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Laptop on a cruise, pros & cons

GGBOXERS

By GGBOXERS,
in Ask a Cruise Question

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chipmaster

chipmaster

Posted
Posted
HI FOLKS...:)

 

We will be cruising in May and I am wondering if bringing along my laptop will be useful or a waste of time. I would like to be able to communicate with home while away. A few questions come to mind:

 

1. How are the internet connections on a cruise ship (we are sailing Carnival's Dream)?

 

2. Cost to connect. Is it worth it?

 

3. Security of laptop. I know it will not fit in the cabin safe.

 

We are driving and not flying so packing is not an issue. I would really appreciate any feedback on your experiences with taking a laptop on a cruise and would you consider it a stay home item or one that you would not leave behind while cruising.

 

THANKS and HAPPY SAILS TO YOU! :)

 

If all you want to do is send a few emails 2-3 times a week then forget the laptop. Use the internet cafe, it ain't fast, it ain't cheap, but if for only a few emails and 10-20' a day it won't break the bank. You can also ask your waiter where the cheap/safe internet cafes are in port if you really need faster and daily access.

 

Since I go everywhere with a laptop, taking it on vacation is no more a burden than carrying my 35lbs of camera equipment too. Laptops come in handy when and if you get stranded in an airport or at the hotel to read email, book alternative arrangements, check weather, watch a movie, surf the web etc. etc.

 

I think theft paranoi for them is overblown when traveling I've never lost a laptop or electronic item whether left on the desk or buried under my dirty underwear. I think common sense says if you got time why not slip it into a drawer to keep from being the easy target. But if you forget to store it and you are at dinner, no reason to go back either. Treat it like you would a valuabe camera with pictures in it. I think unlike a suit or dress ( which may or may not cost more ) often times we have irreplaceable info/pictures on our electronics, lose the suit or dress you only have to worry about the fashion police, lose your priceless pictures or other stuff, that is a bigger bummer IMHO :D

 

THe fact you are asking in my mind means you don't need it as you'll carry it, case, charger and lug it all around and it will seem almost like a burden ;)

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Murrah Miss

Murrah Miss

Posted
Posted

Ditto, ditto, ditto to what others have said about netbooks. I purchased mine (Acer) this past summer, and it is now almost one of my appendages! I LOVE IT! I use it almost exclusively, and seldom touch my traditional laptop or desktop! Mine is coming with me to Hawaii on the Golden in March!

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caribbeanchickie

caribbeanchickie

Posted
Posted
I'm writing this at 35000 feet on a Delta flight into LAX. Using my netbook. We take it all the time on cruises and my wife sticks it in her handbag on her freqent flight to Europe. They're great and generally can be used anyplace in your cabin including the balcony. Taking it ashore is a great idea even if a net cafe has to be used, as they are much cheaper that the ships costs

 

Hey, I'm flying Delta next month and thought about purchasing the internet pkg for the 4 hr flight.

What is the connection like?

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Cuizer2

Cuizer2

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Posted
Laptops are considerably cheaper than they were even a year ago. Netbooks are available from Verizon for almost free ($100 with promo and 2 year contract for aircard or phone internet service).

 

I just bought three new full size laptops for the office and paid about $600 or less for each-one Dell, one HP and one Toshiba. All have at least a 15" screen, at least 80GB hard drive, DVD/CD/CRW and full operating software. One has a separate flash drive. I was really amazed how cheap they were for full size, fully equipped laptops.

 

That is by no means a "fully equipped" computer. Netbook computers are scaled down laptop computers, so don't even count those. As for a real laptop computer, 15" screen is fairly standard for a basic laptop. DVD drives are standard on everything except a netbook. 80GB hard drive is small.

 

My laptop is considered a desktop replacement. It has a 17" screen, a built in DVD drive (8x Multi-Format Dual Layer DVDRW with DVD-RAM and Labelflash™), a built in SD card slot (flash drive), an Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor, 4 GB RAM, NVIDIA® GeForce® 8800M GTS With 512 MB of GDDR3 Discrete Video Memory and a 320 GB 5400 RPM SATA hard drive.

 

The laptops you are describing might be useful for your purpose, but not for mine. My laptop is worth a lot more than my suits or my travel camera (which is a Canon A590IS).

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ikelmay

ikelmay

Posted
Posted

We finally gritted our teeth and bought a netbook a few weeks ago - did we REALLY need this with us on our cruises and travels?

 

I now have to join those that find them indispensible and couldn't do without them. It has already saved us both time and money on our journey and helped while away a number of hours stuck at airports.

