Visit the website of your cruise line before you leave to see what kind of technology the ship is equipped with and what the fees are for ship-to-shore calling. If you book your trip through a travel agent, the agent can advise you about the charges as well.
Check to see if your cellphone plan covers international dialing and what the charges are for calls from sea. The procedure for placing a call from your cellphone at sea is no different than placing a call on dry land.
Inquire about the fees before using an onboard telephone that may be provided in your stateroom. It will likely cost more to use than your personal cellphone. "USA Today" advises that per-minute rates for onboard phones can be extremely high. If you choose to use it, however, the onboard phone will have instructions on how to place a call.
Determine if Internet access is less expensive than your cellphone rates. If you bring a computer, calls can be made for free via Skype, a service that makes calls from computer to computer or from computers to land lines. You pay only for the Internet access from the ship and not for the call itself.
