[KayakerNC]

"Not turning your cell phone off on the ship is a bad idea."

Cruise ships and cell phones don't sail | azfamily.com Phoenix

[kaydee]

Absolutly turn off the data roaming. I had the same experience with the updating charges and Verizon was understanding of the situation with excusing the fees. I now make sure the data plan is turned off as soon as we board the ship...I do however continue to use the camera feature.

[billethkid]

The iPhone has a setting called airplane mode....maybe all phones do (?)....just turn on airplane mode and the will not/can not seek a signal or roam.

Off topic but one of the unadvertised pleasures of cruising is NO CELL SERVICE!!!

btk

[JB in TV]

Originally Posted by billethkid

The iPhone has a setting called airplane mode....maybe all phones do (?)....just turn on airplane mode and the will not/can not seek a signal or roam.

Off topic but one of the unadvertised pleasures of cruising is NO CELL SERVICE!!!

btk

Well, based on personal experience, most cruise ships now have cell sites on the ship, and, on many cell carriers, calls made or received on the ship are billed as international roaming...and voice mails that come in as well...nuff said about that...

Also, many ports-of-call have cell sites that your phone will connect to, even if it is in the safe in your cabin. Again, the possibility is that you carrier will bill you international roaming rates.

Third point...On a cruise about 2 years ago, wife and I dutifully turned off our phones, and placed them in the room safe, not to be touched until we returned to our home port. Weeellll...sometime during the week, on one of our many in-and-outs of the safe, we appaerently pushed one of the phones either against the back of the safe, or the side, because it came on, and we had a (pardon the pun!) a boatload of charges when we saw our bill later ( I had a look of fear when I saw that the phone was on, and there were many new emails and voice mails!....Verizon was nice enough to refund the charges...It was our second week with Verizon.

Moral? If there is a way to remove the battery from the phone, YES! remove it. (sorry iPhone users, and some Android users now as well...If that isn't possible, definitely go into your settings and turn off any data and/ or roaming settings, then turn the phone off. Airplane mode may not be enough, as I was on an airplane flight recently, sitting next to someone who received a text while on approach to Orlando ...he showed me the phone, and it was DEFINATELY in airplane mode....

[kaydee]

Airplane mode off is not enough..data roaming / cellular needs to be turned off.