Texting ? On Star from Vancouver to Whittier

[cmhighto]

We have AT&T. Will we be able to text each other when we are in Alaska on the ship or in port?

[Colo Cruiser]

We have AT&T. Will we be able to text each other when we are in Alaska on the ship or in port?

 

 

 

Here is an excellent post by VibeGuy that pretty much covers everything......

VibeGuy

 

 

Posted April 29th, 2017, 01:34 AM

 

I'm an AT&T customer who spends about 30 days a year on Princess ships and works from the cabin a couple days a week. So I live this problem. It's the biggest factor that keeps me from spending 90 days a year onboard.

 

Let's treat this as two problems: on-ship and off-ship. This applies to most AT&T plans and most devices unless otherwise noted.

 

On-ship, when the ship is approximately 12 miles offshore, MCS CellAtSea service kicks in. There is no AT&T feature package that affects rates on Princess. Remember when cell phones cost $4K and roaming was an expensive luxury? Welcome back to the mid-80s. Received SMS and MMS are free. Sending SMS is 50 cents. Sending MMS picture messages is $1.30 Voice calls, either sending or receiving, are $2.50/minute.

 

 

Data works - in a way. There's either 1G GPRS or 2G EDGE at glacial speeds - 0.064 to 0.128 Mbps, compared to about 15Mbps for LTE from land-based service. To add insult to injury, it's priced at $8/MB.

 

 

To avoid data charges while still receiving complimentary texts, turn off data roaming on your device.

 

 

Big exception: iPhones. iMessage doesn't use SMS/MMS by default. They come in with data. So when you turn off data roaming, if you have iMessage enabled, senders with iPhones will see an error message asking them to resend as SMS, and you will get the same message when you try to send back to them.

 

 

The service is generally reliable when you're out of sight of land.

 

 

WiFi on the ship is generally reliable in public spaces - cabins are pretty variable. If you're sailing after the Ocean Medallion Class upgrades are performed, this should no longer be the case, but nobody knows if the improvements are real or marketing hype yet.

 

 

Connecting to the ship's WiFi is free. This enables use of the Princess@Sea intranet site for daily schedules and person-to-person and group messaging. This actually works pretty well, except that there's no alert that you've received a message. So unless you check, you don't know. *grumble*

 

 

Internet service is priced per minute you're logged in to internet access. With packages and bonus minutes, you'll pay between 29 cents a minute (680 minute plan) and 59 cents (120 minute plan). I actually don't recall the per-minute rate without a plan. It might be 79 cents.

 

 

Quality wise, it's generally slow - like EDGE/2G service or low-end 3G service. It's consistently good enough for Skype audio-only calls or FaceTime Audio. Video calling tends to be less successful. The service is filtered for certain adult sites.

 

 

Plans can be shared by multiple users but only one can be logged in at once.

 

 

Sticker shocked yet?

 

 

Off-ship, in general, the US (including Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the USVI) is all your home plan. Data in all the Alaska ports is either 4G or LTE.

 

 

Canada and Mexico really, really depend on your plan. There are various features, bonuses, monthly subscriptions or day passes to make it non-extortionate. Do NOT turn on data in Canada or Mexico and blindly expect it to be cheap. You need a feature which may or may not already be on your plan.

 

 

For the rest of the world, it's even more confusing. Call AT&T.

 

When you're in port, the Cell at Sea service is off, and you'll be able to text on or off the ship using the local cell sites. Check with at&t for pricing. Coverage in interior or low decks may be marginal but in general, if you can see daylight you'll have cell coverage.

Edited May 9, 2017 by Colo Cruiser

[leck57]

There is so much misinformation about mobile phones at sea and horrible charges. I have seen everything from putting the phone in to flight mode to even taking the battery out.

If you put the phone into flight mode then people will not be able to get through to you. If you want to have the phone on and receive calls and messages and not get a big bill just simply turn off data roaming. Obviously making, and even sometimes receiving calls, can cost a fair bit, however just don't answer a call if you prefer to not take a call or wait until you are in port for a cheaper alternative. However to either not burn off your credit or receive a major bill, just turn off data roaming. I use this principle the minute I leave my home country whether on land overseas or a cruise ship.