Cruise ships contact · Telecommunication networks in Cruise ships
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Telecommunication networks in Cruise ships
Telecommunication networks in Cruise ships
Many cruise ships are now equipped with cell phone-to-satellite transponders, which take over automatically at sea to provide wireless phone service throughout the ship. Your cell phone works just like at home and bills its usage back to your regular cell phone bill.
Be aware that as your phone switches over to that "Cellular at Sea", you are roaming at their pricey per minute rates; the allotment of minutes on your plan don't apply here. Data should work as well, but cost can add up fast if your phone checks e-mail regularly.
Once the ship docks at a port with available cell service compatible with your phone, and you then turn it on, your phone will likely use shore signals instead.
Experienced cruisers wanting to avoid ship's costs simply ensure that none of their cell phones are ever turned-on while on-board.
Most ships offer ship-to-shore phone service from your cabin, but again at rather expensive rates. They may also levy heavy tolls on people at home who contact you by phone on the ship.
On-board Internet cafes and Wi-Fi hotspots are increasingly common, but the rates also tend to be fairly steep and the speeds (usually relying on high-latency satellite uplinks shared with ship's business) can be unimpressive.
Wireless coverage of access points may limit where on board you can use your laptop. (Remember that most of the ship is constructed of steel...a particularly unfriendly material for decent wireless connections.)
Some new ships have wired or wireless networking available in cabins, perhaps for another fee.
Avoid depending on a ship's service to download major files of any kind, e.g., video clips, software updates. Networked gaming will be a joke. On-board with your own laptop, consider using only e-mail...after you turn-off all settings that allow automated updates to any software, even to include (heaven forbid) anti-virus/firewall suites. Turn them back on and wait to complete updates if using your laptop and faster services ashore, and promptly back home.
Avoid depending on the day before disembarkation to conduct essential business. It's usually by far the busiest day for on-board internet use, with unusually slow response. Passengers are checking flight details, etc., others using up surplus time purchased, all while the ship's business is especially intense.
- In order to "save" some money, consider buying a modest block of minutes, at a lower rate, early in your cruise. The net per-minute cost is usually less than than paying as used.
Internet ashore If you find the ship's rates or performance unacceptable, you usually can find Internet cafes at or near many ports...often offering much better rates and speed. Ask ship's staff until you find someone who offers objective advice; many of them use those cafes as well.
Anytime you use any computer while traveling, ensure that all private/sensitive portions of your sessions and data are secure, e.g., avoid doing financial or highly-personal business, use your own laptop if possible, have pro-active security capabilities installed and running, use wired Ethernet if possible instead of WiFi, set up a unique/complex password just for the trip, look for the https anytime privacy or security is needed. See more discussion at Internet access.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Cruise ships
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Cruise ships Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.