Do I need to purchase an international phone plan…

[DCGuy64]

6 minutes ago, ziggyuk said:

 

I already explained, with a spend limit set to zero there is no "very expensive Cellular at Sea" to pay for, my phone company can't charge me for out of contract usage when my spend limit is set to zero.
This allows me to continue using my phone on the ship right up until the moment they turn on the cell tower.

 

 

 

My comment was not directed at you, it was a comment meant for general consumption. I think another poster said to keep the phone on Airplane mode all the time, and my point was that wouldn't make sense if I needed to use cell service abroad. Sorry if I gave you the impression that I was taking issue with something you'd said; I wasn't. 🙂

[jlowe420]

23 hours ago, graphicguy said:

Yeah.....I'm figuring any issues I may have I'm sort of on my own with any of the mobile companies.  I have an iPhone with an eSIM, so no physical SIM card.  Not sure how that works.  But, got a couple of months to figure it out for international calling.

You can use the app airalo to buy an esim.  I bought 5GB of data for all of Europe for like $15 and it worked flawlessly on my Iceland/Norway/Denmark/Amsterdam/London cruise.  Took a little fiddling to make sure I would connect to the correct network in each country but was far superior to trying to add international plans on to my verizon account.

[graphicguy]

31 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

I don't put my phone in Airplane mode unless I'm on the ship and out of range of a terrestrial cell tower. We use cell service aka roaming whenever we're overseas. The reason to put the phone in Airplane mode onboard the ship is to avoid the very expensive Cellular at Sea network which is used on the ship. For that, I do put the phone in Airplane mode and use Wifi only.

Yeah...not sure how that works, but I leave my phone in airplane mode on board, too.  Granted, I get unlimited WiFi plan, which means I do have access to WiFi calling.  But, I find the ship's WiFi doesn't carry much past the gangway once you disembark.  Which means, turning AIRPLANE MODE off if I want to be able to make/receive calls in a foreign port.  Also, having AIRPLANE MODE on while on board, keeps the pesky marketing texts from using any data charges when not in my home geography.

 

I guess I can call my carrier and tell them I will decline any data or voice charges on my phone when in a foreign port.  But, not sure how they would separate those charges on my bill if they do hit.  And, getting them removed would be a big hassle after the fact.

 

I'll be in the EU for practically the entire month of October, so I'll go ahead and buy their plan.  IIRC, T-Mobile says it's $50/mo.  Worth it to me.