Actual phone calls from ships

[RNGALNG]

A friend's cruise on another line was just washed out due to Florence. They have decided to travel on the following cruise. They will be doing a New England cruise and will be at sea as mom has surgery. They would like to call her. What are the options?

1. Ship to shore?

2. An app on their phone?

3. ideas?

 

This all is just happening. They made their decision late last night and will be leaving in the morning. Just trying to help them out.

 

Thanks for your input.

[skynight]

Call from shore.

Wi-Fi Calling, you have to purchase one of the internet plans

A quick cell call, the charge is around $2.50/min, plus any charges from your provider.

An e-mail, again you have to purchase an internet plan.

In cabin calling to shore is around $5/min.

Have someone text or e-mail her regarding status.

There are more options people will post.

[molly2kit]

I don't know if the Mom has a cellphone with apps but I use Whatsapp all the time to text and place voice calls using wifi. Called home to Vancouver BC every day from 3 weeks in Tokyo. Both parties need to have the app and set it up. Works very well!!

 

 

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[Potstech]

Will also depend on who their service provider is. Verizon has the Travel Pass that covers Canada. If they are on shore it is a flat rate of I believe $10.00 to use your data and voice plan there. The fee pays for 24 hours of usage no matter how long or how many calls made. Using services on the ship can get very expensive. NE/Canada cruises are port intensive so they should be able to communicate easily.

[Seacreature101]

I don't know if the Mom has a cellphone with apps but I use Whatsapp all the time to text and place voice calls using wifi. Called home to Vancouver BC every day from 3 weeks in Tokyo. Both parties need to have the app and set it up. Works very well!!

 

 

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Pardon my ignorance, but...

 

If I download Whatsapp and son who is sitting with Mom has Whatsapp and I am Royal Princess and not on land but at sea, I can call and talk to him and my mom on his cell phone. I have the land deal with ATT for islands visited, but saw $50 only available through Princess for 10 minutes at sea :eek:so looking for another option for sea days. Do I need to buy wi-fi package on ship to make this happen? Thank you!

[Tak8]

I used Verizon Travelpass. 10 dollars covers 24 hours of phone and text, email etc. I used it while on a British Isles cruise to call to US and I used it while in the Caribbean.

[Thrak]

I know it's expensive but Princess does offer In-Cabin Calling to Shore. It's $49.50 for 10 minutes. Like I said, expensive but it is an option.

[Potstech]

Pardon my ignorance, but...

 

If I download Whatsapp and son who is sitting with Mom has Whatsapp and I am Royal Princess and not on land but at sea, I can call and talk to him and my mom on his cell phone. I have the land deal with ATT for islands visited, but saw $50 only available through Princess for 10 minutes at sea :eek:so looking for another option for sea days. Do I need to buy wi-fi package on ship to make this happen? Thank you!

 

Yes you do. You still have to go thru the Princess system to get on the internet.

[Scorpio41]

On our recent cruise on the Sapphire princess our table companions had bad news from home and they were allowed to use the ships phone. Might be worth asking if you can call to see how the operation went due to your worries and concerns. No harm in asking you may be lucky.

 

( To add, I know not Princess but on P&O my partners son was hospitalised while we were onboard and they were allowed to use the ships phone.)

Edited September 13, 2018 by Scorpio41
to add

[satxdiver]

If you use your cell phone on the ship while at sea, the bill will come from your cell provider at his rates ($2.50 seems to be the going rate). Some offer a package for use on the ship so again check with your provider.

 

All the apps use the ship WiFi for which you have to pay, log in and log out each time. In some ships the WiFi can be very slow depending on location and the number of pax using it at the time.

 

For only a few ship to shore phone calls, it well may be cheaper to use the cell phone. Some carriers require you to notify them before using the cell phone out of the country.

[Ep010835]

If they’ve already purchased a shipboard internet package, or are planning yo anyway, Whatsap (free) and Skype (about $.02/minute) have both performed exceptionally well for me all over the world. Voice and text operate in a familiar fashion to conventional phones.

 

Both REQUIRE WiFi to operate.

 

As has already been noted, Whatsap requires both parties to have the ap.

Skype requires only the user to have the ap.

