Using telephone at sea.

[stevenr597]

Does anybody know if Princess has a package plan for a flat charge for one's ability to use their telephone at sea?  If so, has does one go about purchasing it.  I did a search on the Princess Website and could not find anything. 

Thanks for the help. 

[Sea Hag]

If you get an internet package and your phone is capable of wifi calling (voip) then that might work for you. Search "voip" on the Princess board and there are many threads talking about this. 

[david63]

14 minutes ago, stevenr597 said:

Does anybody know if Princess has a package plan for a flat charge for one's ability to use their telephone at sea?  If so, has does one go about purchasing it.  I did a search on the Princess Website and could not find anything. 

Thanks for the help. 

Never seen such a package on any cruise line.

[Ken the cruiser]

I know this isn't exactly what you asked but thought it might be helpful information. We were just on the Diamond cruising around Japan and our granddaughter needed to make a call back to her college's admin department in TN. She was told if she went to Guest Relations, the call would be free. If she made it from her cabin, there would be a charge. Needless to say she went to Guest Relations to make the call.

[Rick&Jeannie]

Check to see if your phone has "wifi calling" capability.  Set it up at home before you leave. (And test it at home.)

[beg3yrs]

1 hour ago, stevenr597 said:

Does anybody know if Princess has a package plan for a flat charge for one's ability to use their telephone at sea?  If so, has does one go about purchasing it.  I did a search on the Princess Website and could not find anything. 

Thanks for the help. 

As other posters have said, Princess itself does not have a package like this and other posters have helpfully suggested using the ship's WiFi if your phone supports WiFi calling.

 

However, staying in line with a package plan, there are package options for cruise ships available from at least two cellular carriers. Both AT&T and Verizon offer a cruise ship plan. I know from personal experience that AT&T's plan is $100 for 30 days of unlimited calling and texting as well as something like 30Mb of data (don't quote me on that one). It also gives you access in Mexico and some islands in the Caribbean. We use this on DW's phone as she has a business and in the past the ship's WiFi/Internet was so poor we didn't trust WiFi calling. My phone however is set to use only the WiFi although there have been times we just forwarded my number to DW's.

 

Bottom line: If a cellular plan for ships makes sense to you over the WiFi, check with your provider.

[LACruiser88]

We use internet based Whatsapp to make calls when at sea.  Works great!

[dreaminofcruisin]

We previously have always used WiFi calling. Last summer we had some issues with that...don't know why exactly. We also have WhatsApp and for some reason that worked better than WiFi calling last summer. The only downside to that is whoever you are calling also needs to have WhatsApp installed where WiFi calling you can call anyone and they aren't even aware you are using it.

[Treasure Hunter]

The AT&T plan works great. I take it out every cruise and in Europe recently I had unlimited use of phone ( calling and texting) for $10 a day. It started on the day I used the phone.

[stevenr597]

42 minutes ago, beg3yrs said:

As other posters have said, Princess itself does not have a package like this and other posters have helpfully suggested using the ship's WiFi if your phone supports WiFi calling.

 

However, staying in line with a package plan, there are package options for cruise ships available from at least two cellular carriers. Both AT&T and Verizon offer a cruise ship plan. I know from personal experience that AT&T's plan is $100 for 30 days of unlimited calling and texting as well as something like 30Mb of data (don't quote me on that one). It also gives you access in Mexico and some islands in the Caribbean. We use this on DW's phone as she has a business and in the past the ship's WiFi/Internet was so poor we didn't trust WiFi calling. My phone however is set to use only the WiFi although there have been times we just forwarded my number to DW's.

 

Bottom line: If a cellular plan for ships makes sense to you over the WiFi, check with your provider.

Thanks

[Rick&Jeannie]

7 minutes ago, Treasure Hunter said:

The AT&T plan works great. I take it out every cruise and in Europe recently I had unlimited use of phone ( calling and texting) for $10 a day. It started on the day I used the phone.

We do this...but it does not work while at sea.  This is called the "International Day Pass".

[stevenr597]

7 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

We do this...but it does not work while at sea.  This is called the "International Day Pass".

We have this, and it works great, but I was questioning whether there is a plan to use while at sea. 

