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Posts Tagged ‘late cruise deals’

You have planned a cruise vacation, and have prepared this aazing cruise that you’ve been eyeing for a while. Maybe you got it at a great discount thru one of the many late cruise deals.

And you’ve been wondering if cell phones work on a cruise ship. If this is so would you be in a position to use your carrier or home network?

Using your mobile on a cruise ship

Almost all cruise ships offer the facility of on-board use of your cell telephone. However , if cellphone access is important to you, it is recommended to check with your travel agent or the cruise company before arranging your cruise – particularly if you’d like to use data on your cell phone together with voice services.

Earlier, the cell phones could be used only when the ship was sailing near the coast or in view of land because land based cellular telephone towers were utilised by the ship. But this has changed now for good – modern cruise ships have satellite receivers, which means you can use your cell phone regardless of where the ship is “even in the middle of the ocean!

The land based cell towers do take over even now when the ship is close to the coast. This implies that your real cost for calls would vary dependent on precisely where you are at the time of making or receiving a call.

And anyway, it is advisable to call up your cellphone service provider before the cruise and enable international roaming if it’s not already enabled on your cell telephone.

Employing a cell-phone on the cruise ship – How much does it cost?

Calling from your cell phone while on a cruise liner is not cheap by any means. Although costs change by cruise lines, typically it comes to about $2.50 per minute. (Calling from the phone in your cabin may cost up to $9.99 per minute). You may see charges like global roaming on your cellphone statement too.

Remember, you would be charged for inward-bound calls, and also for the time when someone if leaving a voice message for you. Therefore when you don’t want to get charged for cellphone usage, it is best to switch the telephone off.

Important things to remember

• Get global roaming activated on your cell telephone
• Switch your telephone off when you do not need to be charged
• Both GSM and CDMA are supported
• Some ships have quiet areas (like theaters, restaurants and dining halls) where mobile use is not allowed.

You can find additional info on numerous cruise ports, cruise ships and cruise schedules – including Cruises from Southampton 2012, Oz Cruising and P&0 cruises.