Communication from Princess Ships?

[JolleyRoger]

We'll be on the Coral 10/23 sailing to the Panama Canal.

 

We've found out our cells wont connect from the Caribbean. While we are looking to "get away from it all" we'll still need to have some form of contact with our business on certain days along with the ability to have people reach us in case of an emergency.

 

Does Princess have a Ship to Shore phone connection?

 

Will pre-paid phone cards work from the ship?

 

Is it best to wait for the Ports of Call?

 

How do you keep in contact when necessary?

 

Any specific info would be greatly appreciated.

[DesrtDrmr]

Princess does have ship to shore phones, but they are VERY expensive........something like $15.00 a minute. Prepaid phone cards will NOT work on the ship. If you have to phone home, port calls would be the least expensive way of phoning. You can leave your ship to shore phone number with your relatives and business for emergency use.

The MOST efficient way of staying in touch is through email. If you are a new cruiser to Princess, the email charge is .35 a minute if you use the ship's computers. It is approx. the same if you use your own laptop, but you have to use it only in the atrium or other wireless area, but not in your cabin. You can upload your mail and connect and transfer it for the least expensive way to send email. You also can connect and download your email to answer at your leisure.

After you enjoy five cruises on Princess, you become Platinum on the sixth cruise and have free email from the ship's internet cafe only.

[cruznliz]

I agree that the most economical means of communication from the ships is via e-mail. If the phone calls will be relatively short, I would recommend the ship to shore phones. It is just $4.95 per minute and you can make the calls from the comfort of your cabin. (For people to reach you onboard, be sure you coordinate a time for the call, so that you will be in your cabin.)

 

IMHO it is risky to call from some of the islands. If you do, try and buy a local calling card that is good for the United States. My mother called me collect from Mexico on Christmas and when I received my telephone bill it was about $50 for a 2 minute call. She would have been better off calling from her cabin. :(

 

Another alternative is to ask a member of the crew if they know of any internet cafes in the vicinity of the pier. Internet cafes often have telephone service as well and is usually quite reasonable. We have called home for as little as $1 USD.

[Toto2Kansas]

If you need to stay in contact with a business or loved one on a regular basis, you might think of renting a satellite phone. It is the only sure way of getting a good connection and being able to reach, or be reached at any given time. From what I understand, the per minute rate with some of them is less than $1.50 per minute from the Caribbean, plus the phone rental (not sure what that is though). Which is much cheaper than the ship to shore calls which can be spotty at best. You might look into it.

[Pam in CA]

Toto is correct. The most reliable method of staying in touch is a satellite phone, which you can rent. I believe Cingular has them but am not sure. You'd have to check.

 

There are times when the internet could be "down" and while that might not happen on your cruise, it can and does happen. If my business depended on it, I wouldn't.

 

What I've done in the past is designate one person at home who had all of the contact info for everyone, including the various ways to get in touch with me, family members, work, etc.