Personal extension cords now forbidden

[Project_gal]

No, they don't. The switching power supplies inside these chargers work equally well under 110 and 240, because of the nature of how they work.

 

Sorry, but from personal experience staying with my brother in North Vancouver, I know that they all take longer to charge. I have timed them. There may be chargers that work successfully under dual voltage but not all.

 

Sue

[Project_gal]

And lastly, if anyone tries the "but my power bar is surge protected" crap and I dont trust the ships power, I'll have to have another long rant about how people really don't understand how electricity works.

 

I studied physics and have some understanding - clearly not as great as your own but certainly more than many of my north American friends who have destroyed equipment by plugging it into our power supply without a step-down transformer.

 

I have also seen equipment destroyed by power surges and all sensible people in the UK use surge protectors for laptops and the like. They may not be necessary for everything but it is better to be safe than sorry.

 

Sue

[sasset]

OK, that's it, I finally broke down and I'm going to write something;

 

Get over it folks, Celebrity (and most other cruise lines) are likely fed up with the small electrical fires that are being caused by dollar store power bars.

 

We bring with us;

 

• a laptop
  
• a camera
  
• a AA battery charger (for things like hand held GPS)
  
• ipod/iphone
  
• a shaver
  

None of which takes particularly long to recharge, or needs recharging very often. The extra effort of having to unplug one thing to plug in another has never been such an onerous task that I've ever even considered bringing a power bar.

 

And lastly, if anyone tries the "but my power bar is surge protected" crap and I dont trust the ships power, I'll have to have another long rant about how people really don't understand how electricity works.

 

Lastly, that outlet in the bathroom marked "SHAVER ONLY". Yes, it's shaver only, it's only capable of giving you about 1/2 amp at 110v, so please don't plug a hairdryer in there. It's a special outlet through an isolation transformer, so that either of outputs has no particular path to ship ground, and is safer than a normal outlet where Neutral really is ground, and if you touched a live, you'd be the return path.

 

Amen, brother!

[mangetakk]

Don't know if the ban is fleetwide. Security showed me a list of prohibited items, on Celebrity letterhead. I told them that I hadn't seen the entry for extension cords on the list posted on the Celebrity web site. They told me the list was recently updated. I think the issue really was the 3 tap end. The 2 front line security folks seemed to think my cord was high quality, heavy gauge, and in perfect condition, to the point of making the call to a supervisor. I believe they just don't have the time to evaluate every cord, so all are banned. Security did return my cord the night before departure. The cord that Celebrity provided was the same guage as the one I brought and worked fine. I just had to plan the timing of my recharge use so the cord could be used for my CPAP at night. Our cabin 6145 had only one, single tap outlet, under the TV, and the butler plugged the extension cord into conversion block, that changes a single tap to a 3 tap plug, that went to the TV, TV network box and my extension cord. The video player remained unplugged. Not an ideal electrical setup and the inside of the cabinet was inappropriately hot. I'm sure these older ships are showing these electrical inadequacies and they are trying to take stop gap steps to forstall problems.

[iancal]

scottbee...could not agree with you more. We have never had an issue. Yes, we had to take 'turns' with certain rechargeable items on our cruises but it was never any real inconvenience. We are light packers, so the notion of packing things like extension chords, shoe holders, decorations of any sort, duct tape, etc. etc. is completely foreign to us notwithstanting any safety issue that cords or christmas mini lights might cause. I think that Celebrity should provide approved cords to people who need them for medical or disability related equipment.

[MMastell]

I've asked this question earlier in the thread but did not get an answer

 

Does the ship store sell extension cords?

 

Sorry no one has answered your question. I guess they get to 5,000 posts by going off topic and bantering among their friends. :rolleyes:

 

They do not sell extension cords on board but they can provide them to you for the length of your cruise. You will need to ask your cabin steward or Guest Relations for one.

 

Celebrity will not or cannot deprive you of an extension cord if you have a medical need for one. If they do not allow your cord they must replace it with one that meets their approval.

 

The issue will be that medical needs will come before personal needs and they will not have enough cords.

 

Take care,

Mike

[pspercy]

staying with my brother in North Vancouver, I know that they all take longer to charge.

 

Which implies those chargers, at least, are not switching psu but simple transformer/rectifier type "wall warts".

