Cell phones on carnival

[Crazylegs1976]

we are going on carnival horizon July 11. Wondering if anyone has used a cell phone to make and receive calls while on board? My husband needs to be able to for business.

I know we had no problem last time on royal Caribbean but am now just wanting to make sure we won’t have a problem

Thanks

[mdsgu]

If you have AT&T, give them a call; they have some sort of cruise ship special. You'll pay, but it'll be a lot less than if you don't have the cruise package. You could also get the highest tier internet package and make Wi-Fi calls, but the service may be spotty.

[Crazylegs1976]

I have Verizon. I will call them and see what they have to offer.

[Tiger0613]

I have Verizon. I will call them and see what they have to offer.

 

Verizon doesn't offer a cruise ship package. It is $2.99 per minute. It is $0.50 per text sent and $0.05 per text received. If you have the ship's value or premium internet plan, you can use free wifi texting. I don't know if wifi texting works on the social plan.

 

Travel Pass is usually the cheapest option when you are on land. It is $5 per 24 hours per line in Mexico and Canada and $10 per 24 hours per line in over 130 other countries. You can use your plan as you would at home. It is a rolling 24 hour period. If you start it at 12:00pm on one day, it lasts until 12:00pm the next day. Time it properly and you could get two ports in the same country and only have to pay once. I don't know what the charge would be if you started a session in Mexico($5) but were in Belize($10) or Honduras($10) the next day. Enable it before leaving the US. You are only charged when you use it. Mexico and Canada are already included in some plans.

 

https://www.verizonwireless.com/solutions-and-services/international-travel/

 

Scroll down to the bottom to see cruise ship pricing.

 

 

It is $1.99 per minute to make a call from your cabin phone.

 

https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1139/~/calling-home

[Crazylegs1976]

Verizon doesn't offer a cruise ship package. It is $2.99 per minute. It is $0.50 per text sent and $0.05 per text received. If you have the ship's value or premium internet plan, you can use free wifi texting. I don't know if wifi texting works on the social plan.

 

Travel Pass is usually the cheapest option when you are on land. It is $5 per 24 hours per line in Mexico and Canada and $10 per 24 hours per line in over 130 other countries. You can use your plan as you would at home. It is a rolling 24 hour period. If you start it at 12:00pm on one day, it lasts until 12:00pm the next day. Time it properly and you could get two ports in the same country and only have to pay once. I don't know what the charge would be if you started a session in Mexico($5) but were in Belize($10) or Honduras($10) the next day. Enable it before leaving the US. You are only charged when you use it. Mexico and Canada are already included in some plans.

 

https://www.verizonwireless.com/solutions-and-services/international-travel/

 

Scroll down to the bottom to see cruise ship pricing.

 

 

It is $1.99 per minute to make a call from your cabin phone.

 

https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1139/~/calling-home

 

 

Even if it isn’t under a package, would he still receive the calls even at 2.99 per minute?

I got the premium WiFi package and am gonna look into Skype so maybe he can use that to speak to his main guys but I am concerned for incoming calls that wouldn’t know to use skype. I did set up the 10$ a day plan with Verizon for the days we are in port.

Thanks for your help

[BallFour4]

Here's what I do. I have a Skype phone number. It's not the free service, it's a small pay as you go monthly rate phone number. I give that number to my clients and those that need to contact me. Once aboard I get the unlimited data plan and turn my phone to Airplane mode. Then I log on to the ship wifi and the phone works great.

 

iMessages work via the ship wifi as well.

 

It would be easy to turn off the phone and disconnect, but some careers involve critical decisions and opinions. It also keeps the cruise checking account funded.

 

 

.

[Sch2ofowler]

I'm on board Vista right now and have used my phone for work. I have International plan with Verizon so used on first stop at grand turk, have used on ship once but rest I used under value plan with Carnival wifi package

[KrabbyKelly]

So with the Verizon plan, are there any roaming charges while at sea or any other hidden fees if I keep my phone on? I sail on the 8th. Our oldest daughter is in the Navy and leaves for an 8 month deployment on the 10th. Was hoping to speak to her on the 9th before she sets sail on her "cruise". Her deployment wasn't announced and finalized until after we booked and she insisted we still go lol. It would be nice to chat for a few before communication becomes unpredictable at best for the next several months. Thanks for your help!

[maryred]

Simply put all cell phone under normal signal usage will be subject to the roaming charges by the satellite server WMS (aka CellularAtSea), there are no cell towers at sea. Unless you are an ATT customer (a major stock owner in WMS) you will get hit with $2.49 per minute roaming fee for voice calls (including voice mail), $0.50 outgoing 100 character max text messages, $0.05 incoming text messages 100 character max, and $20/mb data. ATT customers if they opt for the cruise package (not available on all ships or all itineraries) will be less, but there is still a separate roaming fee as outlined in the plan. This is on top of whatever your current contract specifies as your plan's roaming fee. It can take up to 2 billing cycles for all the extra WMS fees to show up on your monthly bill. Limited use contracts (like Consumer Cellular) and prepaid phones do not work with WMS.

If your company does not reimburse for the upcharges, the IRS does let you deduct any fees directly associated for work related roaming fees if you do itemized deductions. But be careful, as some default settings on smartphones will have apps updating in the background silently using data bytes and this data charge is not deductible (unless you can prove the data was directly work related). If your phone allows, set to data off or wifi only data, before taking off airplane mode for voice and text usage.

Also as close as possible before setting foot on the ship go to 3 websites and print out their sections on phone usage on ships to make sure no information has changed.

1) the cruise line you are sailing on

2) your phone's carrier

3) https://www.wmsatsea.com

[Tiger0613]

If your company does not reimburse for the upcharges, the IRS does let you deduct any fees directly associated for work related roaming fees if you do itemized deductions.

 

They don't anymore. The new tax law eliminated the deduction for unreimbursed employee business expenses starting with 2018 returns, but it isn't permanent. It will be reinstated starting with 2026 returns unless another new law changes that.

 

 

https://www.hrblock.com/tax-center/filing/adjustments-and-deductions/unreimbursed-employee-expenses/

[Crazylegs1976]

Here's what I do. I have a Skype phone number. It's not the free service, it's a small pay as you go monthly rate phone number. I give that number to my clients and those that need to contact me. Once aboard I get the unlimited data plan and turn my phone to Airplane mode. Then I log on to the ship wifi and the phone works great.

 

iMessages work via the ship wifi as well.

 

It would be easy to turn off the phone and disconnect, but some careers involve critical decisions and opinions. It also keeps the cruise checking account funded.

 

 

.

 

I did download skype but do I need a different number or would the same number work?

[Crazylegs1976]

I'm on board Vista right now and have used my phone for work. I have International plan with Verizon so used on first stop at grand turk, have used on ship once but rest I used under value plan with Carnival wifi package

 

 

Have you just used the internet or have you been able to make and receive calls as well

[maryred]

They don't anymore. The new tax law eliminated the deduction for unreimbursed employee business expenses starting with 2018 returns, but it isn't permanent. It will be reinstated starting with 2026 returns unless another new law changes that.

 

 

https://www.hrblock.com/tax-center/filing/adjustments-and-deductions/unreimbursed-employee-expenses/

Thanks for the heads up will let hubby know as he's the one in need of being in contact with his job when on vacation.

 

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