Hi Chatkat and Wanda,

Not really Canadian, lol, I'm american living in Canada, my husband is the Canadian, but that doesn't matter.
I have a Bell Cell phone. Thank you for answering my questions. The internet will serve no purpose to me as far as I can see. The only person I want to stay in touch with is my 90 year old mom who doesn't work the net.

I do have a question about the pay phones on the dock please? Is there a line when you get off the ship to use them? I mean is it easy to get one or are they swamped? Someone told me you have to line up for the use of one?

I've travelled a lot, but I'm so nervous for this trip, first my ears bother me when I fly and I hope the ear planes I got will work as I've nerver used them. I hope my husband doesn't get sea sick.

I'm not worried about the tea issue, I think I'll just bring some green tea bags along for just in case as I do whenever I travel.

Back to the cell phone question, do they work when in port (especially in Vancouver) and you are on the ship?

Where in Canada are you, I'm in Montreal.

To answer about white tea, I've only seen it in bags once at a resto actually. I buy the leaves. It's a very high quality tea that is supposed to have more "health anti-oxidents" than green.

I'm basically all set, I did the pharmacy trip and bought lots of stuff for just in case. Bouth the Bonnie, the sailors bands for hubby and myself, and anything else I could think of. I ordered "air right air filters" for the plane to ward off germs, ear planes, The last thing hubby will want to do is go to a pharmacy when he is on land and can take pics. I'm not worried about forgetting anything. I just hope I don't catch a cold before/during the trip. My ears hurt enough when I have to fly without a cold.

Thank you for helping me and talking to me.

Hi Mrs.Moose :)
I was going to look up your coverage map for you as that is the only way you will know if you get reception butI am afraid I have never heard of Bell? Is that the actual name of the company? Different companys will vary when it comes to the "no signal". As will different cell phones, my girl friend and I were in the car one day, driving through the mountains of PA, she got a signal, I didn't

High Mrs. Moose, from Toronto.

As for Bell Mobility, you should go to their website and have a look to see if you can find the info that way. If not, then you should phone them.

I am also a Bell Mobility subscriber, and their coverage is pretty good in Canada, and roaming in the states. But don't know about the offshore situation. You may just want to phone them and have a chat about coverage along the coast and in Alaska, or you can look here: http://www.bell.ca/ecare/PrsCSrvMgAcWlsHlpCtr_Maps.page?REF=maps&contentpage=maps

As suspected, it's good up to the end of Vancouver Island, and then nada.

Hi Karen, how nice of you to do that, the offical name I believe is Bell Mobility (Bell Canada)It's probably the largest one here in Montreal.

This phone thing has me all worked up obviously. I even spent the money to call the Mariner to "test the reception" from ship to shore.

thank you so so much

It also looks like it's analog coverage only in Alaska, so take your charger along!

Hi thank you so so much for helping me with this, sorry, but does that mean it will work when the ship is in port in Vancouver?

I will definitely bring the charger, I remember analog. Thank you all so much for helping me.

According to your cell phone company's website, here is where you will get coverage:






If you have an analog phone, you will have coverage in the purple and yellow areas. It appears that Vancouver falls in a yellow area so you should have reception.

Editing to add: Different cell phone models vary when it comes to "lost signal" You won't know for sure til you try :)

It will definitely work in Vancouver, and up through the yellow region on the map, it will be digital coverage.

Looking at the map, it covers the port cities.

Mrs. Moose, we have to call home everyday since we are the primary contacts for a 94 year old mother in law in a "Retirement Hotel".

You will be in port daily to be able to get and receive calls. We used the phone at sea once and a 5 minute call was outrageously expensive, but I had received an internet message that our office was broken into and I wanted to dicuss it live - not via internet.

Alaska, while remote, is not like going to a foreign port. Is is a State in the USA and while a few things might be limited or more expensive than say Los Angeles, you will not lose contact with those at home, you will be able to have a conversation with everyone, you can read signs and menus and you will be in the midst of breathtaking scenery.

We were on the Mariner last summer, and had a running joke with our friends about who's cell phone worked now - we had couples with the same carrier who often could only get service on one of the phones. With about four phones, we had universal coverage. I have a Treo 600 GSM, which I've been told by Cingular will work anywhere in French Polynesia - I'll know next week.

David

David,

I bought a Motorola 600 and it worked all over FP on the Tmobile network - you roam over the Vini carrier there.

Hi everyone, first I want to say a Big Big Thank You to everyone for answering my concerns and questions and for takeing the time and trouble to do this and to sending me the map.

I have a digital phone which is supposed to go to analog when it's only analog.

I've travelled around the world so I'm not so concerned about menus etc, I can get by in 3 languages and my husband is perfectly bi-lingual.For the last 15 years, I've avoided trips other than places where phones were readily available just like calling your next door neighbor. Actually the only time phones were a problem was 26 years ago when overseas calling was harder.

