Phone Service

[tgrunewald]

Hi all!

Taking our 1st disney Cruise and super excited!

We all have iPhones with AT&T. I called about International coverage/rates and realized it isn't cheap.

We don't plan on using them except for emergencies from back home or finding kids (if necessary). I know there are the 'wave' phones to use for the most part.
However, I'd be interested in knowing what others have found to do as best practices with your phones...
- turn them completely off (I read somewhere about this includes putting it in airplane mode???)
- get international service for a month?
- other????

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

 

[su_A_ve]

Hi all!

Taking our 1st disney Cruise and super excited!

We all have iPhones with AT&T. I called about International coverage/rates and realized it isn't cheap.

We don't plan on using them except for emergencies from back home or finding kids (if necessary). I know there are the 'wave' phones to use for the most part.
However, I'd be interested in knowing what others have found to do as best practices with your phones...
- turn them completely off (I read somewhere about this includes putting it in airplane mode???)
- get international service for a month?
- other????

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

I'd turn them off and put them on the safe. Otherwise, you may want to do the following:

* Turn off cellular data. SMS and phone calls will still come in and you'll be hit with 5c per incoming txt message. So your daily deal alerts and such will still come in.

* If you don't want to use the phone at all, simply turn airplane mode on. That will disable all radios but you'll be able to use the phone for games and music.

Not sure on the ages of the kids - if they are tween/teen, then they should carry a wave phone. Otherwise, the young ones, you'll check them in/out of the labs and there is no reason for them to have to carry one. You can call club/lab and the CMs will locate the child for you.

Note that the wave phones DO work on castaway cay. But not in the ports. Then again, I'm not sure I'd let any kids venture off by themselves in another country...

 

[cruisecrasher]

Hi all!

Taking our 1st disney Cruise and super excited!

We all have iPhones with AT&T. I called about International coverage/rates and realized it isn't cheap.

We don't plan on using them except for emergencies from back home or finding kids (if necessary). I know there are the 'wave' phones to use for the most part.
However, I'd be interested in knowing what others have found to do as best practices with your phones...
- turn them completely off (I read somewhere about this includes putting it in airplane mode???)
- get international service for a month?
- other????

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

What we do is go into settings under general and turn cellular data and day roaming off then turn airplane mode on.
We use them for cameras and clocks each cruise on these settings, no stray charges yet. You can even manually reset the time if necessary.
ETA-we've never liked the wave phones but carry them so the club can text us.

 

[lbgraves]

It won't matter which carrier you have if you use your cell phone on the ship when not docked in a port. Everything you do will be charged through Cellular at Sea and that runs $2.50 for initial contact and then an additional per minute charge.

 

[tgrunewald]

Thanks for the recommendations!

Quick follow-up question - is it ok to use them while still at port before the ship leaves?

 

[all5ofus]

Thanks for the recommendations!

Quick follow-up question - is it ok to use them while still at port before the ship leaves?

While on the ship in Port Canaveral you will have local coverage with AT&T. Once the ship gets a ways off shore your local coverage will drop and you will pick up Cellular at Sea via the ship's connection.

Be aware that even if you opt the international data plan from ATT that data plan will only cover you while in international ports, Cellular at Sea data is not part of the international data plan and they charge a higher rate for data.

 

[tweis]

On our last cruise we just put our iphones in airplane mode and turned off all notifications.

I would just like to piggyback on this thread and ask if it is possible to receive texts but not calls? DH and I are sailing without the kids so we really don't want to turn our phone off but obviously don't want a huge bill next month either. I think I read that texts were only .50 whereas calls were $2.50. Anybody know if this is possible? Thanks

 

[all5ofus]

On our last cruise we just put our iphones in airplane mode and turned off all notifications.

I would just like to piggyback on this thread and ask if it is possible to receive texts but not calls? DH and I are sailing without the kids so we really don't want to turn our phone off but obviously don't want a huge bill next month either. I think I read that texts were only .50 whereas calls were $2.50. Anybody know if this is possible? Thanks

SMS texting is tied to the cellular network not the data network. You can't turn off voice service without turning text service off as well. If you keep the phone on and receive a call it will charge you at least one minutre @ 2.50 just for ringing even if you don't answer it.

