Cruise ship cell phone rates?

rfranzq · **Cruise ship cell phone rates? -** 03-12-2010, 08:31

Does any international prepaid SIM card have rates better than ekit's $4-$5??
Any other international SIMs work on cruise ships?

Any US prepaid SIMs work on cruise ships?

adam917 · 06-12-2010, 04:30

Probably only Mobal & maybe TravelSIM clones like OneSimCard would work, let alone at anything cheap. No US prepaid SIMs work on cruise ships IIRC. Stick to SMS w/ whatever you have that does work till you get near a country with cheaper rates.

Update: I just logged into my Mobal account & see under their 'Cruise Ships / Ferries' entry, it costs 1.95 USD/min to receive calls & 3.95/min to call the US or UK. Calling elsewhere would be 5.95/min. Received SMS is free & sending is 80 US cents/message.

GadgetKen · 06-12-2010, 21:06

It is cheaper to go straight up to a satellite with your own satphone than use the ship's microcellsite to relay the call through a satellite. Phones are pricey, but many dealers will do short term rentals with airtime being paid on a prepaid or postpaid basis. Carriers include Iridium, Globablstar, Inmarsat, Thuraya, Terrestar, etc. Airtime rates usually in the US$.80-US$1.99/minute range depending on carrier (usually includes international long distance).

FBlack_111 · 11-12-2010, 00:17

Passengers on most cruise ships can now just use their own cell phones while the ship is at sea. Verizon and ATT charge $2.49 a minute. T-Mobil charges $4.99!!!.

DRNewcomb · 22-12-2010, 18:49

What I've done when on a cruise ship is to forward all incoming calls to voicemail and ask caller's to text me. People who needed to reach me knew to text, not call. I think I spent about a total of $2.00 roaming while on that cruise but important messages could still reach me instantly.

rfranzq · **Well, I am back from my four day cruise to Mexico -** 23-12-2010, 05:30

Here are some things I learned about prepaid SIM cards when riding a cruise ship.
AT&T and T-Mobile prepaid does not work.
Tru[phone] worked, but since I did not know the rates, all I did was receive SMSes testing it.
Ekit worked and charged as described.
I also have an SMS only Philippine SIM card called SMART Buddy that worked on the cruise ship.
All three SIMs had free SMS receive.

I wanted to burn up some balance on the ekit card I had [received $20 credit for a mix up when I got it]. Did 14 79cent SMSes and a 2 minute call @$4.49 a minute. SMSes are really the way to go if possible.

rfranzq · **Additional Princess Cruises cell phone information. -** 24-12-2010, 06:09

I got a brochure from the 'hotel desk' of the ship called Keeping Your Mobile Phone Connected at Sea. Almost all the information is familiar to people who frequent here. The service is provided by Maritme Communication Partners AS. So if you are on a cruise ship, you might want to see if they have any brochures about their cell service.

Stu · 25-12-2010, 04:18

Burning up ship Internet credit, I did a VOIP call which worked pretty good as well.

rfranzq · **What was the rate? -** 25-12-2010, 06:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stu

Burning up ship Internet credit, I did a VOIP call which worked pretty good as well.

How much was the ship charging for minute?

davidtheprof · 26-07-2011, 21:42

going to be on a 7 night Caribbean cruise at the end of the year, including Mexico, so wondering about the Lime sim card - seems to be good for incoming calls and texting, but very expensive for outgoing, around $3/min, (unless to other Lime customers).

Tru sim seems to have generally better rates around the region. Better than my old Geosim, anyway!

as for Wifi calling, the ship claims to block Skype, but I wonder if the data rate is too slow anyway when at sea....or if I could get another VOIP service to work (Truphone, Nimbuzz, etc.)

the per minute rate for wifi is 75c/min, dropping to 50c if you buy a block of minutes. (don't know why they don't charge by the MB!)

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	(#1)
rfranzq (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Specialist Posts: 774 Join Date: 21 Apr 2009 Country:	Cruise ship cell phone rates? - 03-12-2010, 08:31 Does any international prepaid SIM card have rates better than ekit's $4-$5?? Any other international SIMs work on cruise ships? Any US prepaid SIMs work on cruise ships?

