cell phone use in southern carib.?

[montyone]

Hi...I will be in San Juan, St Thomas, St Kitts, Grenada, Bonaire and Aruba next week. I was wondering if my Verizon cell phone will work in any of there ports. Anyone know this? Thanks for your time.

[coiran]

Probably OK in SJ and St Thomas

 

Ron

[Cactus]

My Verizon cell phone worked great in San Juan - as we tracked down our lost luggage! After We got on the ship - I turned it off and didn't turn it back on until the crusie was over!

[tigers]

San Juan works fine. Can't remember about St. Thomas, but I suspect it will be ok too.

 

Verizon uses a technology called CDMA for their service and it's used primarily in the US, Canada, and parts of Asia. Europe and most of their possesions (and former posessions including the Caribbean) use a technology called GSM. In the US, only Cingular, T-Mobile, and some smaller regional carriers use this technology.

[swom]

I called Verizon with the same question.

It will work in San Juan and St Thomas for sure, but will cost you.

Even though according to their map, you are in a covered area, you still have to pay a roaming charge of $1.8something......Can't remember exactly, but there is a charge.

[loving2cruise]

Hi...I will be in San Juan, St Thomas, St Kitts, Grenada, Bonaire and Aruba next week. I was wondering if my Verizon cell phone will work in any of there ports. Anyone know this? Thanks for your time.

 

 

Yes...the cell phone will work )I have Verizon Wireless) in San Juan and St. Thomas. Just back from the cruise. didn't go to St. kitts, Bonaire or Aruba though.

[cbcaper]

Your cell phone should work in all the ports in question. Atleast mine did unfortunately. The roaming charges and per minute charges are a killer. I have a huge bill and only talked a couple of minutes.

[PescadoAmarillo]

This question frequently gets asked and answered, but do remember that it doesn't simply depend on whether your carrier offers roaming service on the islands, but also on how many frequency bands your phone has and on which band the island's cell phone system operates. Your best bet is with a quad band phone.

 

We finally got our Cingular cell phone unlocked while on Dominica, and purchased a prepaid Digicel sim card. We now have a Digicel phone number we use in the Caribbean, and can phone the US for about 20 cents a minute. This is worth considering if you travel outside the US frequently.

[imsulin]

I've had Cingular for several years, and their coverage includes St. Thomas and Puerto Rico (San Juan) - no roaming charges. In fact, they cover ALL U.S. territories in the Caribbean (USVI - St. Thomas, St. John, St. Croix, as well as Puerto Rico). No problems, and no extra charges. (I've only used my Cingular in St. Thomas and Puerto Rico, though).

[tequilasunrise]

In areas where it doesn't work, or you don't want to use it, there are calling stations in most of the ports right off the ship. You buy an international phone card from them then use it in their phones. It wasn't cheap, but not too bad, and you know up front how much it will cost you.

 

My verizon phone worked in St. Thomas. I didn't try it elsewhere.

[calliecat]

Ours worked in San Juan and we didn't have any roaming charges when we received our bill. We didn't appear to have service in St. Thomas, Grenada, St. Kitt or Aruba.

This past Christmas, we sailed out of New Orleans and while in route to NOLA,

we called Verizon to double check about service. They assured us that if we saw roaming, but still had a signal, we would not be charged...............wrong........... we had a hefty roaming charge on our next bill (we stopped in Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Jamaica). We paid it, but we called Verizon complaining that we were told that there would not be a charge if "roaming" showed up on our phones. They were nice enough to give us credit for wrong information but we were told that in the future, if we were ever in the Caribbean and saw roaming, a fee would be imposed.

[Heath Clif]

Hi I’m looking for a sim that can be used on a Cruise, the Embarkation port is Barbados sailing round other Caribbean islands., Grenada, St Luica, Dominica, St Kitts, St Maasrten, Tortola, Curacao & Boniaire, Will a Digicel pay as you go sim be the best option to contact the UK? I only intended to make calls & and send texts from land. After the Cruise I’ll be flying to Orlando, will I be able to use the Digicel sim in Orlando to phone (A) my friend in Florida & (B) the UK? The phone is unlocked and is quad band. If this is the best sim to get where can I purchase one from and what price do they start at?

[PescadoAmarillo]

You can buy a Digicel SIM card in Barbados before you embark on your cruise. If you don't have time to there, you could purchase one on most of the islands. Here is the current rate chart:

 

http://www.digicelbarbados.com/en/plans/digiflex/flex_tariffs

 

Do you have a smart phone too? If so, use Vonage or Skype over WiFi...it's much cheaper (this original thread is 6 years old and technology has changed a LOT in those years).

[Heath Clif]

Thanks for that info, I didn't realise the thread was so old, I was just looking for a thread to check to see if I was right in thinking that Digicel was suitable for phoning the UK while in the Caribbean. Do you know what the pay as you go SIMs start from?

[PescadoAmarillo]

We used to pay about $20, but, again, that's been years ago. Here is a link I found to some price information:

 

http://www.cellularabroad.com/barbadosSIMop.php

[Heath Clif]

Thanks :)