Cellular signal in Alaska?

[DaleJr]

Hi everyone, I have a silly question that I think I know the answer to. We are about to go on a cruise out of Seattle that has port of calls in Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, and Victoria BC on the way back. Also cruises through Glacier Bay. Is it likely that we will have our regular (Verizon Wireless) cell signal or will it be the very expensive International roaming?

 

We've been on past Caribbean cruises including one out of New York and basically shut our phones off, same thing at Ports unless you could find wifi. Not that I plan to be on my phone much on vacation, but may have the urge to upload a cool photo to Facebook. ;)

[zqvol]

Hi everyone, I have a silly question that I think I know the answer to. We are about to go on a cruise out of Seattle that has port of calls in Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, and Victoria BC on the way back. Also cruises through Glacier Bay. Is it likely that we will have our regular (Verizon Wireless) cell signal or will it be the very expensive International roaming?

 

We've been on past Caribbean cruises including one out of New York and basically shut our phones off, same thing at Ports unless you could find wifi. Not that I plan to be on my phone much on vacation, but may have the urge to upload a cool photo to Facebook. ;)

 

 

You will have Verizon in your ports. No expensive roaming. Victoria is expensive roaming. No service at Glacier Bay.

 

Sometimes I think people forget that AK is a US state.

Edited May 20, 2015 by zqvol

[DaleJr]

Thank you for the info. I realized it's a US state, just not connected so I wasn't sure how it worked. A few years ago my parents cruised to Hawaii and had to get an International Sim card, so I thought it may be like that.

[CruiserBruce]

Thank you for the info. I realized it's a US state, just not connected so I wasn't sure how it worked. A few years ago my parents cruised to Hawaii and had to get an International Sim card, so I thought it may be like that.

 

Are they living in the US with a US cell phone company? Being in Hawaii, in and of itself, doesn't require an international sim card, if you live in the US or have a US cell phone. We travel to Hawaii regularly. US cell phones work there just fine.

 

Did your parent's cruise include places other than Hawaii? Mexico? Sail from Canada? Go beyond Hawaii to (non-US) Pacific islands? That might require an international sim card, or at minimum, an international phone plan.

Edited May 20, 2015 by CruiserBruce

[eclue]

Verizon service is crystal clear...not so sure about Sprint and AT&T...

eclue:rolleyes:

[DaleJr]

Are they living in the US with a US cell phone company? Being in Hawaii, in and of itself, doesn't require an international sim card, if you live in the US or have a US cell phone. We travel to Hawaii regularly. US cell phones work there just fine.

 

Did your parent's cruise include places other than Hawaii? Mexico? Sail from Canada? Go beyond Hawaii to (non-US) Pacific islands? That might require an international sim card, or at minimum, an international phone plan.

 

Yea, at the time they lived in the US with a US cell phone. This was a few years back, they had one of the smaller cell companies; Unicell I think. Maybe the coverage has gotten better or theirs at the time just didn't get coverage in Hawaii.

 

I just looked at the Verizon Wireless coverage map and see Hawaii does get great coverage. It looks like Alaska is very spotty though. It's not really a huge deal, just curious if I can upload a selfie of me next to a glacier or something. Or on a serious note, get a message from our dog sitter if need. I'm really looking forward to going to Alaska for the first time!

[DaleJr]

Verizon service is crystal clear...not so sure about Sprint and AT&T...

eclue:rolleyes:

 

Thank you!

[Floridanamaw]

We used both AT&T and Verizon while in Alaskan ports with no problems at all. Avoid using it in Victoria if at all possible and Vancouver if disembarking there instead of Seattle like we did. We both had a 30.00 charge for those two places.

[Mercruiser]

Verizon also has coverage coming out of Glacier bay. I know because I called Island Wings from there to book a last minute excursion for the next day. I was probably picking up a cell tower from Gustavas.

 

You'll get the best signal if you go out on deck. I suggest you disable roaming to avoid expensive surprises.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7

[xlxo]

You'll get the best signal if you go out on deck. I suggest you disable roaming to avoid expensive surprises.

Agreed... what's worse than roaming in Canada is roaming on the ship's cellular repeaters.

[TATraveler]

Thank you for the info. I realized it's a US state, just not connected so I wasn't sure how it worked. A few years ago my parents cruised to Hawaii and had to get an International Sim card, so I thought it may be like that.

 

Yours is a valid question. It's only recently that Verizon started bragging about their Alaska coverage. Before that, it could be hit or miss.

 

We had absolutely terrible Verizon coverage in Hoonah, if your ship goes there (Icy Strait Point). Could barely make a call and IX for internet. (We needed to call and email for business purposes.)

[kle50]

Just back from Seattle closed loop. We have Sprint and had no service the entire time we were gone.

[Miss Dot]

Verizon also has coverage coming out of Glacier bay. I know because I called Island Wings from there to book a last minute excursion for the next day. I was probably picking up a cell tower from Gustavas.

