It is strange that the same cell tower showed different for different carriers. My AT&T phone showed "Cellular at Sea" and my friends t-mobile showed "MOVInet".

My phone is paid for by my work, so I will never see a bill... but, I am interested in seeing my friends bill for the txt messages and calls made. I'm sure it is painful.

Although, on an interesting note - Cell@Sea to Cell@Sea *should* be super cheap, since once the IMEI<->Ph# translations are done, the rest of the call is handled on the local cell tower. Although, you *know* they must be charging full intl roaming rates for both parties.

Last October sailed on a 7 day cruise on NCL to Western Carribean, my wife used her cell and the charges were $6.99/min. Our bill was over $1000. Never agian.

Ah yeah, if at all possible don't use your cell, my parents had the same dilemma. And it ended up costing them ridiculous amounts of money.

Will be taking RCCL's Legend of the Seas this year. Do they have a wireless Internet package that I can buy to use my laptop for the entire cruise for unlimited Internet? Am willing to pay $100-200 for it.

RCCL has both wireless (in certain parts of the ship) as well as in room high-speed. The people at the front desk are sometimes unfamiliar with the in room high-speed, so be sure to keep pushing them (or ask for a mgr).

Ouch! I hope my friends didn't make too many calls.

Why did she use 142 minutes of cell time on the ship? :eek:

Thanks...all I found on the web site is dial-up for the rooms. The high speed options were in the public areas and did not seem to have an unlimited usage option.

Reminds me of a biker friend who had a breakdown somewhere in the NV or UT desert (far off an interstate and away from any towns), powered on his phone, only to find no service.

The same people compelled to yak all the time?

The in room access is only on the Radiance and Voyager class of ships of which the Legend is not. You can buy packages of time for wireless that will bring your per minute cost to around 0.30, but that's the best you'll get on board ship.

I've been trying to warn people about this for a long time. Hard to get people to believe this is possible. But it is! Keep telling people!

It's a rip-off sanctioned by the Cruise Line: "WMS provides an opportunity for you [Cruise Line] to increase your revenue by competing directly against the on-shore roaming by your passengers".

They could choose less expensive service, but they don't because they want a cut -- and they know that at times you just have to be on the phone (family emergency, work issues, etc.) so you'll end up using it even if you're planning not to.

Just stay away from cruising.

Source: http://www.cellularatsea.com/cruiselines.htm

Most embarrassing moment ever...
 

So there we are, traveling southbound from Seward alaska to Vancouver BC on Holland America. I've been playing piano for the Catholic Mass every day, and this time was no exception -- and I was acting as server-boy, which is funny because I'm 6 foot 7 inches tall and quite a big guy.

I happen to have my cell phone with me, because I use it as a clock/watch. Yes, you can see it coming now...

Father goes to bless the gifts, and I've got my hands full with the water, dish, and towel. Suddenly you can hear the strains of "The Pink Panther Theme" blaring out from where I had left my cell phone sitting on the piano; I turn bright pink myself, and father asks sotto voce, "The pink panther?" I shrug and apologize, and say it could have been worse, that my "incoming text message" ringtone was the opening bars of "JESUS CHRIST, SUPERSTAR!"

LOL. Now that is funny. Guess you could have had "Stairway to Heaven" as your ring tone... ;)