Sail the 7 seas -- and stay connected

Some cruise lines offer cellular service; others put the amenity on hold.

Mary Lu Abbott | Special to the Sentinel
Posted September 10, 2006

For better or worse, your boss now can reach you on your cell phone or BlackBerry, even when you are on a cruise ship in the middle of the Caribbean Sea.

There's no need for a special satellite phone or calling plan because most ships are being equipped to accommodate late-model wireless devices. When you call the boss or check in with the kids at home, the call on your cell phone will cost you less -- sometimes much less -- than dialing from the satellite phone in your cabin.

Wireless voice and data communication is the latest high-tech service cruise lines have embraced. Computer centers with Internet access already are common on most ships. Newer Wi-Fi connectivity, allowing vacationers to access the Internet with their own laptops, is spreading from designated hot spots to all parts of the ship, including cabins.

About a dozen lines now have wireless service on ships. Notable holdouts: Cunard, Princess Cruises and Seabourn.

But other cruise lines are promoting cellular service as an amenity that many of today's travelers expect. A July survey of 1,071 adults age 18 and older by International Communications Research for Cingular Wireless showed that a quarter of the respondents used their cell phone when traveling outside the United States. They averaged 10 calls per trip, most of them personal.

But not everyone welcomes the idea of hearing those ring tones and the one-way conversations of cell-phone users.

Anne Goyer of Sarasota says she's drawn to sea travel "to totally escape the hectic pace and constant contact of the real world." She resists using computers aboard ship. "The advent of cell phones on cruise ships, in my opinion, will significantly impact cruising as we know it and certainly not for the better."

Cruise lines walk a fine line between passengers who want to disconnect from the real world and those who won't go on a vacation unless they can stay connected to it.

Most major cellular service carriers -- Cingular, T-Mobile U.S., Sprint Wireless and Nextel -- are linked with at-sea service companies, such as WMS and SeaMobile.

WMS has agreements with 340 providers, but Verizon is not among them yet. But on ships using SeaMobile, Verizon customers can use their phones.

Although some cruise lines, such as Royal Caribbean and Carnival, have no rules about where passengers may use cell phones, others have set guidelines or are considering them.

This story first appeared in the Chicago Tribune, aTribune Publishing newspaper.