CruiseLink
Airplane mode on a cruise: what still works
Put it on as you sail and leave it on. It is the one setting that prevents maritime roaming charges, and it costs you far less than people expect — you can switch wifi back on by itself and keep almost everything.
Why it matters more at sea than on a plane
At sea your phone can find a small mobile mast on the ship, backed by satellite. It connects without asking. Anything that goes through it — a call, a text, a background app refresh you never saw — is maritime roaming, which is not covered by your usual allowance or by EU roaming arrangements, because a ship is not in a country.
That is where the bills come from, and most of them are run up by phones sitting in pockets doing routine background work. The full explanation.
Wifi and airplane mode together
This is the bit worth knowing, because it is not obvious. Turning on airplane mode switches off mobile and wifi. But you can then turn wifi back on by itself, and the phone stays off the mobile network.
So the sequence is: airplane mode on, then wifi on. One tap more than people expect, and it is how most experienced cruisers run their phone all week.
Do it even if you have bought a package. The package pays for wifi; it does nothing about the mast.
What you actually lose
- Ordinary calls and texts over the mobile network.
- Mobile data.
What keeps working
- The camera and your photos. The main thing most people use a phone for on holiday.
- Downloaded music, books, podcasts and films. Load them before you go.
- The ship's own app or web page over the free onboard network — the daily programme, bookings, your account.
- Bluetooth, so headphones and watches are fine.
- Anything that talks phone-to-phone, which is the one that matters for staying in touch with your party.
Reaching your family with it on
CruiseLink works entirely in airplane mode. Messages pass straight between the phones in your group over Bluetooth and the ship's local network — nothing leaves the ship, so there is nothing to bill and nothing to buy.
The limits are the same everywhere on this site: it reaches only your own group, everyone needs it installed before you sail, and a message travels when phones come near enough rather than instantly across a whole ship.
Before you sail
- Check everyone's phone, not just your own. Children's especially, and anyone who is not confident in settings. One phone left on can cost more than a package would have.
- Turn off data roaming too, as a second layer in case airplane mode gets knocked off.
- Download what you want to listen to or read while you still have a normal connection.
- Install anything your group needs before you lose signal. Nothing installs at sea.
Get CruiseLink
Free, no account, nothing to set up beyond your group. On iPhone and Android, and the two work together.
