Cell Phone charges when cruising

[Tink3815]

What have been your experiences with using your cell phone on cruises and ports?
We have Verizon as our carrier, and they do offer some international plans. We will be doing the Eastern Caribbean visiting Grand Turk Island, Grand Turk Island, Turks, and Caicos Islands and Puerto Plata, Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic.
Will we be charged roaming charges if we keep the phones in airplane mode?

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[bakerworld]

Our Verizon plan included Travel Wise. Travel Wise allows texting and facetime for $10 over a 24 hour period. To be able to call we had to sign up for International Service with is $10 per day. We found that we only used the texting and facetime.

 

[Sam207]

You will not be charged roaming if you leave your phones in airplane mode

 

[cvjw]

Leave the phone in airplane mode and turn off roaming. No way to connect to a foreign cell tower, so no extra charges.

 

[Carohs]

I've had no problem leaving my phone in airplane mode for the duration of the cruise. If we happen to be near wifi I might turn it on to "check in" but I find I'm happier overall staying disconnected and on vacation mode. No roaming if you are on airplane mode. Another thing is if you happen to take off Verizon will send you a free text message welcoming you to the foreign country and outlining your usage/plan options.