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Have any of you ever taken your blackberry on a cruise with you? I have verizon and I've heard if you turn your blackberry on out of country you get overloaded with charges? Is there a way to avoid charges on a blackberry while overseas? I don't plan on getting a world plan because we are only going for 7 days but i'd like to use the phone to take some pictures and use as an alarm.
verizon can prorate for the 7 days.. just call the international department.. it would be nice to have wifi.. all ships have wifi these days.
I just got back from a cruise that only went down to Ensenada,MX and I didn't have service at all. Not even wifi and I live in San Diego.
I know there was some instructions on the ship in regards to dialing out but I didn't even try them. As addicted to my phone as I am it was nice to get away from everyone and everything. I kept so busy anyways.
I did try wifi though and that didn't work.
Call Verizon and they will tell you if your device will work. Don't forget your 8330 is CDMA only.
i don't even know what cdma is?!
My curve worked as a phone on the cruise just fine(Royal Caribbean) but I only recieved data service in areas near land, never on the ship.
If you don't even plan on using the PHONE for calling, you can use "airplane mode" where you turn off all data and calling functions. Do this from Manage Connections. The device will still work for alarms, its clock, its camera memopad, etc. Or you can just turn off data.
Yeah. What F2 said.
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
I've been on a cruise with my blackberry. If you try to make calls and send messages you'll get hit with roaming charges
My daughters storm on our last cruise, warranted charges in the amount of a little over a thousand dollars and it was actually turned off (so called off) I about lost it, Thankfully my sister-in-law works for verizon and got all of the charges removed. My daughter never actually used the phone the whole three days. The charges were 2.99min on board our ship and a 1.99 a min when we were within 3 miles of any shore excluding the U.S.A. Didnt know it at the time but BB's are always updating data including when they are supposedly turned off. Sister-in-law could have told us, but she didnt. So get a international data plan, but you will still pay the 2.99 roaming for the ship.
very good info berryloud, thanks, not going on a cruise , but going to Canada, and your post makes me REALLY want to check out Verizon's data plan for the week we'll be there!!!! Thanks for your help!!! I know I didn't post the question, but that was great info for ANYONE!!! :)
Just got back from a cruise, and we both had our BlackBerries (mine AT&T, hers Verizon). Most cruise ships have a partnership with Cellular at Sea, which partners with the various carriers (At&T and Verizon included). They provide a cell signal on the ship, which is then sent via satellite to the carrier. With AT&T, as soon as it connnects, it tells me what the charges will be in a text message...it was $2.49/min for voice and I think $.002/KB for data. I had my "turn data off when roaming" set, as I get a lot of emails and didn't want that to eat up charges. For hers, she called ahead and got an international plan prorated for the week, and it was very reasonable...so she was able to call and send text messages. She also chose not to enable data when roaming.
I though about enabling the data and just suspending the email push, so we could have BBM, pretty sure that wouldn't take very much data, but it was fine the way it was...we needed to unplug and relax anyways.
To clear up the CDMA confusion, it is the technology your BlackBerry uses to establish a connection with your carrier (Verizon I guess). CDMA requires cell towers to function (in other words this is through which your voice will be forwarded as a signal to a person elsewhere whom you are calling). Another technology like CDMA is GSM. CDMA is mostly used in North America, but the rest of the world uses GSM. If the place you are heading to has no CDMA cell towers nearby you won't get any coverage (phone/data). So that's the reason RIM made the Tour and 8800 series before it, they support both CDMA and GSM.
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
same here.
I was on a cruise in March, and as soon as the shipe left dock (in Puerto Rico, using TMO), I turned data and call services off. I just used it as the OP mentioned, just for pics and alarms. I did use it in St. Thomas, as roaming worked there. No extra charges for calls, data or emails there. I COULD have used it at the ship though, but did not spend money on that.
The Cellular at Sea site is WMS: Wireless Maritime Services - An AT&T Mobility and SeaMobile Joint Venture
OP: Go here, International Roaming, and scroll to Cruise Ship Coverage. See if your cruise ship company and ship is on there for coverage with your CDMA device and applicable rates/plans. Usage can be prorated for your travel period only.