Project Fi on a cruise ship

[N4Newbie]

Does anyone have any experience with this?

Most all major cruise lines support Wireless Maritime Services (WMS-Cruise ships with wifi service - used to be "Cellular at Sea", I am pretty certain). Carriers typically treat this as international roaming with significant charges.

What does Fi do?

 

[N4Newbie]

I just did a chat session with Project Fi support and learned that a) Fi doesn't work with Cellular at Sea and b) is not supported in Bermuda. This last part has me wondering though as the British Virgin Islands are supported and Bermuda, like the BVI, is a "British Overseas Territory."

 

[N4Newbie]

Hmmm... As recently as April, 2016, someone reported having excellent service in Bermuda: https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/project-fi/LaQ6Ix_wo1Y

 

[N4Newbie]

Lol. It's funny because Bermuda (where my ship just docked) is some 2,000 kilometers from Jamaica.

I'm connected to a Sprint tower, by the way.

 

[N4Newbie]

And... Just swapped over to a T-Mobile tower.

 

[hallux]

Lol. It's funny because Bermuda (where my ship just docked) is some 2,000 kilometers from Jamaica.

I'm connected to a Sprint tower, by the way.

Bermuda is BEAUTIFUL. If you get the chance, get to Aquarium/Museum/Zoo. We did it as our own "excursion", not through the cruise and had a wonderful experience walking through Hamilton to the bus station once we got off the ferry, then taking the bus over to the BAMZ.

 

[doa70]

Bermuda is BEAUTIFUL. If you get the chance, get to Aquarium/Museum/Zoo. We did it as our own "excursion", not through the cruise and had a wonderful experience walking through Hamilton to the bus station once we got off the ferry, then taking the bus over to the BAMZ.

Might have to try that next time! Generally we always hit Elbow Beach or Horseshoe Bay beach, stop in the Frog and Onion for a pint and lunch and pick up a rum cake (or three) before reboarding (the cruise ship)! To be more on topic, I've always had great AT&T service in Bermuda - at least in Dockyard - and I was wondering how Fi would be there. Might have to take a Fi phone with me next time.

 

[hallux]

Might have to try that next time! Generally we always hit Elbow Beach or Horseshoe Bay beach, stop in the Frog and Onion for a pint and lunch and pick up a rum cake (or three) before reboarding (the cruise ship)! To be more on topic, I've always had great AT&T service in Bermuda - at least in Dockyard - and I was wondering how Fi would be there. Might have to take a Fi phone with me next time.

Ahh, the Frog and Onion, had a good lunch there before heading back into the the old fort.

I didn't have Fi at the time, it wasn't even an option as it was 2 years ago. I would be curious how it works on board.

 

[N4Newbie]

Ahh, the Frog and Onion, had a good lunch there before heading back into the the old fort.

I didn't have Fi at the time, it wasn't even an option as it was 2 years ago. I would be curious how it works on board.

Fi cellular service didn't work at all onboard (Carnival ships, anyway; probably the same for all ships using the common cellular at sea service). However I did pay for ship-wide "Xcelerate" Wi-Fi ($179 for a 7-night cruise on Carnival Summit and was quite good/fast) and, with that, I was able to make and receive Project Fi Wi-Fi calls and use SMS/MMS messaging.

Once we got within a few miles of Bermuda, I picked up local cellular service which worked quite well.

As to Bermuda itself, we have cruised there several (5? 6? times) and always enjoy it. Have also done the Caribbean numerous times and New York-Boston-Canada a few times as well. My wife is a travel agent and she has a cruise group which she leads late-August/early September yearly; I have been on about 15 of these so far, she has done perhaps 20 overall.

 

[zqz]

.... did pay for ship-wide "Xcelerate" Wi-Fi ($179 for a 7-night cruise on Carnival Summit and was quite good/fast) and, with that, I was able to make and receive Project Fi Wi-Fi calls and use SMS/MMS messaging.....

As you connected to the ship provided Xcelerate wifi, was there anything different you had to enable or do to prevent being connected to a roaming phone service and to utilize (only) the wifi calls and wifi messaging ?

 

[N4Newbie]

As you connected to the ship provided Xcelerate wifi, was there anything different you had to enable or do to prevent being connected to a roaming phone service and to utilize (only) the wifi calls and wifi messaging ?

No, it was seamless and automatic. My phone DID connect to the cellular at sea service provided by the ship but, since it was based on AT&T's network and not part of Fi's service profile, it did not recognize the cellular connection and thus automatically defaulted to Wi-Fi calling.

However, as stated above somewhere, once we were within range of the cell towers on Bermuda, I picked up first a Sprint tower and then, for the most part,T-Mobile. So cellular calling worked not only on the island itself, but throughout most of the ship even below decks which, frankly, surprised me.

 

[zqz]

So you did not follow these directions ?

https://support.google.com/fi/answer/6157794?hl=en&ref_topic=6181106

 

[N4Newbie]

So you did not follow these directions ?

https://support.google.com/fi/answer/6157794?hl=en&ref_topic=6181106

No. In fact, Bermuda is not even listed as a supported destination and, when I called Fi support I was told that I would not have cellular service in Bermuda.

However, I read on another forum (I think it was cruisecritics.com forums) that it DOES work there and, indeed, it did.