Phone tips? Danube cruise bucharest to Budapest + Vienna

What kind of use do you envision? There are a number of options based on your need, your current phone, and current carrier.

I have ATT and don’t want to pay their daily rate. I also don’t need a telephone number in most cases. So my solution is an Airalo Eurolink data only esim, with my home cell # off. For making calls, I use WhatsApp or Skype.

Others use T Mobile or their own carrier’s international plan or buy a local physical sim, etc.

My TMobile has been flawless for calls, text and data in: Bulgaria Romania Slovakia Albania Montenegro Bosnia & Herzegovina Ukraine Czech Republic Croatia Moldova Hungary. The price is good too.

If you peruse the Technology Tips section of the forum, you will find lots of posts
with do's/dont's and experiences.

If you are able to figure it out, using a second SIM card to provide some or all of
your service can be a cost-effective option, but there are caveats.

Affordable is somewhat related to how long you might be in Europe, and you don't
say anything about what your requirements are. A bit more info will allow others to
give you better info.

We will be in eastern Europe for three weeks and I need to be able to call the United States and the other cities where we will be staying. The main stays are in Vienna, Budapest and Bucharest, with 13 days cruising from Bucharest to Budapest. I want to be able to call the US, such as to a business number. I have no objection to using Skype or ‎WhatsApp, but my experience is that those are usually only for personal calls, and are not accepted by businesses in the US or overseas consistently.
Any suggestions are most welcome.

I am not aware of any specific issue with using Skype or Whatsapp for business calls.
If you use either of them, any call you originate will not look like it comes from your
existing #, so the receiver may not know it's you. But other than that, neither of them
make any distinction as to the purpose of the call.

Somewhat similarly, using a local SIM purchased either before your trip or in country,
will give you either minutes or minutes + data, or just data (you have choices), but any
call you make with a local SIM will not show your existing #, since the SIM card managing
the call is not yours.

I suppose that it is possible that some businesses may screen incoming calls and reject
ones that don't meet their criteria, but you could try that now and see. It also doesn't
seem to make a lot of sense from a business viewpoint if you're a business with an
international presence.

If you stay with your existing carrier in Europe, you will incur charges that differ depending
on the carrier. Best to talk to your carrier directly, as it also may depend on your existing
plan.