Using your phone on a cruise ship in 2026 generally involves three main strategies: Airplane Mode with Wi-Fi, Maritime Cellular Networks, or Port-side eSIMs. To avoid exorbitant roaming charges, the gold standard is to keep your phone in Airplane Mode and connect to the ship's Wi-Fi. Most modern lines, like Royal Caribbean and Carnival, now use Starlink LEO satellites, providing high-speed internet capable of video calls and streaming. Alternatively, you can use "Cellular at Sea" (a satellite-based roaming service), but this is notoriously expensive and often billed at per-minute or per-megabyte rates by your carrier. A third option for 2026 travelers is purchasing a travel eSIM that specifically covers port regions, allowing you to switch back to local 5G networks the moment the ship docks, which is significantly cheaper than using the ship's satellite internet while in port.