service out at sea?

This is more of a question for the southern forum. But on my cruise from NYC to Canada my Voicestream phone worked for much of the cruise if we were on deck.

 

The phone would work as far as a few miles off shore into the sea if that's what you mean. Not even enough to get to the nearest caribbean island.

 

SOME of the cruise lines and ships now have their own micro-cells aboard so that US passengers can use their cell phones on the ship. It is pricey! From some of the cruise-travel newsgroups the cost seems to be in the multi-dollar per minute range. Comparable to using your room phone to call back home. Can't imagine the ship will pass up an opportunity to make money!!!

Since you don't say which line or which ship, we can't say whether your cruise will be "celled".

Your Sprint phone will probably work in Cozumel. Not sure about the others. You should ask Sprint Customer Service (if you can get them to answer!) whether they will work at all in those locations and what the rate will be. It is almost universally cheaper to use a (cheap -- get one at Walmart!) calling card and a payphone at the dock than to use your cell phone in those locations.

You should post this question on one of the cruise-travel newsgroups. And you should read -- very carefully -- the horror stories from people who's phones have been cloned while they were in Mexico and the Carribean....

 

I've heard that if you travel to Mexico or etc... because of all the cloning there its best to set your phone to a "Digital Only" setting if you have one so your phone cannot be cloned. It's much harder to clone a digital phone then an analog one.

 

Wow, that is interesting. Sounds like going out of the US is like leaving a safety zone.

 

Scalici..,
The biggest cruise newsgroup is 'rec.travel.cruises'. They talk about cell phones all the time.
Do a Google search (on Groups) and you'll find others.

For Bobolito and TNDan,
IMHO the best thing you can do with a cell phone in Mexico is to leave it at home. The use of illicit cell phones throughout Latin America is rampant. Using them there at all usually involves adding specific authorization to your plan... If they do work, you won't know what the fee is until you get home and then it's too late. I've heard of multi-dollar per minute. It seems to be whatever the traffic will bear -- fat, rich, Yankee!