Travel Technology - Cell or Internet Central America

My daughter will be working on a small cruiseship in Central America (Belize, Guatemala, Panama) this winter (December - April). We have Nextel. I'm planning on getting her a Nextel international phone but I've been told that she won't have data services. I'd like to send her with a laptop so she could email but I have no idea if this is even possible. How would she connect? Would it be costly? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

International data roaming is very expensive. I'm not 100% sure Nextel even offers data roaming. For reference, T-mobile charges $2.99/$1.99/2.99 for the countries you mentioned per MB of transferred data. That might make using small emails possible for not too much $$$ but anything else like emailing photos would cost a fortune. Your best bet would be to

1) check if the cruiseship offers any kind of connectivity
2) check local mobile operators and see if they offer prepaid data packages
3) wait till she is in port each time and use an internet cafe

Of the 2 international phones Nextel sells, the i930 is out of stock and I am not 100% sure it has GPRS for roaming data. Their other phone is the Motorla V180, which is just a regular GSM phone, you'd almost be better just buying an unlocked phone off ebay...

I would use a combo of quadband gsm cell phone and cheap laptop especially with a data cable connecting them. You will get a laptop for $400 if you watch fatwallet.com. You can get a quadband cell phone that works in most countries around the world for $200 and the cable on ebay for $20 (make sure you get the software at the time of purchase) I would check out stanaphone.com as way to get cheap rates from the US forwarded to her cell phone. She should pick up a Sim card in central america or one in each country to get local rates. I paid 25 cents outgoing $1 to Us and free incoming in Honduras a few months ago and the sim card was free with $5 purchase of time credits.

You could also check the cruise line access to internet. Many have it onboard and it might be available for employees.


The biggest mistake is using a US cell phone and paying huge roaming rates. Buy a GSM phone and get the sim cards upon arrival.