RFGuru Posted October 16, 2022 #1 Share Posted October 16, 2022 Hi friends, I am looking to book Australia domestic cruise (Brisbane to Cairns). Does anyone know how far cruise ship travel away from the coast? Is there any Telstra or Optus mobile reception on the cruiseship when it travels along the QLD coast? Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aus Traveller Posted October 16, 2022 #2 Share Posted October 16, 2022 You would be able to use your mobile but much of the time it will access the ship's satellite system resulting in expensive phone calls. We restrict our phone calls to when we are in port when our mobile shows that we are accessing a 4G network. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare arxcards Posted October 16, 2022 #3 Share Posted October 16, 2022 You will have an intermittent signal from the land at times. As mentioned, if you are going to have your phone turned on, make sure you don't have global roaming - unless you are prepared to pay zone 5 roaming costs for reception via the ships' cellular at sea network. Once you leave Cairns/Port Douglas, you head well out to sea for Willis Island, and you won't have a land signal until you approach the Sunshine Coast late on the last night. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NSWP Posted October 16, 2022 #4 Share Posted October 16, 2022 Just leave your phone at home or turn it off. Why do you need your phone on a cruise? You are supposed to Escape Completly and Come Back New. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RFGuru Posted October 16, 2022 Author #5 Share Posted October 16, 2022 @NSWPFully agree with you, however, unfortunately I have to be online every second day due to nature of work. If the Telstra mobile reception is not reliable I will consider to buy an Internet package from P&O. Thank you Geoff @arxcardsand Austraveller @Aus Traveller 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chengkp75 Posted October 16, 2022 #6 Share Posted October 16, 2022 Basically, if you are more than 15 miles offshore, there won't be any cell signal other than the ship's. If you can't see land, you won't have cell reception. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SinbadThePorter Posted October 17, 2022 #7 Share Posted October 17, 2022 1 hour ago, chengkp75 said: If you can't see land, you won't have cell reception. Even if you can see land there are several dead spots along the east coast. Areas around Fraser Island, Shoalwater Bay and anywhere north of Cooktown, have no reception. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare MMDown Under Posted October 17, 2022 #8 Share Posted October 17, 2022 55 minutes ago, SinbadThePorter said: Even if you can see land there are several dead spots along the east coast. Areas around Fraser Island, Shoalwater Bay and anywhere north of Cooktown, have no reception. Is that because they don't have towers in those regions? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare MMDown Under Posted October 17, 2022 #9 Share Posted October 17, 2022 Just now, MMDown Under said: Is that because they don't have towers in those regions? There used to be spots on GC where mobile phones didn't work but I don't know if that is still the case. I know Telstra has the best coverage. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hogbay Posted October 18, 2022 #10 Share Posted October 18, 2022 On 10/16/2022 at 1:59 PM, RFGuru said: Hi friends, I am looking to book Australia domestic cruise (Brisbane to Cairns). Does anyone know how far cruise ship travel away from the coast? Is there any Telstra or Optus mobile reception on the cruiseship when it travels along the QLD coast? Thank you. The shipping channel the reef pilot use go's around the Great Barrier Reef no cell services. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare OzKiwiJJ Posted October 18, 2022 #11 Share Posted October 18, 2022 Just now, Hogbay said: The shipping channel the reef pilot use go's around the Great Barrier Reef no cell services. It depends where you are going. Part of the shipping channel is inside the GBR, mostly the northern bit I think - we just cruised through it yesterday. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare MMDown Under Posted October 18, 2022 #12 Share Posted October 18, 2022 9 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said: It depends where you are going. Part of the shipping channel is inside the GBR, mostly the northern bit I think - we just cruised through it yesterday. We cruised inside the GBR on Ocean Princess with beautiful coastal views. I was surprised to see a bigger ship closer to the shore. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hogbay Posted October 18, 2022 #13 Share Posted October 18, 2022 16 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said: It depends where you are going. Part of the shipping channel is inside the GBR, mostly the northern bit I think - we just cruised through it yesterday. Op is going Brisbane to Cairns. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hogbay Posted October 18, 2022 #14 Share Posted October 18, 2022 16 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said: It depends where you are going. Part of the shipping channel is inside the GBR, mostly the northern bit I think - we just cruised through it yesterday. Op is going Brisbane to Cairns. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aus Traveller Posted October 18, 2022 #15 Share Posted October 18, 2022 1 hour ago, Hogbay said: The shipping channel the reef pilot use go's around the Great Barrier Reef no cell services. All the maps show that the shipping route up the Queensland coast is inside the GBR. 🙂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare MMDown Under Posted October 18, 2022 #16 Share Posted October 18, 2022 54 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said: All the maps show that the shipping route up the Queensland coast is inside the GBR. 🙂 That is why all ships must have a pilot through the GBR. We were lucky our pilot gave us commentary all the way to Darwin. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare OzKiwiJJ Posted October 18, 2022 #17 Share Posted October 18, 2022 24 minutes ago, MMDown Under said: That is why all ships must have a pilot through the GBR. We were lucky our pilot gave us commentary all the way to Darwin. We had a short commentary around 5pm last night. On one cruise a few years ago we actually went through the Torres Strait in daylight and had excellent commentaries by the reef pilot at various stages. It was brilliant. We got very, very close to shore in a couple of places. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare OzKiwiJJ Posted October 18, 2022 #18 Share Posted October 18, 2022 1 hour ago, Hogbay said: Op is going Brisbane to Cairns. Going up to Cairns the ship will probably be inside the reef but if the ship then goes to Willis Island before returning to Brisbane it will come down outside the reef so long way out to sea. On our current cruise we went to Willis Island before Cairns so well out of sight of land for most of those two days. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hogbay Posted October 18, 2022 #19 Share Posted October 18, 2022 2 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said: Going up to Cairns the ship will probably be inside the reef but if the ship then goes to Willis Island before returning to Brisbane it will come down outside the reef so long way out to sea. On our current cruise we went to Willis Island before Cairns so well out of sight of land for most of those two days. There is no phone reception , The way cruises ships go . You can go by water from Brisbane to Cairns and have phone reception . 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RFGuru Posted October 20, 2022 Author #20 Share Posted October 20, 2022 On 10/18/2022 at 11:31 AM, Hogbay said: The shipping channel the reef pilot use go's around the Great Barrier Reef no cell services. When I return from New Caledonia on P&O, Telstra network appeared the net arrival back Sydney. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RFGuru Posted October 20, 2022 Author #21 Share Posted October 20, 2022 Thank you everyone for your help. I don't mind purchase P&O Wifi. Anyone has any experience with P&O wifi? What is the speed like? I just need to access AWS cloud. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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