 

We did honestly purchase it to be able to stay closer in touch due to family issues, and finding wifi at various places on tour has also been very helpful. We have also taken advantage of peaceful moments on our cruise to compose long emails and daily journals, and to then attach and send when we had a connection.

 

Wonderful invention. Now to summon up the energy to get a cell phone LOL.

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BosoxI

BosoxI

Posted
Posted
Hey, I'm flying Delta next month and thought about purchasing the internet pkg for the 4 hr flight.

What is the connection like?

 

I had a bit of difficulty logging on but once I was on, it was great. No problems at all and I highly recommend it. They have various pay packages and I believe it costs about $13 for a single flight. There may be a charge for sending e-mails but as I was using a free promo, I didn't care.

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BroncosFan2010

BroncosFan2010

Posted
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The biggest cons to bringing a laptop are that there is no good way to store it, as most are too large to fit in the safe. Also, it is very expensive to connect to the wireless on board. I believe it is something like 50 cents a minute. That is just not worth it to me.

 

If you are planning on using it for pictures, invest in a large 4G or larger card for your camera. You can pick them up pretty cheap now!

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Cuizer2

Cuizer2

Posted
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The biggest cons to bringing a laptop are that there is no good way to store it, as most are too large to fit in the safe. Also, it is very expensive to connect to the wireless on board. I believe it is something like 50 cents a minute. That is just not worth it to me.

 

If you are planning on using it for pictures, invest in a large 4G or larger card for your camera. You can pick them up pretty cheap now!

 

On the twelve cruises I brought my laptop, I only used it to connect to the Internet on one cruise, and that only because of the interest in the ship (I was on the first cruise of the NCL Jade). As far as a 4G card goes, on two cruises I have taken more than 4GB worth of pictures. I take anywhere from 16GB worth of cards for my travel camera to 26GB worth of cards for my DSLR. I back up my photos to both the computer and too an external flash drive.

 

The camera has a 2" screen for viewing pictures. The laptop has a 17" screen. Thus the laptop is far better for viewing pictures. I also write my review while on the cruise, so just having enough storage for the pictures would not be enough.

 

Of course I could do all of that with a netbook. However, of my last twelve cruises, seven have required flying. When I get stuck in the airport, I use my laptop for entertainment purposes. My favorite game will not play on ANY computer (laptop, desktop or rooftop) that does not have a separate graphics card, and no netbook computers have a separate graphics card.

 

In addition, on my last cruise I linked my review to a photo album I created. On my next cruise I'll use the photo processing software to preprepare several photos for the album. On my last cruise the album started with only two photographs, but grew to about 530. Early readers of the review had to come back later to see more photos. This time I hope to have more photos ready by the time the review is published. If you would like to read my last review, and see the photo album, here is a link ...

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=55962

 

The link to the album is at the end of the review.

 

The point I am trying to make here is, you can't judge the need for the computer (and thus what computer, if any, one needs) until you know what the computer is going to be used for. If all you want to do is store photographs, an iPod, which takes up no space at all (and cost less than a netbook) can be used. If all you want to do is store and view photographs, and perhaps connect to the Internet, a netbook will do. If all you want to do is store and view photographs, connect to the Internet, and do some word processing, an inexpensive laptop will do (netbooks have small screens that can be hard to read plus they have undersized keyboards). If you want to store, view and process photos, do word processing, and use the computer for entertainment while trapped in an airport (and if your favorite game requires a separate graphics card) then a more powerful computer is required. And, when there is free Internet in the airport or the hotel, I can use it for that also.

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laylac

laylac

Posted
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My laptop is considered a desktop replacement. It has a 17" screen, a built in DVD drive (8x Multi-Format Dual Layer DVDRW with DVD-RAM and Labelflash™), a built in SD card slot (flash drive), an Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor, 4 GB RAM, NVIDIA® GeForce® 8800M GTS With 512 MB of GDDR3 Discrete Video Memory and a 320 GB 5400 RPM SATA hard drive.

 

When did you buy your system?

 

$1400 seems very expensive for a computer with those specs.

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new salt

new salt

Posted
Posted

I use a Samsung NC10 and also carry an external disc drive and travel speakers. It is only a matter of time before I decide I need to carry a printer and scanner with me:(. That said it means we have a DVD/CD player and photo storage, an E book reader and a blue tooth match box sized GPS to make sure the ship is where it is meant to be.

