Cruise Passenger’s Airplane Mode Mistake Ends In a Good Way
We have all heard it before: a cruiser forgot to turn their phone on airplane mode in an international country and gets smacked with an insane bill.
However, one recent passenger who was on Celebrity Cruises’ Celebrity Silhouette was shocked when after making this common mistake, they didn’t get fined by their cellular plan provider.
Yep, you read that right! There were no surprise charges or extra fees.
The guest who went on the ship’s 4-night round-trip voyage out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, had planned to put their cell phone in airplane mode when the ship headed into international waters but simply forgot to.
This itinerary on the 2,886 passenger Celebrity Silhouette included stops in Key West and Nassau, Bahamas — so if anything this cruiser was expecting to be fined for about one to two days of international data use.
Funny enough, the 122,400 gross ton vessel is again currently underway from Key West to Nassau, where it will arrive on April 10, 2025.
The passenger took to Reddit after learning no additional charges were made on their account, as international coverage is provided through their Google Fi Wireless plan.
“I forgot to put my phone back into airplane mode for the at-sea days …. and did not get any extra charges on my Google Fi,” the poster shared.
While this guest did mention they had no access to websites, they did send and receive many texts — and were ultimately pleasantly surprised by the lack of fees or charges.
Fellow cruisers and users of Google Fi Wireless sang its praises in the comments, mentioning how useful the service has been while cruising internationally.
“Google Fi worked great for me in Turkey, Greece, Rhodes and London. In general when we got to port took a few minutes to sync up then everything worked,” replied one person.
“I have better Fi coverage in Europe than I do at my house in the US,” added another.
Google Fi Wireless’ Unlimited Plus plan starts at just $65 per person a month and includes data coverage and free texting in over 200 destinations, as well as free calling in over 50 locations worldwide.
The only thing to note is that this international coverage is not intended for use over 90 consecutive days, so if you are going on a longer world cruise, this might not be the best plan for you.
However, if you are a frequent international traveler who is occasionally forgetful about airplane mode, or simply wants to avoid those crazy fees, this could be a good option for you.
Other Coverage Options While Cruising
Of course, there is more than just one kind of coverage available if you are cruising internationally.
Recently, mobile providers AT&T and Verizon announced new international calling plans that are accessible on cruise ships.
AT&T’s new plan is the International Day Pass, which provides coverage for up to 400 cruise ships in more than 200 international locations.
This plan is billed daily and costs $12 per device per day and an additional $6 for every other device added. Verizon’s new Cruise Daily Pass runs $20 per device daily, but this plan only offers coverage while ships are at sea.
Read Also: Do Cruise Ships Have Wi-Fi – 5 Things to Know
While this daily pass with Verizon offers unlimited text, talk, and data, in the fine print it notes that users only get 0.5GB of high-speed data use a day before it swaps over to 3G speeds.
Again, this plan cannot be used while any ship is at a port, so some might see it as unnecessary given that practically all modern cruise ships have WiFi plans accessible to guests.
It is good to look into these plans ahead of cruises, or at least make sure to keep devices in airplane mode — unless you want to end up like the recent passenger on Royal Caribbean who got charged $1,300 in fees by their mobile provider.
Let’s be honest though, who wants to pay for fees like that when you could be paying for your next cruise?