Cruise Talk: Cell Phones

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»	Cruise Talk » Cruising 1.0 » Cell Phones

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Author

Topic: Cell Phones

beccy
First Class Passenger
Member # 3930

posted 09-06-2003 06:33 PM

Can I use my cell phone on the ship? At the different ports? Thanks

Posts: 19 | From: Phoenix | Registered: Jun 2003 | IP: Logged

BermudaBoy
First Class Passenger
Member # 3961

posted 09-06-2003 06:49 PM

quote:
Originally posted by beccy:
Can I use my cell phone on the ship? At the different ports? Thanks

Yes you can just not when you are at sea... your phone bill might be higher than usual though im not positive about that. But when i went to the Caribbean last month i used it.

Posts: 91 | From: Delaware... The Reason Why Vacations Were Made! | Registered: Jun 2003 | IP: Logged

bigpapaduck
First Class Passenger
Member # 3988

posted 09-10-2003 06:07 PM

Usually Cell phones are good for only a few miles out to sea after that you have to wait to get into port... Watch out for roaming costs though... especially international charges!!!! You'll see you bill and look like this ----->

Posts: 38 | From: All over the globe. | Registered: Jul 2003 | IP: Logged

Malcolm @ cruisepage
Cruise Director
Member # 301

posted 09-10-2003 06:55 PM

One of the great joys of cruising is that cell phones don't work out to sea!

However, in an emergency you can use your cabin telephone, at aprice.

Posts: 19210 | From: Essex (Just Outside London) | Registered: A Long Time Ago! | IP: Logged

Steve Read (sread)
First Class Passenger
Member # 788

posted 09-10-2003 07:38 PM

One other thing to note, depending on your service provider. Even if you don't make a call yourself -- if somebody else calls you, you will get the bill for the international part of the call.

And even if the call goes to voicemail, or if you check your voicemail messages, that counts as an international call too.

Leave the thing at home and enjoy your holiday!!

Posts: 926 | From: Locksbottom, Kent, England | Registered: Jul 99 | IP: Logged

WhiteStar
First Class Passenger
Member # 2740

posted 09-11-2003 12:44 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:
One of the great joys of cruising is that cell phones don't work out to sea!

Malcolm - when I was on First European's Flamenco on the Canary Islands cruise I couldn't believe how many passengers had their cell phones with them and constantly ringing. I think they were mostly Italians. Maybe they have a different type of service.

Posts: 668 | From: Minnesota | Registered: Jan 2002 | IP: Logged

PamM
First Class Passenger
Member # 2127

posted 09-11-2003 03:20 PM

quote:
Originally posted by sread:
And even if the call goes to voicemail, or if you check your voicemail messages, that counts as an international call too.
Leave the thing at home and enjoy your holiday!!

Not always possible if there are emergencies or necessary things to deal with back home [not work related, they can be forgotten about]. You can always turn off the voicemail option while you go overseas. I take my phone and phone who I have to briefly when possible. Int'l charges are not that pricey, well cheaper than the ship's satellite anyway. £1 min or less as against £5 a min. Email is the cheaper option, but then you don't get an immediate response and may have to wait before the next port or keep signing in to check, which can add up.
Everytime we go away there is always something to see to, someone in hospital or in my last case the daft husband phones me mid channel & left a msg to advise his flight had been cancelled, he would miss the following flight.. eh? what the heck can I do about it? I'm on holiday anyway, so tough.. I was out of range for a day and didn't get it until 24hrs later

meanwhile he'd arrived home.
It does come in handy when meeting friends/relatives in port, but still clocks up an overseas call

Pam

Posts: 12176 | From: Cambridge, UK | Registered: Jun 2001 | IP: Logged

Malcolm @ cruisepage
Cruise Director
Member # 301

posted 09-11-2003 06:17 PM

I appreciate that Beccy was not looking for a debate about mobile phones at sea, but that's how cruisetalk works, sometimes!

Today there are so many more forms of communication, unfortunately there is nothing more to say that there ever was!

After posting some 7000 meassages here, I am well qualified to know!

If it was so vitally important that I communicate with someone back home , I would not go on holiday in the first place!

Everything can wait until I return home, as far as I'm concerned. I also like to avoid the news. For me its all part of the escapism.

I think mobile phones are habbit forming, are used to relive boerdom and act as a security blanket. I suspect 90 per cent of all calls are pretty meaningless!

"Hello, guess what, I'm on a big ship!"

[ 09-11-2003: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

Posts: 19210 | From: Essex (Just Outside London) | Registered: A Long Time Ago! | IP: Logged

sympatico
First Class Passenger
Member # 797

posted 09-11-2003 06:24 PM

Oh, you are so right Malcolm. I walk around the Mall and see people with their hand up to their ear and know right away they are on a cell. You would think the thing was permanently glued to their ear.
And, it's not so much the adults who do this but young kids. Wonder who pays their bills???

I have a cell phone - I can't tell you what the phone number is, nor is it ever turned on. It is for my personal use in case of an emergency. I did use it last week in the Vancouver airport to call my daughter to let her know the time I would be arriving home in case she could pick me up, but that's it.

I go away to get away from the phone, newspapers, TV and the computer.

[ 09-11-2003: Message edited by: sympatico ]

Posts: 3305 | From: Toronto, Ont. Canada | Registered: Jul 99 | IP: Logged

PamM
First Class Passenger
Member # 2127

posted 09-11-2003 06:45 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:
[b]If it was so vitally important that I communicate with someone back home , I would not go on holiday in the first place!

I can't agree there. My Mum was in hospital, not for something one would cancel a cruise for, but I still had to ring her surely? I did everytime we were in port, just to say hello and ask how she was. Isn't that what daughters are for? regardless of cost!

My phone rarely gets used, only for emergencies and for convenience when away.. saves finding a phone box. I do agree that 99% of calls I am subjected to overhearing when out and about are really rubbish.
Pam

Posts: 12176 | From: Cambridge, UK | Registered: Jun 2001 | IP: Logged

Green
First Class Passenger
Member # 171

posted 09-11-2003 07:41 PM

Malcolm's 90% is probably very accurate.

But - I've been in Pam's shoes and can relate to her stand - particularly if you are an only child. On one cruise to Bermuda I packed two suitecases - one for the cruise, the other in case I had to fly to UK from Bermuda. Most fortunately I returned to Toronto with an unopened suitcase.

Posts: 2913 | From: Markham, Ontario, Canada | Registered: Jul 99 | IP: Logged

lambcom
First Class Passenger
Member # 656

posted 09-12-2003 09:40 AM

No one has mentioned it, but I think a substantial proportion of those people who pack a cell phone on a cruise do so as an ego exercise.

I can't begin to tell you how many calls I've heard on decks that begin with "I'm calling you from the deck of the (insert name of ship)" and have little or nothing to do with business of any kind.

I view the cell phone as a necessary evil in my life as a priest. Being able to leave it at home is one of the great joys of cruising!

Posts: 179 | From: Montreal, canada | Registered: Jul 99 | IP: Logged

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