Call me on your cell from your cruise

While Verizon is eliminating Airfone in the sky, Carnival is adding cellphone access on the water. Carnival will ‘raise the bar’ on all 21 ships early next year in a deal with Wireless Maritime Services, a joint venture of Cingular Wireless and Maritime Telecommunications Network. The Triumph ship, currently offers the service.

Utilizing WMS’ high-bandwidth technology, the service is compatible with any cell phone and allows guests to make and receive calls anywhere in the world from any cruising region. The new cell phone service requires no additional software or special dialing procedures – guests simply make and receive calls as well as transmit text and multimedia messages as they would on land using their personal cell phone. International roaming fees apply to all shipboard cell phone calls.

Both Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean plan to implement cellphone access on their ships as well. Next up…cellphone service in space.

Read [Mobiledia]