Family leaving in less than a week for Cancun - What do I do for older teens who still want to text?

Question

All,
I have nowhere else to go but this forum.  I have called Verizon asked them about upgrading to the Global Plan (which I plan on getting) but no one can seem to answer the one question I need answered.  Is there any way to avoid the 50 cent charge per text to send and the 5 cent charge per text to receive?  I do not want to block their text messages as I was hoping to be able to text them down there so we could stay connected.  We have approximately 22 family members going 12 of which are older teenagers and some in early 20s. I am trying to avoid coming home to a $1000 dollar bill from Verizon but still allowing our kids to have fun texting their friends in the US. 
As large as Verizon is, I am absolutely shocked that there is no international type of service you can purchase.  Or for that matter someone who actually knows what they are talking about when it comes to texting, calling, snap chatting, twittering overseas. Me, my sister and my sister in law have all called Verizon and each were told three different things! 
I know they said we should be on Wi-Fi as much as possible but at the same time I was told most resorts in Cancun will make you pay for Wi-Fi!  I feel like I am banging my head up against the wall. 
All the teenagers have at least an IPhone 4 or above and all are smart phones. Can someone please tell me if there is an APP or something that I am not aware of that can be used for these teenagers while we are in Cancun?
Any help or any guidance as to what I need to do would be greatly appreciated. Please keep in mind I am a little bit computer savvy, but I am not phone savvy at all.  So the more it is spelled out, step by step on what we need to do, the better I will be able to understand it.
Thank you for your time
Lotton

Answer 1

Unfortunately, when you go on vacation, you have expenses. If you increase the things you want to do while on vacation, that will increase your expenses. That would include using your smartphones while abroad. It used to be when going abroad, keeping in touch with home was an expensive proposition. It still is, except it is NOW more convenient. If you want to do so, it is going to cost you.
You say you are shocked Verizon does not have some sort of "international type of service" while in the previous paragraph you were looking for ways to avoid paying the charges Verizon has for just such a service. Verizon DOES have an "international type of service", it appears you are simply not happy with the price of such a service.
Use the interactive trip planner. The prices you previously stated are the prices Verizon has for the service you want. Those with 4G LTE phones may be able to get cheaper service simply by purchasing a local SIM card when you arrive at your location. Of course, that would mean having a local number in Mexico and the people from home would not be able to contact you unless you were to give them the new number. Those with only an iPhone 4, unfortunately, would not be able to do so as those have no SIM card to change. Those with an iPhone 4S, could call Verizon to have their phones unlocked and then be able to switch SIM cards for cheaper service. Those with 4G LTE phones should just be able to switch the SIM card as they are already unlocked for such a switch.