Hello Rcqqc,
Welcome to the community!
Unfortunately, I have not been able to locate any updated information regarding roaming fees on cruises. It used to be considered a Premium Destination on the Fido Travel page. For example, see here. However, they seem to have updated the format and no longer have easy access to Premium Destination rates so they may have been updated. That said, the rates you note appear to be similar to the ones posted previously.
Yes, roaming on a cruise is quite costly. That's because the costs are determined by the Wireless Maritime Services (see here and here). I suspect the high cost is related to the service being reliant on satellites while at sea. It would be important to note the Cellular at Sea service is available once the cruise ship reaches 12 nautical miles from land. If your phone connects service before the Cellular at Sea network is available, it will likely be connected to land service and incur (possibly additional) Fido Roam charges.
@Rcqqc wrote:
....Fido will automatically charge $15/1MB (+tax) if someone goes over the daily data.....
To clarify, roaming usage at sea is on a pay-per-use basis. There is no daily data allotment. The data usage rate would be the one provided in the message you received. That rate would be for any roaming data usage while at sea.
That said, the CRTC has implemented a cap on roaming usage at $100 per billing cycle, unless you agree to pay more for additional usage (see the Wireless Code). Note that does not mean customers have access to unlimited data after the reaching the cap. Additional usage will incur additional roaming fees.
I believe most cruises would offer Wifi access, however, it may also be quite costly to purchase access. Again, it's likely due to the service being reliant on satellites when underway.
Hope this helps 😀
Cheers
