If you plan to use your mobile phone on a cruise ship, it is important to know that once you sail away, your phone will go into roaming mode, which means you get higher rates and extra fees. roaming expenses on cruise

When you’re in port, your mobile signal will typically switch to a carrier from the country or island you’re visiting. Roaming expenses on cruise ships and in these areas vary but are usually very pricey.

According to Cruise Fever, using your phone on a ship can cost between $3–6 a minute and uploading just one picture to Facebook can cost you over $40.

However, people often forget to treat a cruise like they would any other overseas holiday and end up leaving their phone running as normal. It’s essential to turn off signal, data and roaming to save yourself any shocking bills upon your return home.

Some cruise lines have introduced “social plans.” For example, Carnival provides unlimited access to social networks that include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat for a flat fee per day or per voyage on select ships; web and email access are not included in social plans.

Both Carnival Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean are rolling out high-tech connectivity systems across their fleets, with some ships in each fleet already offering some of the fastest internet at sea. roaming expenses on cruise