Internet On Cruise?

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yakers

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We are planning on a 7 day cruise next year, out of Puerto Rico will visit Barbados, St Lucia, Antigua, St Maarten, & the US VIs. Celebrity cruise line wants a crazy price for phone & internet on the cruise. I just want to check the occasional email, have family with medical issues and want to stay in touch. I think I can live with no signal at sea but maybe can connect durning port visits. We have AT&T so should have regular phone & internet in PR & US VIs, not sure about other locations. Any suggestions about making local phone/wifi connections while in port?
 
How about phoning places around where you will be in port to see if they have wifi ? Or phone the tourist office at the various ports. (use skype as otherwise it will be really expensive just to phone them).

Or just enjoy your holiday, after all, lets say someone says "Oh I'm a lot sicker now" are you going to jump ship and try to find an airport, and perhaps it will take 2 days to fly home from some tiny island all at last minute prices ?
And if you don't go, then you will just fret for the rest of the trip since they "are sicker now".
 
Investigate your data roaming options and cost/coverage with your current carrier. If roaming charges apply, be sure to disable. Also, be careful with the cruise ship wifi as it might connect automatically.

Research the cruise ports and look for free wifi spots. Once you have wifi, you can check email and use Skype or Google Hangouts Dialer for phone calls.
 
I have been doing some research on this too.

You may be able to do wi-fi calling right on the ship. MagicJack, faceTime, or GoogleVoice. Or, if your phone allows it, WiFi calling right from the phone. Unless the ship has blocked that VoIP band. You will need a WiFi package from the ship, which is different than a cell phone connection.

If you use a cell signal that is generated by the Ship, it will be VERY expensive, like multiple dollars per minute. Remove your Sim card unless you know you will be connecting to the shore towers. The ship is not supposed to broadcast the signal within ~20 miles of shore, but a connection mistake could cost you big.

I know I can make a WiFi call with my phone, without a sim card even in the phone. I thought this feature would be great for locations that do not have any cell signals.

However, I was recently at a place where I had a poor WiFi signal, and could not make a call. I also had 4+ bars on my phone, and it could not call out either. It would not roam, emergency calls only. T-Mobile did not have coverage there, but Verizon did.
 
You should be able to get WI FI in port, just be very careful that you are not connecting to the ship signal. We do without internet while on ship also.
 
Senator said:
I have been doing some research on this too.

You may be able to do wi-fi calling right on the ship. MagicJack, faceTime, or GoogleVoice. Or, if your phone allows it, WiFi calling right from the phone. Unless the ship has blocked that VoIP band. You will need a WiFi package from the ship, which is different than a cell phone connection.

If you use a cell signal that is generated by the Ship, it will be VERY expensive, like multiple dollars per minute. Remove your Sim card unless you know you will be connecting to the shore towers. The ship is not supposed to broadcast the signal within ~20 miles of shore, but a connection mistake could cost you big.

I know I can make a WiFi call with my phone, without a sim card even in the phone. I thought this feature would be great for locations that do not have any cell signals.

However, I was recently at a place where I had a poor WiFi signal, and could not make a call. I also had 4+ bars on my phone, and it could not call out either. It would not roam, emergency calls only. T-Mobile did not have coverage there, but Verizon did.
Click to expand...
Th only way to get wifi on the ship is to subscribe to the access the cruise line offers, which is the wildly expensive option mentioned in the OP.
 
MichaelB said:
Th only way to get wifi on the ship is to subscribe to the access the cruise line offers, which is the wildly expensive option mentioned in the OP.
Click to expand...

That maybe true with Celebrity, but not all cruise lines.

Viking includes internet access. Everyone was using their phones and iPads on board the Viking Star on a recent Mediterranean cruise we took with them.
 
mpeirce said:
That maybe true with Celebrity, but not all cruise lines.

Viking includes internet access. Everyone was using their phones and iPads on board the Viking Star on a recent Mediterranean cruise we took with them.
Click to expand...

No disagreement, but the OP question is specifically about an upcoming Celebrity Cruise Line trip.
yakers said:
Any suggestions about making local phone/wifi connections while in port?
Click to expand...
An Internet cafe or free wifi might be found in the ports you call on, although there may also be another couple of hundred passengers with the same intention. How much of your time visiting ports do you want to spend looking for access?

Have you looked into the AT&T international plan to see how much it would cost to have Internet access?
 
