Phone Home???

[cruizeblues]

My husband and I are sailng on Adv. of Seas 8/3. This is our first cruise and we are VERY excited! My question is regarding phones--we are traveling w/out the kids (thank you Grandma!!!) We generally check in w/kids each night when they aren't with us--calls can last 20 mins. or more! I read that the cost is $8 per minute (WOW) Any experienced cruisers have advice on less expensive ways to call home than Ship-to-shore phoning?? Any help much appreciated!

San Juan
St. Thomas
St. Maarten
Antigua
St. Lucia
Barbados

CAN'T WAIT

[cruizeblues]

My husband and I are sailng on Adv. of Seas 8/3. This is our first cruise and we are VERY excited! My question is regarding phones--we are traveling w/out the kids (thank you Grandma!!!) We generally check in w/kids each night when they aren't with us--calls can last 20 mins. or more! I read that the cost is $8 per minute (WOW) Any experienced cruisers have advice on less expensive ways to call home than Ship-to-shore phoning?? Any help much appreciated!

San Juan
St. Thomas
St. Maarten
Antigua
St. Lucia
Barbados

CAN'T WAIT

[PEB]

I would suggest you only call home from a phone while in port it would be cheaper. There are usually phones near the pier that the crew members and other passengers use. If there is a computer at grandma's perhaps you could just email from the ship the days you are at sea. This would be cheaper than a phone call. There is noway to call cheaplly from the ship that I know of.

[Karen Knowlton]

If your cellphone company offers service in the U.S. islands, you might be able to make a call from St. Thomas or San Juan on your cellphones. Many passengers on my last Caribbean cruise were doing that. There were, however, a few who were grumbling that they had been promised service and it wasn't working. A prepaid phone calling card can be a great help - I use one I obtained through Travel Guard (after purchasing their trip insurance) and have had good luck with it. Not cheap, but their card offered about 45 cents a minute in Puerto Rico - good enough for a quick call to make sure everything at home is ok!

[cruizeblues]

Thanks for the suggestions! Sounds like we need to tell the kids not to expect a daily call from us while we are on this trip!

[Novice Cruisers]

I don't know if there are internet connections on board, but if there are and you have a laptop, you could talk with the kids at a predetermined time on MSN. This is how I keep in touch with my sister in the middle east. Phones are just too expensive.