HELP- Calling all Computer GURU'S!!!

[paul929207]

Where is the OP? :confused:

I have been wondering the same thing. She may not like our answers

[TracieABD]

I hope the OP is ok. I know as a parent, when I am in "crisis mode" (and I think this would qualify), it is hard to return to some of my resources.

 

As a mother of a 17 year old, I can identify with the difficulties that she must be facing. My heart goes out to her...

[cdngrl]

I hope the OP is ok. I know as a parent, when I am in "crisis mode" (and I think this would qualify), it is hard to return to some of my resources.

 

As a mother of a 17 year old, I can identify with the difficulties that she must be facing. My heart goes out to her...

 

i agree. she may be spending her time trying to come to a compromise with the school.

 

she is the parent and can and should do what she thinks is right for her family. the posters that disagree with her choices are also entitled to do what they wish within their own families.

 

i hope she comes back to let us know what happened. i would also hope she would read the posts and take from them that we sympathize and wish her family well.

[Coral]

To the OP -

 

Check which insurance you have. If you have Princess insurance, you can cancel for any reason and get a percentage towards another cruise in the future.

 

Also, check with your agent - not sure how close you are to the cruising date. If there is a chance that your cruise is sold out, they may be asking for volunteers to switch dates.

 

Theresa

[hightownCO]

I hope the OP is ok. I know as a parent, when I am in "crisis mode" (and I think this would qualify), it is hard to return to some of my resources.

 

As a mother of a 17 year old, I can identify with the difficulties that she must be facing. My heart goes out to her...

 

i agree. she may be spending her time trying to come to a compromise with the school.

 

she is the parent and can and should do what she thinks is right for her family. the posters that disagree with her choices are also entitled to do what they wish within their own families.

 

i hope she comes back to let us know what happened. i would also hope she would read the posts and take from them that we sympathize and wish her family well.

 

This plea for help really touched me too as I have a 16yr old DD. She missed 8 days of school last November for a cruise. Did homework every sea day, all day and during flights and the airport. Thankfully no Internet needed or don't believe we could have risked going on the cruise. I've been on others with satellite down. I do hope she comes back on with an end to the story for good or bad. Us parents will appreciate her sharing her story.

 

Hopefully like the Coral said, there is cancel for any reason insurance and the OP doesn't know she has that. I know when I bought my last travel insurance for upcoming trip, I bought that for the first time.

[Toto2Kansas]

Since the OP hasn't returned, I looked back on her previous posts. It sounds like both children are under 17 and they purchased travel guard insurance for the trip. So, I am sure there will be no 'cancel for any reason' clause for them to take advantage of. Sometimes paying a bit more for insurance through princess does have it's benefits it seems. :(

[jessegirl88]

You don't think she would have considered this if it was an alternative? I am sure without the OP writing a 2 page explanation, that there is a reason why she is taking her other than just to "reward" her. So nice to see people trying to help her out with solutions to her question rather than offering parenting advice.

 

Thanks so much for understanding.

[jessegirl88]

Yes, I agree, I know of no internet card that would work onboard. Two options IMHO, leave her at home, or change your booking to a full suite where the internet is unlimited. In the long run, the price of the suite will probably less than 7 hours per day on the internet. As if the work takes 7 hours at home, it will probably take 12 (or more) hours through a satellite connetion. :eek:

 

I never thought of that. I am going to call and see if they have any suites available. Keeping my fingers crossed. Thanks so much!!

[jessegirl88]

I am really not trying to cancel because my other child and dh and myself were really looking forward to this cruise. My other child received all A's on there report card and cancelling would be punishing that child. I am going to see if they have any suites available.

[jessegirl88]

For the vitual school, the child has to log 7.5 hours per day. If they don't log those hours they will have ALOT of trouble trying to catch up..

 

Believe me I am trying every avenue. I have cried for days but do not want to ruin the vacation for all that have been talking about this from when we first booked. We have been doing the count down from about 130 days....

 

Someone suggested looking into a suite for unlimited internet. I am going to call TA and see if that is possible.

 

I appreciate all the concern - I knew if I can to you - you akk would come up with something. Thanks!!!

 

I will let you all know how this whole thing comes together.

[paul929207]

For the vitual school, the child has to log 7.5 hours per day. If they don't log those hours they will have ALOT of trouble trying to catch up..

