Guess It'll Be Fleet-Wide

[kryos]

I noticed in the 2008 Grand Voyage book that HAL sent me ... a blurb about SeaMobile. Apparently cell phone service will be on the Amsterdam and the Prisendam ... at least in time for their 2008 Grand Voyages.

 

So, I guess the service will be fleet-wide.

 

The blurb about it said that you can talk to your friends on the ship or continents away ... using your regular cell phone ... and SeaMobile's satellite service. Funny, they never talk about the price of the service, though. I can just imagine calling your friends onboard the ship and racking up the minutes! You'd probably pay the same for them as you would for a call home!

 

The blurb also mentions that this technology will enable passengers to use their wireless devices (Blackberry, etc.) as well.

 

I know a lot of people don't like this, but I for one am glad to see it offered. It will save me the trouble of having to lug one of my company's satellite phones on my next cruise ... only so that I can be in touch with home and my 93-year-old father. But, believe me ... they will be record short calls ... "Hi, dad ... everything okay? Great ... talk to you later." :)

 

It'll be interesting to see how this works out onboard ship. While some people foresee a problem, I'll bet we'll hardly notice it's there. If anything, people will be using it to maybe check email via their Blackberry and little else. I can't see cell phone calls ever becoming intrusive onboard ship ... not at the rates I hear SeaMobile will be charging.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[Krazy Kruizers]

On our recent Volendam cruises, we had people next to us who were constantly using their cell while out on their verandah.

 

Really got tired of hearing them talking every time we tried to sit and read.

[Palm Beacher]

Krazy Kruisers,

I hope your not talking about me? We were next door to you during the second leg of your back to back.

Hope all is well with you and your DH. BTW, I finally got the pictures back and will email them to you soon. Have a wonderful and safe Holiday.

[kryos]

On our recent Volendam cruises, we had people next to us who were constantly using their cell while out on their verandah.

 

Really got tired of hearing them talking every time we tried to sit and read.

LOL ... I'd bet they didn't realize what the service was costing them. Maybe they thought the time would fall under their regular minutes plan.

 

LOL ... just imagine the looks on their faces when they got that bill! :)

 

I believe I heard somewhere that SeaMobile was charging like $3.00 bucks a minute for the service. $3.00 bucks a minute can add up to some pretty serious change if you're not careful about your calls. :)

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[AZjohn]

A true story from my recent 11-25 Oosterdam cruise. We went with another couple and on the next to last day of the cruise I asked Leigh Anne where Mike was. She said he was back in the cabin making a few calls. I said, on his cell phone? She said yes, he found a signal after the first day of the cruise and so since he has free long distance he has been keeping in contact with everyone:eek: . My jaw about hit the floor and asked her if he knew about the charges to make those calls on the ship? When I saw Mike later that day I told him that the calls he has been making will be very expensive for international and ship charges. He didn’t seem to mind, saying it’s a company phone so they will pay the charges…

I don’t want to be around when that phone bill comes in:rolleyes: …lol.

John

[kryos]

I don’t want to be around when that phone bill comes in:rolleyes: …lol.

His boss is gonna kill him ... no question. :)

 

At least I know mine would.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[Grumpy1]

The service was being installed and tested on Westerdam at the end of October. they are going ship to ship and installing the antennas and equipment. I gave it a quick test while in Tortola. There hasn't been any charge to my phone bill, though. Another cruiser said that they found out that there were no charges that week since it wasn't officially in service.

 

As to using it on the ship to call another user... I don't think my Cingular mobile to mobile Free plan is going to apply.

 

Cingular classes each ship as a foreign country. They are listed in their countries list and are priced at $2.49/min. Interestingly, the only HAL ship in the list right now is the Volendam. All of the Carnival ships are listed along with some others.

[sail7seas]

The service was being installed and tested on Westerdam at the end of October. they are going ship to ship and installing the antennas and equipment. I gave it a quick test while in Tortola. There hasn't been any charge to my phone bill, though. Another cruiser said that they found out that there were no charges that week since it wasn't officially in service.

 

As to using it on the ship to call another user... I don't think my Cingular mobile to mobile Free plan is going to apply.

 

Cingular classes each ship as a foreign country. They are listed in their countries list and are priced at $2.49/min. Interestingly, the only HAL ship in the list right now is the Volendam. All of the Carnival ships are listed along with some others.

 

We rarely find the need to place many phone calls while away from home but sometimes by husand's business demands he keep in touch with certain people.

 

He'd rather pay $2.49 per minute on his cell phone than $9+ dollars per minute on the ship's phone.

 

I can't imagine anyone (or very few) will be using the ship's phone for anyone other than onboard contacts.

[jhannah]

I'm sure it will all work out, and there will be few instances of real disturbance. However, that being said, there are always the few who really misuse their cell phones in social settings. So it stands to reason that many of us will experience what KK did ... having a jabbering neighbor go on and on while we're trying to enjoy the tranquility of the sea.

[sail7seas]

I agree, JIm.......it will happen.

 

What will you do if it is YOUR neighbor who is so inconsiderately annoying?

 

[sail7seas]

I agree, JIm.......it will happen.

 

What will you do if it is YOUR neighbor who is so inconsiderately annoying?

 

[Grumpy1]

I agree, JIm.......it will happen.

 

What will you do if it is YOUR neighbor who is so inconsiderately annoying?

 

Just assume they are talking to you and answer all of their questions... they'll get the message and go back inside..:D

[jhannah]

Now that's a great idea!!

[noblepa]

...I gave it a quick test while in Tortola. There hasn't been any charge to my phone bill, though....

