I'm leaving for our very first cruise to the Southern Caribbean very soon, and need to be able to talk to my kids while we're there. Do you have any advice for me besides the very expensive in-cabin calling? Verizon tells us to just call from our cell and that roaming is less expensive. Where might I find calling cards? Thanks!

Go to cruise critic.com then hit their "NEWS". They have info on "End of $10 phone calls". You can also get an INTERNATIONAL phone card to use IN each port. A local, US phone card may not work in the islands. I have found sometimes my cell works and sometimes it doesn't - I have US Cellular.

Go to cruisecritic.com then hit their "NEWS". They have info on "End of $10 phone calls". You can also get an INTERNATIONAL phone card to use IN each port. A local, US phone card may not work in the islands. I have found sometimes my cell works and sometimes it doesn't - I have US Cellular.

Call Verizon and see what they have to offer for off-shore calling. I use T-Mobile, which offers an international plan for free, but costs 99 cents per minute to use. I would think Verizon offers a similar plan. Don't forget, that all major cruiselines offer the internet with various plans too. Good luck!

Peace and Joy in Christ,
Bob

An economical option is calls from ports. At San Juan, I remember you could call right from port building and it was 30 cents a minute.

Be careful with those international phone cards. My daughters bought one for $20 for Europe. Found out afterwards that they only have low rates if you call from a private land line. Pay phones are exorbitant per minute (and what else is available for a tourist?). They got two phone calls from the first $20 - had to reload two more times, a total of $60 got them about 8 short phone calls.

Is your phone unlocked? If so try to get local SIM cards in port. They will be much cheaper if available. If you're phone is locked get it unlocked. We did that B4 a trip to India, used a locally purchased SIM card and saved alot of$$$