atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums General General Telephone & Systems Information going on a cruise

I have been on 10+ cruisesnand they almost always have different rates and charges for ship to shore calls. Most ports of call you can use your cell phone, but then, it is almost ALWAYS cheaper to just use a pay phone at the dock, they are always available and relativly cheap if you get a calling card at Walmart or somewhere like that. I have Cingular and they have worked in Mexico, The Bahamas, and Jamaica.

On the ship they have phones, there is a phone provided in your cabin, but to be honest your best bet is to use their internet Cafe'. The phone service on the ship (as has been said) is pricy, starting around $9.00 per/min and usually a connection charge. Internet is much cheaper and you buy it in blocks of minutes (usually they offer cheaper rates if you buy the block on the first day). Some of the ships now offer WIFI (still a charge) in the cenral Atrium area.

On some ships they now offer cell service from the boat. I am nost sure of the exact rates, but it is about the same as a regular phone call from the ship ($9 + ). They call it something like "Sea Cell," or something like that anyway.

As a side note, which line are you going on? It is always interesting to see what phone system they use on the ship. I have seen Nortel's and Siemens so far - the Siemens (Carnival) ship had digital phones in all the rooms.

Steve

Being in the travel agency business, with telco & data networking as my primary job function. We deal with this question from customers quite often.

While this doesn't really apply to you since you use Nextel, it might for some others.

Beginning in 2006, if you are a Cingular customer and are going on a Royal Caribbean Cruise Ship you have your normal Cingular service while onboard. The rate is definitely not as expensive as the ship-2-shore lines which average at about $9/minute, but it costs just under $2/minute to use your Cingular cellular device on a RCCL ship.

Other cruise lines are looking into doing this, though none have announced plans like RCCL.

Just thought you might like to know.

Also on a side note, more travel agent tips: Internet access on the cruise ships range from $0.75 - $2/minute (depending on package price or pay-per-minute). But if you can wait until in port, there is almost always a local internet cafe in the vacinity of the port and you can get 30 minutes for about $5. Just realize it might not be "as" secure as the ships.

Maybe this info will be helpful to some.

-David

Great to know about the cell pricing! I had not looked yet, so that will be handy on my next trip!

Just so you know, Carnival also does the cell service (still not sure about pricing with them though), at least on some boats. I took a cruise last December and they had it on the Inspiration.

Steve

Thanks Steve. After reading your message I went and talked with our head travel agent. Pricing is up to the cruise line, so it will differ from cruise line to cruise line. But there are actually quite a few ships on the seas today with cellular service available.

Here's a site with the list of current ships: https://www.cellularatsea.com/shipsinservice.htm

Cingular is the primary pusher of the Wireless Maritime Services, it is a joing venture between them & Maritime Telecommunications Network.

-David

There are quite a few threads on this subject at www.cruise-critics.com and a bunch of other info you might find helpful.