Cruise ship passengers have been advised to make sure they do one simple thing before setting off on their voyage after one tourist received an eye-watering bill.
The post-travel blues gets to us all, but one person must be feeling particularly hard-done by after they came home from a trip of a lifetime on a Royal Caribbean cruise to an unexpected $1,300 check.
The unnamed passenger reportedly made one simple and common error, according to YouTuber Jayson Judson, who said the traveler was ‘upset’ with the company after it refused to cover the costs.
It’s said the situation rolled out when the passenger purchased Royal Caribbean’s Wi-Fi package as they boarded the vessel for their vacation.
Yet the sightseer was apparently unaware that the internet package didn’t cover phone service – until they received the hefty bill from their cellphone provider.
The Miami-based cruise line operator then reportedly denied the angry customer’s requests to help pay the bill as the clip stated the customer ‘admitted’ that they ‘never put the phone in airplane mode’.
Explaining why the bill is so high, the YouTuber said the passenger let their child use their device all week to stream videos.
According to Confused.com, streaming videos can burn through data in the blink of an eye.
Just 250 MB provides 10 hours of web surfing, 8,333 emails, 62 songs on Spotify or just two 30-minute episodes of videos.
The Cruise Critic says that while some companies boast the fastest internet when roaming the seas, you’ll have to pay to use the Wi-Fi onboard, which you have to connect to, and be mindful of your cellular roaming charges on top.
That’s because once the ship departs, our phones switch onto other satellites that cover international waters.
To avoid forking out hundreds, some US phone carriers offer cruise roaming plans or you can restrict your device manually to just the apps you plan on using.
For example, switch your background data settings to Wi-Fi only or turn on/off roaming settings for text messages.
However, the best tried and test method is to simply switch the phone into Airplane Mode and log into the ship’s internet or access free Wi-Fi in restaurants and bars once you’re docked in port.
Dozens of people on social media have since said the passenger in this case is ‘definitely to blame’ for the charge for failing to follow the simple trick.
One comment read: “The passenger is at fault. Cellphone service isn’t the responsibility of the cruise line. That’s a hard lesson to learn.”
Others pointed out it’s unlikely that the passenger didn’t receive text message warnings from maritime at sea services or the cruise ship’s own network.
“Ignorance is no excuse,” one person, who claimed to be an IT professional, penned before confessing: “I understand that for some, the difference between WiFi and cellular data can be confusing.”
A third chimed: “Why are we watching videos when we on a cruise? That is the real problem.”
UNILAD has contacted Royal Caribbean for comment.