My problem is that I had so many confliting stories. I called the Skagway tourist office for something, and I happened to ask about pay phones and the guy said, yes we have them but good luck getting a line, on a land pay phone so that freaked me a little. Then one tour operator said, good luck as the lines are so long, then one said, forget cell phones, they don't work in Alaska so I got freaked out.

Y'all have comforted my nerves to a great extent.

I will tell hubby to bring his cell phone as he has a different model than mine.

I called around to try to rent a satallite phone, they are supposed to work everywhere even on the ship if you are on deck regardless where you are in the entire world as long as you can see the sky they are supposed to work, but they are quite big, like the very old orginal cell phones and I can't see lugging that thing around. Buying one is around $2,000US. I did the math on the rental and figured I could just pay for ship - to - shore if I wanted and it would come out to the same thing. I think for the time I needed it and charges etc it would have cost me $500 so I figured I might as well just use ship-to-shore if I get desperate.

If I may ask another question, when you were there, were there lines for the pay phones? Or were they readily available?
thank you everyone so very much appreciated.

Our Alaskan cruise was in 2001, so I'm sure cell phones have only improved. Mark's youngest had a crisis when we were in Victoria, so I used my cell phone to make several calls dealing with that. Then I called my mother from our cabin balcony while Mark was whale-watching in Juneau.

Our carrier is Cingular, but at least there are towers to be accessed in those two spots. As far as pay phones, I didn't even look at them, sorry.

Hi Pam,

Wow, called from the cabin in Juneau, this is wonderful news. I hope it will work while I'm on the ship in Vancouver before it leaves the dock. this is good news. I just spoke to Bell Mobility Canada, and they told me I have the best phone I can buy in Canada, they don't offer GMS, SIM cards or anything like that, (no surprise since my hubby can't even find a decent pair of size 13 shoes here, lol or a 37 sleeve shirt).

Thank you that is good news. Most appreciated

I used my phone (Verizon) on that same cruise too from the cabin and I have routinely used my phone while in port on all of the cruises I've taken with the exception of the last PIP/Tahiti, when I used hte T-Mobile Motorola roaming with the VINI service.

Oh ChatKat, that is also wonderful news, I'm feeling better and better. Actually being able to make a call from the cabin, wonderful news. I asked Radisson and they said they "can't tell me". Thank you so much, this is really good news!!!

Mrs. Moose, I wanted to ease your fears a little too. We cruised Alaska in 2002 and had no problem back then using our cell phones.

We stayed overnight in Anchorage prior to our cruise, and I heard my cell phone beep at about 4:30 am letting me know I had a message - my mom had forgotten about the time difference.

In fact, I remember having a long conversation with my mother while I was in Juneau. I even called my husband who was on the ship to meet me at the restaurant next to Taku Fisheries to have lunch!

Plus, I'm sure service is even better now. You're going to have a wonderful time. Alaska is amazing!

Hi Andrea N and everyone,

I'm starting to feel more positive and less nervous well still nervous but at least better about the phone thanks to all of you.

This is my dream trip of my life and it's my celebration of 5 years cancer free( breast) so I really want to thank y'all for helping me. Y'all took a lot of time and trouble to reply and I feel more reassured about the phone now.

I'm so used to calling my mom 3 times a day even when I see her almost every day that it's a hard habit to break and just the thought of not being able to call was makeing me a total wreck so for what it's worth, y'all helped me more than you know and a BIG THANK YOU.

MrsMoose, not to worry, and DON"T! You are going to have a great time on your cruise! My cell phone worked in the ports, just not at sea. We all hope you will come back here and post about your trip. You have spared no expense in getting the best excursions available privately and on the ship, and we would like to know how it turns out. Many of us are going back to Alaska in August 2006 on the same week you are one this year. Please post on your return!

And in the meantime, ask questions before you leave.

Thank you so much, and of course I'll come back and post how it went. I get home on the 8th as I'm staying over one night in Vancouver after the cruise as I didn't want to have to rush to the airport and stress about missing a flight or the other alternative was to arrive home in the middle of the night (vancouver is 3 hours earlier than where I am) and hubby and I didn't want that either. So after the 8th as soon as I catch up with necessities I will post (should be in a couple of days after I get back if not sooner).
I hope I can come back even if I don't have a cruise on the horizon. If we like cruising and all goes well, I want to do the PG Tahiti one. From the looks of it, from the itenerary you can get off the ship every day so it would be "less stressful" in some ways. I've flown 13 hours non-stop many years ago quite a few times, just have to convince hubby 13 hours isn't the end of the world.

Thank you to everyone for helping me. I will start a new "question" I hope it's ok.

A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL for takeing your time and trouble to help me