phone service while cruising

[thatbloominplace]

we are looking at river cruising next year. my question is this: if we have verizon international phone upgrade will we have service while cruising. i know we will while in port, but what about while moving. i was hoping we'd be close enough to shore to have service most of the time.

thanks

steve

[Gourmet Gal]

You should be able to use the ship’s WiFi for calls onboard.

[CPT Trips]

  The ship’s WiFi should be available whenever you are aboard. When you are in towns you can find a lot of hotspots. Assuming you have the ability to use WiFi for voice, there may not be a need to activate an international plan. 
 

As an aside to people who have this same question, T-Mobile’s regular plans include free data and messaging and voice is $0.25/minute. We switched carriers to them several years ago and only wish we had done so years earlier. 

[bubbulz]

3 hours ago, CPT Trips said:

  The ship’s WiFi should be available whenever you are aboard. When you are in towns you can find a lot of hotspots. Assuming you have the ability to use WiFi for voice, there may not be a need to activate an international plan. 
 

As an aside to people who have this same question, T-Mobile’s regular plans include free data and messaging and voice is $0.25/minute. We switched carriers to them several years ago and only wish we had done so years earlier. 

I switched T-mobile about a decade ago and have used it all around the world. The only continent where I have been unable to use it was Antarctica. 😉 (But Starlink and WiFi was amazing!)

[CDNPolar]

Our experience is while on a river cruise you are typically close enough to the banks that you can enjoy data/cell service throughout the cruise.

 

What you will notice however is that when we were in Eastern Europe and had Serbia on one side of the river and Romania on the other, that the service jumped from one to the other frequently.

 

We don't use our home plan, we buy eSIM's and we were never without data either from the cell towers or the ship's Wifi, but you could experience periods of time that you are too far from a land cell tower to have your home service. 

 

No absolute guarantees with what you are asking, so if your home cell service and home cell number is absolutely required, then you may be out of service from time to time.

 

We instruct friends and family that while we are away, we are available only on WhatsApp and not on our home cell numbers.

[Canal archive]

On board service absolutely fine on shore maybe a bit iffy, switch your phone to Wi-Fi enabled and off you go. I’m sure the USA suppliers are not going to miss out. If they do they are idiots. 

[Daisi]

Our cell service is expensive for roaming - $15.00/day. I buy an Orange Sim card and they work great. I learned last trip to never go to Europe again without cell service as we almost missed our connecting flight home, which would mean missing the hotel & train that were booked to get us home in Canada. 

 

Orange gives calling ability if you need it, but if you don't (you can use other apps for calling if those you are calling use them), but there are also data only sims you can get if you wish. Holafly and Airalo for example.

 

[bubbulz]

19 hours ago, CPT Trips said:

 

As an aside to people who have this same question, T-Mobile’s regular plans include free data and messaging and voice is $0.25/minute. We switched carriers to them several years ago and only wish we had done so years earlier. 

Also, I’m not sure about other airlines, but T-mobile provides free Wi-Fi for T-mobile customers on United flights. And if I find that I need higher speed Internet than the standard (included) plan and unlimited international voice, I can upgrade for $50 per month. 

[CDNPolar]

18 hours ago, Daisi said:

Our cell service is expensive for roaming - $15.00/day. I buy an Orange Sim card and they work great. I learned last trip to never go to Europe again without cell service as we almost missed our connecting flight home, which would mean missing the hotel & train that were booked to get us home in Canada. 

 

Orange gives calling ability if you need it, but if you don't (you can use other apps for calling if those you are calling use them), but there are also data only sims you can get if you wish. Holafly and Airalo for example.

 

 

Just as an aside to your comment, the saving piece for us is that we have the airline apps and also I pay for Tripit as a travel app.  All my notifications come through these apps for delays, changes, etc.  No need for cellular service as long as you have data or Wifi.  

[Daisi]

I used the data to make sure I could rebook our hotel and train, but would have needed to cell to call my parents as they were picking us up, and it would have saved them a couple of hours travel into the city and back. As it was, our train was late but at least then I was back on my own cell plan.  The joys of living a couple of hours away from airports. :)

[Rebel54]

I'm also T-Mobile and never had an issue with extra charges or any problems while in Europe.  On board the Wifi was fine for calls using it. 

[kctwinmommy]

On 3/15/2024 at 2:23 PM, CPT Trips said:

  The ship’s WiFi should be available whenever you are aboard. When you are in towns you can find a lot of hotspots. Assuming you have the ability to use WiFi for voice, there may not be a need to activate an international plan. 
 

As an aside to people who have this same question, T-Mobile’s regular plans include free data and messaging and voice is $0.25/minute. We switched carriers to them several years ago and only wish we had done so years earlier. 

When you were on the ship (we'll be on an ocean one), did you turn it onto airplane mode with roaming turned off? I read somewhere else that a person said they got charged for using the ship's WiFi, which seemed odd. I know we had T-mobile in Europe 7 years ago and I know I was posting on FB and such while in towns. Just can't remember what we did on the ship.