Cell Phone --- staying in touch…by Karen

My girlfriend and fellow cruise travel buddies, Karen and her husband Buzz will be joining us on this Mexican Riviera cruise. Karen and I go way back, yup she even goes back longer then my association with our Hawaii friends and even Roger. But that’s yet another story. Anyway, I met Karen when I worked with the City of Irvine and one of Karen’s main responsibilities with the City was telecommunication which also included our City’s phone system. I asked Karen to help me out and share her expertise and wisdom in trying to get me a connected with the use of our Verizon cell phone during this cruise. And I thought the following information might be helpful to all of you as well. As there are so many different cell phone carriers these days, be sure to check with your own carrier before you sail so that you can stay connected. Here are some general guidelines and tips that Karen shared with me….Diana

· It does NOT require a special phone to make/receive calls in Mexico. Your same phone today will work there. This should include Ensenada and most port towns, but as you stray from the port areas you will possibly have sporadic service they said.

· To use your existing phone in Mexico (or make any other international calls actually) you must add International Dialing to your features before you leave. This does not cost extra, it just allows you to dial 001-1-XXX-XXX-XXXX to make a call from your phone when traveling internationally, including Mexico or Canada.

· Simply call Verizon and ask them to add this feature to your phone. It will allow you to make/receive calls in Mexico or any country for that matter....for the appropriate charges.

· SO, the big message is....when you Dial from Mexico or another country or you Receive calls from the U.S. to your phone you will incur Roaming Charges of approximately $0.99 per minute. Other long distance charge may apply, so it's important to speak with a representative in Hawaii so those folks know what their full costs might be. From phone to phone if we are keeping track of each other, it's just the $0.99 per minute.

· Additionally, if one is using their phone aboard the ship, the charges are much higher. That rate is $2.49 per minute because the ship requires that rate. For purposes aboard the ship, Verizon suggested that text messaging might be a better way to go. Those charges in Mexico (or in waters traveling to Mexico) are part of your text messaging bundle in your calling plan package (if you subscribe to text messaging). You can add that feature if you don't have it and it's about $5.00/ month I think for a certain amount of messages per month.

· The bottom line for the Hawaii folk is to update their features on their cell phones to add International Dialing capability so they can make/receive calls in Mexico. They should check with Verizon when they add this feature to be sure they understand all the costs and options. Of course, when they come to America (as my Uncle Arthur in Honolulu calls it). They just use their phones as usual and whatever calling plan they have takes over. Our Verizon plans include Hawaii for free, so I assume theirs does as well.

Photo provided by Flickr Gaetan Lee