Cell phone coverage on a Western Caribbean crusie?

Question

I am going on a Princess cruise to the Western Caribbean (Jamaica, Cayman Islands, Cozumel) and wanted to see if there is any chance my cell phone will work at these ports..or on the boat?? I have AT&T for service. Anyone have any experiencewith cell phones in this area?

Answer 1

i know from when i was in Jamaica, AT&T Wireless was the preferred cell phone company.

Answer 2

All the ships have cell phone service, but you get charged extra for using it while at sea (unless you have international).

The only cruise line that I know of that doesn't charge you extra (only for AT&T customers) is Royal Caribbean.  Royal Caribbean has a cell phone tower on the tops of their ships and the tower is AT&T and since it is AT&T you are not charged any roaming or international charges if you are an AT&T customer.  As for other cruise lines, I do not know if they work in the same way.

Answer 3

Cell phones work fine in all those places, and on Princess ships.

A couple of caveats:

- You need to make sure you have international roaming turned on.  Call AT&T and they'll help you with this

- It's not cheap.  In port you'll pay international roaming for that place (it's different in different countries), and on the ship it's around $2.50/minute

For more information, including each cell phone company's contact info, how to avoid getting over-charged, and links to exactly what ships have what coverage, check out this article on using cell phones at sea:

http://www.cruisesavvy.com/savvyguide/kn...

Have a good trip!

p.s. If you'd like to share stories/pictures about your cruise, you can get a free Cruise Journal here:

http://www.cruisesavvy.com/journals

Answer 4

I have AT&T and have been to all the ports mentioned. My cell phone coverage worked in the ports and also on the cruise, and coverage was very good. I have international roaming so at port it wasnt too expensive, but check to see what the rates would be for your plan. I would advise that you only use it at port and not at sea, for me roaming rates were $2.99 per minute at sea, a little cheaper at port. My cruise was with Royal Caribbean though. AT&T has different prices for each ship, if you call them and tell them the name of the ship they can tell you what the exact rate is. Also if you are not making any calls make sure you turn the phone off. They charge roaming rates for every incoming call whether you answer or not and also for calls that go straight to voicemail.