Tips on phones, gadgets, etc. for European cruise? (1 Viewer)

I'm taking a European cruise this year. All the travel plans are made, tickets bought. But I'm outdated regarding phones and gadgets and chargers for the trip and I could use some help. I believe the cruise ship, which I'll be on overnights, will have standard outlets for nightly charging of phones and cameras, etc. But I'll have a couple extra nights in Barcelona and Athens where I need to be able to charge things. And during the day, I'll be using an 18-month old iPhone for my camera; and my wife will have her Sony NEX 6, which has a 3 hr battery life on a good day. So I want a portable recharger battery to carry out and about. And finally, tips on making calls, texts, and data usage abroad? I'm on AT&T with a normal US plan for a pair of iPhones.


* Electrical converters / adapters for Spain and Greece? I've got an outlet adapter from 20 years ago, but it isn't a transformer.

* Battery charger for the flights and day trips. I'm thinking of buying this: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AANQLRI/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=UWXABWV8IJ76&coliid=I3FUFJSFO39DUZ&psc=1

* Data plan or other phone tips?

* Spending money: call my credit card company ahead of time? I don't need American Express bills in 2015, do I?


Thanks

Buy a throw away phone and swap sim cards(though not sure how that is done with iphone).

Your phone chargers might be worldwide voltage already(they'll be marked if they are).

Your CC companies might offer a 1 time(well, twice) currency swap(Chase does, but the card has to have a zero balance on both ends).

There are converters/adapters available to switch between the American 120 volt and the European 220 volt lines (plus the outlets are different). I'm sure you will find many at the airport when you land (if you don't get one before you leave).


If you current card does not have a chip, you should get a new card before you leave. You will have problems finding a place to swipe your card. Plus it is a good idea to let them know you will be traveling.


For the phone, it will cost you a small fortune if you roam with AT&T. Best bet is to get a SIM when you land from a local carrier. They may even have a vending machine with SIMS at the airport.

I will be visiting multiple countries, visiting about one per day. Will I need a different SIM card in each one?

Europe is generally considered "one area". Now if you are doing a cruise and you hit Africa and anything east of Italy, you are no longer "Europe".

When I last went over, I went to Jerez and Istanbul. I bought a SIM in both locations.

It is better, and overall cheaper, to pay $100 for a SIM than run the risk of a $500 week of roaming.

My cousin did that running through Croatia(and border countries).

I assume the iPhone you have is a "worldphone"?. If not...leave it home and don't even bother taking it.

That is the mistake my cousin made. Her phone, at the time, was a Moto Razr. Her model wasn't. She didn't even bother with an international plan(Sprint).

Went for 30 days. Came back to a $2689.43* bill.(her husband is a doctor. Member of a private practice. He was pissed, obviously, but paid it. He took it to his office and framed it. When I saw it, I laughed for a good hour. My GF was like "you could have bought a kick ass rug and smuggled it for less..." Our combined mortgage payment is barely more than that. 5 of us own the farm here)

If she had bothered to get an international plan, it still would have been $1200.

Moot point if your phone isn't worldwide.

And, use Skype (or similar) via wifi. Most places you go will have wifi.

*I should add...that was around 45 minutes a day using her phone. She was well into 1000 minutes of use. At just under $2.00/minute. Which, for her, 45 minutes a day was light use. Bored doctors wife, whose sole hobby is swiping plastic...talks 4-5 hours a day on her phone.

We're going to Greece (east of Italy).

Don't know if my iPhone is a "world phone". It's an iPhone from AT&T. I'll have to talk with AT&T and see what their deals are. And plot out the visit locations to check for local sim options.

Thanks for the cautions. A $2500 bill would put a crimp in the budget.

I cannot advise you about the SIM's, because I'm not familiar with the US practices, contracts, etc.


Yes, on the ship you can simply use all your adapters and chargers, it "doesn't know" in which country you're sailing. Those ships generally have both US and European outlets anyway, as you suspected.


Most chargers we're using here are 120/240V 50/60Hz. I'm not sure if that's the same in the US. It's clearly indicated on your charger. If it is, all you need is a physical adapter, the US female to European male type.

