Cell Phones on the Grand

[ancryan]

I'm traveling the grand in 2 weeks and wondering about the use of my cell phone. 3 questions:

1. What companies does Princess support? (verizon, cingular, etc)

2. What is the cost per minute?

3. How good is the coverage?

 

Thanks!

[Princess Chatterer]

Princess doesn't provide a cell signal at sea. Your cell phone will work in the Galveston vicinity. Your cell phone also might work in ports if you have foreign roaming.

[Cruisin' Chick]

You may want to track down the thread (several pages long) about cell phone service being available. Of course, be aware that if your phone does work, it's major bucks and there will be plenty of unhappy fellow passengers around you if you're using it outside of your cabin.

[Princess Chatterer]

When I cruised out of Southhampton to various Westerm European ports I used an opened T Mobile phone with a Passport SIM card http://www.telestial.com/view_product.php?PRODUCT_ID=MSIM-PP01 and talked to my family from the Princess dining room during dinner and from my cabin balcony. Passengers and staff in the dining didn't appear to mind in any way, mainly because Princess dining rooms tend to be a little noisy anyway. My calls were way cheaper, like about fifty cents a minute, than the $2.49 per minute that my daugher got charged by Sprint for cell phone use on an RCCL cell equiped ship. There is no need for my opened T-Mobile phone during my upcoming South America cruise as Sprint PCS should work just fine there, when in port and within eyesight of shore.

 

P.S. I have found that you can sometimes get Cell phone coverage on Princess when the shore is beyond the horizon. Also you can often find cell phone coverage in some of the most remote, no where places during your cruise.

[Princess Chatterer]

I stand corrected. The Grand Princess and only the Grand Princess have Princess ship GSM type cell phone roaming coverage.

 

http://www.cingular.com/travelguide/coverage/coverage_details.jsp?CIDL=1551&MNC=380

[Princess Chatterer]

I stand further corrected. I read a report that the Golden Princess added cell phone service during their repositioning cruise back to the U.S. Princess has maintained that they weren't going to do this but now it appears that that they have changed their mind.