	(#2)
adam917 (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Fan Posts: 187 Join Date: 14 Sep 2008 Location: North America Country:	06-12-2010, 04:30 Probably only Mobal & maybe TravelSIM clones like OneSimCard would work, let alone at anything cheap. No US prepaid SIMs work on cruise ships IIRC. Stick to SMS w/ whatever you have that does work till you get near a country with cheaper rates. Update: I just logged into my Mobal account & see under their 'Cruise Ships / Ferries' entry, it costs 1.95 USD/min to receive calls & 3.95/min to call the US or UK. Calling elsewhere would be 5.95/min. Received SMS is free & sending is 80 US cents/message. Last edited by adam917; 06-12-2010 at 04:44.. Reason: Added Mobal info

	(#3)
GadgetKen (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Expert Posts: 342 Join Date: 14 Dec 2004 Location: Connecticut, USA Country:	06-12-2010, 21:06 It is cheaper to go straight up to a satellite with your own satphone than use the ship's microcellsite to relay the call through a satellite. Phones are pricey, but many dealers will do short term rentals with airtime being paid on a prepaid or postpaid basis. Carriers include Iridium, Globablstar, Inmarsat, Thuraya, Terrestar, etc. Airtime rates usually in the US$.80-US$1.99/minute range depending on carrier (usually includes international long distance). Phones/Wireless Devices: Doogee S90, Isatphone Pro, Amazon Kindle 3G, SkyRoam MiFi device, Karma MiFi device, AT&T Liberate MiFi device Sim Cards: T-Mobile (Mint), AT&T (Mifi device or Kindle), Koko Satphone: InMarSat Broadband US Wireless Data: AT&T postpaid, Sprint (Karma Mobility prepaid) Broadband International Data: SkyRoam VOIP: Skype

	(#4)
FBlack_111 (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Fan Posts: 171 Join Date: 27 Feb 2008 Country:	11-12-2010, 00:17 Passengers on most cruise ships can now just use their own cell phones while the ship is at sea. Verizon and ATT charge $2.49 a minute. T-Mobil charges $4.99!!!.

	(#5)
DRNewcomb (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Professionist Posts: 1,465 Join Date: 27 Feb 2004 Location: Mississippi, USA Country:	22-12-2010, 18:49 What I've done when on a cruise ship is to forward all incoming calls to voicemail and ask caller's to text me. People who needed to reach me knew to text, not call. I think I spent about a total of $2.00 roaming while on that cruise but important messages could still reach me instantly.

	(#6)
rfranzq (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Specialist Posts: 774 Join Date: 21 Apr 2009 Country:	Well, I am back from my four day cruise to Mexico - 23-12-2010, 05:30 Here are some things I learned about prepaid SIM cards when riding a cruise ship. AT&T and T-Mobile prepaid does not work. Tru[phone] worked, but since I did not know the rates, all I did was receive SMSes testing it. Ekit worked and charged as described. I also have an SMS only Philippine SIM card called SMART Buddy that worked on the cruise ship. All three SIMs had free SMS receive. I wanted to burn up some balance on the ekit card I had [received $20 credit for a mix up when I got it]. Did 14 79cent SMSes and a 2 minute call @$4.49 a minute. SMSes are really the way to go if possible.

	(#7)
rfranzq (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Specialist Posts: 774 Join Date: 21 Apr 2009 Country:	Additional Princess Cruises cell phone information. - 24-12-2010, 06:09 I got a brochure from the 'hotel desk' of the ship called Keeping Your Mobile Phone Connected at Sea. Almost all the information is familiar to people who frequent here. The service is provided by Maritme Communication Partners AS. So if you are on a cruise ship, you might want to see if they have any brochures about their cell service.

	(#8)
Stu (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Guru Posts: 1,091 Join Date: 11 Feb 2004 Location: Detroit (formerly Dubai) Country:	25-12-2010, 04:18 Burning up ship Internet credit, I did a VOIP call which worked pretty good as well.

	(#10)
davidtheprof (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Fan Posts: 159 Join Date: 05 Jun 2011 Country:	26-07-2011, 21:42 going to be on a 7 night Caribbean cruise at the end of the year, including Mexico, so wondering about the Lime sim card - seems to be good for incoming calls and texting, but very expensive for outgoing, around $3/min, (unless to other Lime customers). Tru sim seems to have generally better rates around the region. Better than my old Geosim, anyway! as for Wifi calling, the ship claims to block Skype, but I wonder if the data rate is too slow anyway when at sea....or if I could get another VOIP service to work (Truphone, Nimbuzz, etc.) the per minute rate for wifi is 75c/min, dropping to 50c if you buy a block of minutes. (don't know why they don't charge by the MB!)