 

I have found the wireless facility invaluable when travelling and while at home I hardly ever use either my desktop or laptop. I have to say that I am a bit of a gadget freak, although old enough to know better; if someone put a small screen and a couple of LEDs on an empty tin can they would probably relieve me of a couple of hundred euros!!!

 

New Salt

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paul929207

paul929207

Posted
Posted
The biggest cons to bringing a laptop are that there is no good way to store it, as most are too large to fit in the safe. Also, it is very expensive to connect to the wireless on board. I believe it is something like 50 cents a minute. That is just not worth it to me.

 

If you are planning on using it for pictures, invest in a large 4G or larger card for your camera. You can pick them up pretty cheap now!

I find it is cheaper to connect via my laptop on the ship than to use the internet cafe. I connect, download the mail and disconnect. Offline I read the mail and prepare the responses and new emails. Then next time I connect, all the mail is sent. In the internet cafe, you can only read and write emails while connected.

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hubofhockey

hubofhockey

Posted
Posted

My biggest question is what internet package to buy. It is a given that I am going to bring my netbook on my next cruise. I will be away from work, my kids(summer camp), and even my dog (kennel) for a long time and need the netbook to communicate. If I were doing a 3-4 day Bahamas cruise, my blackberry would do just fine. I highly doubt that a steward or even passenger would risk their jon or cruise trying to steal a $300 netbook. But I'll put it in the safe anyway. I have never done so with my work laptop or home laptop.

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Gathina

Gathina

Posted
Posted

Maybe I've surived too many hurricanes in Florida and learned about what's important, but my own opinion is that you can do without it. It's funny how you don't miss something if you don't have it, and the reality is, the worst that can happen if people don't hear from you is that they can burn house down..LOL..and I doubt that's happen.

 

What would be the purpose if of taking it unless someone was dying or something? You have to set some boundaries with folks sometimes so they know you aren't indispensable.

 

Your on vacation. My own opinion is people that HAVE to have it or feel they'll die without a cell phone or text messages need to let go of tryign to stay in control. You cand download your pictures when you get home. Enjoy your trip.

 

HI FOLKS...:)

 

We will be cruising in May and I am wondering if bringing along my laptop will be useful or a waste of time. I would like to be able to communicate with home while away. A few questions come to mind:

 

1. How are the internet connections on a cruise ship (we are sailing Carnival's Dream)?

 

2. Cost to connect. Is it worth it?

 

3. Security of laptop. I know it will not fit in the cabin safe.

 

We are driving and not flying so packing is not an issue. I would really appreciate any feedback on your experiences with taking a laptop on a cruise and would you consider it a stay home item or one that you would not leave behind while cruising.

 

THANKS and HAPPY SAILS TO YOU! :)

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cookie384

cookie384

Posted
Posted

We just bought a mini laptop and will take on our cruise in February - mainly for e-mail and photos. My question is whether anyone can recommend an e-mail program to use. There are free programs around and I was looking at Mozilla. Can anyone recommend? I think Outlook will cost - not sure. Thanks.

 

Catherine

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  • 2 weeks later...
najames

najames

Posted
Posted

I took our 14" laptop on the last HAL cruise.

 

1) wireless worked in our room, pulled up a table sat on the bed to check future cruise prices for comparison to "deals" offered onboard.

 

2) Noordam had locking drawers on the night stands and our 14" inside its leather holder inside a carry bag fit perfectly in the drawers.

 

3) wireless internet in-room seemed faster than the PCs in the exploration cafe area that were molasses slow, even connecting for free to either HAL or NY Times.

 

4) it is expensive to do much, cost me about $50 a couple short sessions at the 75 cent per minute rates.

 

I got DW an Ipod for Xmas and wanted to set it up on the ship, but needed to download an 85MB Apple software on to the PC first. Wish I'd known it before I left, had to wait until I got home. Ipods are tiny but seem to work well from the little time I've had to look at it, wireless connectivity, browser & email with 32GB of storage for stuff and you can carry it in your pocket anywhere.

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Putterdude

Putterdude

Posted
Posted

I have avoided bringing one along to date. That said we now qualify for some free minutes with Princess so I have purchased an inexpensive refurbished "Dell" off eBay and will bring it along this time for pictures and email....much more than that I will be in Divorce Court

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cookie384

cookie384

Posted
Posted

Thanks to all for your input on this subject. We have obtained Outlook and will put it on our Netbook. We plan to use this for downloading e-mails and the Netbook will come in handy for looking at our photos as well. Not to mention sitting around an airport - at least I can play solitaire!! :)

 

Catherine

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