 

You'll get the best signal if you go out on deck. I suggest you disable roaming to avoid expensive surprises.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7

 

Were you pleased with your Island Wings tour?

[Miss Dot]

Just back from Seattle closed loop. We have Sprint and had no service the entire time we were gone.

 

Dang it am I reading this correctly no Sprint service in any of the ports of call???? I knew we should have stayed with nTelos

[TinCan782]

Dang it am I reading this correctly no Sprint service in any of the ports of call???? I knew we should have stayed with nTelos

 

We did a Seattle round trip last July, no 4GLTE but did have 3G Sprint in Juneau, Skagway, and Ketchikan (roaming but no roaming charges with our plan). Did not use voice or text but did upload photos to Facebook. Also, with Sprint, we got a special Canada package (special lower rate) for the month ($3.99) "just in case" when we were in Victoria, Fraser and Carcross.

[Illyria]

Dang it am I reading this correctly no Sprint service in any of the ports of call???? I knew we should have stayed with nTelos

I used my Sprint phone in ports just fine, for voice calls, didn't have ability to use the data hotspot with the roaming signal so didn't try.

[slider728]

Sometimes I think people forget that AK is a US state.

 

You ain't kidding there. Back before the internet when you had to actually call operators to mail order things, I would constantly be told Alaska was international. It wasn't that extra shipping charges applied or there'd be a surcharge, it was often, "Alaska is international and not a state."

 

 

I can tell you that I have VZW and I have had no issues with them in Juneau, Haines, Skagway, or Anchorage. I haven't been to Ketchikan in years, so I don't remember how their coverage is.

 

The only problem I had was that my wife had a GSM technology based phone (I didn't realize that when I bought it) that uses Tracfone and that phone would not work at all in SE Alaska.

[tangerinebunny]

 

Sometimes I think people forget that AK is a US state.

 

A Verizon rep informed me that Puerto Rico is a foreign country. So it never hurts to ask. Like Google, Verizon must draw their own maps.

[peety3]

Minor related tidbit: on our recent Alaska sampler, I put my phone in airplane mode before we drove into Canada on our way from Seattle to Vancouver (phone now "locked" in Pacific time zone). Had to make sure I thought through what time to set the alarm for Ketchikan, since the ship and the town were in Alaska time zone but my phone would be in PDT. While in Ketchikan, I took my phone out of airplane mode so I could email my folks and reconfirm our pickup time. Poof! Phone now in Alaska time zone. Later that afternoon, I put my phone back in airplane mode and now it's locked in ADT. Of course, we had to think through what time to set the alarm for our arrival into Seattle since the opposite would now exist.

 

And of course, I was a "dummy": alarm was set for 5:45 (ADT, effectively 6:45 PDT), and once I awoke on my own around 5:25 and looked out the window to see that we were in Seattle and almost docked, I took my phone out of airplane mode. It jumped to PDT, and instantly set off the alarm, which woke my wife. Dummy, dummy, dummy me...

[DaleJr]

Definitely I wanted to avoid was the rate from the ship while sailing! I remember hearing the cost per minute or per text and had the whole family go to airplane mode.

[deborahjo]

When we cruise, only to the Caribbean til this year, we have always paid $30 for international roaming with Verizon. This allows us to use our phones anywhere and anytime with no additional charges. None from the ship either. We turn it on the day before we leave and turn it off a day or two after we get back. Then it is pro rated. The most we have paid is $11. Well worth it.

[sboston06]

We just got back from Alaska and used Verizon while in port. I have an older iPhone and instead of "Verizon 3G" in the upper corner, it said "Extended 3G". I made sure to have my cellular data turned off but I had to have my data roaming turned on. I didn't use it a whole lot, so I'm hoping I don't have a huge bill. My husband has a Samsung with 4G service and he was able to get actual Verizon coverage (I'm guessing mine was in roaming because it would not connect with roaming turned off). Neither of us connected to the ship's wifi or took calls/text while in port. And obviously in Canada, we were in airplane mode.

[Miss Dot]

We did a Seattle round trip last July, no 4GLTE but did have 3G Sprint in Juneau, Skagway, and Ketchikan (roaming but no roaming charges with our plan). Did not use voice or text but did upload photos to Facebook. Also, with Sprint, we got a special Canada package (special lower rate) for the month ($3.99) "just in case" when we were in Victoria, Fraser and Carcross.

 

Thank you for the update; good to know. I'll have to check that out for only $3.99 worth it

[Kristalght]

We just got back on Friday. Hubby and I have AT&T. Great service for phone calls, texting was ok, data was hit or miss, mostly a miss in Skagway

[goncruzn]

I have Verizon and had absolutely no trouble in Ketchikan and Juneau, but Skagway was hit or miss. While on the ship I kept my phone turned off. I only used it in port and had no extra charges for data or otherwise.