Legend cell phone service (Alaska)

[shutuph]

I wondered about cell phone service. I was reading somewhere that people used cell phone data.

I know the general rule is don't call from the ship because it will jump to the ship but can you use shore data from your cell phone? Is there extra charges to use cell phone data from the ship? What about texting?

 

Thanks

[Frank12]

If you are on shore in Alaska, and have a nationwide phone plan, you can call from Alaska ports with no additional charges. We called home from Juneau with no problem.

[musikfans]

We got a strong (3G) signal in each of our ports in Alaska last week. The bandwith, however, was pretty well gobbled up by heavy cruiser usage. You could call and text but any heavy data usage, evening texting a photo, was hit or miss.

[qshari]

I left my phone in airplane mode for fear of extra charges but I made phone calls, went on social media, and sent texts using wifi in port.

[isaiahsnana]

You will only be able to use your cell phone while in port, otherwise the ships service will trump your cell usage resulting in large cell phone bills if you happen to leave it out of airplane mode after sailing from the port.

[flatlander321]

I found out the hard way that Tracfone does not work in Juneau, Skagway, or Ketchikan. That was with a tracfone smart phone (uses Verizon cell network) or a tracfone flip-phone (uses AT&T network).

[Travel4Us]

I found out the hard way that Tracfone does not work in Juneau, Skagway, or Ketchikan. That was with a tracfone smart phone (uses Verizon cell network) or a tracfone flip-phone (uses AT&T network).

 

We were thinking of taking a tracfone to Alaska. Are you saying in port they use the ships service and use more of your prepaid minutes? Could you please clarify.

[flatlander321]

We were thinking of taking a tracfone to Alaska. Are you saying in port they use the ships service and use more of your prepaid minutes? Could you please clarify.

 

I had no cell service on 2 different tracfones the entire cruise including port time. There was no option to pay a higher rate, the phones just said "no service" when turned on. I expected no service while at sea, but did expect at least 1 phone to work in the Alaska port towns. We initially lost service driving across the border to Vancouver the night before the cruise left. Service didn't start again until Seattle 9 days later.

 

We used the ship cabin phone ($2 per minute) to make a few short calls. We also purchased the mid-level ship internet plan ($60 for the cruise) to allow emails to/from home and to read normal weather, news, etc.

[Carmic]

I found out the hard way that Tracfone does not work in Juneau, Skagway, or Ketchikan. That was with a tracfone smart phone (uses Verizon cell network) or a tracfone flip-phone (uses AT&T network).

 

Was able to use our tracfone flip in Skagway last August. Did a land tour the rest of the trip so could not tell you about Juneau or Ketchikan.

 

Carol

[flatlander321]

One clarification on the tracfone flip-fone: it did not have service even in Seattle for 5 days after the cruise was over. It did not start working until the day after we returned home. I was ready to call tracfone and ask what was the problem, but gave it one more try and it found service. It continues to work fine, but not working in Seattle surprised me even more than not working in Alaskan ports. That flip will likely be swapped for another tracfone smartphone soon.

 

The tracfone smartphone had service as soon as we were close to Seattle, but it never worked in Juneau, Skagway, or Ketchikan even after being turned off and back on.

 

I did some research while on the ship and tracfone is clear about no service for US-based phones in Canada. The potential exception is if you are close to the border and lucky enough to pick up a US tower. I should have researched this better before the trip, but I did not and was not prepared for loss of communication. Learn from my mistake.

 

If there is a next cruise, a basic walkie-talkie will be packed for each person just for worst-case comm around the ship and dock. In Juneau, after Avis screwed up our car rental and our cell phones didn't work, I was literally using arm signals to communicate with those still on ship and where to meet. Thankfully, a kind soul in the Juneau visitor center took pity and let me use his cell phone to verify our Avis reservation in Skagway (next port day) was still good.

[Anyislandwilldo]

flatlander321, thanks for this information. I will be sure to do some research with tracfone before I leave for our cruise. Mine is a Samsung Galaxy 4 with Tracfone.

[sherryf]

The tracfone smartphone had service as soon as we were close to Seattle, but it never worked in Juneau, Skagway, or Ketchikan even after being turned off and back on.

 

I did some research while on the ship and tracfone is clear about no service for US-based phones in Canada. .

 

But all of those ports are in the US, not Canada! :confused: Your phones should work there as part of your US coverage, unless they specifically don't work in Alaska.