Questions about using UK phones abroad on holiday.

lr1277

Neil49 said:

lr1277 said:

In the last few weeks/months, there was a thread by somebody on a cruise who lost their banking facilities because they couldn't receive texts on the ship. This impacted what they could buy on board with their card.

So you need to check with your credit card and debit card provider how they verify transactions on board the ship.

As there will be no mobile phone towers, you need to ensure your phone can verify any transactions for your card provider, be that by text or an in app confirmation.

I don't recall seeing that thread but typically, cruise lines register your credit card upon arrival (if not before) and place a credit hold on the account straight away. Any issues can always be resolved at the next port of call but in all my many years of cruising it had never been a problem.

If, however, it was a prepaid currency card or a debit card then I can imagine it being rejected straight away. 

I just had a look for that thread in the credit card board but did not find it. Perhaps i misremembered, but could have been a ferry acros the North sea. If memory serves it was related to the OP of that thread on buying something on board, the card company sending a text to confirm the purchase and that OP not getting the text either on the ship or in their destination of the Netherlands. They could not sort it out till they arrived back in the UK. But as my memory is hazy on the whole thing.

I did find this thread though which reported something similar.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6525076/credit-card-security-blockage-abroad-due-diligence-failures-have-you-been-caught-out

PHK

I remember that thread as well and pretty sure it was about purchases made in port. They were relying on free WiFi and so couldn’t receive either texts or in app notifications to verify purchases. 

It always amazes me that people will pay £000s on a holiday and £00s on drinks/meals/excursions etc  but begrudge paying up to £50 so their phone will work abroad. 

ProDave

Neil49 said:

ProDave said:

elsien said:

Free Wi-Fi, obviously, when you’re in import and not the ridiculous rates charged by cruise ships. 

The prospectus says "free basic wifi" on the ship.  What do they mean by "basic"

I had it in mind if we are in different places on the boat we could use wattsapp ant the free wifi to talk to or message each other.

there is always my pair of marine HH walkie talkies for which I have a licence.

I was on a Princess ship a couple of years ago and they had two levels of WiFi available. The free option allowed you to use your phone to access their app which gave you details of day to day activities, book seating in a dining room and tickets for shows. It didn't give you access outside of the ship. 

Would "didn't give you access outside the ship" still allow me to wattsapp a message to another phone on the same ship?

I have yet to digest the reams of documents we have to see what it says about wifi.

Is it possible to receive text messages when out of the UK without paying roaming charges?  Is is worth talking to our phone providers about adding roaming for the short period we would need it?  Are UK phones indeed capable of operating on all networks across the globe?

Re card payments, none of my credit cards routinely require verification for a physical payment, they only do that if I am buying something on line.  but I will speak to them before we go to let them know our plans and discuss that issue.

eDicky

ProDave said:

Neil49 said:

ProDave said:

elsien said:

Free Wi-Fi, obviously, when you’re in import and not the ridiculous rates charged by cruise ships. 

The prospectus says "free basic wifi" on the ship.  What do they mean by "basic"

I had it in mind if we are in different places on the boat we could use wattsapp ant the free wifi to talk to or message each other.

there is always my pair of marine HH walkie talkies for which I have a licence.

I was on a Princess ship a couple of years ago and they had two levels of WiFi available. The free option allowed you to use your phone to access their app which gave you details of day to day activities, book seating in a dining room and tickets for shows. It didn't give you access outside of the ship. 

Is it possible to receive text messages when out of the UK without paying roaming charges?  Is is worth talking to our phone providers about adding roaming for the short period we would need it?  Are UK phones indeed capable of operating on all networks across the globe?

Any mobile phone with roaming enabled, when roaming on the terrestrial network of any country worldwide, can receive SMS text messages free of charge. When at sea and connected to a maritime cellular network this may not apply. Mobile phones on UK networks are in general able to roam on one or more (often several) networks of most countries.

savergrant

ProDave said:

Neil49 said:

ProDave said:

elsien said:

Free Wi-Fi, obviously, when you’re in import and not the ridiculous rates charged by cruise ships. 

The prospectus says "free basic wifi" on the ship.  What do they mean by "basic"

I had it in mind if we are in different places on the boat we could use wattsapp ant the free wifi to talk to or message each other.

there is always my pair of marine HH walkie talkies for which I have a licence.

I was on a Princess ship a couple of years ago and they had two levels of WiFi available. The free option allowed you to use your phone to access their app which gave you details of day to day activities, book seating in a dining room and tickets for shows. It didn't give you access outside of the ship. 

Would "didn't give you access outside the ship" still allow me to wattsapp a message to another phone on the same ship?

I have yet to digest the reams of documents we have to see what it says about wifi.

Is it possible to receive text messages when out of the UK without paying roaming charges?  Is is worth talking to our phone providers about adding roaming for the short period we would need it?  Are UK phones indeed capable of operating on all networks across the globe?

Re card payments, none of my credit cards routinely require verification for a physical payment, they only do that if I am buying something on line.  but I will speak to them before we go to let them know our plans and discuss that issue.

My understanding is that 'basic wifi' will give you a seriously restricted list of apps and websites. I wouldn't be surprised if whatsapp was blocked.