[Seacreature101]

So helpful to me. Thank you all and OP for asking this question. :cool:

[Colo Cruiser]

On our recent cruise on the Sapphire princess our table companions had bad news from home and they were allowed to use the ships phone. Might be worth asking if you can call to see how the operation went due to your worries and concerns. No harm in asking you may be lucky.

 

( To add, I know not Princess but on P&O my partners son was hospitalised while we were onboard and they were allowed to use the ships phone.)

 

I was allowed to do this in an emergency but can you imagine if a big chunk of passengers did this?

[CJinFLA00]

We were on CB 2 weeks ago and used Wifi calling a lot with no issues. I have at&t and sis has Verizon. No issues.

 

 

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[Thrak]

I haven't done it at sea but when in Canada where I didn't have a plan I used hotel WiFi to use WiFi calling. Just go into your settings and enable advanced calling features. Then go into airplane mode, turn WiFi back on, and call as usual.

[GUT2407]

Called from a ship once, about 1 minute, about $30.

 

Call from shore

[Ep010835]

Called from a ship once, about 1 minute, about $30.

 

Call from shore

 

OMG :o:o

[IECalCruiser]

As others have posted, if your phone has WiFi calling capability the is the best way to go. Only the cost of your WiFi minutes on board or free at a WiFi hotspot in port. We have used WiFi calling from a hotel in Venice and Manchester, England, and at sea on the Adriatic.

 

 

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[WisCruiser2]

You can also make internet-based calls (voice or video) if you both use Messenger.

 

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[RNGALNG]

Thank you one and all. I've learned a lot. My coworker is, I think, in Gettysburg for the weekend before getting on his ship, hopefully on Monday, for a now shortened cruise due to Florence. We last talked on Thursday, when I posted and last worked. When I find out how 'mom's' surgery went, I will let you know too.

[TheRabbit]

If they’ve already purchased a shipboard internet package, or are planning yo anyway, Whatsap (free) and Skype (about $.02/minute) have both performed exceptionally well for me all over the world. Voice and text operate in a familiar fashion to conventional phones.

 

Both REQUIRE WiFi to operate.

 

As has already been noted, Whatsap requires both parties to have the ap.

Skype requires only the user to have the ap.

A little more info on Skype.

You can pre buy minutes at home on your Skype account. That way you do not need to waste Internet connection time.

 

You can dial anyone's cell or home number from Skype. Person being called will see some other number.

 

App to App calls are free, but the person receiving will need to have a device Skype can be loaded on and then they need to be on the device when you call.

[satxdiver]

If you are going to use any method (skype, etc) on the ship you will have to use the ship internet which is not free. Each time you will be required to logon to the ship internet with name/password to get a connection and at the end be required to logoff or lose all you internet minutes. It was not clear to me that this small issue has been properly addressed.

 

My other concern is the slow and slower response on the ship internet as more pax try to use it at the same time. This is why I use it after midnight and before 6 AM or so. I was wondering how well all this works at the peak internet use times. I realize WiFi calling uses less packets than downloading a web page but bandwidth no matter how small is required.

[TheRabbit]

If you are going to use any method (skype, etc) on the ship you will have to use the ship internet which is not free. Each time you will be required to logon to the ship internet with name/password to get a connection and at the end be required to logoff or lose all you internet minutes. It was not clear to me that this small issue has been properly addressed.

 

My other concern is the slow and slower response on the ship internet as more pax try to use it at the same time. This is why I use it after midnight and before 6 AM or so. I was wondering how well all this works at the peak internet use times. I realize WiFi calling uses less packets than downloading a web page but bandwidth no matter how small is required.

We had to call home in an emergency on an Easter Sunday 2016 while on board and had no problem with voice only on Skype.

[IECalCruiser]

We will shortly be on a 28 day cruise while our house is for sale. AT&T has a Cruise Talk, Text & Data plan that for $100 offers 30 days of unlimited text and talk, and 200MB of data. It is offered on most Princess ships including the Golden. We will see how that works.

 

 

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[Ep010835]

We will shortly be on a 28 day cruise while our house is for sale. AT&T has a Cruise Talk, Text & Data plan that for $100 offers 30 days of unlimited text and talk, and 200MB of data. It is offered on most Princess ships including the Golden. We will see how that works.

 

Please share the results when you return. Especially internet/data download speed.

 

Safe travels!