Rogers Wireless on board

[marinerq]

This is a question for people with cell phones using Rogers (Canada) service. I cannot get a straight answer neither from Rogers nor Celebrity.

 

Celebrity Call Centre advisor said there is no specific charge for using cell on board, that Celebrity does not charge for wireless and each service provider charges its own rates, to enquire there. He even put me on hold for 2 minutes to ask someone else before telling me that.

Rogers customer service rep said that they do not have a cruise plan, that cruiselines have their own wireless equipment and charge whatever their rates are via cell provider. He stressed that Caribbean plan they offer does not apply onboard a cruiseship.

 

Has anyone with Rogers service used cell on board? Thanks.

Edited October 15, 2010 by marinerq

[Lsimon]

The fact is that Celebrity does not control the billing for the cellular service on the ships. They contract with a company called Cellular at Sea. This is a joint venture between ATT and one or more other companies. ATT's rate is $2.49/minuite as are the rates for several other companies. But neither ATT, Celebrity, nor Cellular At Sea set the rates for other companies. Rather they bill them under a "roaming" arraingement and it is up to the other companies to determine how they will bill.

 

Cellular at Sea does have a web site:

http://www.cellularatsea.com/

 

if you go to that web site and click on "Roaming partners" you'll see that Rogers is listed. Then if you click Rogers from that page you'll be linked to Roger's international roaming page. If you click the tab on that page for international you'll see a drop down menu with rates for different international locations. Instructions on the page direct you to select "offshore" for cruises. Doing that brings up a rate chargt that reflects a $7.00/min rate as well as rates for messages and data.

 

Most companies have the information buried some place on their web site and a good customer service rep should know how to find it, but we all know that good customer service reps are harder to find than the correct rate!

[CCMS14]

I had just changed my cell plan in August before getting on the solstice and specifically asked rogers if they had anything I could use and they said quite firmly that there plans did NOT cover cruising. I am betting you would be using international roaming on the waters which costs an arm and a leg!

[Lsimon]

I had just changed my cell plan in August before getting on the solstice and specifically asked rogers if they had anything I could use and they said quite firmly that there plans did NOT cover cruising. I am betting you would be using international roaming on the waters which costs an arm and a leg!

 

I don't think there is any plan from any carrier that covers the service on a cruise ship, even the international roaming plans for ATT do not cover it.

 

The only thing, at least on ATT, that is covered under a plan is incoming text messages. These are billed under your home plan so if you have unlimited texting at home you can receive texts at no charge but it still will cost to send them from the ship.

[Schmoe38]

I currently subscribe to Rogers on my Blackberry for e-mail and internet access only. I have taken my Blackberry on cruises many times, (all throughout the Caribbean), accessing when we are docked. Signal strength on the islands is very good, but I try to be somewhat aware of the time, because the rate is not cheap. I do not use the phone feature. I believe Rogers charges a flat fee (around $25.00 for 15 minutes of airtime...more for higher minute packages) for cell phone users travelling outside of Canada. If you will be carrying your cell phone for emergency purposes, it is still reasonable for "peace of mind".

[TeaBag]

DH says that Celebrity has an onboard service compatible with Rogers and we verified that it worked. However, the cost per minute was very high. DH doesn't remember exactly but thinks maybe $4/min. This was on the Millennium going to Alaska last year.

[lcmslady]

My BIL thought that his Blackberry would work just fine on the ship and since he travels internationally all the time that there wouldn't be any charges.

He got injured and we ended up using it a lot to call the travel insurance company and others.

He came home to a $1900 cell phone bill.

 

I wouldn't make any assumptions except that it will be very expensive.

To be honest, I turn on my cell providers international roaming plan right before I leave (which gets me a roaming discount) then turn off the phone and put it in the safe. If there's an emergency of some sort, I'll use it but otherwise, I'm on vacation. I leave the ship's number in case there's an emergency back in the states.

[marinerq]

Thank you for the info.

Did anyone use a Magic Jack phone on board?

Technically, all you pay is 60-65 cents per minute using wifi. The concern is the connection and speed of internet on board.

[Lsimon]

Thank you for the info.

Did anyone use a Magic Jack phone on board?

Technically, all you pay is 60-65 cents per minute using wifi. The concern is the connection and speed of internet on board.

 

Most of the comments I've read about using VOIP services such as Magic Jack or Skype indicate that these do not work on board either due to the ship's slow internet speed or possibly being blocked. I think a couple reports have indicated these have worked from time to time but most indicate that they do not.

 

The ships internet service at sea is very unreliable. On some cruises we haven't been able to connect half the time. When it does connect it is often slower than the old dial-up telephone modem service we abandoned for cable modems and DSL years ago.

[captain_oats]

We have Telus as a carrier and when cruising it is very difficult to have reception. When you are in port your phone should work. Ask Rogers if they have international plans to purchase for the duration of your cruise (Telus does this) and it lowers your rate per minute by around $1! Another thing to take into consideration is having a "data block" for your trip so you can't accidentally go online on your phone (that would cost a small fortune!)...maybe you should switch to Telus :D

[mommy2jays]

We used majicjack last year on a princess ship for phonecalls home to the kids. We called 6 times, I would say 4-5 of those times were clear reception,one time not very clear. Those times that were unclear, we hung up and called back later and had better luck. I'm not sure how Celebrity's internet is compared to Princess. We bought an internet package just so we could speak to the kids with our majicjack.

[westcoastguy]

voice calls 45 cents a minute from the south caribbean to vancouver

 

text incoming free unlimited, sending a text is 25cents every time u hit send.

 

 

Chatr wireless, if going near st thomas usvi or puerto rico island you will connect to Tmobile at 15 cent per text and 25 cents per minute on voicecalls. most islands are digitel which i avoid avoid , but good enough to receive free text.

 

 

chatr does not work on Carnival ships