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How many of you don't have a cell phone by now, raise hands? Yeah, I thought so.
And I am sure that all of you don't want to give up comfort of staying in touch while on cruise ship vacation. Me neither.
All up to last couple of years use of cell phones on cruise ships was useless. Passengers and crew was using prepaid phone cards to make phone calls, which was possible only in ports. Nobody was able to receive calls. Actually, use of ships satellite phone line was possible in theory, but due to very high pay rates it was very rarely used.
Fortunately, that situation has lately dramatically changed.  Cell or mobile phones, as we know conquered the world, so the cruise lines couldn't resist but provide adequate service on more and more ships.
So, what's the deal about using your cell phone on cruise ship?
Depending on network you use, CDMA or GSM, few options are available, but the thing is that GSM mobile networks have best coverage in overseas as well on ships. GSM is only standard supported in Europe and in most parts of the world that is potentially cruise destination. Two major GSM providers in USA, Cingular and T-Mobile are putting significant efforts to expand their service on cruise ships.
Last year Cingular Wireless with partner Maritime Telecommunications Network made a public announcement of signing contract with Royal Caribbean International to install equipment to provide GSM and CDMA service on all RCI 29 ships by the end of 2006. In the same time, T-Mobile announced their service coverage on most ships in Norwegian Cruise Line's fleet, plus one ship from Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises and Holland-America Line.
Considering all above, it is realistic to expect that cell phone usage on all cruise ships provided by respectable, well known brands will be common sense in next few years.
However, it important to know that when traveling on cruise ship you are often in areas outside of your nationwide calling area. This means that if you use your cell phone you will be charged extra rates, which are called roaming rates.
Those roaming rates depend on your provider price for the area where you are using your phone in. Before you go to cruise it is recommended to get information from your travel agent or cruise line on the following details:
- Is GSM service available on ship that you are going on?
- Do you have monthly plan subscription or pay-and-talk option? Most of GSM providers don't allow roaming connections with pay-and-talk, so you will probably need some monthly plan. Even if you are on monthly-plan, check with your provider if roaming is enabled for your account.
- Does your mobile device support all frequencies in all areas where you plan to use it? Usually devices with three or quad frequency mode are doing fine everywhere.
- Find out what are the rates of your cell phone provider for incoming, outgoing calls and SMS text messages for: nationwide calling area, roaming rates on ship and roaming rates for every country (island) which you plan to visit. For example: Your ship is docked in Barbados. Compare rates of your ship roaming calls and the ones in Barbados , then switch to the network you find to be cheaper. By the way, at the moment, island rates are cheaper.
- For extensive travelers most providers offer something like "World Traveler Plans", which can bring additional savings.
By doing this homework you can avoid risk uncontrolled raise of cell phone usage expenses.
Also, if you plan to stay in some foreign country for some time, it is good idea to buy local prepaid SIM card for your phone, which will give you local provider phone number and put you out of roaming rates. For example, if you travel to Europe , GSM coverage is much better than in Caribbean .
If you don't have a cell phone yet, search the Internet about devices that may be the most suitable for you. Some modern phones offer additional functions like digital photo cameras, MP3 players and e-mail clients. To stay in touch with your e-mail contacts or office you may consider using BlackBerry mobile device with advanced business functions.
Please keep in mind to not disturb other passengers with your cell phone. For sure, nobody likes to hear phone ringing in the movie theatre or in the middle of the diner. Remember that cruise ship is place of vacation and when on vacation people really go away to GET AWAY.
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