Electronic devices

[jertom]

Ships have to turn off their cellular operations so as to not conflict with locals. So if at the dock, you can use your phone on local cell towers.

Thanks for those details and also thanks to catl331 and KirkNC.

Tom

[cb at sea]

In the morning of departure, get up, turn on your phone and you'll be on a land-based tower. "Check in" with your airline, then print the boarding pass when you get to the airport. Totally free.

[rsldonk]

In the morning of departure, get up, turn on your phone and you'll be on a land-based tower. "Check in" with your airline, then print the boarding pass when you get to the airport. Totally free.

 

 

 

Or even better, download your airline’s app and have a scannable boarding pass on your phone

 

 

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[drowelf]

T-Mobile subscribers have data and text access for free in most foreign countries. We have used that for about one year now. We pay $70/math for two lines. Note: the access does not include access while at sea.

 

T-Mobile is the way I go too I really love that there is no data cap fees, just once I exceed my monthly limit, it goes slower. I been using it for about 4 years now. I have a small notebook for use in composing emails offline and doing some light brows ing (mostly checking bank/CC accounts). When we are in port I turn my HTC into a Mobile Hot-Spot so my wife can connect her tablet and my notebook to the internet, so we don't have to use the ships internet.

[drowelf]

Or even better, download your airline’s app and have a scannable boarding pass on your phone

 

 

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Great idea, but check with your airline when travelling internationally, as mobile boarding passes are not as prevalent overseas as they seem to be for domestic travel.

[hapzfl]

T-Mobile is the way I go too I really love that there is no data cap fees, just once I exceed my monthly limit, it goes slower. I been using it for about 4 years now. I have a small notebook for use in composing emails offline and doing some light brows ing (mostly checking bank/CC accounts). When we are in port I turn my HTC into a Mobile Hot-Spot so my wife can connect her tablet and my notebook to the internet, so we don't have to use the ships internet.

We also have T-Mobile and I just tested tethering locally. It worked very well:D

Now I will try this on our next cruise and see how well that works in different ports.

Thanks for the tip!

[SFO Peter]

Yes. A lot of people like TMobile for travel. This does not work for me because I do not use/pay for data on my cell phone. Data cost of $40 month times 12 is $480 year!

[knittinggirl]

I’ve created a little blog post on how I use our GlocalMe device. It can be found at https://timmerglocalme.blogspot.com

 

Let me know if you have any questions.

Amazon.com review said all of one data plan must be used up before starting another. Is that true? What dataplan do you buy when switching countries every couple days.

[Btimmer]

Amazon.com review said all of one data plan must be used up before starting another. Is that true? What dataplan do you buy when switching countries every couple days.

 

 

 

It’s really not true that a data plan has to be used up before starting another if you are changing coverage areas. For example I used part of a SE Asia plan before using another in China and then when we were back in the SE Asia plan area it kicked in again and the China plan went on standby. All the while I had a Germany plan on standby for a future trip.

 

If you are in, say, China and have two data plans and start to use one, you can’t start using the second until the first one is used up.

 

Throughout our recent trip I had as many as 4 or 5 different data plans available and they turned on and off automatically as we changed countries.

 

I trust this answers your question. Thanks for asking.

 

Tim

[Georgie562]

I take my laptop mainly for the reason to transfer my daily photos from my camera/memory cards onto the laptop. I don't like leaving photos on the card/camera because you never know if maybe you'll lose the camera or get water damage and you end up losing your pictures.

I also use the laptop as a form of DVD player for those lazy in cabin movie watching sea days. Just pack a few DVD's

 

I also take my kindle for reading.

[knittinggirl]

It’s really not true that a data plan has to be used up before starting another if you are changing coverage areas. For example I used part of a SE Asia plan before using another in China and then when we were back in the SE Asia plan area it kicked in again and the China plan went on standby. All the while I had a Germany plan on standby for a future trip.

 

If you are in, say, China and have two data plans and start to use one, you can’t start using the second until the first one is used up.

 

Throughout our recent trip I had as many as 4 or 5 different data plans available and they turned on and off automatically as we changed countries.

 

I trust this answers your question. Thanks for asking.

