Cell phone

I am going on a 10 day princess cruise to Alaska (lots of time at sea). I am a doctor and own my own practice and have to be available by cell phone for patients to reach me 24/7. I don't actually need to talk that many minutes, but need to always be reachable. What is the cheapest option for me to have a cell phone on all the time to receive calls. Thank you for your help.

You really need to talk with your cell phone service provider. There are some areas with little to no access for cell phones.

When we used Verizon to check up on an aged family member while in port we got hit with roaming charges.

While onboard ship one can make expensive phone calls - please refer to the FAQ's provided by Princess in the Cruise Answer Book.

This link will bring you to a web page on the Princess website with a good explanation of your options.

I think you are going to have a major issue if you have to be available 24/7....

We found in Alaska there was no service at least 50% of the time when we were not in port. The shipboard cell service was not activated or unavailable.

I am going on a 10 day princess cruise to Alaska (lots of time at sea). I am a doctor and own my own practice and have to be available by cell phone for patients to reach me 24/7. I don't actually need to talk that many minutes, but need to always be reachable. What is the cheapest option for me to have a cell phone on all the time to receive calls. Thank you for your help.

Check out phones from INMARSAT.

They are available on Amazon

They work anywhere in the world where there is no cell service.

Howard

Check out phones from INMARSAT.

They are available on Amazon

They work anywhere in the world where there is no cell service.

 

Howard

That would be the best choice! ;)

Don't you have anyone who can take call for you?...you will be ON VACATION.:D:eek:

When we used Verizon to check up on an aged family member while in port we got hit with roaming charges.

I am curious which ports you made your calls in that incurred roaming charges. Alaska is part of the US and as I understand VZN service, it is no different than using one's phone in NYC. Now if you called from Victoria I can understand the charges. We will be in Alaska in May and had planned on checking email and catching up back home while in Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway. Anyone else experience roaming charges in Alaska?

Don't you have anyone who can take call for you?...you will be ON VACATION.:D:eek:

Cell phone calls are $2.49/ minute.

Thinking the same thing. All the private practice Drs we know have a rotation with other docs who cover for each other.

FWIW, DH is a legal sole practitioner and does call the office once a day.

Cell phone calls are $2.49/ minute.

 

Thinking the same thing. All the private practice Drs we know have a rotation with other docs who cover for each other.

FWIW, DH is a legal sole practitioner and does call the office once a day.

If the service is available.

Don't you have anyone who can take call for you?...you will be ON VACATION.:D:eek:

Like a telephone answering service?

Howard

Regarding roaming charges in Alaska -- sometimes the Canadian border is so close that your phone picks up towers across the border, you don't even realize it but you are international roaming.

I am curious which ports you made your calls in that incurred roaming charges. Alaska is part of the US and as I understand VZN service, it is no different than using one's phone in NYC. Now if you called from Victoria I can understand the charges. We will be in Alaska in May and had planned on checking email and catching up back home while in Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway. Anyone else experience roaming charges in Alaska?

I was in Skagway, Whittier, Juneau, and Ketchikan and could use my Verizon cell service without incurring roaming or other charges. Even stopped in a mobile store in Juneau to get verifications that Verizon worked. No service on sea days, Glacier Bay, nor Victoria.

PS...Alaska and Hawaii are both Verizon covered states.

Regarding roaming charges in Alaska -- sometimes the Canadian border is so close that your phone picks up towers across the border, you don't even realize it but you are international roaming.

I agree.

I'm assuming you're sailing from San Francisco. I'm in a similar situation when it comes to calls, and am actually en route to Ruby Princess to board today, my sixth sailing this year on the West Coast and Alaska.

Your itinerary has essentially three chunks - the times between SF and Juneau and then Ketchikan back to SF, the day in Victoria, then the time in Alaskan territorial waters. I'm going to deal with them as three very different problem sets per my experienxe.

Straight up, turn-on-your-cell-phone-and-it-works service will kick in about :45 after you lose coverage on the way out of SF and end about 4 am on the way in. This service provides very high quality voice but rates vary widely. T-Mobile is $6.99/minute. Sprint is $2.99 AT&T is $2.49. As of this writing, there are no calling plans or bundles with any of these carriers that actually drops this rate. If an AT&T rep tries to tell you otherwise, they are wrong and I have the bills to prove it.

Verizon is where it's at. A la carte, voice is $1.79/minute. But a $40 "Preferred Bundle" comes with 100 minutes of voice and 25 cents/minute overage. By far this is the best offer out there.

Making it work is easy. Make sure your account is configured for international roaming before you leave home. Know your voicemail passcode as the stored shortcut can be flaky. Onboard, you'll see "CellAtSea" as the carrier. Texts are usually free to receive with all four carriers. Sending is 25 cents or so.

In Victoria, there are similar a la carte or plan options that also apply for about an hour before docking and an hour after departure. T-mobile is free, AT&T is either $1/minute a la carte or various Passport data packages with voice rates from $0.35-$1/minute. Sprint is $0.59/minute a la carte or $4.99/month to use your usual plan minutes with "Worldwide Voice". Verizon has the hot deal here - $2 gets you 24 hours of being able to use your plan minutes in Canada, with Travel Pass.

