Repositioning cruises from Japan to Alaska/Canada

[drcam]

Hi AFFers,

I am considering going on a repositioning cruise from Japan through to Alaska/Canada in early to mid May, they have some pretty good deals.
Silversea have a 15 day trip ending in Anchorage/Whittier for $7500 solo all in.
Royal Carribbean and Holland America obviously have similar for much less, possibly less than half.

My question is that on the sea days, with purchased packages if applicable, would the internet be good enough for me to work (I need to make internet telephone calls)?
The thought of a working holiday in the North Pacific punctuated by eating shrimp and a bit of exercise sounds rather novel to me.
It's time for me to have the gap year I didn't have in my youth. Mid-life crisis edition!

Many thanks
Cam

 

[MELso]

Hi AFFers,

I am considering going on a repositioning cruise from Japan through to Alaska/Canada in early to mid May, they have some pretty good deals.
Silversea have a 15 day trip ending in Anchorage/Whittier for $7500 solo all in.
Royal Carribbean and Holland America obviously have similar for much less, possibly less than half.

My question is that on the sea days, with purchased packages if applicable, would the internet be good enough for me to work (I need to make internet telephone calls)?
The thought of a working holiday in the North Pacific punctuated by eating shrimp and a bit of exercise sounds rather novel to me.
It's time for me to have the gap year I didn't have in my youth. Mid-life crisis edition!

Many thanks
Cam

Not sure about other lines, but HAL has Starlink now and it's pretty good.

HAL offers three tiers: Surf (only through Have it All), Premium and Stream. I've always had Premium and it works well enough for Youtube (and is listed as supporting wifi calling too, although I've never used it). I've been on cruises where some Yanks were complaining that the Surf one didn't work with wifi calling - even though HAL's own site states this.

So stick with Premium if you go HAL and you should be okay. If you book Have It All, you can pay $US5 per day to upgrade - well worth spending the extra for.

 

[SYD]

Hi AFFers,

I am considering going on a repositioning cruise from Japan through to Alaska/Canada in early to mid May, they have some pretty good deals.
Silversea have a 15 day trip ending in Anchorage/Whittier for $7500 solo all in.
Royal Carribbean and Holland America obviously have similar for much less, possibly less than half.

My question is that on the sea days, with purchased packages if applicable, would the internet be good enough for me to work (I need to make internet telephone calls)?
The thought of a working holiday in the North Pacific punctuated by eating shrimp and a bit of exercise sounds rather novel to me.
It's time for me to have the gap year I didn't have in my youth. Mid-life crisis edition!

Many thanks
Cam

At sea wifi (and mobile/cellular*) can vary wildly from ship to ship as well as itinerary (and coverage).

I'm assuming this is the cruise you're' looking at?

Cruise from Tokyo to Seward (Anchorage, Alaska) - MO260430015

TRANSOCEANIC luxury cruises from Tokyo to Seward (Anchorage, Alaska) aboard Silversea cruise ships. Discover the itinerary and excursions! Departs Apr 30, 2026

www.silversea.com

Googling suggests Silver Moon has Starlink, so that's a good start. @drron or @RooFlyer might be able to provide some recent experience on how reliable Silversea ship's wifi is. If I counted correctly, there's seven (7) back to back sea days across the north Pacific. Hopefully it works fine!

We're doing Celebrity Sydney to Honolulu via NZ and Tahiti, there's still quite a few sea days also but bought the basic wifi/drinks package at the time of booking (which was SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than buying on board). Plus we subsequently upgraded both during the Black Friday sales - again, significantly cheaper - even with our status discounts). Anyway, we'll see how it goes.

*mobile connectivity is the other thing to consider.

"Cellular at Sea" (which is similar to inflight cellular) lets you make/receive calls/SMS over the ships cell network via satellite connection (usually separate to the wifi satellite). Not all Oz telcos support it and it's not cheap, but most should allow you to at least receive SMS for free. My amaysim plan doesn't support CaS but my phone happily connected to the ships cell network and I could receive SMSs.

 

[drron]

Silversea also has Starlink and even the free internet is OK if not many passengers. The premium service is often offered at a discount if you buy it for the whole cruise.
Take a look at the Starlink maps. Close to China and Russia it’s not good.

 

[ausfox]

We travelled from Singapore to Melbourne last Nov/Dec. The included poverty pack allows one device at a time per cabin. It worked reasonably well along the way with access virtually all the way.

 

[Pushka]

I know Viking and Celebrity have starlink which depending on the cruise line may require a premium wifi plan.

I'd do this cruise in a heart beat.

 

[Pushka]

At sea wifi (and mobile/cellular*) can vary wildly from ship to ship as well as itinerary (and coverage).

I'm assuming this is the cruise you're' looking at?

