Planning to take this route when we drive from Seattle to Alaska in May, spending 4 - 5 days travelling, and stopping for hikes along the Cassiar Highway. We are from UK, and my question relates to satellite communicators/phones. We, at home, have a Spot (with no messaging facility) for emergencies, but we are following our RV trip with a cruise, and the cruise line states clearly that this would not be allowed on the ship. Our preference would be for a two way communicator or phone, and I am looking for recommendations of somewhere we could rent one in Seattle and return it in Anchorage. Any help would be much appreciated!

magbrin wrote:Planning to take this route when we drive from Seattle to Alaska in May, spending 4 - 5 days travelling, and stopping for hikes. We are from UK, and my question relates to satellite communicators/phones. We, at home, have a Spot (with no messaging facility) for emergencies, but we are following our RV trip with a cruise, and the cruise line states clearly that this would not be allowed on the ship. Our preference would be for a two way communicator or phone, and I am looking for recommendations of somewhere we could rent one in Seattle and return it in Anchorage. Any help would be much appreciated!The cruise line doesn't allow a Spot? When we went to Alaska we had our Spot. I used it to send a message every night to our kids so they knew where we were. We cruised on the Alaska ferries and nothing was every mentioned. We also rented a satellite phone and took it with us for the trip. My DH had health issues and I wanted to be able to get help if something happened to him. It was cheap insurance. We never used it but it was available if needed.Dale

I can't speak to the cruise line rules.....though how would they know?However, if you haven't already bought a SPOT, take a look at In-Reach.Worldwide two way texting and email on the Iridium constellation for a reasonable price (IMO).As far as renting one, not sure if they do, but try REI. They have stores in both Seattle and Anchorage

I think you’re underestimating the distance from Seattle to just the Boarder at Beaver Creek Yukon and Alaska, and in a RV to from Seattle to Alaska in 4 to 5 days? I live in BC and my wife is from Stewart which is on Hwy 37-A, we usually take a week to drive/ camp and that’s just to get to Stewart, which is still a long ways from Alaska. From Stewart it’s still 1,400 miles to the Canada / Alaska boarder at Beaver Creek.It’s just about 1000 miles from Seattle to Stewart BC.And if your final destination is Anchorage Alaska, that’s another 425 miles from the Border at Beaver Creek Yukon. Seattle to Anchorage is just about 2300 miles. If you’re using Google drives times don’t they are wrong, especially in the mountains, they are never correct, you always need to had time to your trip, and sometimes a lot . When Google came up with theses drive times, they were in a car, not a RV.You will be stopping more often for fuel in an RV, plus traffic, slow semi’s in front of you on hills on 2 lane Hwys, road construction, wildlife and possibly of hwy accidents they all slow you down, your not on a interstate hwy. I’m using Stewart as it is located on Hwy 37-A which is a sub hwy off or Hwy 37, and probably one of the most spectacular 35 mile drives anywhere (Meziadin Jct on hwy 37 to Stewart BC on Hwy 37-A) You’re going to be having a lot of windshield time on this 4 to 5 day “trip” to Alaska. You also won’t have much time for hiking with an average daily drive distance of 400 to 500 miles depending, and like I said RV’s don’t travel as fast on the Hwys as a car. It will be spring and with that comes pot holes and frost heaves everywhere especially the farther north you go, that will also slow you down. There will probably be guys out working on the Hwys which will also slow you down. The other thing about May, is “when” in May are you planing this trip to Alaska? The start of May is early for most campgrounds in BC where it is cold especially at night. There will be some campgrounds open at the begging of May however you may find a lot of campgrounds won’t be open until “around” the third week of May which in BC, we have Victoria Day long weekend ( 3rd Monday of May) it all depends on where they are located. I know of some that don’t open until June and I’m taking BC Provincial Parks campgrounds. There are some campgrounds that will open at the begging of April however theses types of campgrounds are either on Vancouver Island, the lower mainland ( Vancouver area) or the Okanogan valley, where it’s much warmer than most of the rest of BC. There are private and some community campgrounds as well, but the colder the weather the later they open.Now a lot of people say just to boondock, but those places are getting harder to find because of ignorant people the last few years that have left theses road side “parking spots” in a mess. My wife’s friend works for the Hwys dept for Hwy 37 and he says they are starting to block so off “spots” because of ignorant people. I’m not saying every place is blocked for access but they are starting to watch and block access where needed.Have you thought about a side trip Barkerville or over to Watson Lake and the Sign post Forrest? or up to Dawson City Yukon, of the Klondike Rush fame? Or visiting all the little museums in the towns and villages on your route? In my opinion you’re going to be missing a lot on your super fast trip through British Columbia and the Yukon. Myself I would be spending way way more days in the trip north to Alaska.I hope you guys have a fabulous trip whatever you decide. Soup.

4-5 days Seattle to the border? You cannot be serious. The Cassiar alone is a minimum of 2 days & that does not allow for any side trips to Hyder or any time to fully soak up the spectacular Provincial parks along the way, let alone spot those elusive bears along the road hiding in plain sight.Alaska is pretty big but Canada is huge.

I appologise for creating mis-understanding. We plan to spend 4-5 days on the Cassiar Highway which I understand is about 450 miles and can be driven in 8 - 10 hours. We have been in BC several times in an RV and have previously driven to Hyder and the Salmon Glacier and as far as Bell 2 on the Cassiar Highway.

Cassiar Highway | Good Sam Community

SteveAE
Explorer
Jan 30, 2023
magbrin wrote:
SteveAE wrote:
I can't speak to the cruise line rules.....though how would they know?

