So I went on a cruise with my parents in September. My husband didn't go so I wanted to check in w/ him periodically (my 4 year wanted to talk to "Daddy" as she missed him terribly) and I used my cellphone since the phone in the room charged $6.95 per minute! I figured I'd pay more for roaming charges but I got my bill today and it is $700 for 47 minutes of roaming charges. I have Cingular.

My parents have Verizon and they used their phone WAY more than I did and their roaming charges came to $150. That seems reasonable, $700 does not.

At first I thought the ship itself was charging for using their sateillite or something but if that's the case why was my parent's bill so much less?

I also need to upgrade my phone because I dropped it awhile back and the antenna is broken. Do you think I should try to dispute this bill or just suck it up and pay it? I don't have any experience negiotiating a cell phone bill so I don't know if they'd be willing to work w/ me (especially if I upgrade) or not.

The bill is really way more than I can afford (my bill is usually $50) but I can put it on a credit card if I need to.

Always try to dispute and/or work out a deal, worst case, you are back to owing it.