ohh my my!!! Roaming charges on cruise

[OrlandoD]

We are part of that crowd who makes their last calls at Port before sail away and then toss the #$%^ into the safe until we return. We have used 2way radios and found them to be just OK. There are dead zones (likely where you need them most) and you will pick up other's conversations on the radio and must understand they will be able to listen to yours as well. It can be very very annoying to be near someone listening to their radio going off beeping and chirping with "where are you now" drivel. It's vacation and listening to that crapola can be a real buzz kill. This is what we're on the ship to get away from.......

 

Now all that said, we may bring a 2 way radio to stay in touch with our son and just keep our conversation to a minimum. You know - be considerate of our fellow cruisers. (what a concept :cool:)

[The4Cruisers]

In reply to the folks that weren't charged on their cell bill, there are cases where it may take a month or two for intercompany charges to be handed off and appear on your bill. Not saying it WILL happen, but it could.

[NCTribeFan]

Verizon...I recieved some texts but when I called Verizon I was told yep you are charged even if your not using it..its roaming and those roaming charges apply as long as your phone is on :eek:

147.00 :eek: :eek: :eek:

 

DD & I both have Verizon and have NEVER been charged for anything other than the usage. Which is expensive.

 

Texts were charged at International rates and, of course, calls were charged at the absurd rates from the ship.

 

Haven't used the phone while onboard the past 3 cruises but we DO leave them on and have not been charged anything other than for the usage.

 

Are you sure these weren't for incoming calls? I make DD turn her phone off because her friends can't seem to understand that while we're cruising, they shouldn't be calling and leaving voice or text messages.

[Jeans*Fanatic]

Interesting that some people get roaming and some don't. I am about to take my first cruise but here is what I was told by AT&T. If you turn on your phone and it picks up the international tower, even if you then turn off your phone for the rest of the trip, you will be charged $2.49/min for all calls made to your phone (even if it's off!). The $2.49 price applies when you are at sea. In the ports the prices vary...I thnk for my cruise it ranged from $.99 in Cozumel to $3.99 in Roatan.

 

Doesn't seem fair to charge you for calls while your phone is off. We are thinking about telling everybody we know not to call us that week, and using the phones for texting to keep in touch with family members on the ship. Another option was to ditch the phones altogether and use 2-way radios to keep in touch, but I have read on this board that the radio option is pretty annoying for everybody, including yourself and other cruisers around you. Opinions welcomed on this subject.

 

This is good information for me to know because I have AT&T and I cant' believe that they will charge us for calls when our phones are cut off... But I am glad I have the heads up on it!!! Thanks so much

[SATXLady]

Calls that go to vm are not charged. It is the text messages that got you. Disable them before you cruise. I have them disabled period.

 

With all due respect, I think you may want to dispute those charges. Simply having your phone on will NOT incur any roaming charges. Either you received too many voice/text mesages or someone else used it.

Call your phone co. and ask for a detailed bill. By the way, calling your voice mail count as airtime.

 

It is not true that you will not be charged for voice mail for international roaming. It is true with regular domestic calls but the rules change when international roaming is involved. What happens is that the call registers on the network in the foreign country and then is forwarded back to your voice mail which is what results in the charges. (Unlike a regular call where it just goes to voice mail if you don't answer. Seems the same to you but it's not from the technical standpoint.) This is not solely an AT&T thing. I'm on TMO and it works the same way. I believe it works that way on all carriers but the only phone forums I frequent (okay, I a phone junkie) are TMO and AT&T.

 

There are two ways to avoid being charged for calls (even when you don't answer). Forward all calls to your voice mail before you even leave home so that they go directly to voice mail and do not ring your phone. The other way is to ensure that your phone never registers on the foreign network either by leaving it at home or turning it off before you leave.

 

And of course, calling to check your voice mail is also a roaming charge when you are outside the states, regardless of how it's handled when you are at home.

 

As others have said, sometimes there can be an extended delay between the time of the calls and the time the charges show up on your phone bill so don't think there are no charges just because they don't show up on your next bill. They may still show up 2-3 months later.

[crazycath]

Sorry to hear this!

 

People can get charged 2 minutes of international roaming for calls that aren't answered and then go to voicemail and aren't listened to. That can easily turn into $5+ per call.

 

This won't happen if the phone is off or set to "airplane" mode.

 

 

Are you sure that when it is in Airplane mode it doesnt charge? I too use my phone as a clock.

 

Cathy

[a3593]

Wow-I had NO idea!! That really sucks. Thanks for posting--even though someone else responded and said there are many posts on this subject, I had not seen any!! Thank you for the heads up. I would not let this go--I'd go up as far as I can!