[Brad1185]

I bring movies and a portable DVD player. Celebrity has disabled the controls so I can't hook up the player to watch through the tv. The single outlet in the rooms is so far away an extension cord is needed

[Snorkel2Much]

Don't know if the ban is fleetwide. Security showed me a list of prohibited items, on Celebrity letterhead. I told them that I hadn't seen the entry for extension cords on the list posted on the Celebrity web site. They told me the list was recently updated. I think the issue really was the 3 tap end. The 2 front line security folks seemed to think my cord was high quality, heavy gauge, and in perfect condition, to the point of making the call to a supervisor. I believe they just don't have the time to evaluate every cord, so all are banned. Security did return my cord the night before departure. The cord that Celebrity provided was the same guage as the one I brought and worked fine. I just had to plan the timing of my recharge use so the cord could be used for my CPAP at night. Our cabin 6145 had only one, single tap outlet, under the TV, and the butler plugged the extension cord into conversion block, that changes a single tap to a 3 tap plug, that went to the TV, TV network box and my extension cord. The video player remained unplugged. Not an ideal electrical setup and the inside of the cabinet was inappropriately hot. I'm sure these older ships are showing these electrical inadequacies and they are trying to take stop gap steps to forstall problems.

<bolding mine> Thanks for the clarification, as of this posting the website list has not yet been "updated".

[cruisestitch]

actually, MMastell, I did answer the question, back a while ago.

 

 

Hmmmm.....are you speculating that they are confiscating the power strips so that you will be forced to buy one on board? Some kind of new revenue stream? Anyway, AFAIK, no, they don't sell them on board. Yet."

 

cruisestitch

[Scrapchick]

OK, that's it, I finally broke down and I'm going to write something;

 

Get over it folks, Celebrity (and most other cruise lines) are likely fed up with the small electrical fires that are being caused by dollar store power bars.

 

We bring with us;

 

• a laptop
  
• a camera
  
• a AA battery charger (for things like hand held GPS)
  
• ipod/iphone
  
• a shaver
  

None of which takes particularly long to recharge, or needs recharging very often. The extra effort of having to unplug one thing to plug in another has never been such an onerous task that I've ever even considered bringing a power bar.

 

 

How lucky for you.... We're a family of three and our count is quite a bit higher than that, with double the iPods and cell phones, plus an iPad, Kindle, , laptop, camera, DVD player and Nintendo game player...

 

Fighting over 2 outlets IS a hassle for us and an extension cord has worked very well for us.

 

Please don't assume what works for you should work for everyone else... We all have different situations.

[Dale]

Without singling out anyone in particular. It seems a lot of people posting on this thread don’t seem to care as much about their safety or the safety of their fellow cruisers as Celebrity does. Celebrity has a legitimate reason for their concerns. It’s called FIRE.

Read the following and see what contributes to 40,000 house fires per year.

Overloading Electrical Circuits

[lobster129]

Even though extension cords are NOT listed on Celebrity's "items NOT to bring"....this can be addressed another way (for those who like CHOICES)

 

Contact Celebrity's Special Needs and tell them you need an extension cord for whatever your medical reason is (CPAP etc)...doubt reason of recharging your camera batteries will work.;)

 

I had my TA download and email me the Celebrity special needs form (3 pgs). Printed it and completed and faxed back to my TA. He will then fax to Celebrity so we will both have verfication that we have an extension cord reserved for us. :p I hope Celebrity is getting a great bulk rate in buying up heavy duty extension cords for their passengers needs.:eek:

 

BTW, need for extension cord is LISTED on their form...did not even have to write it in.:)

 

Here's the special needs section of the Celebrity site...for those who might need assistance.

http://www.celebritycruises.com/beforeyourcruise/heroSingleTxtSub.do;jsessionid=0000mqN1LBn2LDkV-HN-H3FrQ4K:12h3rnd1c?pagename=special_health_concerns&cS=SIDENAV

[Angiet2]

...and if the cabins came with a decent amount of outlets, similar to the amount you receive in a standard hotel room, no one would feel obligated to lug along Aisle 3 (electrical aisle!) of Ace Hardware in their luggage!

 

Without singling out anyone in particular. It seems a lot of people posting on this thread don’t seem to care as much about their safety or the safety of their fellow cruisers as Celebrity does. Celebrity has a legitimate reason for their concerns. It’s called FIRE.

Read the following and see what contributes to 40,000 house fires per year.

Overloading Electrical Circuits

[CelebrityMan]

Hi,

 

This is certainly a BIG issue for us. Both of us require CPAP machines.

