Sea Mobile Cell Phone Coverage?

[WeLoveCruising]

Hi,

Does anyone have experience using their Verizon cell phone service to call back home while on a ship? I understand its done on the ship with an agreement HAL has with Sea Mobile. I confirmed with Verizon that it should work with our plan and phone (along with what the roaming charges will be) - but I was wondering if anyone actually used it and what your experience was.

 

To call home from the ship, I assume that one dials "011 + area code + phone number" - is that correct?

 

Thanks for your help

Joanne

[MarciAnn]

You didn't say where you would be, but Verizon will not work in Europe (on land or sea). Otherwise, your phone will work fine. Although not on Hal, I recently had full cell coverage the entire time at sea(using AT&T). I believe all the cruise lines use the same system. Roaming charges are higher when at sea then when in port. Perhaos someone who cruised HAL recently though would be the better authority.

[GmaPajama]

I was able to send Text Messages and Camera Phone Pics at the regular rate of 10 cents and 25 cents respectively. No roaming and no surcharges. That was from a Sea of Cortez Cruise on the Ryndam.

 

Yep - this ol' Grandma knows how to Text! Scary! :p

[WeLoveCruising]

You didn't say where you would be, but Verizon will not work in Europe (on land or sea). Otherwise, your phone will work fine. Although not on Hal, I recently had full cell coverage the entire time at sea(using AT&T). I believe all the cruise lines use the same system. Roaming charges are higher when at sea then when in port. Perhaos someone who cruised HAL recently though would be the better authority.

 

It is for Europe (Italy and France). According to the Verizon Wireless website they do this through SeaMobile, a service that HAL has enabled on their ships. I was trying to determine if I need a special code or phone, but it doesnt look as if we do. It's relatively new so not sure how many people have used it. Usually I like to "get away from it all" on a ship, but this time we have the need it to keep in touch at home.

 

It appears that the SeaMobile service only works at sea, and you need to be a certain distance from the shore (I read somewhere 12 miles).

 

Today we were also able to rent an international phone from Verizon for land based calls. It was relatively inexpensive (considering hotel or ship charges) - $3.99 per day plus $1.25 per minute for calls) - and they are overnighting the international phone to us.