Age: 40
Occupation: Auditor
Number of Cruises: 1
Cruise Line: Royal Caribbean
Ship: Empress of the Seas
Sailing Date: June 11th, 2005
Itinerary: Western Caribbean
My 18 year old daughter took this cruise with another family. She took an
international calling card with her and used it in her room not knowing that
they were charging her $10 a minute for any calls she made. As she used the
card, the minutes were being used up so she assumed it was working. Her entire
cruise cost about $700 but her phone charges for her room were $1,145.00 The
customer service department was not any help at all. I told them that they don't
have any information on their website about the usage of calling cards. They
should include in the section "New to Cruising" something about how the phone
charges work. In the room the only sign is "toll rates will apply". However, if
you use a calling card, you assume the rates would not be $10 a minute.
Think twice about cruising with Royal Caribbean. Once they get your money, they
don't care about you any more. Carnival does, however, post on its website that
you should not use a calling card on their ships.