Roaming on a Cruise While at Sea

[susanbray]

So now Roam like home includes international rates and for the Carribbean its $10 per day. I am sailing on the Celebrity Silouette next month. Starting in Fort Lauderdale , at sea for 2 days then in Haiti and Dominican. I called Celebrity Cruises  and they have a tower on the ship and said I have to call my carrier to see if they have access to towers while at sea. 

Does Rogers Roam like home pick up service while at sea in the Carribbean? Or do I have to buy access to the ships wifi for those days?

Thanks

***Edited Labels*** 

[RogersMoin]

Hello, @susanbray

Welcome to the Rogers Community Forums! 

Very interesting question, I believe you should be able to pick up the service but may not be covered under Roam Like Home. Perhaps @lockdown2341 may have more insights on this topic.

Cheers,

RogersMoin

[lockdown2341 · Accepted solution]

I do actually. I attempted a response last night but the forums were giving me issues.

Roam Like Home would only cover you when you're on land and picking up the towers in the other countries. So when you're on land, you're billed the $10.00/day for whatever you use your phone for.

It doesn't provide any coverage while on a cruise ship out at sea, so you'd need to look into what the rates are for the cruise ship. Generally what would happen is that you would use your phone while on the ship and they would bill Rogers their rates, and then we would charge you what they charged us on your bill.

[RogersMoin]

Thank you, @lockdown2341 for the clarification. I appreciate the detailed reply and your contribution in the Community!

@susanbray - Hope this helps. Let us know if you have further questions, thank you.

Cheers,

RogersMoin

[jkroesen]

OH MY... Now this is good information - Note to SELF! call only when on land if I'm ever lucky enough to go on a Cruise...

Have an amazing time J JTJ

Click here for details

Click here for details

[susanbray]

Thanks everyone. I will use my plan while in port and buy minutes from the cruiseship while at sea. It's expensive though, 4 hours for around $150 US$. So Rogers plan is a bargain when you compare to the ship rates:)

[lockdown2341]

You're welcome. It's information I've picked up doing work with cell phones for quite a few years. Cruise ships always charge their own rates and are never covered by your carrier. And they are always expensive.

Enjoy your time.

[susanbray]

Just checked the price for the Internet, it's only $109 USD about $145 CAD for 4 hours.😜Unlimited is $199 USD or approx $265 CAD,  90 minutes is $59 USD or  about $78 CAD.

So while at sea will do my download of emails, log off and type replies offline and logon to send. You have to save those minutes😄 Just won't do much social media while at sea, can save that for my $10 per day Rogers plan while in port.

You gotta do what you gotta do!

[carlorobazza]

A warning to anyone with Rogers cell plans: "Roam like home" isn't.

I was going on a cruise so I called Rogers to find out about their Roam like Home plan. "Sure, no problem", they said. It's $5 per day in the US and $10 per day in the Bahamas to use the phone just like I do at home.

I came home to a $90 data charge. Turns out when you're on the water, you are using maritime satellites and you get charged "maritime data rates". NOWHERE on their web site did I see it mentioned. The Rogers rep said nothing about it when I called and told them I was going on a cruise and there was absolutely no indication when I switched from US coverage to the maritime satellites. Heck, when I go across the border into the US I get a text message about it, so why couldn't they tell me when I was switching to the maritime satellites?

The best they could do was credit me for half the data charge.

So, my advice is, when dealing with Rogers, make sure you ask all the questions you would never think of or you'll wind paying for it.

[lockdown2341]

@carlorobazza If the agent gave you the impression 'Roam Like Home' worked on a cruise ship, hopefully someone was listening to that conversation because the agent needs to receive some additional training on that I think. No wireless carrier I can think of has ever offered a roaming package for cruise ships, even before RLH came out.

Not sure what "Maritime Data Rates" are but you basically are roaming on the cruise ship's personal cell phone tower, and they bill ROGERS for whatever you use and then those charges are placed on your invoice, same as any other country where RLH service isn't offered.

Also I'm not sure why there isn't some sort of text message confirmation of this like when you enter the USA, but it is good idea. Obviously not everyone will know this sort of thing.