However, if you haven't already bought a SPOT, take a look at In-Reach.
Worldwide two way texting and email on the Iridium constellation for a reasonable price (IMO).

As far as renting one, not sure if they do, but try REI. They have stores in both Seattle and Anchorage

Thanks for this. I have checked the REI website, but unfortunately I don't think they rent them out.

I just did a quick internet search and found several companies that rent satellite phones. They ship them to you and you send it back when you are done so your starting and ending locations shouldn't matter. Probably more convenient than trying to find a store at both ends. Didn't look any further into it than that, but maybe that would work for you?
Safe travels.
valhalla360
Navigator
Jan 30, 2023
magbrin wrote:
Hi, all
I have to admit I am disappointed. I do not expect to be questioned about decisions I have made regarding my travels. I was looking for an answer to my original post : " Our preference would be for a two way communicator or phone, and I am looking for recommendations of somewhere we could rent one in Seattle and return it in Anchorage. Any help would be much appreciated! " In the answers I have received only one has made a suggestion!
All the best to you all.

Not questioning your decisions, just trying to figure out what the problem is.

You can certainly take a cell phone and cruise ships certainly have wifi (not cheap or fast but they have it).
Thermoguy
Explorer II
Jan 29, 2023
Don't cruise ships have Wifi? I took an Alaska cruise and had no issues with cell service in every port and Wifi on the boat.

What are you trying to accomplish that your cell phone can't do?
RickLight
Explorer III
Jan 28, 2023
Sounds like a job for a 'burner' phone. Far cheaper than renting anything.

https://www.howtogeek.com/712588/what-is-a-burner-phone-and-when-should-you-use-one/
StirCrazy
Moderator
Jan 28, 2023
magbrin wrote:
Hi, all
I have to admit I am disappointed. I do not expect to be questioned about decisions I have made regarding my travels. I was looking for an answer to my original post : " Our preference would be for a two way communicator or phone, and I am looking for recommendations of somewhere we could rent one in Seattle and return it in Anchorage. Any help would be much appreciated! " In the answers I have received only one has made a suggestion!
All the best to you all.

so if you realy wanted info on where to rent somthing in seattle and return it in alaska, why did you ask it in the canadian subform where we all wouldnt have a clue. realy you can be disapointed all you want, but maybe ask in the right forum so you won't be disapointed.
magbrin
Explorer
Jan 28, 2023
Hi, all
I have to admit I am disappointed. I do not expect to be questioned about decisions I have made regarding my travels. I was looking for an answer to my original post : " Our preference would be for a two way communicator or phone, and I am looking for recommendations of somewhere we could rent one in Seattle and return it in Anchorage. Any help would be much appreciated! " In the answers I have received only one has made a suggestion!
All the best to you all.
valhalla360
Navigator
Jan 28, 2023
magbrin wrote:
valhalla360 wrote:
How would the cruise line know if you had a spot? Can you share a link to the prohibition because I'm betting you are misunderstanding something.

Probably wouldn't have worked folks up if you had been clear about the 4-5 days only including the 450mile stretch (not Seattle to the cruise port in Alaska as your post seems to imply) because I had the same thought, particularly since you indicated you are from the UK and lots of overseas folks have no concept of how big the USA & Canada are.

As I say, I apologise for the misunderstanding.
In its list of prohibited items Princess cruises include sattelite beacons, and my husband checked with our personal advisor who checked with the cruise line who stated that no satellite beacons or communicators are allowed on board. I assume that they would pick it up on a baggage scan.

I'm still wanting to see the actual unedited statement from the cruise line. No idea what your "personal advisor" is (travel agent?) or where he is getting his information or if he is misunderstanding what the cruise line requirements are.

I mean, you could argue a cell phone qualifies as it picks up GPS satellite signals and I don't see them banning cell phones any time soon.

I'm still betting on it being a misunderstanding.
SideHillSoup
Explorer
Jan 27, 2023
StirCrazy wrote:
SideHillSoup wrote:

From Stewart it’s still 1,400 miles to the Canada / Alaska boarder at Beaver Creek.

I think your mixing up miles with KM. it is 1400km which is a 14+ hour drive between stewart and beaver creek.

Oops… :S
StirCrazy
Moderator
Jan 27, 2023
SideHillSoup wrote:

From Stewart it’s still 1,400 miles to the Canada / Alaska boarder at Beaver Creek.

I think your mixing up miles with KM. it is 1400km which is a 14+ hour drive between stewart and beaver creek.
SideHillSoup
Explorer
Jan 27, 2023
Sorry about my misunderstanding on your post…

As for the spot and garmin, it’s most likely has something to do with the SOS feature, as it could be triggered accidentally, not easily but it can.
I know around here were I live the BC Mountains, S.A.R’s. ( Search and Rescue) are getting a bunch of false alarm SOS notifications from Apple Wrist Watches after people who are wearing them fall down skiing/ snowboarding and snowmobiling. There is some feature on the phone that activates an SOS type alarm when there is sudden impact or something, not sure if the feature, but it can be disabled on the watches.
I’m betting people with SPOT’s have activated the SOS feature by mistake on a few cruise ships which send a whole bunch of people running around trying to figure out what’s what, and when a SOS signal comes in and the location is out as sea… there would be planes choppers and ships moving before they found out it was a false alarm.
Last weekend we had the area’s SAR’s team up practicing / training in our snowmobile area with Avalanche Beacon’s and that exact subject came up about the watches.
They said that SAR’s have to go out and check every time one is activated just like a “hang up” 911 call.

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