Staying in touch - Phone cards to Australia
 

Hi there,
we will be in the Caribbean for 10 nights on a cruise.
Is there a generic phone card which I could use to stay in touch or do I need to get a different type at each place?
We will be visiting the following places:
ST Thomas
Roseau
St Georges Grenada
Fort de france
Philipsburg
Half Moon Cay
I will not be phoning from all of these ports, just one or two.
Where do you recommend for ease of purchasing a card, finding a phone box and understanding the instructions?
Thanks
Donna
Australia

Each country, in general has it's own system. It will probably work in St. Thomas.

Half Moon Cay belongs to the cruise, you need to ask them directly.

St. Martin sells phone cards, but unless things changed the last couple of years (and they well could have) you have to buy them in St. Martin.
St. Martin has some phone boths at the dock on Phillipsburg.

With todays internet, you may want to consider bringing a wireless laptop, you can probably find wireless connection in places.

How much calling do you plan on doing? If not much and you have a GSM phone, you may be able to roam on your carrier, or get one of those international sims (UnitedMobile, YackieMobile, Maxroam, etc.) that will work in all those places at reasonable rates. I have used my UM and yackie mobile sims in quite a few Caribbean countries without problems. It also works on the ship, at very expensive rates of course.

I'd also consider a Skype account. Almost all these ports have Internet cafes where you can Skype for much cheaper than using a phone card (especially in Martinique).

You'll have no problem buying phone cards on each island. Just buy a card with the amount you plan to use and use your time allotment up on each island. A lot of islands have the same phone company (on many islands it's Cable & Wireless ... or Digicel for cell phones). I'm not sure about these.

I think people worry way too much about phoning home. It's easy and possible on all islands if you buy a phone card. Almost all the cruise piers have phones and kiosks that sell cards; English is native in all the islands except for Martinique, so someone can explain to you how to use the card. And you can use your GSM phone in almost all the islands.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions and ideas.
Doug, I am happy to hear that I will be able to just get a phone card and use it easily.
The calls will be pretty quick just to check how things are at home.
I do need to keep in touch every 3 0r 4 days and have been worried about contacting home.
Also happy to hear that English is widely spoken.
Thanks again
Donna