[ldubs]

2 hours ago, stevenr597 said:

Does anybody know if Princess has a package plan for a flat charge for one's ability to use their telephone at sea?  If so, has does one go about purchasing it.  I did a search on the Princess Website and could not find anything. 

Thanks for the help. 

 

I have never seen a plan for the cabin phone (I wanted to call it a land line, but that wouldn't fit in this case 🙂).  Way back when we would give out the ship's general phone number to our kids in case of emergency.  The fee was steep and based on minutes of use.   I suspect that is still the same.   

[Rick&Jeannie]

Not exactly what the OP was asking about...but if you need to *call* a Princess ship...

https://www.princesscruises.de/en/holiday-princess/important-information/communication-services

[mnocket]

2 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Check to see if your phone has "wifi calling" capability.  Set it up at home before you leave. (And test it at home.)

THIS is the answer🖕

[dlh015]

@stevenr597

 

I have Google Fi for my phone. Wherever I've gone in the US and internationally (all over Europe and the Caribbean  for example) I was able to make wifi calls at no extra charge (using the wifi available on the ship). It even greeted me each day as I entered the area of each country. And specifically, I could make calls while at sea.

 

Less than $50/month for 2 lines. However, if you use facetime, and the like (any data intensive app) your cost would be significantly higher but is capped at 6 gig...anything over that is free...cost is $10/gig until you reach the 6 gig cap...

 

 

Edited August 7, 2023 by dlh015

[Treasure Hunter]

AT&T has cruise plans for use at sea. I take the silver plan for $50 for 30 days ( you decide when you want it to start) . 

[Thrak]

2 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

We use internet based Whatsapp to make calls when at sea.  Works great!

 

I have never used WhatsApp but I didn't realize it could make actual phone calls. I'm planning to put it on both of our phones for communication on the ship as the Medallion texting (I forget what they call it) isn't the best. I often get back to the cabin before I find I have a message. Same goes for my wife. I've read that WhatsApp solves this issue.

[Sprocket]

6 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

I have never used WhatsApp but I didn't realize it could make actual phone calls. I'm planning to put it on both of our phones for communication on the ship as the Medallion texting (I forget what they call it) isn't the best. I often get back to the cabin before I find I have a message. Same goes for my wife. I've read that WhatsApp solves this issue.

We just use Facebook messenger.

[Thrak]

1 minute ago, Sprocket said:

We just use Facebook messenger.

 

No FB account for me. 😵

[antsp]

31 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

I have never used WhatsApp but I didn't realize it could make actual phone calls. I'm planning to put it on both of our phones for communication on the ship as the Medallion texting (I forget what they call it) isn't the best. I often get back to the cabin before I find I have a message. Same goes for my wife. I've read that WhatsApp solves this issue.

WhatsApp is the default messaging app across the world, but in the USA is not used much

[LACruiser88]

3 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

I have never used WhatsApp but I didn't realize it could make actual phone calls. I'm planning to put it on both of our phones for communication on the ship as the Medallion texting (I forget what they call it) isn't the best. I often get back to the cabin before I find I have a message. Same goes for my wife. I've read that WhatsApp solves this issue.

It works great for non-video calls, video calling and texting.  And everything is encrypted.

[2011mom]

Google voice is also a great choice. They give you a dedicated phone number for free! The big advantage over WhatsApp is that Google voice allows you to call land lines in the USA, WhatsApp can't call land lines, only cell phones.

[Thrak]

I'm mainly just interested in being able to easily message between my wife and myself onboard and haven't been very satisfied with the medallion messaging system. Hoping WhatsApp will be an improvement. Neither of us has used it before but it can't be all that difficult if so many people use it on a regular basis.

[Rick&Jeannie]

19 minutes ago, Thrak said:

I'm mainly just interested in being able to easily message between my wife and myself onboard and haven't been very satisfied with the medallion messaging system. Hoping WhatsApp will be an improvement. Neither of us has used it before but it can't be all that difficult if so many people use it on a regular basis.

I use it all the time with my son.  He is primarily an iPhone user.  He is the one that put me on to WhatsApp to start with.  We've used it while we were both on ship and while he was land-side.  Works great.