This might be a silly question, but do cell phones work at sea? I will be traveling to Catalina Island and Ensenada and was hoping to call and check on my son. Thanks
Yes! They even work while at sea! My daughter called me on Mothers Day while we were in the middle of the ocean on our way to Bermuda. There is a 1-2 second delay, but it works!
That doesn't hold true for all the ships (its getting close though). The cruise ship has to have a cell repeater. Basically a device that converts the normal cell phone signal into a satellite signal to be transmitted back to a land based cell network. (Hence the delay).
Carefully read the information on this to find out what your charges would be or you can be in a shock when the bill arrives. Currently the CCL ships has this service and I think all the RCCL ships do too... But that is all that I have heard of providing cell coverage. I'm sure someone will correct me...
The other point would be to understand that while you are in port, you are roaming or getting service through the land based cellular providers in the port. When you are at sea, then you are using the ships system.
__________________
================================================== ========== Carnival Cruise Lines:
Fantasy 90, Celebration 95, Victory 05, Conquest 05, Spirit 6/06, Freedom 6/08, Holiday 7/08, Victory 6/09, Valor 9/09, Dream 6/10, Splendor 8/10,Conquest 8/11,Magic 11/11,Triumph 4/12,Spirit 7/12,Freedom 11/12, Triumph 2/13 - The fire cruise
NCL Dream October 2006, RCCL Mariner OTS June 2007
The original question was pertaining to Catalina Island, and Ensenada. There wasn't any roaming charges in those places. Roaming charges differ for each provider. Some have free calling from San Juan, and St. Thomas; mine doesn't.
Originally posted by ddwscw:
This might be a silly question, but do cell phones work at sea? I will be traveling to Catalina Island and Ensenada and was hoping to call and check on my son. Thanks
Catalina Island, California roaming charges (if any) will depend on your call plan with your carrier.
Ensenada being in Mexico poses the question of who your carrier is and IF they allow calls on your specific plan into and out of Mexico. I have T-Mobile with International Roaming and my cost to make or receive a mobile call is $1.49/minute. Text messaging is only $0.35/message. However, if I were to be on the ship AND far enough out at sea for the ship's system to be "engaged" that same call would be $4.99/minute. Also, if someone called me (while at sea), I would be charged $4.99/minute by my carrier because I'm using the ship's roaming system.
I checked the T-Mobile website for the ships and the list is quite extensive (looks like all the CCL, RCCL, HAL, NCL, Celebrity, Crystal, Seabourn, Silver Seas ships plus a number of "others".
And for the "techies" like JimC, RCCL Liberty is covered by Cingular on 1900 Mhz.
Originally posted by Wheels87:
I had normal service through Sprint in both San Juan and St. Thomas without any extra charge whatsoever.
Good Luck,
Brad
yes but is not usually the same for ATT here on Puerto Rico,
Please use your cellphone in a wise way one of my friends had his honeymoon a few moths ago and for some reason I don't understand he keep callig his mom from the ship...
the bill $400 dollars
NICE GOING
Linear Mode
