Cell Phone question - Please help

[steveandjen]

Hello,

 

I know that Royal Caribbean has cell phone service on most ship. This should be an interesting question and I hope that someone out there can help me out. I was wondering if my cell phone will work when we are port on a different carrier other than the ship. We will be going a repo cruise from San Diego to Vancouver in May. I can get a cheaper rate through my cell phone provider for roaming in the US (I am Canadian) If I use my phone on the ship I do not want to get overcharged. I know this post looks pretty messy and hopefully someone can help me out.

 

Thanks

Steve

[SA Traveler]

The onboard service is Cingular At Sea. As far as I know, only Cingular customers have access to it. (I am NO expert!)

 

I'm a little confused about what your question was but hope that helps.

[wrp96]

If your ship has a cell tower, and you use your phone while the ship is at sea, then you will be charged whatever rates are charged for a non-Cingular customer to use the cell tower. For Cingular it is something like $2.49 a minute and it's definitely more for other carriers (not all carriers will work on the ship).

 

In ports, you will need to check with your cell phone carrier to see if they have service in the individual ports and what they will charge you. It just depends on who your carrier is and your ports.

[uksimonusa]

The onboard service is Cingular At Sea. As far as I know, only Cingular customers have access to it. (I am NO expert!)

 

I'm a little confused about what your question was but hope that helps.

 

The service is now called cellular at sea, the system is turned off when you are in port, so you will pick up a local tower, jsut chek your phone and see what carrier is displayed on the screen

[Aquahound]

steveandjen,

If this doesn't help, just ignore me. If your carrier is Nextel, it doesn't work.

[cb at sea]

Look, you probably won't be able to get a signal--we couldn't! Just plan on using e-mail or a pay phone from one of your ports! Is there something soooo important that it can't wait 7 days? (Even kids left at home with a trusted babysitter shouldn't need constant contact!!!) E-mail is the cheapest way to go.

[Cruising89143]

It depends on your cell carrier. My phone works in St. Thomas and San Juan but not in the other Caribbean islands. There were no charges due my plan.

 

Check with your carrier to see what your plan covers. Some folks add international calling right before the cruise so that they can use their phones on the islands.

[Cheryl H]

Our cell phone worked when we did the repo cruise from San Diego to Vancouver. No extra charge. We pay for the national plan so no roaming charges. Can't remember which cell phone service we had (we've had 3).

[steveandjen]

Thanks for everyone's help. If anyone has any additional ideas it would be appreciated! We are Canadians and are on the Telus Network if this helps.

[BoozeCruise2]

I had the same question. Here is the deal

 

Cingular phones work, Verizon doesnt. That is a scientific fact.

(Anchorman quote)

 

Your phone should also be a quad band phone. Pay as you go phones are not a option either.

 

Hope this helps

 

 

BC2

 

( This applies to my experience on Freedom )

[mark290]

Look, you probably won't be able to get a signal--we couldn't! Just plan on using e-mail or a pay phone from one of your ports! Is there something soooo important that it can't wait 7 days? (Even kids left at home with a trusted babysitter shouldn't need constant contact!!!) E-mail is the cheapest way to go.

 

What was so important that you had to try using your cell phone ?

Why couldn't you wait 7 days ?

 

Do you have to eat lobster or a good steak when mac n cheese will fill you up. Do you have to take a cruise ? Do you even need to have a cell phone at all ?

 

Why does it have to be soooo important ? Why can't someone just want to make a phone call while on a cruise ?

[Lightsluvr]

:mad: The thread almost made it a whole page without an unsolicited opinion on personal use of cell phones...

 

Hey, if a person wants to use a cell phone, it's their business... MYOB

 

I was about to offer some advice, but since OP is on Telus, I am clueless. The advice about GSM-capable phones is correct. The old analog phones will not work.

 

Enjoy your cruise and your cell phone...

 

LL

[PortugueseLady]

HI,

 

Just wanted to add, I was on the Freedom back in Sept and I had ABSOLUTELY NO SERVICE....I was so upset...

 

I had cingular for all my other cruises and it was the best......and got great service....

 

Just and FYI....

[scubapuss]

I have Sprint sevice. It worked great for my girls. The bill was $1700.00 for my three lovely teens.

