Will my Blackberry work on my way to Alaska?

[dasey]

We will be on the Star in May, so will my Blackberry, Sprint network, work during this time. I was on hold for over 20 minutes waiting for Sprint rep and decided to try CruiseCritic knowledge!! If not on sea days, what about when we get to Alaska?? If not, will a nationwide calling card allow me to call home from Alaska??

Rhonda

[Payday6]

But say a little prayer every night that it WILL NOT!!!!!

[Ilivetogo]

I can't tell you about Sprint or your Blackberry specifically, but I would highly suggest you go ahead and call them (again) to be sure with your specific plan.

I checked for my August cruise to Alaska (I have Verizon) and here's their thing. (It may be close to what you have -- you can use this to give you an idea of what you MAY have.)

-Calling from Alaska is "just another state" -- so it's just as if I was standing at home making a call. No higher/further charges.

-Calling from the Canadian port will run me $.69 per minute.

-Calling from the ship while at sea will run me $2.49 per minute.

-Texts while out at sea will be $.50 per text to send and $.05 to receive.

Again, the only way to be completely sure is to go straight to your own company and ask them. Every plan is different.

[MMastell]

We will be on the Star in May, so will my Blackberry, Sprint network, work during this time. I was on hold for over 20 minutes waiting for Sprint rep and decided to try CruiseCritic knowledge!! If not on sea days, what about when we get to Alaska?? If not, will a nationwide calling card allow me to call home from Alaska??

Rhonda

 

You will have voice coverage in all Alaskan and Canadian ports. It depends on your plan if you will be charged roaming fees in these ports. You will also have voice coverage, while at sea, but it will be a minimum of $2.95/minute.

 

You will have 3G coverage in Juneau and Ketchikan. I.E. email and web access.

 

Take care,

Mike

[travelteach326]

The above posts have great information for you to consider. I agree, I would call Sprint to find out their prices while on the Ship. Your signal will bounce off the Ship's tower so the price might be different that if you are in port.

[kingsbury]

At sea between Whittier and Vancouver we had cell/internet service on PDA approximately 1/2 of the time. There is a lot of empty land in Alaska, and even when we could see land from the ship quite often we had no service.

[mking8288]

Our group of 5 were on the Star last Sept doing Seattle/Alaska RT and while en route to our ports of call, only AT&T (no 3G's on Motorola Q smartphone) and Verizon (1X CDMA) had working signals in certain sections of the ship - won't work inside the cabins/balcony - bouncing signals off ship's own tower from the satellite. Signal on main deck (#7) and #12 by the pool/buffet area is good. It's roamming so you will run up charges billed to your home carrier. We just turned ours off to save battery until we're close to the ports of call as there are few & far in between land-based signals on the inside passage.

 

Sprint/Nextel and T-Mobile had poor to no signals as the group was borrowing my Verizon phone for calls while I use the AT&T Moto Q to do limited email/web surfing near the ports - except for Prince Rupert, where we couldn't even roam at all. Star's internet cafe on deck 9 is open 24/7 and toward end of each cruise, offered specials or discounted rates at lowered unit cost if you must use it to check email/do airline check-ins, etc. - if you feel the need to or must stay connected.

[joycep13]

We will be on the Star in May, so will my Blackberry, Sprint network, work during this time... If not on sea days, what about when we get to Alaska?? If not, will a nationwide calling card allow me to call home from Alaska??

Rhonda

 

I was able to use my Sprint cell phone in Juneau (on land) a few years back with no problem (no roaming or additional charges. etc, just a standard call). However, as several people have mentioned, if you're using your cell phone while at sea you'll incur expensive ship service charges, plus any add'l costs Sprint might impose.

 

To see exactly where Sprint has service in Alaska, including how weak/strong the signals are those areas, check out their coverage map for Alaska at http://coverage.sprint.com/IMPACT.jsp?language=EN

 

Cheers,

Joyce

[dasey]

Thanks to all of you for sharing your thoughts! I guess to be safe, I will contact Sprint as I don't want any huge roaming charges to hit me when I return!! Thanks again.