Cell Phone for Europe Trip

[Belle & Ariel]

I have a Verizon non smart phone.
I also have a pay as you go phone which I use when we cruise. I use it only when we cruise because I have heard of people getting home to a huge bill--it shows my balance after each call next to the time and date on the phone face. I also set it to only allow calls from contacts--my kids and elderly parent.
What is an inexpensive way to get a phone to use on a 2 week European cruise/trip without a contract? I have already loaded $50 on my pay as you go phone that I would like to be able to use since it expires in 90 days. It is CDMA which does not work in Europe.

 

[ColoradoDisneyFreaks]

I have a Verizon non smart phone.
I also have a pay as you go phone which I use when we cruise. I use it only when we cruise because I have heard of people getting home to a huge bill--it shows my balance after each call next to the time and date on the phone face. I also set it to only allow calls from contacts--my kids and elderly parent.
What is an inexpensive way to get a phone to use on a 2 week European cruise/trip without a contract? I have already loaded $50 on my pay as you go phone that I would like to be able to use since it expires in 90 days. It is CDMA which does not work in Europe.

Talk to Verizon, they have international phones you can rent for your trip.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

It is CDMA which does not work in Europe.

You have discovered one of the problems with many Verizon phones!

Do you really need a telephone for the trip? If you do, you can try renting from Verizon or another place, as suggested, or if you travel fairly frequently, buy an unlocked GSM phone and sim card for use overseas. You can get some good deals at mobal.com.

 

[jsmith]

Best option if you are already a verizon wireless customer-they will rent you a GSM phone for 9.99 for 30 days-you can add international dialing-prorated for only the month or part of month of your trip-i did it for 4.99 AND they will point your exisiting US number to that phone for the duration of the trip-keeping friends and family from needing another number. We did this for a three week trip to Europe in 2010-used it only a handful of times for short calls and a few text messages and had a bill in creaset -including the rental-of 25 dollars over what we would have paid anyway. Also your CDMA us phones will work on the ship-at least on Royal Carribbean-my husbands did- but dont rely on them for time-theyi take the time from the US network that the number goes back to. It is expensive to use your us phone on the ship in Europe but it depends on how displined you are with calls and texts whether it is prohibitively expensive or not.

 

[CyndiLooWho]

It's also fairly cheap to purchase a phone in Europe. They don't normally go with contracts over there, and you can pick up a basic cell phone in a grocery store for Euro10-15. I loaded it at the grocery store Euro20 at a time. A decent big-city store will have people who speak English who can tell you how much to load for calls to the US (I only used mine to call other Europeans, as the company paid for our home phone including all calls to the US).

Have a great trip! We loved living over there and visiting all around.

 

[CyndiLooWho]

BTW, I just checked mobal.com for the two countries dh has visited most recently. Calls to/from the US to Russia were $3.95/min and Verizon charged us $3.99 with their international plan. Calls to/from the Netherlands were $1.50/min, which is less than Verizon's $1.99/min. The international plan is about $4 per mo and can be added/dropped right before and right after your trip.