[carlorobazza]

If the ship had it's own cell tower, I would imagine I would have had service for the whole voyage down the eastern seaboard, but I didn't. Once I lost service, I put my phone in airplane mode, as well as during the "at sea" days, because I assumed I wouldn't have coverage AND if I did have coverage, I didn't want to be charged the Roam Like Home fees. I only wanted access when I was in port.

That being said, I shouldn't have to search through forum posts to see if there are any fees, I'd be charged for that weren't mentioned on the main site.

[lockdown2341]

Strange. I assumed all the cruise ships had their own cell phone towers for coverage. Oh well, that's my bad.

I will agree with you it isn't something that you should have to search for. I just find it odd that the agent wouldn't have mentioned that if you specifically stated you were going on a cruise ship.

[0123456]

Why can't Rogers negotiate like Verizon and other non-Canadian carriers?  Here is the cruise ship info for Verizon for the Holland America line:

Holland America Zuiderdam

International Pay As You Go

• Pay only when you use your device.

Only pay for what you use during your trip abroad. Additional data charges apply for multimedia messages sent while outside the US. To prevent high data charges, we recommend subscribing to the International Data Plan if you plan to send multimedia messages (MMS) while traveling outside the US.

Holland America Zuiderdam

$1.79/minute
$0.50/message sent
$0.05/message received
$0.25/MMS message sent
$0.25/MMS message received
$0.002 per KB or $2.05 per MB

[Alisonh]

Very useful information!

Two additional questions:
1. If you are using a wifi enable tablet that is not connected to a Rogers account, how would they bill your Rogers account?
2. Is it charged in US funds and then converted on my bill?

Thanks!

[RogersMoin]

Hello, @Alisonh

Welcome to the Rogers Community Forums! 

Thank you for joining and posting your queries in the Community. In your scenario, you would directly purchase the Internet service from the cruise ship and connect your WiFi enabled tablet. Hope this helps. 

Cheers,

RogersMoin

[Bill___]

I suppose that this information is now on the Rogers website, but the rep, in this case, did say "In the Bahamas".  On a cruise ship is not "in the Bahamas" it is on a maritime services provider which uses satellite.  

I have seen the mention that the "ships bill rogers etc".  Actually the "ships" employ various maritime carriers, and depending upon that carriers' agreement with rogers, the bills are determined.  I have noticed that some US carriers have far cheaper packages on ships than the Canadian carriers, so there is some room for negotiation.  Make sure on a boat that you have roaming turned off on your cell phone so that you don't mistakenly connect to the ship cell tower rather than the ship wi fi...

[RL1029]

It's about time Rogers started making some deals with RCI etc, a little cheaper than what they charge!

[Kimbo0614]

Hi,

I guess what I am asking is.... When the boat is parked at Port (example mexico)

If you choose to stay on the boat all day and not get off the physical boat....but u have roam from home. will u get charged roaming fees

[RogersYasmine]

Hello @Kimbo0614,

Welcome to the Community and congratulations on your first post! 👍

When it comes to roaming while on a cruise ship when it is docked or tendered at a foreign port, how you are charged will really depend on which signal your device picks up while docked. Often times, a cruise ship will have it's own network available. Typically, cruise ship networks are turned on once ships are at sea and usually shut down when ships are within 20 kilometres of land. If you are able to connect to a wireless tower located at the destination you are visiting, then it should use your Roam Like Home service as long as that destination is eligible, however, if the cruise ship's network is on, then Roam Like Home will not work.

For your reference, here are the current pay per use rates for roaming while connected to a maritime network (on a cruise ship) versus the current Roam Like Home rates:

While on a cruise ship:

Talk: $4/Minute

Text: 75¢ / Sent Text Message and 25¢ / Received Text Message (without a roaming or domestic text plan or add-on)

Data: $15/MB

While on Roam Like Home:

U.S - $7 / day per device, for a maximum of up to $105 on your monthly bill

All other International destinations - $12 / day, for a maximum of up to $180 on your monthly bill

I hope this information is useful! 😊

RogersLaura

[johnx65]

i know this is an old, reused thread, but it is about cruise rates, so i thought it easier to just revive it, so the history can be kept in one thread.

so my question is: if i purchase the $20/day internet service on the cruise, can i use WIFI calling on my phone to send/receive calls/text as well as internet? is there a way to make it use the shipboard wifi instead of the ship cell towers?

[carlorobazza]

I would imagine you would do something like: put your phone in airplane mode, then turn on WiFi.