Cruise Ship Charges

[Asdic_Ping]

Hi All,

I'm going on a cruise ship where the mobile phone service provider is a company called Wireless Maritime Services (WMS) which is a subsidiary of AT&T. Before we sail I thought I'd better check whether O2 has a roaming agreement with WMS and more importantly, if it does have an agreement, how much does it cost to make a call to the UK, send an SMS and use data? By the way I'm a pay monthly customer.

Thanks in advance.

[Asdic_Ping]

Hi @Cleoriff, thanks for the link. I can see how customers can get caught out with high roaming charges on ships and ferries. In my case the cruise company say this on their website "for questions about your service, pricing or billing please contact your mobile device provider's customer service department prior to sailing". So it would appear O2 are the point of contact for any roaming charges associated with ships etc.

[Cleoriff]

No problem @Asdic_Ping. I hope O2 can clarify things for you and if so will you update this thread please?

It's always good to get up to date information. (Particularly as I told my husband the other day 'he wouldn't get me on any cruise ship thank you very much...as the WiFi charges were horrendous'

[Asdic_Ping]

Hi @Cleoriff, I just used O2's live chat service and this is what they said "Most cruise ship and ferry companies offer mobile network services to passengers while on board, however these services are sourced by the cruise ship and ferry companies via foreign networks that use satellite communications to connect to their home network. As a result call, text and data charges are charged as Rest of the World Zone (6):

Calling the UK and within country £1.50
Receiving a call £1.25
Sending text is 40p
Sending picture message is 25p
Data internet usage is £6 per Mb

Data is capped at £40 (50 MB).

Basically it's the same as when I was in places like China and Thailand as they are classed as Rest of the World (6) too.

Hope that helps persuade your husband to go on a cruise!

[Cleoriff]

When do you go @Asdic_Ping? I was hoping you would come back and let us know what your bill was after the cruise.....(it's not my husband who needs convincing to go on a cruise. He would go tomorrow..it's me Lol)

[Asdic_Ping]

Hi @Cleoriff we don't go until late January 2017, but I will definitely report back here with some info on what my bill looked like on my return to the UK, as there seems a lot of uncertainty around cruise ship roaming  costs!

[Beenherebefore]

"there seems a lot of uncertainty around cruise ship roaming costs"

No uncertainty at all....the rates are very expensive compared to normal network rates.

Provided you are aware of the massive difference in costs then you should not have a heart attack on return from a restful, enjoyable holiday.

[Asdic_Ping]

The impression I get from the forum is of uncertainty around how much its going to cost and of horror stories if you use your mobile phone on a cruise ship, perhaps I'm wrong, but the point I'm trying to make is that they are no more expensive than if you went on holiday to Thailand or another country classified in Zone 6. I suspect the shock factor comes from those people who board a ship in the Mediterranean, connect to the ships mobile phone system but still think they are covered by EU roaming legislation and get an unexpected big mobile phone bill when they return to the UK.

[Beenherebefore]

But in other countries you can use Tu on normal wifi !!

"Connect over wifi when you're abroad, and call and text at UK rates"

[Asdic_Ping]

Very true, wifi is an option when in another country to keep costs down, which is not possible without paying for a wifi package (which can be expensive) on a cruise ship.