Using a mobile on a cruise liner

[Anonymous]

I am due to go on a carribean cruise shortly with P&O and wondered if anyone could give me an idea of costs of using a mobile and what the best way of communicating with home is.

thanks

[MI5 · Accepted solution]

Extortionate prices !

Find out how much your cruise company charges for wifi usage and if reasonable use wifi only.

Apps such as whatsapp, Tugo, Facebook messenger etc can be used over wifi with no additional costs and I would strongly recommend you keep your phone on airplane mode with just wifi enabled to avoid any risk of your phone connecting to the ships network.

When near land, you can manually select a local network and maybe make use of O2 travel if available where you are:

http://international.o2.co.uk/internationaltariffs/travelling_abroad

[Wa10]

Take the value of your average lottery win, multiply it by 3 and then stick a zero on the end, and that should cover you for basic use onboard a cruise ship!  

Sorry, serious answer time, although to be far the above is not far from the mark. http://international.o2.co.uk/internationaltariffs/travelling_abroad (search for ship to see the standard rates)

Your best bet to stay in contact with home is to make use of free or low cost wifi when in port, as even wifi onboard the ship can be rather eyewatering. 

If you're not happy to pay the high rates, make sure your phone is turned off or in flight mode, with data roaming especially turned off when you are at sea, as it's quite frightening just how quickly a large bill can appear with even basic or accidental/unintended usage.

Hope you enjoy your cruise  

[Cleoriff]

My husband has always wanted to go on a cruise. He thinks I refuse as I couldn't stand the thought of being at sea...when really it's more to do with the extortionate cost of using mobile devices whilst on board..

[Marjo]

Hey @Anonymous awesome to hear you're going on a cruise!  Lots of good info above from our members - please do check it out and let us know if you're all good or need any additional advice?