Contact at sea?

[tinker07]

My husband and I are doing our first ever cruise as a treat for our 50th birthdays and cannot wait. I am however a little concerned that we have elderly parents at home. We would rather switch our cell phones off onboard as I understand that the costs for cell phone use are extremely high does anyone know if there is anyway for family to contact you onboard in case of an emergency other than by cell phone please?

 

[k3chantal]

My husband and I are doing our first ever cruise as a treat for our 50th birthdays and cannot wait. I am however a little concerned that we have elderly parents at home. We would rather switch our cell phones off onboard as I understand that the costs for cell phone use are extremely high does anyone know if there is anyway for family to contact you onboard in case of an emergency other than by cell phone please?

A couple of thoughts came across my mind when I read your post.

I believe there is a contact number that DCL gives you in the form of a little card you can give your friends and family. It should be in the back of the Itinerary booklet.

The second thought is that I called my cell phone carrier and asked them to change my coverage to International for one week. It cost me ten additional dollars than my normal plan and yes, if I had used it the phone calls would have still been expensive but at least it would have not been out of this world expensive.

 

[tinker07]

That is great thank you if it is just usual international rates I will leave the mobile on and at least then everyone will have peace of mind just thought I had read somewhere that it was really expensive but for about 10 dollars and the cost of international calls that will work for me, thanks again for the advice

 

[k3chantal]

That is great thank you if it is just usual international rates I will leave the mobile on and at least then everyone will have peace of mind just thought I had read somewhere that it was really expensive but for about 10 dollars and the cost of international calls that will work for me, thanks again for the advice

Don't leave your phone on. What I should have said is that I purchased an International plan for a week but kept it off and I checked it periodically. The other factor to consider is you should turn off any features on your phone like Facebook that might push notifications to you. Please speak to your cell phone company who can completely fill you in.

 

[ZoeBell]

That is great thank you if it is just usual international rates I will leave the mobile on and at least then everyone will have peace of mind just thought I had read somewhere that it was really expensive but for about 10 dollars and the cost of international calls that will work for me, thanks again for the advice

Turn your cellular data off then you can keep the phone on. Texts are 5 cents to receive and .25(or .50, i forget) to send.

 

[4 mickey]

There is a number where families can I think reach you at seas ?? In case of emegency
Maybe somebody here knows it ???

 

[MrsB919]

There is a number where families can I think reach you at seas ?? In case of emegency
Maybe somebody here knows it ???

The card says its 1888-322-8732. It says if calling internationally its 732-335-3281. I believe you do have to let them know your stateroom number though. HTH.

 

[lbgraves]

That phone call to the ship is more expensive per minute than a text to your cell phone would be. The number is 1-888-DC-ATSEA (1-888-322-8732). You then enter the number option given for the ship you wish to contact. They need to give the guest name and stateroom number. The cost is $7.00 to $9.50 per minute. The person needs to use a CC to make this call.

 

[disneylove69]

Since u can't do much about anything while on sea could ypu just call homr whilr in port?

 

[nunzia]

I did not have a smart phone when I sailed last so don't know how it would work in the future, but I put in the International code before we left port and texts were very cheap..like 5 cents to recieve and 25 to send..I had my phone my whole cruise and kept in touch several times daily with my family. Easy. If someone knows how to do this with a smart phone I'd really like the info.

 

[n8nally]

My husband and I are doing our first ever cruise as a treat for our 50th birthdays and cannot wait. I am however a little concerned that we have elderly parents at home. We would rather switch our cell phones off onboard as I understand that the costs for cell phone use are extremely high does anyone know if there is anyway for family to contact you onboard in case of an emergency other than by cell phone please?

Here's my question to you: Let's say there was an emergency and you found out about it while on the ship. What could you do? What would you do?

I had to think about this myself recently as I, too am caring for an older parent. What I figured out was that lots of things might constitute "emergency" for my Mom, but which would not cause me to want to leave the ship and fly home early. Issues with the house (the hot water heater broke!) or some injury (I fell!), etc. The most I would be able to do would be to call someone to go over to my Mom's (and to worry). So....why not just have Mom call this person herself in case of an "emergency"? Better yet, why not have a close friend check in on her while I was gone?

Bigger, real emegencies would STILL not cause me to leave the ship and fly home. Let's say she did fall and ended up in the hospital. Yes, she would prefer I was there with her. Yes, I would feel better being with her. But to incur the expense and stress of leaving the cruise early and flying home would be ridiculous and not a real possiblity. What I would do instead is WORRY and be calling home to speak to the friend I left in charge of her to check on her progress.

I guess what I'm saying is WHY would I leave the ship and fly home? I suppose if she died suddenly, although, again, that would depend on costs and stress levels because really the logical side of me would say I already will have funeral expenses so why dump thousands on airfare and hotels, etc. The onyl real reason I could see doing something like that would be if she was about to die. Then I would want to be home ASAP to say goodbye and be with her in her final moments. And for me, the possibility of this happening is very tiny. And worth the $7 a min shore-to-ship phone call. Otherwise, I just couldn't see the practical logic in knowing about an emergency (big or little) when there would be nothing NOTHING I could conceivably do about it but worry.

My decision then was to leave a good, trustworthy person (or three!) available and willing to check on Mom and handle any issues in the week I was gone. I hope you, too have someone like this, because really taking just a few days to get away from regualar daily life is priceless! One of the things I enjoyed the most on my recent crusie was turning off the cell phone and surrendering to the fact that whatever was going on at home/work would have to wait until I got back or be sorted out without me, because what could I possibly do while on a cruise ship to help? So I had no excuse but to relax and put thoughts of reality out of my mind completely!

 

[lbgraves]

n8nally, I completely agree with you. That is what we did when traveling during my MIL's nearly ten-year battle with stage 4 colon cancer. There were several times over the years when we were able to say goodbye because that was possibly the end. We all needed the break from the constant stress. If she had died while we were on the ship, trying to get home in the middle of the cruise with long flights would create even more stress. It would be better for us to stay onboard and try to rest up for what we would have to go through over the next couple weeks. It's hard enough for DD to live with the fact that GM's funeral was the day before her 10th birthday. I booked a KSF deal two weeks after we came home for after Christmas because I knew that we would to be in our happy place.