Kindle Downloads at Sea

[Observer]

I have searched this forum and come up dry.

 

I hope that someone has used a Kindle on Silversea to download daily newspapers and magazines and that (s)he will share the experience.

 

I am thinking of using the Kindle with Wi-Fi (not 3G). Thus, I would rely on the ship's Wi-Fi system.

 

I would like to subscribe to a couple of newspapers and magazines and download current editions via the ship's Wi-Fi during a forthcoming cruise. My question is: Will this work?

 

If anyone has gone this route, I would be very grateful to learn of your experience. Do the downloads take forever? Are there challenges connecting the Kindle to the Wi-Fi system? Etc. I know that one can subscribe to newspapers on board, and they are delivered in hard copy. My question is whether one can get the papers via the Kindle.

 

Many thanks.

[gooch47]

I know nothing about Silversea but your post caught my eye.

 

The only thing I would check is if there is an extra fee to download publications internationally. I keep getting a warning on mine when I turn it on outside the USA, but I can't remember exactly what it said. It might have been talking about downloading documents.

[cruising for sail]

I downloaded a couple of newspapers daily on our last cruise with my Kindle. But, I used the 3G to quickly download and then turn off. Wi_Fi can be extremely expensive, I would not use it. For that reason I also make sure that my iPhone is not turned on.

[LaCroisiereS'amuse]

If you haven't already purchased your Kindle I would really recommend going for the 3G version.

 

I'm not sure where the OP resides, but certainly the Kindles sold here in the UK have no charges associated with 3G downloads when overseas. I'm not sure if the Kindle will connect via 3G whilst on board, but it would only take a couple of minutes to download your newspapers/books whilst in port. I travel all over Europe with work & even use the web browser function via 3G with no problems.

 

Check out the Kindle 3G coverage map here.....

 

http://client0.cellmaps.com/viewer.html?cov=2&view=intl

[MadMarine]

I downloaded a couple of newspapers daily on our last cruise with my Kindle. But, I used the 3G to quickly download and then turn off. Wi_Fi can be extremely expensive, I would not use it. For that reason I also make sure that my iPhone is not turned on.

 

Just curious, why do you say that Wi-Fi is extremely expensive? As I recall, SilverSea charges about $250/1000 min or $.25/min. It should take no more than a couple of minutes to download a book or about $.50. Certainly that is more than 3G WhisperNet delivery (free) on the Kindle, assuming you can get it internationally (I'm not sure), but not a budget buster. Of course, if you don't plan on using any ship-based Wi-Fi for other things, email, etc. than it would be expensive to get a package just for the Kindle. YMMV

 

Regards

[Observer]

Thanks for the responses thus far. 3-G would clearly not work on sea days, would it? And those would be the days when one has the most time to read papers at leisure.

 

Thus far, no one has reported successful download of periodicals (newspapers and magazines) through the Silversea onboard Wi-Fi network.

 

It would be reassuring to have reports from anyone who in fact has updated the Kindle at sea via the Silversea Wi-Fi satellite connection.

 

Thanks.

[Scotspea]

On my last cruise on Spirit I helped a lady to set up a brand new Kindle as she was unsure of how it functioned. Her Kindle was defaulted to 3G only so Wi-Fi had to be enabled

The ship had no 3G so everything had to be done via Wi-Fi through the ship's portal, with all the associated charges that entails. We had set up an account on one of the ship's computers and then searched for the network on the Kindle and after selecting the domain the normal ship login appeared onscreen.

Every Caribbean port we visited had 3G so her newspaper subscription automatically downloaded all the back copies.

 

Hope this helps.

[dougburns]

All through the Caribbean in Dec I was able to download books on my Kindle DX via the Amazon Whispernet. There is no charge for this.

[CanadianKate]

Mad Marine: I can't comment on Kindle but you need to fully understand that the internet on the ship is slower than dial-up. So while the price per minute is manageable when you buy the 1000 minutes, the amount of work one can get done per minute is a fraction of what can be done when using shared internet in an airport lounge or hotel room. And those are a fraction of the speed I have at home.

 

On the ship quite often websites will time out before the ship uploaded my response when posting to a graphics-free forum. To sign in (and although I normally am always signed in, the forum drops me regularly when I'm on the ship) takes up to 4 minutes because I have to go through three pages (sign-in, connected and then the page I wished to be at.)

 

We continue to run our business on a pared down basis while cruising and can make the 1000 minutes last 20 days but it is very hard to do so, even when we are only connected in order to download email to be read off-line, upload composed emails and check in on one or two forums (which are then read off-line.)

 

Twice on the last cruise, people sent me large attachments which caused my email program to hang because of the speed of downloading email. In those cases, I had to go online to my email handler, find the large emails and delete them while online so that I could download the emails 'stuck' behind the offending message.

 

Heaven forbid if Windows or our virus protection software wants to do an update.

[LaVieBoheme]

My experience is that the WiFi connection itself is not that slow - pages load reasonably fast (though no where near as fast as I get at home) the big problem is the latency. As the signal is bouncing of a satellite it takes much longer for a page to start to load, or for a response to get sent back to the server. This can be so slow that the server will assume you have disconnected (and/or your session cookie is not longer valid) and hence it will require you to log in again.