 

Believe me I am trying every avenue. I have cried for days but do not want to ruin the vacation for all that have been talking about this from when we first booked. We have been doing the count down from about 130 days....

 

Someone suggested looking into a suite for unlimited internet. I am going to call TA and see if that is possible.

 

I appreciate all the concern - I knew if I can to you - you akk would come up with something. Thanks!!!

 

I will let you all know how this whole thing comes together.

Just be aware that 7 hours at home with a broadband connection is going to allow her to accomplish much more the 7 hours on a cruise ship with a satelite connection. The speed on the ship is much more like we had in the dial-up days.

[cathi]

I would leave her at home while the rest of you enjoy your cruise. Maybe a "babysitter" would be cheaper than upgrading or pay for internet minutes.

Don't know how much "enjoyment" you are going to get when you will have to monitor DD's performance.

[Mom33]

There is another (really painful) option. You could allow her to fail the year. No summer school. The following year she will repeat her grade. That would be a natural consequence of her choices.

 

(and yes, before the crew begins to flame me, yes, I know the statistics of grade repetition, etc... I am a lifelong public school servant who works in the field of educational research. I am just posing it as an option).

 

I thoroughly agree with you. If she failed one course or even two, I might vote summer school. Failing 4 courses is usually an automatic retention in any school. Depending on the internet at sea is not realistic. :(

[Toto2Kansas]

I never thought of that. I am going to call and see if they have any suites available. Keeping my fingers crossed. Thanks so much!!

 

Sure hope they still have some available, it will save you in the long run. Stop back in when you find out and let us know. And good luck!

 

Edited, Just checked the July 11th sailing, lots of full suites still available from Window suites on up. You should be able to switch to one, although the price might scare you half to death. But just think what the internet connection will cost you. And make sure you have a laptop or net book so the child can log in from the suite. ;)

[Northender]

Our jessiegirl is right. Remember there is another daughter involved here. Why should she be punished? I recall in HS (many yars ago:D) if the

teacher came back to class and a few people talked the whole darn

class got punished. Not good.:(

 

I can't remember if she mentioned the ship but I know there are quite a few CC folks (from Floataway lounge) on the Caribbean Princess. The OP would have some fun company and great listeners.

 

I think I would still go on the cruise. There still will be a crimp in the plans such as excursions, etc.

 

I wish the OP good luck with everything and maybe the TA will have some good news for them regarding a suite. :)

[TracieABD]

Thank you, Jessiegirl, updating us. I know that I am rooting for you (I strongly suspect there are many others out there who feel the same) and your family and truly hope that you find the right solution that works within your family structure.:)

 

Please, keep us in the loop! Hang in there... This, too, shall pass.

[ibfern]

Your post is very encouraging! Thank you. We are booked for a cruise in November when he goes back to school...that is IF he goes. His effort was there, but he's got a reading disability. Changing his major to one less academic and more artistic. Crossing my fingers for his success!

 

 

My folks always stuck by me and it totally paid off! Don't give up, greatness is right around the corner...

[candydane]

The other thing that comes to mind is that if her Internet access is a video stream, that's a huge bandwidth hog on the entire Internet system and not only will it be very slow for her, but it'll slow down everyone else attempting to use the ship's WiFi or Internet at the same time. Video streaming might even bring the whole system down but I'm just guessing here. I know that if I were paying $$$ to use the Internet and someone else was doing video streaming, causing me to use 2x or 3x as many minutes, I'd be upset.

I definitely agree.

 

Jessegirl may solve HER problem with free internet in a suite, but what about the time & money impact to everyone else on the ship? Her daughter's usage will undoubtedly slow down the already slow internet, increasing the needed minutes at the expensive cost for everyone else to use the internet!

 

Does anyone really think it's fair to penalize probably hundreds of people in order for 1 child to do what should have been done during the school year?

 

I'm a mother and I really do sympathize with jessegirl. but I would never allow my decisions to so adversely impact so many other people.

[clojacks]

I definitely agree.

 

Jessegirl may solve HER problem with free internet in a suite, but what about the time & money impact to everyone else on the ship? Her daughter's usage will undoubtedly slow down the already slow internet, increasing the needed minutes at the expensive cost for everyone else to use the internet!