[scubapuss]

I have Sprint sevice. It worked great for my girls. The bill was $1700.00 for my three lovely teens.

[Ladylouwho]

Scubapuss,

Whoa!!!!!!!!! That is some bill. My girls used their cell phones in the Caribbean as well, and so did I. Our bill was pretty high, but not even in the same stratosphere as yours. Like most previous posters stated, if you have Cingular GSM service your phone will work much of the time, definately in San Juan and St. Thomas (both are U.S. territories). I don't know about other Services, we have Cingular.

I did like using my phone on board once in awhile to keep in touch with my girls, but it isn't cheap.

[mumofsons]

Not like I feel like I need to justify why I need my cell phone - but we are going without the kids this time and my inlaws will have them. I would like to know if I can call them from the ship using my cell service just to make sure grandma and grandpa are alright!

[Lightsluvr]

Many people have important uses for cell phones or other contact with the "real world" while on cruises. They should not have to explain or excuse themselves on CC when they ask a simple question about cell accessability...

 

To the poster who did not have service on the Freedom in September, service was available onboard the ship (with exception of infrequent loss of satellite during repositioning). If that poster had no service, it may have been an issue with their phone...

 

Bon voyage...

 

LL

[steveandjen]

Thanks once again for all the info. Last year on our 1st cruise my telus phone switched to cingular. Looks like we will be ok.

 

To the person that said cell phones should be left at home....I have to have it with me. I am in a paticular type of business (sales) that if a customer cannot reach me for an extended length of time (something wrong with their account) that can be a very large headache. I could even loose the customer. Even though it is a vacation, some people (customers) have no respect for that and still get upset if they cannot reach you, even if they know that you are away. Believe me, if I could leave my phone at home I would. A few years ago I did leave my phone at home.....lost 2 large customers because they could not wait 3 days!

 

Thanks again!

 

Steve

[OSU MOM]

Is it possible to call another phone in our family package--We have our 3 teenage daughters, belive me they wont be making calls home--Im really glad I read this thread and am so glad that I am aware that the calls are very expensive!!! My question is if we wanted to talk to one of our daughters when they were in a different area of the ship would we be able to call cell to cell? When we were on the Disney Wonder I had bought walkie talkies and thought that would be a great way to communicate with the kids when they werent in the same place as we were---it was a good idea that many other people thought of too. We couldnt find a channel that was free long enough to communicate with the girls. Having them carry their cell phones on the ship would be a good way to communicate with them if we can call cell to cell and have signal on the AOS. I do agree that cell phones are annoying when people misuse them with long loud conversations , but is other cases when people have proper manners, cells are a great way to reach someone when need be.

[Ladylouwho]

OSU Mom,

Yes, you can call cell to cell on the ship with members of your family plan. But you will pay for it. I just looked at my Cingular cell bill from when we were on the Navigator this summer and it shows that every time I called my daughters on ship (we are in a family plan) it cost $1.99 airtime and $3.49 for roaming, plus 43 cents international tax for a total of $5.91 for each one minute call!!!!! We made quite a few of these and they added up quick! A two minute call was double, $11.80 and so on. In comparison, a 2 minute call from the ship to my daughter in Texas was a total of $10.28. Go figure. Anyway, my girls made a couple calls to friends back home that lasted longer and were more expensive, our "extra" charges from the cruise on our family plan added up to @ $300. Certainly money we did not need to spend. Next cruise this March I will clamp down on the usage, but I do like the ability to call my girls onboard and my daughter back home.

 

As to those who bash any cell phone use on board, what in the world is that all about? Why would it be anyones business whether another person used their cell phone?? That is like objecting to someone talking to another person. Last time I checked this was still a free society, and that freedom extends to the cruise ship. People who spend so much time complaining about the legal and personal behavior of others never ceases to amaze me.

[cmich068]

Telus is CDMA. Cingular is GSM.

 

Not Compatible.

 

Some ships have CDMA access too, not all.

[cmich068]

Telus is CDMA. Cingular is GSM.

 

Not Compatible.

 

Some ships have CDMA access too, not all.

[cmich068]

Woah Quad Post.

[hazeleyes35]

We were on the Explorer of the Seas in September and was able to use our cellphone 99% of the time. We had left our kids with my mom and wanted to talk to them everyday. It was expense though. The bill was about $330 for the cruise!!