cell phones in caribbean

[jbrooks175]

could anyone tell me the best way to communicate with family members at home w/o having to use the cabin phones?
our cell phone is not one of the new ones that has a card with it.
can you rent cell phones on the boat? are they for long distance calls or more for contacting other members on the boat?
any international phone cards that can be bought?
thanks

[jbrooks175]

could anyone tell me the best way to communicate with family members at home w/o having to use the cabin phones?
our cell phone is not one of the new ones that has a card with it.
can you rent cell phones on the boat? are they for long distance calls or more for contacting other members on the boat?
any international phone cards that can be bought?
thanks

[Sunprincess]

You did not mention where you are cruising to.
Some cell phones do provide coverage for select ports.
Calling direct for the ship can be very costly. Email is a good way to stay in touch too.
My vote is to call from port using the local calling cards available. Some can be quite reasonable. Ask crew they can tell you where you can get cards & make calls.
I do use calling cards even at home now when calling friends in Europe. Be sure if you do get a card at home to not get a local calling card.

Cathy

[Larry in Miami]

They only rent two way radios on the ship, can't make phone calls on them. The non GSM phones will work in some ports but you will pay high roaming charges. The cost of the cell calls will be less than what you will pay on the ship though. I think it was around $1.40 per minute to call from Grand Cayman.

Where are you going?

[Nat]

Has anyone every tried to bring there own walkie talkies to communicate on the ship?? I was thinking that it would be a good way to stay in touch with the kids? Do the two way radio's work the same and is it expensive? Also, can you call from cabin to cabin without being charged? Thanks

[jbrooks175]

sorry, we'll be cruising in the southern caribbean. We do have walkie talkies and do definetly recommend getting them (they work great when trying to locate someone on the ship) We are going to try to upgrade to the latest cell phone with the chip so we may buy a chip in the caribbean to use:
going to : Aruba, Curacao, St Thomas and St Maartan

[Snorkel Mich]

Calling from St Thomas and St Martin is just like calling from Key west. I had an older phone and when I got my bill it was just like any other call.

Contact your provider and they can let you know what you need

[Larry in Miami]

Most any of the walkie-talkies should work fine. Just get a set that has the privacy code feature so you don't have to listen to everyone else. The really cheap ones are lower power and may not go as far as the ones that cost a bit more.

It will be a lot cheaper to buy some rather than renting them.