Cell phone options in Alaska

[clojacks]

We are going to be doing a cruise/tour in August that takes us up into Denali. We have reason to have contact with home and have heard that Sprint doesn't work up near Denali Main Headquarters. Can anyone confirm this or offer alternatives? One of the excursion companies up there recommended the "Go" phones or some pay as you go alternative....

[KAYEF]

I will just reply as I've done often before.................I have a CHEAP, pay as you go, TracFone and I've had service everywhere on every cruise with it!

Even in the "middle of the ocean" on a TA, when they got on the horn to say the cell towers had been activated...............we dialed immediately to wake up someone who lives on the West Coast (we were still in bed)...........IT WORKED!

I've never tried it when ashore in Europe.............but, it worked in Vancouver and Victoria, BC!:)

And, since this is an Alaska thread, it works everywhere we've been in AK, too.................and we've been way north, away from the sea.

[PennyAgain]

Trac-phones no longer work on cruise ships that are at sea with their Cellular At Sea transmissions working.

 

No phones of any sort work in most of Denali National Park as there are no towers.

 

The usual run of cell phones work in the hotels on the cruise towers.

[clojacks]

I'm mainly only concerned with the type of phone that might work near the Park Headquarters while we are there for a couple of days, or when in port down the Coast of Alaska. Any experience with those locations would be appreciated.

[PennyAgain]

The phrase 'Park Headquarters' has me confused. The hotels are not in Denali National Park. The Visitor Center in Denali NP is where the shuttle and tour buses load up. Beyond the Visitor Center there is no cell service as there are no cell towers.

 

Is this what you want to know?

[clojacks]

Sorry Penny. I'm mainly interested in the area near the Princess Lodge, as that is where we will be staying and would be interested in checking in back home from.