 

Does anyone really think it's fair to penalize probably hundreds of people in order for 1 child to do what should have been done during the school year?

 

I'm a mother and I really do sympathize with jessegirl. but I would never allow my decisions to so adversely impact so many other people.

 

Do you factually know that this is what would happen? I think it might be wise of jessiesgirl to maybe contact an IT specialist at princess and explain to them the situation before we advise her that she might be crashing the ships system. They might be able to advise the bandwidth and capacity of their system and ultimately, that might be one more piece of this mess to help her make an informed decision.

[frebrowser]

If the lessons are provided as video, U.S. schools have to comply with ADA laws requiring alternate formats for students with physical disabilities. Schools that receive federal funding must also comply with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

 

If transcripts are available for hearing impaired students (rather than closed captioning), the text would be much quicker to download and might substitute for actually watching some of the videos.

 

Perhaps some of the lectures have PowerPoint slides that can be downloaded ahead of time and saved to the laptop's hard drive?

 

Anything that will save bandwith is worth considering. I remember taking an hour to download a single song back in the days of dialup; I hate to think how choppy video could get.

[Buddy604]

I hope you're able to swing a deal with Princess - I just had a look at the available suites and it appears that they are still at full fare, which would be well over $1000 per person more for the first two passengers.

 

I looked into renting a BGAN satellite link for your trip - the link terminal would only be $40/wk, but you pay by the megabyte for downloads and it's far more expensive than the ship.

 

Aside from using shoreside internet cafes and wi-fi, the one other option might be to contact MTN's SeaMobile folks directly and see if you can prepay for a large package of minutes. They just started a prepay program for travel agents where we can load up cards to give to our clients or resell. The rates go as low as 20 cents a minute. It usually takes three weeks to order the cards, but you could see if they could do some form of one-off for you. Here's a link to their press release announcing the program: http://www.seamobile.com/press/06_02_10.aspx. If they won't deal with you directly, have your travel agent give them a call.

 

Lastly, and I'm sure you're already working on this, try to get the school to provide as much material in printed or CD form before the trip. At best, the ship's internet is slow, and in certain locations it can be non-existent - i.e. in a port where nearby mountains block the line of sight to the satellite. That always happens in parts of Alaska and one or two Caribbean ports (and San Francisco!).

[grod19]

If the lessons are provided as video, U.S. schools have to comply with ADA laws requiring alternate formats for students with physical disabilities. Schools that receive federal funding must also comply with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

 

If transcripts are available for hearing impaired students (rather than closed captioning), the text would be much quicker to download and might substitute for actually watching some of the videos.

 

Perhaps some of the lectures have PowerPoint slides that can be downloaded ahead of time and saved to the laptop's hard drive?

 

Anything that will save bandwith is worth considering. I remember taking an hour to download a single song back in the days of dialup; I hate to think how choppy video could get.

 

I am 100% for helping a student with a disability, however I would lose a lot of respect for the institution/school if they were willing to help find a work around because a student was going on a cruise. I applaud Jessie for going the extra mile to try and find a method to help salvage the situation but I am concerned a "the rules don't apply to me" attitude could develop in the child if everyone bends too far.

[DrivesLikeMario]

OP - Don't forget that the ship's internet service is spotty at best. There are often times when it takes a very long time just to load one page. Then, there are the dropped signals, having to log in and out and the frustration of dealing with all this makes the old dial-up service seem quick. :eek:

[katisdale]

My biggest concern is what happens if the ship loses the satellite connection. What will happen to your daughter if she cannot get the seven hours in. The connections I have had both in the caribbean, Europe and Alaska have been spotty at best and sometimes we have not had a signal for several hours. Being in a suite doesn't help this as it is an equal opportunity outage.

[CruiseReg]

As a "computer person" I'd like to expand on what other have alluded to, specifically, what kind of content is involved with your daughter's online school? That makes a huge difference I honestly would *seriously* look into the details of what is required to successfully participate in online classes. If the requirements say "broadband connection" or cable/DSL, the Internet access on the ship will *not* work.

 

As an FYI, I am speaking from direct experience as a user of ships based Internet access since it was first offered on any passenger ships and a professional manager/engineer for the #1 networking company in the work for over 12 years, the name rhymes with Crisco :)

 

I wish you the best of luck in finding an appropriate solution for your difficult problem.