International Roaming - cell phone type

**jgibson2**[$] · #1 07-29-2008, 01:51 AM

My son and his soon-to-be bride are going on a Caribbean cruise for their honeymoon. I just checked out the roaming rates for their ship. Yikes! $2.49/minute and .50/text. They probably won't call each other - I hope they won't need to -- but they're both so used to texting their friends that they may go into withdrawal (or broke).

Is there a more affordable option? Would also be helpful to know if there's a more affordable option for International roaming in Italy, because my husband and youngest son will be heading there for a week in October.

magenta321 · #2 07-29-2008, 08:32 AM

Yes, when they get off the ship, they are subject to the price of the island they are on... which is cheaper. They need to call Verizon or whatever company and tell them they need International calling added (if they haven't done that previously) and they can also check the rates from the islands they are visiting.

Honestly, my boyfriend and I made several quick calls, to his pharmacy, to my parents, to the airline, all as a result of our lost luggage. I didn't notice a big difference in my bill, and he didn't seem to in his either. It does add up, but if you keep it short, it's not tooooooo bad.

Ship to shore calls are much more expensive, so don't call from the ship's phones!

**mjfrombuffalo**[$] · #3 07-29-2008, 08:44 AM

Quote:

jgibson2 said

My son and his soon-to-be bride are going on a Caribbean cruise for their honeymoon. I just checked out the roaming rates for their ship. Yikes! $2.49/minute and .50/text. They probably won't call each other - I hope they won't need to -- but they're both so used to texting their friends that they may go into withdrawal (or broke).

One would hope they would be too busy...um, er, "honeymooning" to text their friends!

nc10 · #4 07-30-2008, 08:39 PM

Quote:

jgibson2 said

Is there a more affordable option? Would also be helpful to know if there's a more affordable option for International roaming in Italy, because my husband and youngest son will be heading there for a week in October.

We visited Paris this summer, used Skype out on my laptop to call home, the hotel, we stayed in had wireless, sort of, at least part of the time, a close by McDonalds, and a few other places also had wireless.

**jgibson2**[$] · #5 07-30-2008, 09:04 PM

Skype! They'll be taking at least one laptop. I'll tell them to look into it. Thanks!

The ship has wireless -- they're pretty sure it's included in the fare, but that's easy to check. Skype would make it possible to phone from there if they need to and the rates on the islands are much lower.

magenta321 · #6 07-30-2008, 10:54 PM

I was on Royal Caribbean recently and it was very expensive to use the internet. You paid for a 15 or 30 minute interval of time on the internet. One woman we met had paid for the 15 minute session and still hadn't gotten logged into her email acct by the time her 15 minutes was up. She did demand a refund, and she did receive it. But still, I would find out what the internet was like on the ship before I left, otherwise people might expect you to Skype them, and you might not be able to...

The best place to talk to other cruisers who have sailed on your specific ship and specific itinerary is on Cruise Critic's forums. I found that to be the single best source of info before the cruise. I learned a ton on there before I left for my cruise.

**jgibson2**[$] · #7 07-31-2008, 12:43 AM

Margaret,
Thanks, that's very helpful. I'll tell Dan and Jeanne to check that out!

poseidon · #8 08-06-2008, 10:52 AM

I remember on my honeymoon, I took the time to call my folks and Michelle called her folks to let them know that we got to Jamaica fine (we arrived just as a hurricane was leaving).

Those two quick calls cost us several dollars. They couldn't have been more than three minutes combined.

**jgibson2**[$] · #9 08-06-2008, 05:41 PM

I don't expect they'll be making any long calls. They know what it will cost and chatting can wait until they get home.

frazzledspice · #10 08-08-2008, 09:05 PM

My son who's been teaching in South Korea uses Skype all the time. We got it, too (Skype to Skype is apparently free.)

Cruise ships do have wireless, so I imagine Skype and a laptop should solve any problems.

magenta321 · #11 08-09-2008, 08:50 AM

Fraz, the problem is that the wireless on the cruise ship costs (too much) money and isn't adequate, as posted above.

My experience was on Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas, which, is their newest (or maybe it's 2nd newest now) and largest ship. I could be wrong, but I'd imagine if RCI can't get a decent speed out on the ocean, no one can. But, they can feel free to check out cruisecritic.com where others can share their experiences with the internet on the specific ship they are sailing.

**jgibson2**[$] · #12 08-09-2008, 03:54 PM

Thanks everyone. They're sailing on Monday. They decided to turn off their cellphones while they are on the ship unless there's an actual emergency. They can call from Tampa before they leave and when they get back if they want and short calls from ports of call. I expect that they won't feel much need to make phone calls while they're out. They are newlyweds, after all, and they've planned some exciting excursions - even a surprise (for the bride) swim with the dolphins.

mtbat · #13 08-16-2008, 09:43 PM

I'm glad they're turning off the phones, my coworker got stuck with a $750 phone bill because her mother took her phone to washington, didn't know or understand the whole roaming thing and racked up 9000 roaming minutes...

My coworker is NOT happy