When you're in port, coverage is decent from all the carriers and as others have pointed out, you are not roaming.

The awkward point is the time when you are in Alaskan waters but not in port. The Cell@Sea system is locked out but there isn't cell coverage either.

I have no problem placing calls using Skype for Business or similar apps on the ships that have Princess@Sea Messenger and thus have had internet upgrades. But that doesn't solve your exact problem if you need to receive calls, because you'd have to be constantly logged in to WiFi at $24/hr roughly.

If you're using an iPhone, push messages come in reliably and at no charge. But this doesn't help you if you aren't be messaged from an Apple device.

This leaves two options to know that someone wants to talk to you. One is to have calls sent to the Inmarsat number for the ship. These are listed under keeping in touch at http://www.princess.com/learn/faq_answer/onboard/in_touch.jsp

The one currently listed for Golden Princess is the one for when she is in the South Pacific. Check close to your departure date for a current number. It is almost universally cheaper to use the Inmarsat number than the 800#-and-credit card thing. The call will be transferred to your cabin and callers can leave a voicemail. You could easily return the call by Skype in this case.

If you have an balcony cabin, you can viably use a satellite phone for flawless coverage at all times. How I have done it is use a Bluetooth headset with a Globalstar handset and the extra-cost Bluetooth adapter left on the balcony. Rates are between $0.65-$2.50/minute on rentals. How I will do it the next time is the Iridium Go! which works with your smartphone and is intended for just this sort of thing.

I was in Skagway, Whittier, Juneau, and Ketchikan and could use my Verizon cell service without incurring roaming or other charges. Even stopped in a mobile store in Juneau to get verifications that Verizon worked. No service on sea days, Glacier Bay, nor Victoria.

 

PS...Alaska and Hawaii are both Verizon covered states.

This is exactly what we experienced from our cell carrier. We've also had full service, no additional charges in the USVI.

Cellular at sea, when available, is $2.49 per minute in addition to any charges from your provider. Note, not always available.

I am a retired physician...and while I don't know what your specialty is, I don't see how you can be of much help to your patients when you are not there. I've spent a fortune paying someone to cover my patients while I am out of town. You can work this several different ways. Typically I've paid a "per diem" rate for coverage of the little stuff and the doc on call billed any surgical procedures, hospital stuff, etc. on his own. In other situations, I've been able to trade "time" with someone--swapping every other weekend or whatever. Of course, that was 10 years ago when we really took care of our patients. Now, it seems that the docs here put an message on their answering machine stating that if this is an emergency, go to the ER. Otherwise, they will be back/office will be open X day/time.

Don't you have anyone who can take call for you?...you will be ON VACATION.:D:eek:

My father was a physician and had a solo practice but was part of an exchange. The doctors would take turns being on call on the weekends and if one was on vacation, his or her calls would be directed to one of the other doctors. My father was one of those old fashioned types who would make the rounds of any patients in the hospital (he missed a lot of our concerts when my siblings or I were in orchestra, chorus, plays, etc), but if he was out of the country on vacation, he wanted his patients to be able to get in-person care when needed.

I am curious which ports you made your calls in that incurred roaming charges. Alaska is part of the US and as I understand VZN service, it is no different than using one's phone in NYC. Now if you called from Victoria I can understand the charges. We will be in Alaska in May and had planned on checking email and catching up back home while in Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway. Anyone else experience roaming charges in Alaska?

When you're on the ship, calls can bounce off Canadian cell towers and you incur roaming charges.

Between this doc needing to be reachable by phone 24/7 and wanting to lie to disregard the law about the husband leaving the ship in Juneau so that he can get back to work early, I think this family has chosen the wrong vacation.

First two posts on CC.

Between this doc needing to be reachable by phone 24/7 and wanting to lie to disregard the law about the husband leaving the ship in Juneau so that he can get back to work early, I think this family has chosen the wrong vacation.

 

First two posts on CC.

Stranger and stranger.

Between this doc needing to be reachable by phone 24/7 and wanting to lie to disregard the law about the husband leaving the ship in Juneau so that he can get back to work early, I think this family has chosen the wrong vacation.

 

First two posts on CC.

Probably chose the wrong profession too with that attitude towards ethics.

You really need to talk with your cell phone service provider. There are some areas with little to no access for cell phones.

 

When we used Verizon to check up on an aged family member while in port we got hit with roaming charges.

 

While onboard ship one can make expensive phone calls - please refer to the FAQ's provided by Princess in the Cruise Answer Book.

In AK you got hit with roaming charges by Verizon? That is typically domestic for Verizon unless you have an extremely limited plan. I have used my Verizon service all over AK, and it is just like being at home as far as charges.

Regarding roaming charges in Alaska -- sometimes the Canadian border is so close that your phone picks up towers across the border, you don't even realize it but you are international roaming.

Maybe in Skagway, but no where else.

Between this doc needing to be reachable by phone 24/7 and wanting to lie to disregard the law about the husband leaving the ship in Juneau so that he can get back to work early, I think this family has chosen the wrong vacation.

 

First two posts on CC.

I will also add that with her attitudes, I would certainly not want to use her as my personal physician.

DON