Cell Phone Coverage for an Alaskan Cruise

[Wine-O]

We're doing an Alaskan cruise next summer, and Celebrity wants $224 for a 7-day cruise for their internet one device package. I think that price is outrageous. I'm not going to pay that as we're doing a B2B, and it would cost $448. I have an iPhone with Verizon. Are we close enough to shore to get coverage so I could use my phone as a hotspot for my laptop? I'm assuming when we are in port we will have cell phone service, and I can use it as a hotspot. What are your experiences with cell phone coverage?

[phoenix_dream]

I don't know about the hot spot question, but as to coverage in port, we recently did a B2B on Millennium and had mixed results with reception on Verizon. In town, we could always get 3 or 4g and decent phone coverage. Onboard, sometimes I could not get coverage without going out on our balcony and sometimes I could not get decent coverage at all without going out on land. It was very rainy/cloudy on our trip so I think that might have made it worse. We went two years ago as well on the same trip and I do not recall coverage being that bad.

[cruisestitch]

I agree that service is spotty. You are in and out of fjords, coverage is sometimes blocked by topography.

[derekjp47]

You have to be careful because part of the trip you will be connecting to Canadian cell towers, can be quite expensive, check with your provider for the right package. Having said that, I’m a proponent of turning off you phone for 23 1/2 hours a day on your cruise, you’re on vacation, leave it alone and relax, life will go on without you for two weeks.

[Z'Loth]

First off, check with Verizon about a TravelPass option on your cell plan. That way, if you connect to a Canadian tower, the charge is only $5 per 24 hour period.

 

Second, the cell phone coverage outside of the major population areas is almost non-existent. When I was on my Alaska cruise last year, I went in Hoonah, Juneau, and Ketchikan. Hoonah had some coverage issues even when in port, while Juneau and Ketchican had no issues in town. But, when I went on a boat tour out of Juneau and left the populated area, goodbye cell signal.

[Wine-O]

You have to be careful because part of the trip you will be connecting to Canadian cell towers, can be quite expensive, check with your provider for the right package. Having said that, I’m a proponent of turning off you phone for 23 1/2 hours a day on your cruise, you’re on vacation, leave it alone and relax, life will go on without you for two weeks.

 

This seems to be your "stock" answer to folks questions about internet. Some people have businesses and/or work requirements and need to stay connected. We do not all have the luxury to disconnect for 23 1/2 hours a day. We're happy for you that you can do that.

[WestLakeGirl]

For some people, vacation is the time to catch up on movies and such that we are too busy to watch when we are at home. The Internet is invaluable for that. We use it for organizing our pictures while we are on vacation using Google photos. It isn’t all about work

[Z'Loth]

Having said that, I’m a proponent of turning off you phone for 23 1/2 hours a day on your cruise, you’re on vacation, leave it alone and relax, life will go on without you for two weeks.

 

Uhhh.... no. Consider...

• My phone is also my camera. When I am connected to WiFi in port, my phone will upload the photos to either a cloud-based server or my media server at home.
  
• Prior to taking my Alaska cruise, I had downloaded the maps for the area that I was cruising to my phone. Thus, while my phone was in Airplane mode, GPS was on, and I could see exactly where I was.
  
• And, there is an app for determining the current speed (in MPH or km/h) using GPS.
  
• I had pre-downloaded movies, music, and TV shows from my Plex media server for viewing on down time such as preparing for dinner, flying on the plane, waiting for a show to start, etc. I believe Hulu and Netflix also have a offline mode, but I don't subscribe to those services.
  
• Oh yeah, audiobooks and e-books.
  
• Celebrity also has a on-board app for checking the daily activities. Currently, it's deployed on three ships, but more are coming.
  
• Banking apps for checking balances while in port.
  

If I have done a good job in my pre-cruise preparation work, then my work stuff should have taken care of itself. I'm not going to be spending $300 on a Internet package. Any updates can be taken care of while I am in port.

[royalcruz]

I was on millennium last week and have Verizon. There was rarely any service on the ship. The ports had mostly good service, Icy Straight Point was spotty at best. My husband couldn't get any data service on his 3G phone in Vancouver. While cruising, Verizon sent me a warning about cruise ship calls being $2.99/minute, and data service being unavailable.

[DrKoob]

I will throw another wrinkle in. Where are you sailing from? Out of Seattle you are too far at sea on your sea days to get any coverage because the ship goes out around the outside of Vancouver Island.

 

If you sail out of Vancouver, you will go up the actual Canadian inside passage. We did that in April of this year and if I was outside on our verandah or on deck I could connect whenever we passed a village. Keep in mind that I was connecting to Canadian cell service.

 

Verizon has been mentioned and I have no idea what their cell situation is in Canada. On the other hand, we are with T-Mobile and we have coverage for no extra charge, pretty much everywhere in the world that has cell coverage. We have used them all over Europe at no charge (given, it is often 3G and not 4G) and had great reception. Had no problems otherwise all over Alaska and in Victoria at the end of the trip.

 

Jim