Cell phone use on the Mariner

[dbarry]

I plan on calling RCCL about this but probably will take their word only if someone here will back it up! Not that I've ever received almost right or incorrect answers to questions from them, hmm. I was reading somewhere (can't find it anywhere now) that there are cruise ships that now have the ability to provide use of your personal cell phone while onboard. I have service with cingular, and already have an international calling plan. But I think that I read that it may cost more by using the cell phone on the ship. I called cingular this morning and unfortunately spoke with someone who did their customer service training at the same place as those who work for RCCL. She was completely unaware of any of this, but did send me to cingular's web-site (the same one she was looking at to answer my questions) and even though she didn't see it it was there under "cruise ships". Navigator and Majesty were listed under RCCL, but I thought that this article that I read also included Mariner. Let me ask the people that are really in the know; my fellow cruisecritics! Have you used your cell phone on the Mariner (vs. at one of the ports) and what kind of rates were you charged?

 

Thank you all very much,

Darlene

[luv2cruise03]

I am also interested in that. We have Nextel, but my teenage daughter has Cingular...she will be taking a friend with her and it would be nice if the Cingular phone would work in case her friends parents needed to reach her for any thing.

[dbarry]

So far I have talked with Cingular, no positive anwer.

 

Rccl, 1st person didn't know anything more than you can use your phone in port.

 

Rccl, 2nd person said that the Voyager class and the new Freedom have this "cell phone connectivity" ability, but couldn't tell me which cell providers use it or the rates that were charged.

 

So now until we hear from cruisecritic, I think I will call cingular again and ask the same question to someone else and see what their answer is.

 

Darlene

[Art Explorer]

I haven't personally used my phone on board yet, but I did speak to a head rep for Cingular just last week about their contract with RCCL, and this is what I was told:

 

1. As of January 1st 2006, all RCCL ships will contain a Cingular tower on board. Cingular is currently the only cell phone company doing this universally throughout the fleet.

 

2. You must have an International plan with Cingular for your phone to be functional.

 

3. Calls will cost you $1.99 per minute on the basic International plan, or if you want a cheaper rate and plan on making a lot of international calls you can sign up for a specific additional international plan (sorry, forget the tag name for it but it'll cost you $6.99 a month) and calls will only be $.99 per minute.

 

 

As I said, I haven't used it yet, and would like some one who's actually tried it to either back up the Cingular rep, or tell us all the reality of the situation. Anyone?:rolleyes:

[dbarry]

I haven't personally used my phone on board yet, but I did speak to a head rep for Cingular just last week about their contract with RCCL, and this is what I was told:

 

1. As of January 1st 2006, all RCCL ships will contain a Cingular tower on board. Cingular is currently the only cell phone company doing this universally throughout the fleet.

 

2. You must have an International plan with Cingular for your phone to be functional.

 

3. Calls will cost you $1.99 per minute on the basic International plan, or if you want a cheaper rate and plan on making a lot of international calls you can sign up for a specific additional international plan (sorry, forget the tag name for it but it'll cost you $6.99 a month) and calls will only be $.99 per minute.

 

 

As I said, I haven't used it yet, and would like some one who's actually tried it to either back up the Cingular rep, or tell us all the reality of the situation. Anyone?:rolleyes:

 

Thank you Art for the information thta you have! I knew that I could count on this board! I'm sure someone else will have the rest of the answer for us.

 

Darlene

[dbarry]

Okay, here's what I know:

 

If you have the World Connect Standard International Plan ($3.99 per month)and are in Jamaica a call home will cost you $1.99 per minute, if you have the World Traveler Calling Plan ($5.99 per month) and are in Jamaica a call home will cost you $1.69 per minute. This is from not one, but two supervisors from Cingular. Neither who have heard anything about Cingular putting towers on RCCL ships. In fact one of them told me "You can't put a tower on a ship". I give up! Who needs a cell phone on a cruise anyway, I'll be trying to get away from everyday frustrations (like this fun day I've had on the phone) and be sitting back by the pool with a yummy foo-foo drink. Let's see if I got rid of the phone all together I would have about $600 a year more to buy those mentioned foo-foo drinks! I'm still curious about any information that anyone knows about this, I am just not going to stress about it!