[unklez]

.........It is not true that you will not be charged for voice mail for international roaming. It is true with regular domestic calls but the rules change when international roaming is involved. What happens is that the call registers on the network in the foreign country and then is forwarded back to your voice mail which is what results in the charges. (Unlike a regular call where it just goes to voice mail if you don't answer. Seems the same to you but it's not from the technical standpoint.) This is not solely an AT&T thing. I'm on TMO and it works the same way. I believe it works that way on all carriers but the only phone forums I frequent (okay, I a phone junkie) are TMO and AT&T........

 

I triple checked with Verizon before our April vacation. And I let the phone ring whenever I got an incoming call. It did go to voicemail, which I did not listen to till we got back to Miami and off the ship. The charges have not hit me yet. I hope they do not. It might be career specific. But anyways good to know that shyt happens :)

[salty dingo]

I made calls in San Diego just as we were pulling away from the dock. I am certain we were still in range of the land cell towers but the ship turned on its tower and of course that was the stronger signal.

 

The cell phone will indicate which provider you are connected to, but I did not notice. When I got my bill, I complained and did get the charges removed. It was not a whole lot of money, but it was the principle... they should not have the ship's towers turned on so close to land.

 

Personally, I would keep the cell phone off during the cruise, and send email from port rather than text messages. It's sort of nice to be "out of touch" with the folks back home for a change.

[bfkkbc]

Thanks for the great information. I never would have thought, that one would be charged roaming charges. We turn ours off and put them in the safe. I give all family members the ship number for emergencies. Only time we are ever out-of-touch.....ahhh vacations :).

 

HOw do you find out what your ship's emergency number is??

[loveshack]

HI All -

 

My husband and I both took our cell phones our last cruise in November of 2008. We had them on the whole time and only the couple of calls / texts we made - there were no other charges. I did call and have international calling set up on our phone - no charge. That could be why? Just trying to think of a reason you would be charged without using it.

 

Hope this helps.

[sharonny]

We have Verizon. I had my phone on the whole trip. Used it for the alarm :o. I didn't even have service. In the middle of the night heading back into Florida my phone started going nuts with all the missed calls and texts, something like 17 missed calls and 22 texts. No charges at all.

[SUN TURNIP]

I also have Verizon, the last cruise I was on I kept my phone on the entire trip and was onLY charged for the texts that i sent/received. I was not charged for roaming

[salty dingo]

HOw do you find out what your ship's emergency number is??

From the Carnival website FAQ:

 

Can I receive phone calls onboard?Friends and family may call guests onboard via Maritime Telecommunications Network (MTN) Shore-to-Ship telephone service. The rate is $9.50 per minute from the United States; additional long distance charges may apply from outside the United States.

 

The caller needs to have available the ship name and the guest's name. The charges will be applied to the caller's credit card: MasterCard - Visa - American Express - The Discover Card - Diner's Club. 1-877 CCLSHIP (1-877-225-7447) from the U.S. 1-732-335-3284 from Canada and outside the U.S.

[unklez]

I also have Verizon, the last cruise I was on I kept my phone on the entire trip and was onLY charged for the texts that i sent/received. I was not charged for roaming

 

So it looks like Verizon is one of the better providers in this regard. I hope they do not catch up with the scam :D

 

Also in response to another post, yeah one needs to be careful using the cell while on the ship even in a US port.

[klmorg]

So it looks like Verizon is one of the better providers in this regard. I hope they do not catch up with the scam :D

 

Also in response to another post, yeah one needs to be careful using the cell while on the ship even in a US port.

 

AT&T is the same... charges .50 for outgoing and .05 for incoming texts, $2.49/minute for calls. No extra or other charges from them or any other company. I kept my phone on most of the time, used it for checking the time and for alarm... no other charges whatsoever.

[halos]

In reply to the folks that weren't charged on their cell bill, there are cases where it may take a month or two for intercompany charges to be handed off and appear on your bill. Not saying it WILL happen, but it could.

 

In my case, the cruise was in March. I seriosuly doubt that I will get billed at this point.

[vdarrell]

I like to text and it is inexpensive on the ship(I think it was .50 to send and .20 to receive but I did have voice mail temporarily removed. I have ATT and I checked with them before I cruised to make sure of the do's and don'ts. Please remember to remove voice mail so it doesn't hunt you and leave the messages.

 

 

Thanks for this info, we are going to talk to our cell provider (Verizon)and that will one of my questions.....to turn off my voice mail.

 

DD & I both have Verizon and have NEVER been charged for anything other than the usage. Which is expensive.

 

Texts were charged at International rates and, of course, calls were charged at the absurd rates from the ship.

 

Trying to sort this out....if we text ....we only pay for the verizon cost of texting not ships tower charge also?

 

Haven't used the phone while onboard the past 3 cruises but we DO leave them on and have not been charged anything other than for the usage.

 

Are you sure these weren't for incoming calls? I make DD turn her phone off because her friends can't seem to understand that while we're cruising, they shouldn't be calling and leaving voice or text messages.