 

I may be wrong, but I've heard that the ships are required to shut down their onboard cellular repeater system while docked in port. This is because they are not licensed as telephone companies in that country. While docked in Tortola, you may have locked on to a shore-side tower. Some cell phone companies DO include the Virgin Islands in their plans.

 

I believe that Cingular does include the Virgin Islands, at least the U.S. side. I'm not sure about the British V.I., of which Tortola is a part.

 

The real test is only when you are at sea, well out of range of landlocked towers.

 

Paul Noble

[noblepa]

Oops.

[bruce-r]

If you have T-mobile, the rate is $4.99 a minute. From their website:

 

Rate per minute: $4.99

Carrier: Cingular: Holland America

Frequency: 1900Mhz

 

Send text messages while roaming*

Text messaging lets you make contact without worrying about time zones or whether it’s the “right time” to call. And with T-Mobile, it’s just as easy in Lima as in Los Angeles—and just $0.35 per sent message. Receiving messages costs $0.10 per message or pulls from your feature bucket of messages.

 

 

That isn't a very attractive price. It would be less expensive to make the call while in port and only pay the international roaming charge, which is usually quite a bit less. It varies by country. You can look it up on the T-mobile website as well.

 

 

If you are in port at Roaming in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands:

 

While basking in the sun and enjoying the beaches, you can talk to your friends and family without worrying about roaming charges! All outgoing and incoming minutes used are deducted from your regular Nationwide plan bucket just like if you were home.

 

If you have a different carrier, check their website for rates.

[sail7seas]

Bruce.....

 

Please advise if I am understanding you correctly.

 

I use cingular and my plan provides for a ton of minutes free anywhere in the U.S. (and I think Canada).

 

If I were to call while in San Juan or St. Thomas, it would be an included in my monthly rate (assuming I had not exceeded my monthly minutes)? No roaming; no additional charge?

 

Thanks if you have that info.

[bepsf]

Bruce.....

 

Please advise if I am understanding you correctly.

 

I use cingular and my plan provides for a ton of minutes free anywhere in the U.S. (and I think Canada).

 

If I were to call while in San Juan or St. Thomas, it would be an included in my monthly rate (assuming I had not exceeded my monthly minutes)? No roaming; no additional charge?

 

Thanks if you have that info.

 

That's been my experience using Sprint in Alaska, PR & St Thomas...

...no add'l charges.

[noblepa]

Bruce.....

 

Please advise if I am understanding you correctly.

 

I use cingular and my plan provides for a ton of minutes free anywhere in the U.S. (and I think Canada).

 

If I were to call while in San Juan or St. Thomas, it would be an included in my monthly rate (assuming I had not exceeded my monthly minutes)? No roaming; no additional charge?

 

Thanks if you have that info.

 

I'm not Bruce (nor do I play him on TV), but I think a quick call to Cingular customer service would more accurately answer your question.

 

I, too, have Cingular, and I, too, have more minutes than I can use per month. We have a cruise coming up in April. I checked Cingular's website and it appears that the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico are included in my plan. When we get closer, I will call them to make sure.

 

When we went to Mexico on the Oosterdam last year, I called them. They had to enable roaming in Mexico, but there was no charge for it. In that case, however, there was a $1.99 per minute charge for calls actually made. There was also a plan that cost, I think, $4.99 per month, but would have dropped the per minute rate to $0.99.

 

My point is that they may have to enable your account for use in St. Thomas and Puerto Rico, but there should be no charge. Give 'em a call.

 

Paul Noble

[Grumpy1]

You are correct, Sail, your nationwide plan does cover US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

[Grumpy1]

I may be wrong, but I've heard that the ships are required to shut down their onboard cellular repeater system while docked in port. This is because they are not licensed as telephone companies in that country. While docked in Tortola, you may have locked on to a shore-side tower. Some cell phone companies DO include the Virgin Islands in their plans.

 

I believe that Cingular does include the Virgin Islands, at least the U.S. side. I'm not sure about the British V.I., of which Tortola is a part.

 

The real test is only when you are at sea, well out of range of landlocked towers.

 

Paul Noble

You are correct. The repeater is supposed to shut down and hand off the call to a shore based system as soon as a strong enough signal is detected. We were in British VI not USVI and Cingular partners with another company to provide roaming services there (for a hefty fee). I should not have been able to use my phone in a non roaming mode, but I suspect that the ship repeater did not shut down since it was still being tested.

[Sage]

We just returned from the Crystal Serenity where they also have cell phones at sea, and the only place you could receive a call or phone out was in your stateroom. They had things nicely blocked so that no phones were ever heard in a public room or on deck.

[Comptech]

My cell phone stays in the OFF position while I am cruising, Anything, And I mean ANYTHING can wait until I get back. :)

 

One thing I like about cruising is the isolation and the lack of people chatting on their phones while I am trying to read or something.....

 

I for one am not excited about this service......

[ekerr19]

While I "sort of" like the idea of having my phone available if I NEED it - the whole issue of cell phones on a cruise ship really disappoints me.

 

In today's society, we are subject to such inconsideration by so many cell users already; the idea of the person on the balcony next to me yakking on a cell phone all afternoon makes me ill.

 

There will be those cruisers who are unable to put it down, regardless of the cost - and we'll be forced to listen to them, trust me.

[kryos]

I can't imagine anyone (or very few) will be using the ship's phone for anyone other than onboard contacts.

But I wonder if you used the service to call your friends who were also somewhere on the ship, if you still wouldn't be charged the $2.49 rate? After all, if I call a friend in Philly on my cell phone, I pay the same rate as if I called a friend in California.

 

So, actually to call people onboard the ship, you'd be better off finding one of those white phones in a public area, and leaving a message for them in their cabin. For that you would pay zilch.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita