Cell Phone coverage on Alaska Inside Passage route...

[NavyCruiser]

We have a 44 person family cruise this summer, Alaska inside passage route, roundtrip Vancouver to Juneau & back.

On other ocean cruises, we all usually turn on airplane mode, & a few will pay for the cruise ship's wifi.

But just wondering if there's good  TMobile, Verizon, or ATT 5G voice, data, & texts service avail during the entire Alaska inside passage route, while underway cruising, besides on docking days in port cities.  

That way, we can safely turn off wifi & prevents inadvertently pick up ship's wife to prevent racking up $$$, by mostly using the carriers' 5G or 4G/LTE signal.

We've looked at TMobile's coverage map of Alaska's inside passage, but it looks sorta sparse between the cities:

https://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/coverage-map

Also, we plan on having our large group on WhatsApp for text msgs.  Good idea?

Would like to hear from those who has done Alaska inside passage before to give us some good tips...?

Thanks,

[NavyCruiser]

We have a 44 person family cruise this summer, Alaska inside passage route, roundtrip Vancouver to Juneau & back.

On other ocean cruises, we all usually turn on airplane mode, & a few will pay for the cruise ship's wifi.

But just wondering if there's good  TMobile, Verizon, or ATT 5G voice, data, & texts service avail during the entire Alaska inside passage route, while underway cruising, besides on docking days in port cities.  

That way, we can safely turn off wifi & prevents inadvertently pick up ship's wife to prevent racking up $$$, by mostly using the carriers' 5G or 4G/LTE signal.

We've looked at TMobile's coverage map of Alaska's inside passage, but it looks sorta sparse between the cities:

https://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/coverage-map

Also, we plan on having our large group on WhatsApp for text msgs.  Good idea?

Would like to hear from those who has done Alaska inside passage before to give us some good tips...?

Thanks,

[smplybcause]

Except for when you're getting close to the ports, you'll be picking up the ships cell tower and not a shore one. There's huge chunks of area that have no cell towers for one. And for a lot of the time you're not close enough to shore to reach one. 

 

You'll get cell signal a fair bit longer than other cruises, but not endless connection. My personal rule of thumb was if I'm close enough to shore to tell what type of model car just drove by I'm close enough for my cell to work. And if there's no cars driving by there's probably not a cell tower. 

 

There's apps that will tell you what tower you're connected to, but you risk your phone downloading a lot if you haven't connected for a bit... which defeats the purpose. I only used it when we were sailing away to confirm I was still on shore towers. 

 

Whatsapp is data only. So unless you're connecting to either the ships wifi or a cell tower the plan to use that for communication on board has flaws. 

Edited April 8, 2022 by smplybcause

[joeyancho]

It's Alaska.   There is no cell coverage in the last frontier.  It's miles and miles of untamed wilderness.   

[Tlbecker1]

We were there 4 weeks last fall and they didn’t even have internet in any of the restaurants.  We were told that each establishment pays for each person that is using it.

[Mary229]

Another option is the Navigator app has a chat feature, free of charge 

[CruiserBruce]

Unless you are near a town, you are not going to get cellular service from the ship, reaching shore. Alaska is a huge state with thin population. There are huge areas with no population or roads to have towers nearby. I would absolutely not expect to reach a cell tower if the ship isn't docked, unless close to a town.

 

This question is discussed frequently on the Alaska board.

[fsdj1097]

26 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Unless you are near a town, you are not going to get cellular service from the ship, reaching shore. Alaska is a huge state with thin population. There are huge areas with no population or roads to have towers nearby. I would absolutely not expect to reach a cell tower if the ship isn't docked, unless close to a town.

 

This question is discussed frequently on the Alaska board.

Agree 100%.  After you leave Vancouver, and until you're fairly close to Juneau, you will not have cell service.  On the run from Skagway, through Glacier Bay, and then south to Ketchikan, you will not have cell service, until fairly close to Ketchikan.  

[Biker19]

7 hours ago, NavyCruiser said:

On other ocean cruises, we all usually turn on airplane mode, & a few will pay for the cruise ship's wifi.

Do the same in Alaska. 

[SRF]

If you have cellular service turned on (NOT in airplane mode) there is no way to ensure that you do not connect to the Cellular at Sea service.  You would have to check the display, OFTEN.

 

The Royal app does have some rudimentary text messaging capability.  It costs $1.99 per person, per day.  But it does not alert you to incoming messages, you have to check your phone.

 

Otherwise, you need to buy internet from the ship.  Surf is sufficient for this use.

 

All the calling/texting apps (Whatsapp, Viber, Messenger, Hangouts, Chat, imo, Kik) require some form of data connection (wifi or cellular data) to operate.  But if you have wifi, you don't need an app, you can use wifi calling/texting.

[smokeybandit]

Ships turn off their own cellular within 12 miles of shore. You'll either get your US carrier or none at all in the inside passage.

[Sebbiesgrammy]

This will make using ArriveCan almost impossible to access which, as I understand, is required within 72 hours of entering Canada by air, sea, or land so returning to Vancouver requires entry into the app.  Hopefully cruise lines will offer a good solution.

[seamonkey408]

On 4/7/2022 at 9:22 PM, NavyCruiser said:

We have a 44 person family cruise this summer, Alaska inside passage route, roundtrip Vancouver to Juneau & back.

On other ocean cruises, we all usually turn on airplane mode, & a few will pay for the cruise ship's wifi.

But just wondering if there's good  TMobile, Verizon, or ATT 5G voice, data, & texts service avail during the entire Alaska inside passage route, while underway cruising, besides on docking days in port cities.  

That way, we can safely turn off wifi & prevents inadvertently pick up ship's wife to prevent racking up $$$, by mostly using the carriers' 5G or 4G/LTE signal.

We've looked at TMobile's coverage map of Alaska's inside passage, but it looks sorta sparse between the cities:

https://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/coverage-map

Also, we plan on having our large group on WhatsApp for text msgs.  Good idea?

Would like to hear from those who has done Alaska inside passage before to give us some good tips...?

Thanks,

Here's what ATT told me when I called to find out the best option for our cruise later this week. Our service in Canada is the same as in California... BUT we have to be on land. While at sea if we don't don't turn off the cellular(call/texting) then our phones will want to roam and will rack up roaming fees while we are onboard. They suggested if we wanted to use streaming or date to purchase it from the ship as it was a cheaper option then the package ATT offered for cruise ships. Then when we are on land/port we can turn back on our cellular, it will push voicemail, text, email thru to our phones and we can use them as we regularly do as long as we are on land.  I think I will install the Whatsapp so if our dog sitter/adult children need to get ahold of us there is a way also. 

[gilboman]

On 4/9/2022 at 5:48 AM, Sebbiesgrammy said:

This will make using ArriveCan almost impossible to access which, as I understand, is required within 72 hours of entering Canada by air, sea, or land so returning to Vancouver requires entry into the app.  Hopefully cruise lines will offer a good solution.

no...it's within 72 hrs of embarkation for cruises...not within 72 hrs of arrival... cruiselines will make sure you have it filled out/submitted even before you board. 

 

and of course..the ship has internet as well (paid of course)

[donaldsc]

Another thing about AK is that some areas have only 1 carrier.  I have been in several places in AK where the only carrier was Verizon.  If your phone does not have horizon and remember that Verizon has a different cell phone protocol than the other carriers, you are out of luck.

 

DON

[Sebbiesgrammy]

6 hours ago, gilboman said:

no...it's within 72 hrs of embarkation for cruises...not within 72 hrs of arrival... cruiselines will make sure you have it filled out/submitted even before you board. 

 

and of course..the ship has internet as well (paid of course)

Well that makes sense for Canadian embarkations, but lots of cruises begin in Alaska and don't get to Vancouver, first stop in Canada, for 7 days.  And I don't know when you last sailed HA, but internet service, even paid, has never been reliable.  Cell service can be difficult to find also.  I'm sure HA had a plan for those of us on a long land tour with them that culminates in an inside passage cruise out of Alaska, but I'm waiting to hear from those currently on those tours to hear about their actual experience.  Our itinerary does 4 border crossings in 18 days.

[bookbabe]

4 hours ago, Sebbiesgrammy said:

Well that makes sense for Canadian embarkations, but lots of cruises begin in Alaska and don't get to Vancouver, first stop in Canada, for 7 days.  And I don't know when you last sailed HA, but internet service, even paid, has never been reliable.  Cell service can be difficult to find also.  I'm sure HA had a plan for those of us on a long land tour with them that culminates in an inside passage cruise out of Alaska, but I'm waiting to hear from those currently on those tours to hear about their actual experience.  Our itinerary does 4 border crossings in 18 days.

No matter when you arrive in Canada, if you are visiting or arriving via cruise ship, the Canadian government wants you to fill out ArriveCan within the 72 hours before boarding, NOT before arriving in the Canadian port.

 

[NavyCruiser]

On 4/27/2022 at 9:10 AM, bookbabe said:

No matter when you arrive in Canada, if you are visiting or arriving via cruise ship, the Canadian government wants you to fill out ArriveCan within the 72 hours before boarding, NOT before arriving in the Canadian port.

 

We're flying into Vancouver on the 16th, staying 3 nights in Vancouver, then boarding cruise ship on the 19th.  So do we do the ArriveCan 3 days before the 16th or the 19th...?

[CruiserBruce]

1 hour ago, NavyCruiser said:

We're flying into Vancouver on the 16th, staying 3 nights in Vancouver, then boarding cruise ship on the 19th.  So do we do the ArriveCan 3 days before the 16th or the 19th...?

ArriveCan needs to be done before you arrive in Canada.

[Woody14]

and you will need to do again before boarding

[bookbabe]

4 hours ago, NavyCruiser said:

We're flying into Vancouver on the 16th, staying 3 nights in Vancouver, then boarding cruise ship on the 19th.  So do we do the ArriveCan 3 days before the 16th or the 19th...?

As the PPs have said, you will likely do an ArriveCan entry twice, once in the 72 hours before you arrive in Canada on the 16th and listing the hotel stay, and then again for the cruise while you are in Vancouver and that second one is the ArriveCan receipt you’ll show to the cruise checkin people at embarkation.

 

You won’t be able to board the plane to Vancouver without that first ArriveCan receipt, and you won’t be able to board the cruise ship until you show them the second one.

 

I hope that at some point they update the app to allow people to complete one entry for both the initial entry into Canada and the cruise a few days later, but at this point unless you are flying in on embarkation day I think the system makes you enter it as two separate trips.

[CruiseMom82]

4 hours ago, NavyCruiser said:

We're flying into Vancouver on the 16th, staying 3 nights in Vancouver, then boarding cruise ship on the 19th.  So do we do the ArriveCan 3 days before the 16th or the 19th...?

Both, I believe. Once before you fly, and once before you board the ship. It's a different form each time, one for air travel and one for marine travel. Make sure you put all the dates of your cruise on the second one.