[victory2020]

Got off the Splendor 2 weeks ago & had my phone on 24/7. Got a voicemail, but only got charged for when I listened to it. I have ATT & it was $2.49/min.

[awhcruiser]

delete

 

This is good information for me to know because I have AT&T and I cant' believe that they will charge us for calls when our phones are cut off... But I am glad I have the heads up on it!!! Thanks so much

[awhcruiser]

Did you have the World Traveler plan activated before the cruise?

 

Interesting that some people get roaming and some don't. I am about to take my first cruise but here is what I was told by AT&T. If you turn on your phone and it picks up the international tower, even if you then turn off your phone for the rest of the trip, you will be charged $2.49/min for all calls made to your phone (even if it's off!). The $2.49 price applies when you are at sea. In the ports the prices vary...I thnk for my cruise it ranged from $.99 in Cozumel to $3.99 in Roatan.

 

Doesn't seem fair to charge you for calls while your phone is off. We are thinking about telling everybody we know not to call us that week, and using the phones for texting to keep in touch with family members on the ship. Another option was to ditch the phones altogether and use 2-way radios to keep in touch, but I have read on this board that the radio option is pretty annoying for everybody, including yourself and other cruisers around you. Opinions welcomed on this subject.

[GreenZolie]

This all makes me nuts! So many different scenarios and experiences! Why can't all the cell phone companies do the same thing?! Ok, I know, that is a silly expectation, but it really would be so much easier. It seems we all got different answers from our individual carriers!

 

OP, I am so sorry you had that happen! I wish you had been able to read about it here before you left. But, I also know it is impossible to read every post on this site, and sometimes certain posts are missed. I found this site and soaked up every word I could find before I cruised. But I only had 3 weeks to do so, and I am a very busy person as most people are, so it is just luck that I happened to see a post about phone costs before I took my cruise.

 

I knew enough to realize there would be additional costs, but I really didn't know all the details until I read here. The two best pieces of advice I read were: call your individual carrier before you leave, and put your phone in airplane mode while on the ship. (I would add a third bit of advice to that: repeat back to the rep what he is telling you to ensure you understood it correctly, and then write it all down so you don't forget. Also get his/her name and employee ID number in case he misinformed you.)

 

I did all of the above, and did not incur any extra costs. My carrier (Sprint) told me that even with the phone turned off - not in airplane mode, just turned off - if someone called me and left a voice mail, I would still be charged $2.49 a minute. So, if one person left me a rambling 5 minute voicemail, it would have cost me over $12. Imagine a couple of dozen such voicemails! :eek:

 

The rep explained this happens because: even when the phone is turned off, a voicemail can still be left on the phone, and when that happens, the phone is connecting to the nearest tower, which is the ship's tower while in international waters. The ship charges the cell phone company for this connection, so the cell phone company in turn charges the customer. It works the same way when using the land towers in foreign countries.

 

So, the best thing to do if you don't want those charges, is to put the phone in airplane mode - which prevents any connection to your phone whatsoever. I called all my loved ones while I was standing in line to board the ship, and then I put my phone in airplane mode, where it stayed for the duration of the cruise. When I got back into port, I put it back in regular mode and saw that I had many vm's, all of which would have cost me had I not known to use airplane mode.

 

Sorry this is so long, but I feel this is such an important message for those of us who cannot afford surprise charges while on vacation. I guess the moral of all of these stories is that anyone traveling, who cannot afford any surprises, should research every possible detail before leaving.

[twinklen01]

Wow-I had NO idea!! That really sucks. Thanks for posting--even though someone else responded and said there are many posts on this subject, I had not seen any!! Thank you for the heads up. I would not let this go--I'd go up as far as I can!

Same here, i had no ideas so glad this was posted. We figure we'd have our phones on for the clock and alarm and i'm sure MIL would be calling. Now we can let everyone know not to call us. We have AT&T so dh will have to look into it before we cruise.

[vacruizer]

Same here, i had no ideas so glad this was posted. We figure we'd have our phones on for the clock and alarm and i'm sure MIL would be calling. Now we can let everyone know not to call us. We have AT&T so dh will have to look into it before we cruise.

 

Bring a watch - can't tell you how many people I've heard complaining onboard because their cell clocks were wrong. When you are bouncing through the ship's satellite connection you won't necessarily have the local time. I talked to one couple on the Pride who said their phones were registering something like 6 or 8 hours off and heard several others complaining as well.

 

Also be careful in port as you may be picking up local time which can be different from ship time. :eek:

[GreenZolie]

Same here, i had no ideas so glad this was posted. We figure we'd have our phones on for the clock and alarm and i'm sure MIL would be calling. Now we can let everyone know not to call us. We have AT&T so dh will have to look into it before we cruise.

 

You can still use the clock and alarm if you put your phone in airplane mode. No calls or texts can come through, but the phone is still on so you can use all of your utilities as normal. :)