 

So my advice is to wait until you are in port, hunt out some free/cheap WiFi and download everything you need through that. Note: using 3G abroad can lead to huge data bills from you carrier.

 

Our next cruise could be a "connection" challenge - Seoul to Anchorage - 8 days at sea - and I doubt there is much free WiFi in Petropavlosk or Dutch Harbor. I am going to make sure my Kindle reader (on my iPad) is well loaded with "thick" books before we leave port.

[mdmourges]

My wife has a 3g kindle. She can download the Washington Post most of the time when in port but not aways at sea (but sometimes). When we were at sea and we can't do it through 3g, I would log on to Amazon with my PC (using the ships wi-fi, which involves a fee)and download the Post to my laptop. You can't read newspapers that you download to your pc (you can read books however) but you can then transfer them to the kindle. This is a very quick process.

 

Mark

[mdmourges]

Forgot to mention, if you have the 3g kindle, the only add'l charge using your kindle outside the US, is a $5/week charge that Amazon automatically charges to the credit card you have on file with them. You don't call them to activate it; the first time you use it outside the US they hit you with the weekly charge. We have been successful using 3g (Whispernet) in just about all ports in the Caribbean, including places as far south as Aruba.

 

Mark

[MadMarine]

Mad Marine: I can't comment on Kindle but you need to fully understand that the internet on the ship is slower than dial-up. So while the price per minute is manageable when you buy the 1000 minutes, the amount of work one can get done per minute is a fraction of what can be done when using shared internet in an airport lounge or hotel room. And those are a fraction of the speed I have at home.

 

On the ship quite often websites will time out before the ship uploaded my response when posting to a graphics-free forum. To sign in (and although I normally am always signed in, the forum drops me regularly when I'm on the ship) takes up to 4 minutes because I have to go through three pages (sign-in, connected and then the page I wished to be at.)

 

We continue to run our business on a pared down basis while cruising and can make the 1000 minutes last 20 days but it is very hard to do so, even when we are only connected in order to download email to be read off-line, upload composed emails and check in on one or two forums (which are then read off-line.)

 

Twice on the last cruise, people sent me large attachments which caused my email program to hang because of the speed of downloading email. In those cases, I had to go online to my email handler, find the large emails and delete them while online so that I could download the emails 'stuck' behind the offending message.

 

Heaven forbid if Windows or our virus protection software wants to do an update.

 

CanadianKate, I appreciate the elaboration. I was not well informed on the latency via satellite. It certainly would make a difference if it took 10 min. to download a newspaper or book.

 

As I read the other responses, it seems that some were more successful in port. Does that mean that internet service to the ship is provided via cable vs satellite while in port or did I misunderstand?

 

Thanks, Mad

[LaVieBoheme]

No: on the ship it is always via satellite (in my experience the onboard Wi-Fi is disabled when the ship is in port). In port you need to hunt out the local free/cheap Wi-Fi - the trick is to follow the crew as they always seem know where it is :)

[rols]

No: on the ship it is always via satellite (in my experience the onboard Wi-Fi is disabled when the ship is in port). In port you need to hunt out the local free/cheap Wi-Fi - the trick is to follow the crew as they always seem know where it is :)

 

WiFi is not disabled when in port, it works the whole time on the cruise, sometimes better than others but it's always on.

[LaCroisiereS'amuse]

Forgot to mention, if you have the 3g kindle, the only add'l charge using your kindle outside the US, is a $5/week charge that Amazon automatically charges to the credit card you have on file with them. You don't call them to activate it; the first time you use it outside the US they hit you with the weekly charge. We have been successful using 3g (Whispernet) in just about all ports in the Caribbean, including places as far south as Aruba.

 

Mark

 

I've just spoken to the Kindle helpline & if you have a UK/Europe bought Kindle registered on Amazon.co.uk that the 3G is free of additional charges when overseas, so I guess we are getting something extra for the higher UK purchase price (£151)! I've only used mine within Europe so far & haven't been charged anything extra since becoming a Kindle user in February.

 

From Amazon.co.uk.......

 

"Kindle3G (Free 3G + Wi-Fi) comes with built-in Free 3G wireless connectivity with coverage in more than 100 countries and territories. Check the 3G coverage in your area."

[CanadianKate]

The only time we had problems with internet in port was in Alaska and that's because in a few places the ship couldn't 'see' the satellite (due to mountains plus our high latitude.)

 

MdMourges was able to answer the specific question (downloading to a Kindle via wifi on the ship) so I'm pleased someone was able to give an exact question rather than an estimate.

 

Certainly on our last cruise, which was a segment of the World Cruise so had lots of people on for extended voyages, Kindles and other readers were very evident. And the owners all loved having them but I didn't come across anyone downloading newspapers.

 

Completely OT but the coolest device we heard about was ShipPlotter, a USB devise that uses a VHF receiver to receive the information on passing ships and then plot them onto charts that have been loaded onto your computer. We were in the South China Sea and he said it was fascinating looking at the names of the ships and seeing, in detail, our exact location. (On the Spirit, they do not post a copy of the local overview chart on the pool deck as they do, or at least did, on the Shadow.)