not happened twice with my husband's phone)

It was pretty easy to dial out from the cabin.

 

We were on a 5 day cruise. Calling each night for 2 minutes directly from the privacy of our cabin cost us approx. $20 at the end of the cruise. I didn't think that was bad at all considering we knew ahead of time what it would cost per minute and we just added it into our budget.

 

I hope this is helpful to you.

Enjoy your cruise

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sonofthesouth8

sonofthesouth8

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If I were you I would download a app on my cell phone (magicjack) to call home when i have free wifi.

 

That would work when we are in port but we will have 2 sea days that we won't have wifi and it's important to call home each day. I will check out that app and see if we can use that while in port. Thanks for the advice.

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<3 2 Cruise

<3 2 Cruise

Posted
Posted

I have been zapped with an unwelcome cellphone bill upon arriving home before, so I don't take any chances. I buy the internet package to check my emails, and if I need to call home, I use the ships phone. $1.99 per minute, and anyone you call knows you are on a timer. It is just easier for me and I know I haven't forgoteen to turn something off that will cost money!

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hirent

hirent

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From what I have read I will be able to use my cell phone in San Juan with little to no additional charges. This may also apply to St. Thomas since that is still US territory but I'm not sure. I was wondering if we would be better off adding international service to our cell plan for one month or if we should just use the phone in the cabin for a couple of minutes each day.

 

Who's service do you have?

Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are US territories and as such US operators have their own networks there. I have used my Sprint service in both Puerto Rico & St. Thomas on our recent cruise. In fact we used GPS navigation a lot in PR and it worked very well on my smartphone. You shouldn't have to pay anything extra for using your service in these US territories. Check with your service provider though.

 

Using the cabin's phone will probably be cheaper and more reliable than using international roaming on your cell phone.

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5PUPS

5PUPS

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If you keep it under a minute I have noticed that I don't get a charge when using the ships phone. No such luck on my cell.

 

Sent from my SM-G900P using Forums mobile app

I've noticed the same thing.

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simong

simong

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If you have an IPhone (IOS 7 or higher) you can use Facetime Audio to call free if you have wifi..make sure phone is in airplane mode though, so you don't incur data charges.

 

I

with a i phone 5c with face time on free wi fi can i call a land line or cellphone without facetime

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hirent

hirent

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with a i phone 5c with face time on free wi fi can i call a land line or cellphone without facetime

 

No. (unless Apple introduced a new service that I'm unaware of).

If you have Skype, you can purchase a US calling plan for only $2.99/month. It will allow you to use Skype to call landlines and cell phones. And off course Skype to Skype is free.

 

Sent from my HTCONE using Forums mobile app

Edited by hirent
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Nadersmom

Nadersmom

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Whether daily contact is necessary or not is entirely up to you and your wife and not anyone else. I would think that a daily call from their child after losing another child would be comforting for them... whether anyone else views as necessary ir not. But that's just my humble opinion.

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sonofthesouth8

sonofthesouth8

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Whether daily contact is necessary or not is entirely up to you and your wife and not anyone else. I would think that a daily call from their child after losing another child would be comforting for them... whether anyone else views as necessary ir not. But that's just my humble opinion.

 

Thanks for your thoughts... you and I are on the same page for sure.

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sailor_jimc

sailor_jimc

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OK.. didn't see this in thi sthread so I will add it. Yes, St Thomas and Puerto Rico are considered US tettiorties and for the major carriers - Verizon Sprint and AT&T (and maybe even T Mobile) there are no roaming charges. BUT I was in St Thomas in June and while they said they had Verizon service on the Islands, the coverage was so poor I was almost never able to connect. AT&T was a solid 5 bar signal. So if you have AT&T you are good to go, Verizon not so much. In PR Verizon service was fine and I used it without issue (and no roaming)

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5PUPS

5PUPS

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Whether daily contact is necessary or not is entirely up to you and your wife and not anyone else. I would think that a daily call from their child after losing another child would be comforting for them... whether anyone else views as necessary ir not. But that's just my humble opinion.

Exactly! I don't remember the OP asking if they should call home.

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