 

Given the woefully inadequte outlets in the staterooms, bringing along the highest possible quality surge protector, UL listed, power strip is a travel essential for us on cruise ships. I/we have never once used it for anything but CPAPs, not camera batteries (desk outlet) or laptop (desk outlet).

 

The one time, many years ago, when only one of us required a cord for the then single CPAP, the cord brought to us was far, far, far more dangerous than the ones we now bring along.

 

I fully realize the need to keep things safe. I also know that, at the risk of sounding a bit over-zealous and concerned, for those of us who use these medically necessary devices, the Special Needs department had better get their act totally together on this, and FAST. We cannot risk being 'powerless' for our CPAPs, and will have to continue to bring along our power strip.

 

 

 

CM

[klingoncruiser]

Well, well... I posted this about Carnivore a couple of months ago on the RCI board. I got flamed for it and was pretty well told I had too much stuff and should leave the Computer, phone, camera at home. It is a vacation I was told.

 

Looks like I was right when I said that this would soon come to all the cruise line. Looks like we will have to rethink how to get that computer recharged we use to download the digital pictures and keep up with things. The cell can stay in the safe in the Caribbean, but will be in use in Alaska.

[rsquare]

Do most Celebrity ships have a US outlet and a European outlet as do Cunard (I simply can't recall from our last Celebrity cruise)? If so, then one simple solution is a plug adapter so that the US and EU outlets can both be used. All of my equipment is equally happy with 110V US or 220V EU power.

[lobster129]

Do most Celebrity ships have a US outlet and a European outlet as do Cunard (I simply can't recall from our last Celebrity cruise)? If so, then one simple solution is a plug adapter so that the US and EU outlets can both be used. All of my equipment is equally happy with 110V US or 220V EU power.

 

It is convenient to have your European electrical adapter aboard ship. We do bring that for some equipment...or bring my curling iron purchased in Europe. I try not to use it for our more expensive/essential devices like CPAP. I really think some things need to be on a surge protector type of multi-strip to decrease the chance of overheating and fire. I also see that Celebrity checking the safety of everyone's extension cords to be time prohibitive. :(

 

Since Celebrity failed to provide adequate electrical outlets in staterooms, what other option do they have other than to now provide extension cords?:confused:

[sasset]

As mentioned earlier in this thread they do, through a special needs request, provide for medical devices. If you bring multiple things in need of recharging they probably should be rotated and not all on an extension cord.

[derf5585]

I guess they should ban batteries also

 

A battery explosion is caused by the misuse or malfunction of a battery

from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battery_(electricity)

[Peery5]

I don't think the "extension cord" ban is fleet wide. Nothing on Celebrity's web site so I called Celebrity and they said no problem. Prefer U/L listed. Carnival has instituted some additional banned items but even at that they say "fans and extension cords may be removed if they pose a problem". Having said that, Security does make the call on what they consider safe and unsafe items to bring on board. Like the other poster said, maybe they plan on selling them in the gift shop. We only use ours at night and always keep it out of sight during the daytime. Thanks for the 'heads up'. Now not only do I need to smuggle alcohol but extension cords also.

[dolphinmar]

I also called Celebrity, to make sure DH would have something for his CPAP machine. The woman I spoke with was very accommodating and asked if we also needed distilled water in the stateroom. I told her what I had been reading on this thread and she told me that she had not heard that Celebrity was "not allowing" extension cords. It sounds as though there is not an official policy on this for Celebrity.

[madelinerose]

I also called Celebrity, to make sure DH would have something for his CPAP machine. The woman I spoke with was very accommodating and asked if we also needed distilled water in the stateroom. I told her what I had been reading on this thread and she told me that she had not heard that Celebrity was "not allowing" extension cords. It sounds as though there is not an official policy on this for Celebrity.

 

 

Customer service everywhere is usually the last to know. ;)

[derf5585]

Maybe what they are looking for is the ground of the extension cord is cut off or not there.

[Char]

Hi Darcie !

 

It's a good question. When I rent Scooters for my parents, we are specifically told to bring a Heavy Duty Extension Cord with us. Now, I'm not sure what to do. I will call the Special Needs department tomorrow, and ask for their guidance. I will be happy to post their reply.

Hey Andy! :)

Did you get an answer from the Special Needs department about bringing an extension cord onboard for medical equipment?