Cruise ship and phone signal

[CSK423]

Heading off on a cruise round the med in the next few weeks and can't get clarity on the phone/wifi situation while at sea.

It's a MSC ship who will sell you two grades of wifi (browse or browse and stream). However I keep reading about the "maritime network" which is basically classed as a network which wil class you as "call roaming" from what I can see. Putting the cost to one side, does this network exist and is it free to access opposed to taking a paid wifi service ?

[MonkeyBusiness]

Yes Maritime network exists and it is eye wateringly expensive. A quick browse of the BBC website will get you into 3 figures very quickly.
As soon as you board the vessel get roaming switched off.

[CSK423]

Thanks, sounds like I may need to turn my work phone off also unless I fancy a difficult £££ conversation with the business !

Wifi package looks like the best bet for the c5 days dedicated at sea.

[stevemcs]

Wifi on a ship isn't the same as wifi on land.

[Mikebentley]

Went through this a few weeks ago. Daughter is 18 and has Downs Syndrome and loves her phone went on a Fjord cruise with her Granma. I activated all inclusive on her phone but it just didn’t work on the P&O ship. They wanted I think £25 per day and calls would have cost recipients £3 per minute from memory. Figures might not be correct but it was potentially ruinous.

[caiss4]

Definitely make sure you don't roam on to the Maritime network. Came back from Santander back in May on Brittany Ferries. My wife managed to get charged £36 for two 3Mb data sessions even though she paid extra for on board WiFi. All credit to Vodafone who credited the whole amount when I queried the charge.

[interstellar]

It’s rubbish at best and will only really work when you get in port.

Don’t waste your money, enjoy the time without it.

[FilH]

Out of interest, the Maritime network on a ship, is that just using a sat phone network?

[CSK423]

Just to follow up on this. We paid for one phone only. Don't waste your money as others have said here the onboard wifi can be slow anyway and the cruise we were on had enough port days that you were never far away from a signal if needed.

[lost in espace]

I got paranoid about getting connected to the MSC maritime service when I was onboard. Back again next month, will stick to books I think. There doesn't seem a way to exclude it which was annoying when you are cruising close to the shore and the 3/4G comes and goes.

[anonymous-user]

FilH said:

Out of interest, the Maritime network on a ship, is that just using a sat phone network?

It's a decentralised platform (Maritime Connectivity Platform) that facilitates information exchange. It's a normal telecoms network with cell masts, they're generally land based and of sufficient frequency to cover a large area with their beam focus away from land, some are on buoys depending on the platform. No single entity controls it, several organisations provide for it and collectively they are the MCP. The main thing is, don't ever connect to it! if you think roaming is expensive, MCP is another level.

[Mark-ri571]

We have been cruising for many years and the first thing we do when leaving port is to put phone into aircraft mode so as to avoid hefty maritime data charges. If we are very near land and was desperate to make a call or send a text I would switch on my phone to see if I could get a 3/4g signal.

[Mazinbrum]

I’ve been on 3 cruises this year and left my mobile switched on, never got charged a penny.

[abzmike]

Mazinbrum said:

I’ve been on 3 cruises this year and left my mobile switched on, never got charged a penny.

Presumably with data roaming turned off?

[TheLurker]

Makes you wonder why ships don't use star link? Seems like an obvious solution.

[Mazinbrum]

abzmike said:

Mazinbrum said:

I’ve been on 3 cruises this year and left my mobile switched on, never got charged a penny.

Presumably with data roaming turned off?

Data roaming on, maybe it’s because my additional spending is set to £5?

[mcflurry]

TheLurker said:

Makes you wonder why ships don't use star link? Seems like an obvious solution.

Celebrity are rolling Stalink out.
AFAIK, the problem isn't getting the internet to the ships, it's that each cabin acts as a Faraday cage due to the amount of metals in the design and construction..

[Rufus Stone]

I thought the ships used wifi on board not data roaming. Am I mistaken?

[the-norseman]

My phone connected to the maritime network when I was on the boat to France, think it cost something like £25-30 for an hour and the worst thing was, I was asleep during that period, the phone decided to do some auto updates.

Three squashed the charges luckily.

[Mazinbrum]

Mazinbrum said:

abzmike said:

Mazinbrum said:

I’ve been on 3 cruises this year and left my mobile switched on, never got charged a penny.

Presumably with data roaming turned off?

Data roaming on, maybe it’s because my additional spending is set to £5?

Found out why I wasn’t charged when I tried to send an international text today and it failed. With Lebara you have to top up with multiples of £5 before they can charge you anything in addition to your contract,I quite like that.