phone cards from vancouver and alaska

[kandb]

We just found out that we won't be able to use our cell phone in Vancouver, and probably not in Alaska(or it might be roaming if we are lucky). Does anyone have a good suggestion for a phone card that we could use to call home?

[ute_fan]

We had an MCI one that was purchased at Costco that worked fine. My daughter used it frequently to check in with the boyfriend. :)

[unvrknow]

We used an MCI phone card from BJ's. 670 minutes for $19.99. We were able use our cell phone when in port though.I enede up using the phone card anyway from phone booths in ports instead of using up my minutes on the cell. One thing to keep in mind, you might have a long wait for a pay phone right on the dock as the ships' crew use those phones to call home and since some of them only call home once a month they stay on the phone forever, go into town to use a pay phone.

Have a great time, you'll love Alaska.

[Giantfan13]

As far as cell phones, I have T-Mobile, and you can forget using them anywhere in Alaska. I called and they told me they have no towers there, and if you can get another networks line, in a roaming form, the charge is 49 cents a minute. Same goes for Vancouver.

I then have been looking into phone cards. I googled this and came up with many, many cards, but they all have a catch. Some charge a fee each week, or month (maintenance)others have a significant fee for a pay phone use. Most cards, have extra fees when calling FROM Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Make sure you check that out. My son has an account with Net2phone. they are an outfit that charges 3.9 cents a minute anywhere in the US. I called them and their charges for Alaska are basically 16 cents a minute, with a 49 cent connection charge from a pay phone. They also have what they call Penny Talk, where it costs 1 cent a minute anywhere in the US, with a standard 49 cent connection fee. this works great if you talk for more than 14 minutes. Anyway, I found that this Net2phone is the best deal, but you have to start an account with them. http://www.net2phone.com. I've used them for a coouple of years for my kids in college. Good solid company with great features.

[anniecat]

I got a phone card from the post office...they told me there's no extra charge for Alaska calls...the fine print is so confusing I'm not sure. Does anyone know if there are any problems with the USPS card?

thanks Anniecat and her MOM for her 80th birthday cruise

Amsterdam-HAL August 8 2004

[dustyroad]

anniecat

 

 

i had no idea that the post office had phone cards. i will have to check inot this since i want one for my use and also to give to the room steward.

please let us know how it worked in alaska when you get back. thanks

[ukcruisefan]

We used an AT&T one we bought at Sam's. There was a 14 minute surcharge everytime we used the card in both Alaska and Vancouver. We found they were taken at every phone we tried and the surcharge was always the same so we did not have to look for a certain phone.