(Don't forget to pull it out and take it with you when you leave. I left one in a hotel a few times after pulling my shaver out. )



Cees

I have to say that I have not one ounce of compassion for someone who goes on a trip to Europe and spends 45 minutes a day phoning home.


Next time I go overseas, I doubt anyone will hear from me at all until I get back!

I've done some research and learned some things. The conclusion is: I'll get the AT&T Passport plan for a month, for the data. I don't need voice, and will use. Few texts. But I need data.

“Europe SIM Card - One Low Rate in Europe”
http://www.telestial.com/view_product.php?ID=MSIM-EU01#none
You can buy a nano sim for an iPhone, and the data cost will be half to a quarter of the AT&T plan. But that requires a sim unlocked phone.

“Unlock phone Iphone 5S Available products”
http://m.sim-unlock.net/site/Iphone/5S/#product
That's a hundred dollar or more thing. Which offsets the savings from the Euro sim.

“AT&T International Roaming and World Passport Packages - from AT&T”
http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/international/roaming.html
That makes AT&T the most practical solution for me.

AT&T should unlock it for you for free. I would call them or stop by a local store.


Also be aware that if you switch SIMS you are no longer on AT&T. So any AT&T plan you get requires that you keep your AT&T SIM in the phone.


Another option is to switch to T-Mobile and avoid all this international roaming nonsense completely.

I'll ask AT&T about unlocking it.

I didn't mean to suggest I'd unlock it, get a Euro sim, and buy the AT&T passport plan. That would be silly

If AT&T unlocjs for free, a pre-paid sim might make sense.

DaveF said:

I didn't mean to suggest I'd unlock it, get a Euro sim, and buy the AT&T passport plan. That would be silly

Click to expand...

Just making sure. Some folks don't understand what the SIM card really is.

David Willow said:

AT&T should unlock it for you for free. I would call them or stop by a local store.

Click to expand...

Free unlock is available once the any contract is fulfilled. So, in my case, this Fall when my 2 yr is up and I'm eligible for an upgrade. That doesn't happen until after my trip. It looks like I'll use AT&T's "Passport" plan. There's a $60 / 300 MB plan that should be adequate for the trip.

BTW, I always use my normal plan, with my Dutch provider, when I'm in the US. I normally make only 4 calls a week (on average), and it's not excessively expensive.

There are companies my own provider has contracted, and the phone tries to find those first once we're close to a coast and I switch it on.



Cees

I'm hoping I can find the mythical European "internet cafes" to use as well


I've now got a plan for iPhone data plans, new camera 64GB card, spare camera batteries.


I'm still debating whether to get a big backup battery power pack (iPad capacity) or a small (iPhone capacity) or some combination in between. This is for the flights and airports, and also for the iPhones during tours.


I'm newly confused by the cruise line wifi situation. It seems to be pay-by-the-minute. That doesn't make any sense to me. How do you pay by the minute for data? And AT&T has a cruise line data plan too!

DaveF said:

I'm hoping I can find the mythical European "internet cafes" to use as well

I've now got a plan for iPhone data plans, new camera 64GB card, spare camera batteries.

I'm still debating whether to get a big backup battery power pack (iPad capacity) or a small (iPhone capacity) or some combination in between. This is for the flights and airports, and also for the iPhones during tours.

I'm newly confused by the cruise line wifi situation. It seems to be pay-by-the-minute. That doesn't make any sense to me. How do you pay by the minute for data? And AT&T has a cruise line data plan too!

Click to expand...

If they can track the idiot who accidentally left his laptop "open" and logged into a hotel's wifi...and got caught with kiddie porn

They can track your minute usage.

And Europe has a better cellular network than we do. Their wifi isn't always free(like at Starbucks)...but it is everywhere.

I don't understand minutes as a measure of data usage. Do you think it's minutes I'm connected to the wifi network, or minutes spent transferring data? If the latter, I'd be careful to turn off wifi after downloading a webpage, to not burn "minutes" while I read.

I would assume that it's minutes connected to the network. Why would they go to the extra trouble of tracking actual data transfer time just to charge you less?