 

Darlene

[dbarry]

Okay, here's what I know:

 

If you have the World Connect Standard International Plan ($3.99 per month)and are in Jamaica a call home will cost you $1.99 per minute, if you have the World Traveler Calling Plan ($5.99 per month) and are in Jamaica a call home will cost you $1.69 per minute. This is from not one, but two supervisors from Cingular. Neither who have heard anything about Cingular putting towers on RCCL ships. In fact one of them told me "You can't put a tower on a ship". I give up! Who needs a cell phone on a cruise anyway, I'll be trying to get away from everyday frustrations (like this fun day I've had on the phone) and be sitting back by the pool with a yummy foo-foo drink. Let's see if I got rid of the phone all together I would have about $600 a year more to buy those mentioned foo-foo drinks! I'm still curious about any information that anyone knows about this, I am just not going to stress about it!

 

Darlene

 

So sorry I made a mistake on the prices! If you have the World Connect Plan it costs $2.49 per minute, NOT $1.99.

[GMoney]

This recent thread from 1/5 may be of help. I found the 1/14 post from BakerBakes most helpful. I've never inserted links on here, so if it doesn't work, just search "cell phone." There's also a lot of info on Cingular's website.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=274937&highlight=cell+phone

[firstcruise05]

I don't have any information on Cingular but I wanted to say that I empathize with you regarding the phone calls to customer service. When we cruised on the Mariner I called Verizon to ask if we had the capability to call from the ship or the ports. We were sailing to Bahamas, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten. The Rep said that we would get spotty service on the ship, full service in the Bahamas, and no service at all in St. Thomas or St. Maarten. The only thing she got right was St. Maarten.

 

We got no service on the ship except for when we were at a port where we got service and when we were in close range to U.S. So yeah, I guess that is spotty service. We got NO service in the Bahamas or St. Maarten but excellent service in St.Thomas. I believe we paid $1.99 per minute in St. Thomas but that beat the 7.99 per minute from the ships phone (we had to check in with the in laws...they were watching our kids). Good Luck, and be sure to post your experience when you get back so that others with cingular can have more info.

[cruisin'gal]

I have Cingulair, if I remember correctly I got the World Connect plan for $5.99 for the month, $1.99 a minute on SOS out of Port Canaveral last October. No problems checking in with my daughter. At the end of the month I just canceled the plan. Laura

[FitzLA]

I heard that Freedom class ships will be the only RCI ships to have cell phone connectivity. I could be wrong, but that is what the website says as well.

[dbarry]

This recent thread from 1/5 may be of help. I found the 1/14 post from BakerBakes most helpful. I've never inserted links on here, so if it doesn't work, just search "cell phone." There's also a lot of info on Cingular's website.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=274937&highlight=cell+phone

 

 

Thank you so much for this link. When I searched this site I used cell phones at sea!

[SusieQT]

I signed up for this last night. There is a list on the cingular site that has a few ships that are included.

 

Cruise Ship Cingular Standard International Roaming Rates Cingular World Traveler Rates

 

Carnival Cruise Line Triumph 2.49 1.69

Celebrity Cruise Line Summit 2.49 1.69

Holland America Cruise Line Vollendam 2.49 1.69

Island Cruise Line Island Escape 2.49 1.69

Island Cruise Line Island Star 2.49 1.69

Norwegian Cruise Line Crown 2.49 1.69

Norwegian Cruise Line Dawn 2.49 1.69

Norwegian Cruise Line Dream 2.49 1.69

Norwegian Cruise Line Jewel 2.49 1.69

Norwegian Cruise Line MarcoPolo 2.49 1.69

Norwegian Cruise Line Spirit 2.49 1.69

Norwegian Cruise Line Star 2.49 1.69

Norwegian Cruise Lines Sun 2.49 1.69

Radisson Cruise Line Voyager 2.49 1.69

Royal Caribbean International Majesty of the Seas 2.49 1.69

Royal Caribbean International Navigator of the Seas 2.49 1.69

 

 

 

http://www.cingular.com/customer_service/roaming_gen

 

This site also had each country listed individually.

 

When you call customer service, you need to ask for the world plan. My rep had to put me on hold the figure it out. It's 5.99/month.

 

My understanding is that the real "savings" is that you don't pay roaming fees.

[Art Explorer]

Darlene,

 

Sorry the info I gave you doesn't seem to be correct - but I swear this is what I had been told by a person at Cingular claiming to be a "head rep"! When I called about it again yesterday, I was told almost a completely different story! :mad: I give up!

