cell phones on Bahamas cruise

[sunshineNJ]

I am correct in assuming that cell phones don't work on the ships. Thanks

[PrincessShmoo]

Originally Posted by sunshineNJ

I am correct in assuming that cell phones don't work on the ships. Thanks

No, cell phones do work on the ship. The system is Cellar At Sea. It costs $2.49 a minute on top of whatever charges your carrier charges you for calls.

Not really the most economical way of keeping in touch.

[SuperDry]

Originally Posted by PrincessShmoo

No, cell phones do work on the ship. The system is Cellar At Sea. It costs $2.49 a minute on top of whatever charges your carrier charges you for calls.

No. It costs only $2.49/minute, charged by your carrier on your regular cellular bill. Unlike on-board Internet or ship-to-shore calls from the stateroom phone, there are no ship-board charges to use Cellular At Sea. Also, when you are in port (including Castaway Cay), you roam on the Bahamas cellular system and the shipboard system is turned off, so you pay whatever your roaming rate to the Bahamas is.

[kcashner]

They work just fine....$2.49 per minute for cellular at sea + whatever your carrier charges for international roaming or whatever other charges. It cost us 5 cents to get a text message, 50 cents to send one (Verizon).

On most US plans, St. Thomas is included (US VI). Cell phone service was one of the really nice things on the Alaska cruise.

Many ports have internet cafes which rent cell phones for international use. In St. Croix it was $3 for 30 minutes of use.

[SuperDry]

Originally Posted by kcashner

They work just fine....$2.49 per minute for cellular at sea + whatever your carrier charges for international roaming or whatever other charges.

No, that's not right. The total cost is $2.49/minute, billed by your cellular carrier. That's inclusive of the use of the Cellular At Sea system on the ship, as well as int'l long distance to and from whomever you're talking to on the other end. There is no cost beyond that to use Cellular At Sea that gets added to your stateroom bill.

It cost us 5 cents to get a text message, 50 cents to send one (Verizon).

For AT&T users from the US, texts are free to receive (well, they cost the same as whatever you pay at home to receive, and most people have a plan that covers all their use) and 50 cents to send (and this can go down to as low as 20 cents each if you sign up for an optional int'l text package, which you can do for as short as 30 days).

[PrincessShmoo]

Originally Posted by SuperDry

No, that's not right. The total cost is $2.49/minute, billed by your cellular carrier. That's inclusive of the use of the Cellular At Sea system on the ship, as well as int'l long distance to and from whomever you're talking to on the other end. There is no cost beyond that to use Cellular At Sea that gets added to your stateroom bill.



For AT&T users from the US, texts are free to receive (well, they cost the same as whatever you pay at home to receive, and most people have a plan that covers all their use) and 50 cents to send (and this can go down to as low as 20 cents each if you sign up for an optional int'l text package, which you can do for as short as 30 days).

I never said it was added to your onboard account. I said it was above whatever charges your personal carrier may have for making a phone call (roaming, international, whatever). I know it's billed on your regular cell phone bill, and the charge is for Cellar At Sea.

[rcchello]

Some cellphones do not work once out of sight of land. I use Virgin Mobile and they don't have an agreement with Cellular at Sea. Additionally, Virgin does not have international roaming, so you are even out of luck in Canada.

Check with your carrier before assuming your phone will work once you leave the U.S. shores.