Cell phone use

[Miss Dot]

Can anyone advise if sailing on CCL with a cellphone provided by nTelos...will we be able to text with it? Any other ideas on how to stay in touch while on the ship (our son gets frustrated when he has to look around for us).

[Travelcat2]

Not familiar with your cell phone provider, however, using cell phones or texting on board a cruise ship is VERY expensive. Suggest you purchase some computer time and use e-mail. Or, use your cell phone when you are in port -- not on the ship. If you plan on using your cell phone in port, check with your cell phone provider so you'll know in advance what the per minute charges will be.

[Miss Dot]

Not familiar with your cell phone provider, however, using cell phones or texting on board a cruise ship is VERY expensive. Suggest you purchase some computer time and use e-mail. Or, use your cell phone when you are in port -- not on the ship. If you plan on using your cell phone in port, check with your cell phone provider so you'll know in advance what the per minute charges will be.

Thanks....but, we are trying to keep in touch with each others whereabouts on the ship. We do not have roaming charges with nTelos and we have been told that if we can get the text to work on the ship from our phones that there will be no charge for texting. We do know that making calls would be expensive, if we were able to use them.

We are prepared to take the small 2-way radios, but don't have a lot of luck with them and would hate to have to carry them everywhere.

[thinfool]

Try talking to Ntelos again...see ifyou get the same answer.

 

IMO, Cellular at Sea is not going to give away texting anywhere.

[Kudos2Fly]

I don't know about CCL, I have herd cruise lines will rent 2 way radios to families to keep in touch on the ship. May want to call the cruise line and ask about it.

[Miss Dot]

I have always gotten the same answer ref: texting from ntelos. We have the 2-way radios...just hate to carry them. Texting does not involve roaming and I was told that since we have unlimited texting...that if we are able to text there will be no charge.

 

Last year when going on RCCL....I sent them e-mails so that I would have in writing their answer, it was the same. But didn't matter nTelos did not work on the ship....only AT & T and another. We did not have any additional fees using the phones on shore.

[Donray]

Thanks....but, we are trying to keep in touch with each others whereabouts on the ship. We do not have roaming charges with nTelos and we have been told that if we can get the text to work on the ship from our phones that there will be no charge for texting. We do know that making calls would be expensive, if we were able to use them.

We are prepared to take the small 2-way radios, but don't have a lot of luck with them and would hate to have to carry them everywhere.

 

 

Not true........ You will charged a minimum of 50 cents to send and 5 cents to receive. Cellular at Sea will charge you through your carrier.

http://www.cellularatsea.com/roaming.htm

Check with your carrier if they are a partner with Cellular at Sea.

[dandro]

DonRay is correct.

 

Just because you have unlimited texting with your provider, it is actually Cellular At Sea that handles the charges when you are on ship, out of port. It cost us 50 cents per text while using Cellular At Sea, and the billing went through our cell phone service provider, ATT.

 

Thankfully we only used the texting once. Kept our phones off while on board so as not to incur any undue charges.

[satxdiver]

CellularAtSea and CellAtSea, two separate companies, own and operate the cell towers on cruise ships. The sell time to various cellular companies with which they have an agreement. They do not have agreements with all cellular companies. In the USA AT&T, Sprint/Nextel, Verizon and T-Mobile have agreements with the two different maritime cellular providers. Smaller cellular providers probably do not have an agreement in place and hence their cell phones will not work. The key here is that the two maritime cellular companies SELL time to your provider who then will bill you. Cellular providers only include communications completed using their cell towers in your plan.

 

Sprint/Nextel and Verizon use CDMA technology. AT&T and T-Mobile use GSM as does most of the rest of the world. A CDMA cell phone will not work on a GSM cell tower. CDMA cell phones have limited capabilty outside the USA/Canada.

[Miss Dot]

Tks for all the info. Seems our provider has lead us astray!!!!!!!!!!!!! Guess we will pack the 2-way's and leave the phones in the safe.

[kitty9]

And then don't forget that in addition to the fifty cents per text, you could get a charge from Cellular At Sea for using their satellites. Satellite use is not free, even for texts.

[want2cruiseagain]

What about putting your phone in airplane mode. Will it roam?

[Ambrosia64]

I have t-mobile. I sailed from Ft. Lauderdale to Cozumel back in January. I used my cellphone for calls and texts back to home. From both the ship while in port and while at sea, and from Paradise Beach in Mexico. I had left both kids home, both have cell phones - so I probably texted about 20-30 times the whole trip. I even sent some pics from the beach in Mexico to friends back in the states via cell. My t-mobile bill extra charges were exactly $2.45 for all the out of country and at sea use. No separate charges for Cellular at Sea tho I know I used them cuz they appeared on the phone screen.

 

Edited to add: just went on t-mobile's site and checked all the bills from the day I left until now - no other charges for that trip at all.

[Gonzo70]

I have t-mobile. I sailed from Ft. Lauderdale to Cozumel back in January. I used my cellphone for calls and texts back to home. From both the ship while in port and while at sea, and from Paradise Beach in Mexico. I had left both kids home, both have cell phones - so I probably texted about 20-30 times the whole trip. I even sent some pics from the beach in Mexico to friends back in the states via cell. My t-mobile bill extra charges were exactly $2.45 for all the out of country and at sea use. No separate charges for Cellular at Sea tho I know I used them cuz they appeared on the phone screen.

 

Edited to add: just went on t-mobile's site and checked all the bills from the day I left until now - no other charges for that trip at all.

 

Wow you got lucky! According to T-Mobile's web site the charge for using text messaging while on the Navigator of the Seas is 35 cents for a message sent and 20 cents for a message received. The incoming messages are not billed if you have a text messaging package, but the outgoing ones are regardless if you have a package or not. For air time it is $4.99 per minute!

 

http://www.t-mobile.com/International/RoamingOverview.aspx?tp=Inl_Tab_RoamWorldwide&WT.mc_n=ILDCoverage&WT.mc_t=onsite