When you get off the ship, you can find fast food restaurants and other places that have WIFI signs. Check your emails for the price of a cup of coffee at a Starbucks.

You're right about the cruise lines using internet as a big source of income. Their coverage is pretty slow anyway.

I'm a big fan of Celebrity, and the cruise itineraries out of San Juan. They're the best cruises in this part of the world--essentially hitting a different port every day. You'll have a great time.
 
Sorry but not what I look for

So I have only been on 7 cruises, but my main objective of being on a cruise is too escape all of the life interruptions for that brief week of time or longer. Putting all of those handheld electronic devices into the cabin safe and locking them away is part of our ritual.

So even though more and more ships are now getting more and more connected so you can stay on everything at Sea for a price, I'll pass and instead study what the drink of the day is as many times as needed. :cool:
 
We just did that cruise...

I am not a phone or internet person who has to get Wi-Fi all the time...

DW was able to get a signal at most ports, but I told her not to connect with some since they were bars or other places in port... I only wanted her to connect with the ones where the port supplied it....
 
How expensive is the wifi on a cruise ship? Has anyone ever used it? We will have a cruise in two weeks and there is a teenager with us and wifi connection for gaming is a must.
 
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flyingaway said:
How expensive is the wifi on a cruise ship? Has anyone ever used it? We will have a cruise in two weeks and there is a teenager with us and wifi connection for gaming is a must.
Click to expand...

Be forewarned: on any ship I've seen, it's not only expensive, but also S-L-O-O-O-W.
 
On the cruise I went to back in January, first thing I did was put my cell phone in the cabin safe and left it there until ready to go home. Having no connection to the outside world for 10 days was both frustrating and relaxing. Frustrating as trying to make simple plans (such as what time to meet for dinner) with friends on the ship wasn't so simple and hit or miss. But at the same time, not getting electronically distracted did bring about peace and a reminder that I was on vacation.
 
I'll take the cellphone issue one step farther. I disconnected my cell phone after only making 5 calls per month on average. (The DW has a cellphone we can be reached on--when she keeps the battery charged.)

Since I retired "early", I'm not nearly is important as I once was. And communicating is second priority to visiting great places.
 
Internet is one of the reasons I won't take a cruise.

It's almost as important as power and air conditioning.

I bought Internet on flight to Australia for $19. First 4 hours wasn't bad. High pings but I got over 3 Mbps in a Speedtest.

Even streamed video for awhile.
 
explanade said:
Internet is one of the reasons I won't take a cruise.

It's almost as important as power and air conditioning.

I bought Internet on flight to Australia for $19. First 4 hours wasn't bad. High pings but I got over 3 Mbps in a Speedtest.

Even streamed video for awhile.
Click to expand...

You must have been a basket case before internet!:LOL:
 
Most port terminal buildings have free wifi, in my experience. I can't speak to your specific ports but in general I have found it to be quite common for the terminals to have it.
 
We've never failed to find free wifi in coffee shops or simply in the port on cruises we've been on.

This month we sailed on the QM2 for 7 days and we each had 2 hours free internet which we did use as we were/are in the process of buying a house. It worked just fine for email and I expect for phone using VOIP but it certainly would not have been fast enough for streaming video, including streaming video for online gaming.
 
To the OP.

We also have ATT, and use iPhones. This gives us normal phone service as if we were in the USA anytime we are connected to wifi. This was an option that had to be selected. My wife's U.K. Sim in her iPhone also has the same feature.
 
Check tepwireless.com, it may meet your needs.

Also look into the AT&T Passport package (just google it). It's $40 for 30 days. Good for emergency communications, but will only work while in port.
 
Spudd said:
Most port terminal buildings have free wifi, in my experience. I can't speak to your specific ports but in general I have found it to be quite common for the terminals to have it.
Click to expand...

That's what I was going to say. We never bother investigating in advance, and have never been stumped. Usually, I'll see some of the cruise ship staff sitting around somewhere that's very close to where you get off the ship, all staring into their devices. I might sit down there, or, more likely, step into a bar or cafe with the 'we have wifi' sign in the window.
 
On one cruise with RC I had to teach my class so bought the internet package for 13 days which cost me 280.00. This trip I will be done teaching but still have to check my email for the first 3 days. So for that I will pay for it by the minute which should not be bad since I will just answer student messages if I have any. We always disable our phones and forget about it.
 
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