 

Tim

 

 

 

Thanks for the information. What about Caribbean and Bahamas?

 

 

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[Btimmer]

Thanks for the information. What about Caribbean and Bahamas?

 

 

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That’s one area of the world we don’t frequent, but on our last trip there, RCCL had excellent high speed internet.

 

 

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[knittinggirl]

That’s one area of the world we don’t frequent, but on our last trip there, RCCL had excellent high speed internet.

 

 

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Can we buy the data and activate later? Most expire in 30 days. Does the 30 days start when we purchase, or activate?

 

 

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Edited June 2, 2018 by knittinggirl

[Btimmer]

Can we buy the data and activate later? Most expire in 30 days. Does the 30 days start when we purchase, or activate?

 

 

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Usually they start when you activate.

[knittinggirl]

Usually they start when you activate.

 

 

 

So, may I buy a 30 day package, but activate it months later?

 

For a 35 day cruise , I’d need two 30 day packages, since one would expire before returning home?

 

 

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[Fouremco]

So, may I buy a 30 day package, but activate it months later?

 

For a 35 day cruise , I’d need two 30 day packages, since one would expire before returning home?

 

 

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Glocalme sells a number of data packages that work worldwide. Depending on the size of the package, the period of validity can be 30, 90 or 365 days. If you aren't a heavy user, a 1GB package good for a year is $35. If you need a larger package, you can get 3GB good for 90 days for $88.

 

If you poke around on their website, there are numerous packages that aren't obvious at first. For example, I need coverage for the Netherlands and Norway, but they aren't included together in a European package that I could find. Then I tripped across a 1GB Data package for Mainland China/Europe (33 Countries) that includes them.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Just remember service is very slow on Sea days

 

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[showerdancer55]

Btimmer,

:DThank you very much for putting this together. It was extremely helpful!

[cabland]

I’ve created a little blog post on how I use our GlocalMe device. It can be found at https://timmerglocalme.blogspot.com

 

Let me know if you have any questions.

 

Tim - thanks that was very helpful. Is it fair to assume that the device (basically a hot spot) wouldn't really buy us much on an Alaskan cruise. When we are in port, I assume our (U.S. Based) cell phones will be able to access the regular 4G LTE cell service like we would anywhere else in the lower 48 and since you have to be close to a cell tower to use the device anyway...

[nana51]

I’m wondering, I have unlimited data and when I’m not near WiFi or I don’t know the password it kicks in. Since on our cruise, round trip Seattle, we will be in the USA every day but one, I planned to just text and email in port. Will that work or will I need to turn everything off on the ship?

 

 

 

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[Btimmer]

We used our Verizon wireless voice and data throughout Alaska. I don’t know if other carriers will work. I do recommend going into airplane mode to prevent connecting to the ship’s cell service.

 

 

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[SFO Peter]

My recommendations is put phone in Airplane mode and turn power completely off when

1. Ship is sailing (can use when docked in US)

2. in Canada.

 

Otherwise you may have a big bill due to roaming charges. ATT also has good connections in Alaska.

[JKTHOR]

If you put your phone in airplane mode, can you still access Navigator on board? How do you hook up to Navigator? Is it an app?

[bUU]

If you put your phone in airplane mode, can you still access Navigator on board? How do you hook up to Navigator? Is it an app?

There are generally four controls, Airplane mode, Bluetooth, Mobile Data and WiFi. Turning on Airplane mode typically also turns off Bluetooth, Mobile Data and WiFi, but they can be turned back on individually without it affecting Airplane mode's impact on voice and txt service. Of course, for Navigator, you would only turn WiFi back on.

 

This message may have been drafted using voice recognition. Please forgive any typos.

[knittinggirl]

We just did a B2B in Alaska from Vancouver. We studied the onboard map on our television. The first leg, we took the Georgia Strait, and when we got to the narrow part, we could access 3G on our Kindles and download content. On the second leg, we were late getting out of Vancouver, and the captain took to the open sea. No luck w/ 3G till we got to Ketchikan. Until this trip to Alaska, I would have said it was a smooth sailing. But this time, we had Force 8 winds on day 2.

 

 

 

If you can get 3G, can you also get 4G, or are there fewer towers?