cell phones on board???

[findingnemofan]

Silly question---but do cell phones work on board ship?


Findingnemofan

 

[Beechparty]

When I was on the Carnival ship out of Port Canaveral my t-mobile phone worked for a while b/c we ran along the shoreline. Our first stop was Key West and it worked their also. Once you get out on the open waters it will not work. Others in my party had cingular and theirs worked some too.

 

[Drcell01]

As long as the ship is docked, yes. Once the ship gets about 2 to 3 miles out from shore the phones won't work. Some phones may work in Nausau (if you have international roaming). It really depends on what service provider you have now and do they have a roaming agreement with the service provider where you are going.

I work for T-Mobile and we utilize GSM (Global System for Mobile) which is a world-wide digital service. Most of Europe and Asia utilize our type of digital wireless service. Most of our phones can be used world-wide.

 

[TheWog]

Verizon worked in St. Thomas. Didn't try it in St. Maarten.

 

[Beechparty]

Do you know if T-Mobile World Class works in Nassau? I looked on the web site for international roaming rates and couldn't find the bahamas. Most of the caribeean islands were there just not Bahama's. Am I missing it?

 

[Drcell01]

At this time T-Mobile does not have a roaming agreement with the service provider in Nassau. However, there is service on the island. You may be able to buy a prepaid SIM card there and insert it into your GSM phone. The frequency used there is 1900mhz just like we use here in North America. You will have to call customer service to ask about having your handset unlocked to accept a SIM card other than T-Mobile.

We do have roaming coverage in most of the other Virgin Islands.

 

[Beechparty]

Thanks. I just wanted to make sure I hadn't missed something.

 

[dazie52]

On the eastern cruise, most cell phones work in St. Thomas becasue it's a US port. Depending on your plan, your minutes can be included in nationwide minutes (no roaming). I have Cingular and call home from St. Thomas almost each time I'm there. I also call my friends and brag about the beautiful surroundings I'm in while they're back in Texas!! Some people get coverage in Castaway Cay, but I've never tried since it's only a day away from Port Canaveral. If you have an international phone, it may work in St. Maarten. Again, I don't use it there becase St. Thomas is only a day away and my minutes from there are included in my plan. When you leave Port Canaveral on Saturday, phones will work for about an hour or an hour and a half until we're too far away from the shore.

On the western cruise, phones will work all night Saturday night (we sail strait down the coast) and then on Sunday in Key West since it's still the US. You can usually get a signal in Grand Cayman and Cozumel, but unless you have an international band phone, you can't make calls from those ports (I've tried from Cozumel and it wouldn't work for me).

Sorry, don't have any experience on the Wonder.

If there's an emergency, you can allways call ship to shore on the stateroom phones. Be prepared to pay an arm and a leg though.

Robyn

 

[Talking Hands]

Bob would I be able to use my text messaging and email in ports?

 

[Drcell01]

Text messaging and email would be the same as voice calls. If you have international permission or you are in a US virgin island port then yes, you should be able to send text messages and email from your wireless phone. If you are in Nassau and a T-Mobile subscriber then no due to the fact that T-Mobile does not have a roaming agreement with the service provider in the Bahamas.

 

[Rence]

You may want to contact your cellular provider to get the latest and greatest.

We have Sprint PCS. We found the information on-line to be confusing regarding whether or not they worked in St. Thomas.

Turns out that they did have service there but it was new so most phones needed to have a software update in order to work there. We got our phones updated and they worked fine.

My sister who also has Sprint PCS did not get her phone updated and it did not work in St. Thomas.

If we hadn't called to verify, we wouldn't have known about the update.

 

[disneyholic family]

on board the ship during days at sea and when the ship isn't close to shore, you can use a satellite phone (iridium)....
but they cost an arm and a leg....
but if you have to be connected 24/7, that's the way to go...
they're expensive, but still cheaper than your stateroom phone......

 

[tvguy]

You're on vacation, why do you want a phone?
If there's an emergency at home, you can be reached 24/7 in your cabin via the ships phone, and there is voicemail on your phone.
I wouldn't want to take my cell phone anyway, it's an analog bag phone I got in 1990. My daughter says it isn't a "real" cell phone. Funny, unlike her friends .6 watt digital phones, I don't get dropped calls, and I get service almost everywhere.
Disadvantage, or ADVANTAGE is, I don't take it out of the car. That's fine, if you can't reach me in the car or at home, I'll get your message soon enough anyway. And sometimes, I want to be UNREACHABLE.

 

[disneyholic family]

it costs $8/minute to use your stateroom phone..
and it also costs $8/minute for someone to call you on your stateroom phone....(they have to give their credit card number to the operator who answers when they try to call you)...

for those people who need to be available 24/7, they can rent a satellite phone for $20 to $40 / week, and $1.50/minute airtime....

that's a much cheaper date for the people who need to get hold of you.....in my husband's case, it's his company....he'd rather have his company pay $1.50/minute than $8.00/minute to leave him voicemail....yes he's on vacation, but that doesn't alter the fact that he has to be available 24/7.....

 

[TheWog]

When we went in January it was during the bitter cold of 20 below zero and they were cancelling schools and people were literally freezing. DW wanted to check on the house and make sure there was nothing too bad going on so she used the ship's phone. $170.00 later she learned not to use the ship's phone and used our cell phone in St. Thomas. No more calls after that

 

[Cruise04]

Also for those of us that may be going without our kids - I know, the shock - I am going to feel more comfortable knowing I can reach her and see how things are going with school, home, etc. I'm glad to hear about the Sprint ones in St. Thomas. We will need to see if we need the upgrade (our phones aren't even a year old so I don't know if we will or not). I find it frustrating when they don't let you know of the software upgrades - we had that happen with our signal one time. Found out we needed an upgrade and that took of the problems we had.