Cruising with your Canadian Cell Phone!

 

I've always warned everyone going on a cruise about the dangers of getting a huge cell phone bill if you use your cell phone at sea.  The US carriers have offered a cruise travel plan and now Rogers is offering one too!  I checked for someone going to Alaska. It's called Roam Like Home + Cruise Option.  

You need to go online and make sure your cruise line is on the eligible Rogers list.  Most major cruise lines are.  

Current Rogers cruise pricing (2025–2026)

Daily Roam Like Home (Cruise version):

• $18/day for International Roam Like Home + Cruise

• Includes 180+ destinations plus cruise ship coverage

• Data capped at 1GB per 24 hours, then slowed to 512 kbps

If you don't want to subscribe to this service, make sure your phone is in airplane mode and use the ship's wifi. You can use What's App or Facetime on the ships wi-fi for no extra charge. It works fine. I've used it on many cruises. If you have Starlink wi-fi you can video call!

I looked up Telus Cellular and found this:

TELUS Easy Roam does not apply while at sea on a cruise ship. When your phone connects to the ship's satellite network ("Cellular at Sea"), you will be charged premium pay-per-use rates: $7.00 per minute for voice calls, $0.75 per sent text message, and data is either blocked or billed at exorbitant per-megabyte rates.

Before you sail, call your carrier to make sure you are being offered the right plan!