Staying in touch.

More and more people now carry mobile phones or want to stay in touch by email when on holiday and many people can't bear to abandon their tech toys, even at sea.

The cruise lines are open to this and provide many different facilities from Wi-Fi hot spots to cabin data ports, from mobile phone service to ordering your meals via an iPad as featured on Celebrity ships.  Silversea Cruises reports 65 percent of its guests use some form of onboard Internet access, while 50 percent are using mobile phones at sea.

If you do want to use technology on board though its advisable to check your prices in advance.

Phones -
If you can get connected, remember it may not be cheap. Internet access, ship-to-shore phone calls, and mobile phone usage can be pricey. Calling from the phone in your stateroom may cost $9.99 a minute or more. Mobile phone users will get the bill for international roaming or other fees when they get home. People are getting caught out with the new smart phones which may continue roaming in the background even when you're not using it so make sure you turn all your features off before travelling.

E-mail
Internet cafés at sea are now the norm, not the exception. Even small ships and some new riverboats have one or two computers onboard for guest use. It's good, though, to check with your cruise line before you sail about your technical options; they vary by ship and by line, and the landscape is changing daily. All the major cruise lines show their prices on their websites.

Another useful thing to remember with e-mail is to avoid the busy times, connections on ships are still slow and the more people trying to connect, the slower the connection may be. Try visiting the cafe's whilst fellow guests are dining or early in the morning. Connection is also worse in rough seas, or when at sea so a shore day would always provide a quicker connection.

The other alternative would be to use a shore based Internet cafe, these are generally cheaper than on board. Although this seems a shame when you are in port for such a short amount of time.

I hope you find these tips useful and don't forget when you are staying in touch with friends to send me a quick e-mail too and let me know how you're enjoying your cruise. I'd love to hear from you.















Or simply head for a land-based Internet café when in port. Internet cafés are ubiquitious in cruise ship portsm and usually cost from one to four dollars an hour. Ask the ship's concierge, shore trip staff or other crew members if they know of a facility close to the pier. Local libraries are good bets, and some offer computer use with free minutes.



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