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*** 

[RL1029]

As long as you purchase the shipboard wifi package then you can do so. Be sure to make sure your phone is in airplane mode (if you are savy with your phone you can simply turn roaming data off), then turn wifi on, connect to the ship's wifi (not/never ship's cell tower) and then use Skype, whatsapp or messenger or any wifi based messaging app. As long as you don't answer any calls you will not be charged any additional Rogers charges.
I leave my phone on, with cellular data turned off. That way I can still recieve phone calls and see who called. I DO NOT answer the calls. I simply see the number of a missed call, and then call the back using Skype. We also video call our kids every day while we're away. Hope this helps.

[DanielGS]

Came home after a 10 day cruise and discovered we were charged for 173 outgoing text messages while on the ship.  We had roaming off and cellular off and only used the ship's WiFi (which we had prepaid).  Maybe I'm being naive but I thought the text messages would be transmitted via WiFi as opposed to the cellular network.  I used my Telus phone and my wife used the Rogers account.  Was billed on Rogers but not Telus.

[b-ry]

@DanielGS,

text messages are always (except one scenario) transmitted by the cellular network - that one scenario where they aren't transmitted is when you have a device capable of WiFi Calling, to which you are billed the roaming country's standard per-message rate.

[James-Dee]

Hi,

I was wondering what settings should I put my iphone on if I don't want to be charged for using the ships internet/calling services while at sea? I understand that i can use roam like home when ashore, I just don't want to arrive home and find I have a huge cell phone bill greeting me.

Thanks

James

[RL1029]

Please read my response above. Thx

[James-Dee]

What if I don't want to purchase the shipboard package?

[RogersYasmine]

Hi @James-Dee,

If you do not wish to utilize the cruise ship's network and/or Wi-Fi service, please ensure your device is set to Airplane mode and that your Wi-Fi is disabled in your device settings.

Just to set your expectations, 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 planning to use our Roam Like Home service in one of our eligible destinations, as an added precaution, I would recommend waiting until you have set foot on land before removing Airplane mode.

RogersLaura

[Pauly]

in my honest opinion, when ever your on vacation weather its a cruise ship or a caribbean destination, Its always best to remember this, its your VACATION and making and receiving phone calls may not be your priority while on vacation, and also realize its EXPENSIVE to roam on another network. You spent all that money to go on a nice vacation or cruise and why would you want to ruin it by incurring extra charges to your cellular bill? I would just not bother roaming, (unless you are rich and can afford it) turn on Air plain mode when you are in the air plane flying to your vacation, so to avoid unexpetted surprises, then turn on wifi and connect to the wifi, they might charge you for wifi connection but if they do its not billed to your cellphone so u pay for it upfront and its probably gonna cost you less and you can still keep in touch by emailing your friends and family or using apps like whatsup or iMessage or RCS messaging. good luck and bon voyage and have fun on your trip

[brush]

Does Rogers have any agreements with Maritime Communications Partner AS (MCP) or Wireless Maritime Services (WMS)?  These are 2 services that Princess Cruises mentions for using cell phones at sea.

[RogersZia]

Hello @brush,

Welcome to the Community!

The carrier can vary depending on the cruise company. We do not offer any roaming packages for cruise ships.  The pay-per-use rates are $4 per minute, $0.75 per sent text message and $15 per MB.

Hope this helps!

RogersZia

[Cory5]

Cruise ship received text msg's

I'm going on a cruise in December and the ships are not included in roam like home. The postpayment for text messages is 0.75$/msg. Do the messages that are received from other people cost .75 as well as the ones sent?

[57]

I'm on PAYGo and when roaming in Spain or France, the incoming texts were $0.30, while outgoing were $0.75.  The charges may depend on your plan and location so you may have to visit the website and find out how much Rogers charges under your specific plan for roaming texts.  I don't know what "location" a cruise ship uses - you may need to contact your travel agent...  Some cruise ships can charge exorbitant amounts for cell phone (or even internet) services.

You could also try PMing the moderators here with your information and they may be able to provide you with an answer.

https://communityforums.rogers.com/t5/Rogers-Community-Forums-Blog/Get-to-know-your-Community-How-To...