Use of Tracfones on NCL ships

[lawgator]

This past summer my friend took an NCL Western Med cruise and used my Tracfone (a prepaid cellular phone) to call me in the U.S. from sea. She was careful to only use it as the ship was at sea, and when she was sure that the ship's cell phone towers were turned on, never in an international port. It worked great and only cost 10 cents per minute (because I used a lot of codes to get free minutes initially). I do not know if Tracfones still work on NCL ships, but apparently it is a glitch in their cellular at sea system that it is so cheap. I had read about it on these boards. Yesterday, I turned my Tracfone on (I had not used it since she returned) and found that Tracfone had deactivated my service. I called them and they put me through another department and told me that they knew the phone had been used on the Norwegian Jewel and that it was not permitted. They said they were charged over $200. by Cingular, (1.99 per minute), but it only cost us 10 cents per minute. However, to my surprise they reactivated my phone with no charges, so I did not lose any minutes that I still had in the account, but said if it happenned again they would permanently deactivate the account. I feel fortunate. So, if you are going to use a Tracfone (if they still work on NCL), I would just let you know that it will be deactivated as soon as they find out. My friend was able to use it a whole week without any problems. I guess if you bought one and just put a few minutes on it and didn't care if you ever used it again, it might be worth a try, but I thought I would give you Tracfone users a heads up so you can plan accordingly.

[slotaddict]

thanks for the heads up, I just bought one to take on my Pearl trip. so you can use them once the ship docks, but not while moving, is that it.

The last two days are sea days so if they shut it off, I really don;t care. I won;t use the first sea day.

[Bigdog49]

thanks for the heads up, I just bought one to take on my Pearl trip. so you can use them once the ship docks, but not while moving, is that it.

The last two days are sea days so if they shut it off, I really don;t care. I won;t use the first sea day.

 

Exactly the opposite - if you turn it on in a non us port they will kill the phone. Once the ship is at sea they seem to work with the onboard system.

[Cosmopolitan]

My sister purchased the tracfone to use on the Dawn/Bermuda cruise.

 

It never worked until their last day returning to NY.

[slotaddict]

Exactly the opposite - if you turn it on in a non us port they will kill the phone. Once the ship is at sea they seem to work with the onboard system.

 

Got it thanks. I thought I read somewhere when you use it and the ship is at sea, that they charge 2 units for 1. I guess I;ll see when I get there. I can always text from my Sprint phone. I called and had international service put on it.

[garycarla]

Got it thanks. I thought I read somewhere when you use it and the ship is at sea, that they charge 2 units for 1. I guess I;ll see when I get there. I can always text from my Sprint phone. I called and had international service put on it.

 

You were able to do TEXT MESSAGES from your Sprint phone while at sea? Which ship?

 

 

By the way, used Tracfone on recent Canada New England cruise. Worked okay at sea.

[slotaddict]

You were able to do TEXT MESSAGES from your Sprint phone while at sea? Which ship?

 

 

By the way, used Tracfone on recent Canada New England cruise. Worked okay at sea.

 

 

I'm sorry I meant I would text from my Sprint phone when we were in Port.

[Superduty]

FWIW, I used a tracfone succesfully on my Jewel Carribean trip in april. I just got off the star mexican trip and the tracfone would NOT call out. It could receive calls, but no outgoing for some reason. It works fine back here on the mainland. The previous posters are correct do not have it on when you are near a NON _USA port.

 

Anyone else have problems with tracfone outgoing calls recently?

 

FWIW, ATT cell phone had poor service most of the time as well, but it was able to call out.

[linwood77]

There is a document on NCL's website about their at sea cellular service.

 

It's kind of hidden but you can navigate to it by going to NCL.com, click on Advance Guest Registration, then under "Thinks to know before you go", click on Frequenly Asked Questions, then click on 'What if I need to stay in touch while away?", then click on the "click here" link after the words Freestyle Cellular Service.

 

The direct link is:

 

http://164.109.173.140/PDF/freestyle_cellular_service.pdf

 

I don't know why but above link gets changed when I copy and paste it into this board. The last part of the URL is: /freestyle_cellular_service.pdf However it still works when you click on it.:cool:

[clerky96]

When we were on the NCL Sun last Feb in the W Caribbean, our Tracfone worked great. We were able to use it when we at sea. We did not have a signal while in port. I have read, however, that they it will no longer work. Don't know if something was changed or what? I also don't know if this is true or not. That said, we are going to the S Caribbean this Feb and we are going to take it again. If it works, great! If not, oh well!:(

BTW, I have an 88 year old mother, and to be totally disconnected from everyone for 10 days is unthinkable. Also, family will have the ships phone #, and can always use it if absolutely necessary.

[garycarla]

Important note. You will NOT see any mention of the Tracfone service. It is not officially supported, but instead a "loophole" in their system. The calls get through, at somewhere around $.25 per minute or whatever rate you bought minutes for. They are not able (so far) to block out those calls, or charge the extra minutes/units that they should.

 

Also, keep in mind that the reception can vary depending on where on the ship you are standing. There is plenty to block the signal. Using our tracfone and our Cingular/ATT on a recent cruise showing this quickly. In our cabin we barely got one bar. Walked into the hallway and jumped to 3 bars. down the hall and we got a full signal.

[Superduty]

When we were on the NCL Sun last Feb in the W Caribbean, our Tracfone worked great. We were able to use it when we at sea. We did not have a signal while in port. I have read, however, that they it will no longer work. Don't know if something was changed or what? I also don't know if this is true or not. That said, we are going to the S Caribbean this Feb and we are going to take it again. If it works, great! If not, oh well!:(

BTW, I have an 88 year old mother, and to be totally disconnected from everyone for 10 days is unthinkable. Also, family will have the ships phone #, and can always use it if absolutely necessary.

 

 

As I mentioned tracfone worked fine on Jewel in Carrib in April.

 

BUT last week on Star it would NOT dial out but could receive calls, albeit not very clear. You MUST turn it off while in all foreign ports. If you fail to turn it off and it locks onto a foreign signal the phone is locked until you are back in the USA....and even then it is hard to convince tracfone to unlock it again. They know it was on in a foreign country, and that is a no no.

[seamare]

Has anyone tried the Tracfone in Hawaii - going there in February and wondering if my phone will work there?

[odblnt]

Has anyone tried the Tracfone in Hawaii - going there in February and wondering if my phone will work there?

 

According to this other thread you started, no problem: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=640703

 

They sell Tracfones here and their national coverage map shows good coverage throughout the islands: http://www.tracfone.com/jsplib/verify_mapcov.jsp

 

Now as to working on the "Pride of" ships, that may be a different question. I can't find a list of which ships have Cellular at Sea, but I think all three are new enough that they probably will. Most of the time is spent in port anyway on Hawaii cruises, so it shouldn't be a problem.

[runningradical]

We were on the Pride of Aloha this past January and called home several times from the ship with our trac phone and we never had a problem with service.