SO...... I'm with you, I'm going to find out what I can ( more from actual users who post on this site), and not let it stress me out! Again, sorry for the confusion!:o

[GMoney]

Art Ex - What did they tell you today? I bought a Cingular phone yesterday. I'm waiting for it to come today, and then I have to call them to activate the internatl roaming plan. I'm hoping this works, but I'm not holding my breath! I don't know why this is such a mystery from Cingular and RCI!!

[GMoney]

Check this link from the company that actually provides the cell service. Not sure how recent or accurate it is, but the info differs from what's on Cingular's site.

 

http://www.cellularatsea.com/shipsinservice.htm

[Art Explorer]

Gmoney

 

Here's what I was told yesterday:

 

1. Cingular does work with RCCL, but the person I spoke to couldn't specify particular ships that are actively operating. (so, so much for the earlier "every ship has a tower" baloney!)

2. A phone needs to have an international plan to function (hooray, here they are consistant!)

3. Rates for the international plan depend on when you activate it and what type of international plan you choose. The person I spoke to this time said that the most basic international plan would cost me $5.99 a month, and that each minute used would be $.99. ( different info than the 1st time, and different info from the site they referred me to after telling me all this!!!!):confused:

 

At this point I throw the phone overboard, right?:rolleyes:

 

Really, I give up with getting accurate info from the company, and will gratefully take advice from posters who have actually used it and can give concrete user info! Again, I appologize to anyone who used my first info - Cingular is to blame!:mad:

[GMoney]

Thx Art Ex - I will be on Voyager for 2 weeks starting Sat. I will post when I return.

[dbarry]

I finally remembered where I read about all of this -- Cruise Travel Magazine! I was so frustrated not being able to remember where I had seen this, I started thinking it was a dream. A very describtive dream - you know in detail how the whole thing works! When the supervisor from cingular told me yesterday "you can't put a tower on a cruise ship" I quit. Honestly most of the ports of call are less expensive to use my cell phone than using it on the ship while at sea. Art- I never saw price per minute as low as $.99, even in the article from the magazine said $1.99 using cingular and more for the other companies. I was finally told with my world traveler plan ($5.99 per month) that the price would be $1.69 per minute - while at sea. Depending on the port it may be less expensive to call from land using the country's towers. Example, for me to call home from Jamaica the cost is $.89 per minute. I will worry about it no more. Patrick will let us know when he gets back in two weeks!

[Art Explorer]

Darlene,

Yes , I know the $.99 is wrong - that's another "they told me this" one. I even had them repeat it to me twice, just to be sure I heard it correctly, and both times they said $.99 . When I checked the site they reccommended afterward, I saw what you did - and knew they flubbed again! I mentioned the conversation to prove my point that Cingular reps haven't a clue! :D

 

I refuse to worry about this any longer! I plan on waiting to see what Patrick says when he gets back - an actual passanger using ( or trying to ) the system will definetley know the facts!;)

[Weez]

I dont remember the per minute costs but i used my cingular cell phone on our western caribbean cruise last year on the Navigator. IIRC we lost service in every port but as soon as we were out to sea we regained service. Im not sure if the boat shut down the signal or if cable and wireless just conflicted with the cingular tower. Im almost sure all the voyager class ships have it with several of the smaller ships having it as well. I think i read somewhere that nextel and cingular worked in san juan.

[dbarry]

Thank you Weez!

 

Darlene

[scaevolatn]

I just wanted to stress the need for the international roaming add-on with Cingular.

 

I sailed Navigator - Eastern Caribbean last year and had my Cingular phone, with a basic US nationwide plan and WITHOUT an international roaming add-on plan. The only place, land or sea, that I had service was in San Juan. No service at sea, or in St. Thomas, St. Martin or Nassau.

 

I, of course, would have preferred not to even have a cell phone with me, but found no place to stash it at the Port of Miami.:)

[Weez]

Just wanted to stress the need for the international roaming add-on with Cingular. I sailed Navigator - Eastern Caribbean last year and had my Cingular phone, with a basic US nationwide plan and WITHOUT an international roaming add-on plan. The only place, land or sea, that I had service was in San Juan. No service at sea, or in St. Thomas, St. Martin or Nassau.:)

 

Yes you are correct, I forgot to mention that :)