Cell phone options for cruise travelers
Feb 23rd, 2011, 11:41 AM
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Cell phone options for cruise travelers
We are visiting 5 countries on Diamond Princess from Singapore to Beijing, incl. Vietnam, Thailand and Japan and wondered the best way to keep in touch by phone with friends/family in the US. Should we rent a phone for $29.99 a week and $.99 a minute per call or buy disposable phone and cards for each country?
Also, what do you do about medical if not covered by the US carrier, except for emergencies?
Also, what do you do about medical if not covered by the US carrier, except for emergencies?
Feb 23rd, 2011, 12:59 PM
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Do you know what the internet situation will be? Many cruise ships offer internet for a fee (a per minute/hour, a daily or a weekly fee sometimes).
If you have access to internet you could use a netbook and Skype to stay in touch. I used a Skype subscription when I was in China and it was fantastic. I think a subscription for unlimited minutes to call to the US was $3 a month. This option will <b>entirely</b> depend on your internet situation. If the cruise has crummy internet (or no internet at all) then Skype won't work. It needs a decent internet connection. I would suggest researching the internet available on your cruise ship and check that against Skype's website to see if it should be fast enough or not.
You can buy an unlocked cell phone and then just buy a SIM card in each country as you go. I don't know if this is more cost effective than renting or not, it would depend on how long you'll be gone (2 weeks vs 6 weeks is quite a difference), the per minute rates of the SIM cards and how much you want to use it.
For insurance, I use insuremytrip.com to find a policy for during my trip. Pre-existing conditions are generally only covered if you purchase the insurance fairly quickly after your first tour purchase (i.e. if you purchase the cruise itself on 3/1, you might have until 3/11 or 3/15 to purchase insurance if you wish to be covered for pre-existing conditions). As with any insurance, be sure to read the exact policy details.
If you have access to internet you could use a netbook and Skype to stay in touch. I used a Skype subscription when I was in China and it was fantastic. I think a subscription for unlimited minutes to call to the US was $3 a month. This option will <b>entirely</b> depend on your internet situation. If the cruise has crummy internet (or no internet at all) then Skype won't work. It needs a decent internet connection. I would suggest researching the internet available on your cruise ship and check that against Skype's website to see if it should be fast enough or not.
You can buy an unlocked cell phone and then just buy a SIM card in each country as you go. I don't know if this is more cost effective than renting or not, it would depend on how long you'll be gone (2 weeks vs 6 weeks is quite a difference), the per minute rates of the SIM cards and how much you want to use it.
For insurance, I use insuremytrip.com to find a policy for during my trip. Pre-existing conditions are generally only covered if you purchase the insurance fairly quickly after your first tour purchase (i.e. if you purchase the cruise itself on 3/1, you might have until 3/11 or 3/15 to purchase insurance if you wish to be covered for pre-existing conditions). As with any insurance, be sure to read the exact policy details.
Feb 23rd, 2011, 01:21 PM
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If your health insurance covers urgent care, do you need other coverage (other than med evac, which is always a good idea)? I don't expect to get routine care overseas, but if I'm sick or in an accident, that then qualifies as urgent care and is covered by my health insurance.
My rule on insurance is to buy what I need, don't buy everything that is offered by the insurers who are looking to get me to pay as much as possible.
My rule on insurance is to buy what I need, don't buy everything that is offered by the insurers who are looking to get me to pay as much as possible.
Feb 23rd, 2011, 07:16 PM
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I am not sure you need a phone at all. From the itin for the cruise, I see that you will be in each port for about 8 hours (12 in Bangkok) and you generally leave port between 5 - 7 pm. That means you will be awake and touring during hours when your friends and family in the US will most likely be asleep. When you arrive in a port at 8 am, you may have an opportunity to make calls during a 3-hour window when it is not too late in the US (a bit longer if you are calling the west coast of the US); however I wonder whether you really want to spend a part of your precious 8 hours in a port hunting out a cell phone and/or a sim card and making a phone call.
Hunting out a phone and/or a sim card will be easy in a place like Hong Kong, but harder in a place like Bangkok, where you have an hour of travel time from the port to get to Bangkok, and there is not much in between the port and the city. You then have to find a telecom shop. This may be difficult in a place like Nha Trang unless you are in the city rather than seeing the lovely coastal areas and snorkeling, and why would you wan to spend time in Nha Trang city. Language issues may slow you down in other places. The sim card will only work on shore, you won’t be able to use it to make calls from the ship, in my experience, as there will not be coverage. (There may however be Blackberry or similar device coverage, so if you have one, I would bring it.)