You could do what you want to by using call forwarding. Set call forwarding to foreward all calls to a US based voicemail (such as your home phone or set up a Google Voice account). All incoming calls will be re-routed to the US voicemail number, but text messages will come through to your mobile phone. You would still be able to make outgoing calls on your mobile phone, but you would not be able to recieve incoming voice calls until you cancel the forwarding.

 

[tgrunewald]

Thanks for that clarification.

If we turn off phones, what is the recommended approach for receiving 'emergency' messages from back home?

 

[lanejudy]

Thanks for that clarification.

If we turn off phones, what is the recommended approach for receiving 'emergency' messages from back home?

Leave the ship's emergency contact information with those at home. It's included in your cruise documents. Bear in mind that it's something like $7.00 for the call, so they won't want to use it unless a true emergency.

 

[tgrunewald]

Thanks for the clarification.

If we have the phones off, what is the recommended approach for having people from 'back home' reach us in case of emergency?

 

[lanejudy]

Thanks for the clarification.

If we have the phones off, what is the recommended approach for having people from 'back home' reach us in case of emergency?

Right, if you aren't using cell phones onboard, the recommended contact for emergencies is the information that will be provided in your cruise document packet. Sorry, I don't have it available at the moment. It is not a free call, and costs something like $7.95 or such, but to my knowledge that will be the only way someone can get a message to you if you turn off your cell phones. Another alternative would be to turn off the cell phone while at sea and turn it back on in port to check for messages; however you'll need an International plan for this, and it could be a day or so before you receive the message. So the ship's emergency number would get a message to you sooner.

 

[tgrunewald]

Thanks! Sorry for the double post...sent from mobile and must of hit it twice

 

[MickeyWatcher]

Within 12 miles of port your can use your normal cell phone carrier (or International Plan). After that, the Cellular at Sea will be turned on and will be your only carrier.

 

[TDC Nala]

If you're going to a US territory like St. Thomas or Puerto Rico, you may be able to use your cellular service there just as you would in the US. Check with your wireless carrier.

 

[loricfam]

What about checking emails on my iphone? I know I'm supposed to turn off cellular data and turn off roaming and put the phone in airplane mode. But if I want to check my email, how do I do that? Do I turn airplane mode back on and cellular data back on? And what's the charge for checking email?

Also, if I turn all that back on and I had text messages, will all of those suddenly upload when I try to check email and then I'll be charged $2.50 per text?

 

[Ptwolfman]

I have a similar question. I've only cruised one time but I never was able to get any text messages or service at all. My iPhone said "no service" the entire time we were at sea. Once I got back to the US port in Los Angelo's, right before going through customs, all my texts came through. My question is, what, if anything, did I need to do in order to receive or send texts while on the Ship?

 

[Ptwolfman]

Bumping

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

If you want service, which includes the delivery of text messages, it depends on your phone provider but getting access on the ship and in foreign ports, won't be cheap. You will need to call them and get international service on the phone. Be sure to ask about the rates while at sea. It is some kind of Sea Service and costs much more then my regular international. AT&T generally just gives you international service, but you have to sign up for World Traveler if you want a better rate. Sprint and Verizon aren't that easy based on what I have heard (which is why I am with AT&T, but....)

In ports the rates are often lower but it won't be included as your normal allotment if minutes and texts


Also data is generally very costly. So if your phone automatically gets emails or you post on the DIS $$$$$$$$. Be sure to turn those features off. It is not unusual to hear about iPhone owners coming home to bills over a thousand dollars. When you check your email that's data $$$. One option is to put the Iphone on Airplane mode and turn on the Wifi. You can then pay the ship to connect to their Wifi and get your emails that way or you can hunt for a free or cheap wifi provider in port. That will not deliver your text messages (although there is a way to get texts via Wifi, but I don't have a clue how that might work)

These are the AT&T rates on a Disney Ship

Voice:
Calls Placed/Received
While in Disney Cruise Line
Pay Per Use Voice Rate $2.50 per minute
Data Usage:
Pay Per Use Data Rate $0.0195 per KB
Text, Picture and
Video Messages:
Pay Per Use Messaging Rates
Send Text Message $0.50 per message sent
Send Picture and Video Messages $1.30 per message sent
Receive Text, Picture and Video Messages Standard domestic messaging rates apply

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

Within 12 miles of port your can use your normal cell phone carrier (or International Plan). After that, the Cellular at Sea will be turned on and will be your only carrier.

The AT&T webpages says it's two miles. Always check the carrier (upper left side on my phone) and then you know.