Cruise from Tokyo to Seward (Anchorage, Alaska) - MO260430015

TRANSOCEANIC luxury cruises from Tokyo to Seward (Anchorage, Alaska) aboard Silversea cruise ships. Discover the itinerary and excursions! Departs Apr 30, 2026

www.silversea.com

Googling suggests Silver Moon has Starlink, so that's a good start. @drron or @RooFlyer might be able to provide some recent experience on how reliable Silversea ship's wifi is. If I counted correctly, there's seven (7) back to back sea days across the north Pacific. Hopefully it works fine!

We're doing Celebrity Sydney to Honolulu via NZ and Tahiti, there's still quite a few sea days also but bought the basic wifi/drinks package at the time of booking (which was SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than buying on board). Plus we subsequently upgraded both during the Black Friday sales - again, significantly cheaper - even with our status discounts). Anyway, we'll see how it goes.

*mobile connectivity is the other thing to consider.

"Cellular at Sea" (which is similar to inflight cellular) lets you make/receive calls/SMS over the ships cell network via satellite connection (usually separate to the wifi satellite). Not all Oz telcos support it and it's not cheap, but most should allow you to at least receive SMS for free. My amaysim plan doesn't support CaS but my phone happily connected to the ships cell network and I could receive SMSs.

We did this on Celebrity Millenium around Japan and wifi was great. Posted large size pictures on multiple sites. Premium package for two wifi per person. .

 

[VPS]

I know Viking and Celebrity have starlink which depending on the cruise line may require a premium wifi plan.

I'd do this cruise in a heart beat.

I'm considering it

 

[straitman]

From our experience of using and listening to the experience of others, Starlink appears to be pretty much universal now. Assuming that works well enough I see no need for Cellular at Sea etc as we talk to people on FB Messenger, WhatsApp or Signal without issue. ie so long as you have internet you can communicate with any and everyone via one of many methods.

 

[RooFlyer]

My question is that on the sea days, with purchased packages if applicable, would the internet be good enough for me to work (I need to make internet telephone calls)?

I’ve only done Ponant and SilverSea - in every case the free on board Wi-Fi is absolutely useless.

Googling suggests Silver Moon has Starlink, so that's a good start. @drron or @RooFlyer might be able to provide some recent experience on how reliable Silversea ship's wifi is.

I was on the Silver Wind in Antarctica and the Wi-Fi was brilliant throughout. I was on Silver Moon in the Caribbean and I don’t think I paid for the better Wi-Fi as we were close to ports and I was able to use my cellular. But again, the free Wi-Fi was useless.

But I nearly had an altercation with the Coms guy. I asked, - “ before I fork out for the premium package, can you tell me what speeds I can expect. Not promise, but since this cruise has been done dozens of times before, what sort of speed I can expect..”

Absolutly refused to give me any idea.

So @drcam, I’d say buy the premium package anywhere and hope for the best..

 

[drron]

On the other hand on our Silversea Cherry Blossom time around Japan 12 months ago the free wi fi allowed me to do my usual TR without problems and use What's app calls a couple of times.
I did use the premium wi fi on our Silver spirit cruise 3 months ago because they discounted it by ~ 60%. It certainly was better.

 

[SYD]

I did use the premium wi fi on our Silver spirit cruise 3 months ago because they discounted it by ~ 60%. It certainly was better.

and that’s a good reason to book some cruises direct during promos etc. They’ll often bundle combos of on board credit, drinks packages and wifi for a fraction of the rack rates. During the lead up, there’ll be opportunities to upgrade during other promos. Things you mightn’t see going via a TA.

 

[odysseus]

Was on Silver Moon last month, didn't use internet for calls, but the included service was 'adequate' for browsing i.e not great. Agree with rooflyer - if you want voice calls upgrade to premium.

 

[drcam]

How is southcentral Alaska in the middle of May? Would the scenery still be brown? Or have variations in temperature of late made things turn green early?

Fairly cheap prices and lack of mosquitoes aside, I am likely still too stingy to waste $7500 on Silversea when it could be invested and still 20 years to retirement.

Pity there is no direct flight Asia to Alaska.

 

[markis10]

RC seem to be having issues, Anthem of the Seas is limping back to Sydney with mechanical issues that already sees the next cruise cancelled. That may continue to upset the schedule moving forward.

 

[Pushka]

How is southcentral Alaska in the middle of May? Would the scenery still be brown? Or have variations in temperature of late made things turn green early?

Fairly cheap prices and lack of mosquitoes aside, I am likely still too stingy to waste $7500 on Silversea when it could be invested and still 20 years to retirement.

Pity there is no direct flight Asia to Alaska.

We were on an Alaskan cruise from Vancouver from about 20 May in 2019. Most days were absolutely brilliant. Vancouver was hot on one day and cold the next. The week before we'd been in the Grand Canyon and one day was 90F, two days later we got one of those polar vortex we hear about and it snowed! Went from summer dress to Alaska padded jackets. Have booked about this time again. No mosquitoes unlike warmer months, wonderful snow scenery and green.

Grand Canyon in May



Vancouver hot



Middle Alaskan Coast, near Seward.