While on board, you should be able to get access to the internet at the ship’s internet cafe to keep in touch by e-mail. As noted above, if you can get access to Skype on a PC or otherwise, you should be able to make a call when on shore, I doubt that it will work on the ship, but it is possible, as the ship claims to offer wireless access. (Query whether you want to lug around any net book or similar device while day touring off the ship.) In an emergency, you can always use your US mobile phone on shore (assuming you activate global roaming). While expensive, you can also use the ship’s telephones to make a call in an emergency as well.
If you nonetheless decide that you <i>must</i> have a phone and don’t want to pay global roaming costs, I would agree on getting an unlocked mobile phone and then using local sim cards. If you are arriving in Singapore a few days before the cruise, you should be able to get a phone there rather cheaply. Make sure any phone you buy works in Japan (which I believe is part of your itin), or if you buy a phone in Japan, that is will work elsewhere. Also be in mind that with a local sim card, your friends and family won’t be able to reach you unless you give them the number for each different sim card in each country. You might want to get a Singapore sim card and use that for the entire trip, assuming their international call charges from outside Singapore are not too high, which may be the case, see something like http://info.singtel.com/personal/communication/mobile which is for post and pre-paid cards offered by Singapore Telecoms.
Hunting out a phone and/or a sim card will be easy in a place like Hong Kong, but harder in a place like Bangkok, where you have an hour of travel time from the port to get to Bangkok, and there is not much in between the port and the city. You then have to find a telecom shop. This may be difficult in a place like Nha Trang unless you are in the city rather than seeing the lovely coastal areas and snorkeling, and why would you wan to spend time in Nha Trang city. Language issues may slow you down in other places. The sim card will only work on shore, you won’t be able to use it to make calls from the ship, in my experience, as there will not be coverage. (There may however be Blackberry or similar device coverage, so if you have one, I would bring it.)
While on board, you should be able to get access to the internet at the ship’s internet cafe to keep in touch by e-mail. As noted above, if you can get access to Skype on a PC or otherwise, you should be able to make a call when on shore, I doubt that it will work on the ship, but it is possible, as the ship claims to offer wireless access. (Query whether you want to lug around any net book or similar device while day touring off the ship.) In an emergency, you can always use your US mobile phone on shore (assuming you activate global roaming). While expensive, you can also use the ship’s telephones to make a call in an emergency as well.
If you nonetheless decide that you <i>must</i> have a phone and don’t want to pay global roaming costs, I would agree on getting an unlocked mobile phone and then using local sim cards. If you are arriving in Singapore a few days before the cruise, you should be able to get a phone there rather cheaply. Make sure any phone you buy works in Japan (which I believe is part of your itin), or if you buy a phone in Japan, that is will work elsewhere. Also be in mind that with a local sim card, your friends and family won’t be able to reach you unless you give them the number for each different sim card in each country. You might want to get a Singapore sim card and use that for the entire trip, assuming their international call charges from outside Singapore are not too high, which may be the case, see something like http://info.singtel.com/personal/communication/mobile which is for post and pre-paid cards offered by Singapore Telecoms.
Feb 23rd, 2011, 09:00 PM
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When I travel internationally for short stays, I just use my US phone (T-Mobile, quad-band GSM) for text messages. Like $0.2-0.4 a message, no plans to join. It would work in most places except Japan, which doesn't use GSM. Assuming you're from the US, if you use T-Mobile or AT&T and has a quad-band phone, and don't need to text a lot, or have to actually talk.
Feb 23rd, 2011, 11:23 PM
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Look into international/global SIM card plus an unlocked GSM/3G phone (Japan needs 3G phone). Something like http://www.travelsim.co.uk/ and http://www.globalsimcard.co.uk/index.php. Free incoming calls in Vietnam and Japan, and outgoing calls between $0.60 to $1.20/min but you keep the same number. Free incoming SMS anywhere, $0.55 per outgoing text.
Feb 24th, 2011, 01:28 PM
#7
rkkwan: Are you sure it is two to four cents a message?
Most T-mobil plans are twent/thrity-five cents per message when overseas. My T-mobil plan has unlimited messaging in the US, but the above rates in most other countries.
Most T-mobil plans are twent/thrity-five cents per message when overseas. My T-mobil plan has unlimited messaging in the US, but the above rates in most other countries.
