Carnival internet package and cell phone usage

[zdub86]

Obviously you are out in international waters not near any cell phone towers so this may be a silly question, but my wife and I will be taking our first cruise next month for our honeymoon (7 night cruise) and it will be the longest we've been away from our kids. So, needless to say my wife will want to talk to them occasionally somehow. Would we need to wait to get on the islands to be able to use our cell phones? Would we need to contact our service provider ahead of time (AT&T) to get some kind of international data/roaming package? I'm not sure how any of this works, so if anybody has any experience with this please advise!! And thank you!!

 

I looked on Carnival's website. They offer different wifi packages. But then it says Facetime (and probably other related apps such as Tango for Samsung users like myself) are NOT supported at this time... so I'd need to use video chat while in the ports, correct?

 

Here is what I found on Carnival's website, if anybody has any experience with this please share!! And thanks!!

 

Social ($5 USD per day) – Access the most popular websites and applications. Includes: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Linkedin, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. Does not include access to other websites or apps.

 

Value ($16 USD per day) – Surf all your favorite sites, including e-mail, news, sports, weather, banking and finance. Note: Does not support Skype calling or music streaming (such as Spotify).

 

Premium ($25 USD per day) – From e-mail to Skype, our Premium plan promises the fastest possible connection, at speeds up to 3 times faster than our Value Plan. Supports Skype video calling, where coverage allows.

 

Users may easily upgrade from one plan to another. Users may use one device at a time on each plan, including either their personal devices or one of our on-board computers. All plans exclude video streaming (such as Netflix or Hulu) and Snapchat. Cellular-network-dependent WiFi Calling and Facetime services are also not supported at this time. Printing is offered at no charge.

[Coach Pedro]

international roaming on your cell is quite expensive. St. Thomas, PR are considered "US" for AT&T, so you can talk freely.

 

They won't let you stream anything on the heap packages, as streaming is a bandwidth hog.......

 

Internet has come down in price.......

[mjonis]

I'm fairly certain that AT&T has a "special" deal with the Ship to Shore stuff (at least Carnival's website implies this) so it may not be as bad as the "regular" $9.95/minute stuff.

 

That being said:

 

You could use the $25/day for the skype video calling and just use the phone portion of it (I'm not aware that you HAVE to use Skype Video calling, the Skype audio only should work). Not sure if you can selectively choose which days to purchase it though (don't purchase on days you're in ports).

 

Although Carnival's internet pricing/package is nowhere near as good as MSC (IMO). I believe we had the streamer package on MSC and it was $120 for an 11-day cruise for FOUR devices and it supported Wi-Fi calling just fine (although it IS going through satellite so there is a bit of a delay).

 

Our potential 8-night Carnival cruise will run us $400 for two devices (ouch). Yeah.

 

We have T-Mobile, BTW, so in regards to MSC and Wi-Fi calling, I can only speak to the native T-Mobile stuff.

 

Given the cost of Carnival's internet, I'd suggest just choosing the package that'll let you text via Wi-Fi (I have an iPhone, so it does that natively, I believe, but with an Android and T-Mobile you have to have Wi-Fi calling enabled and working for messages to go through or use a third-party messaging like Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp).

 

Hope this helps!

[figdu]

AT&T only has deals with these lines:

Azamara Club Cruises®

Celebrity Cruises®

Crystal ® Cruises

Disney Cruise Line

Holland America Line®

Oceania Cruises®

Pullmantur Cruceros

Regent Seven Seas Cruises®

Royal Caribbean International®

Select Silversea® ships

SkySea Cruise Line

 

Using it on a Carnival ship will be VERY expensive!

[Wheatie59]

There's a phone in your cabin you can use for $1.99 a minute. You can use your AT&T cell phone (there's a "tower" on the ship), but it will be (IIRC) $2.99 a minute.

Facebook, including Messanger, works fine on the Social plan. So did iMessage texting.

[CharlesKru]

Just a warning,

 

If you are thinking of trying to use WIFI calling in port, on a free wifi hotspot, it probably wont work. Most of the hotspots are configured for a very limited number of ports to be open ( email, websurfing, facebook) and not wide open like yours at home.

 

I have not been able to establish a connection in many ports.

[jakeT]

The $5 a day plan gives you things like FACEBOOK and Facebook messenger.

I used this to keep in touch. All the people have to have Facebook accounts.

It also does other social apps. Once again all people have to have that account

$25 a day is a lot of money, and you are going to be to busy to talk to people. A quick I alive and doing well , will be enough

Edited January 7, 2017 by jakeT

[cruisinqt]

Just about all the kids have Instagram now (ours do), it's the "in" thing. And Instagram has a private messaging feature you can use to keep in touch. Plus you can post quick pictures and videos of your adventures during your cruise. That's what we did on our last cruise to keep in touch and it worked perfect. Unlimited contact with our family was priceless. Plus it's only $5 a day on the social media package. Way cheaper than phone calls and the Instagram app is free. :)