Portable GPS?

[cruzincurt]

Anyone ever taken a handheld GPS into the Caribbean on their cruise? Thought it might be kind of neat to watch the ship's progress on the screen. I assume you would have to be up on deck for the signals to get to it.

 

What inexpensive model can one buy that can be loaded with the Caribbean Sea area? Perhaps for security reasons they don't want you to have one so know one knows the exact position of the ship?

[Bill S]

Curt: I always take my handheld GPS receiver with me on cruises-they don't care if you have one! Yes, they only will work outside on deck or on a verandah, if you have one.

I recommend you consider you purchasing a GPS receiver that either has a "built-in" base map of the world or is capable of having map sets downloaded to it from a PC. The lower-end models do not have maps-just blank screens showing your lat/long and direction of travel. You will have to pay a bit more for a model that has mapping capability. Most are monochrome but for some more moolah you can find models with color displays.

I started with a Garmin GPS III - very basic map model with no downloading capability-it had detailed maps of North America and much less detailed maps of the rest of the world.

I upgraded to a Garmin Etrex Vista-still monochrome but with advanced features suitable for geocaching. It came with a serial cable and downloading is very sloooooowww!

Then, late last year I bought a Garmin Etrex VistaC: wow--color! It came with Garmin mapping software of North America and a USB cable--very fast. While the display is great and battery life is excellent, it has limited memory capacity. You "create" mapsets from the software on the PC for your area of interest and then transfer the mapset to the GPS receiver. So far, I have only had to cut down only one mapset (for Southern Cal). The maps are extremely detailed. Garmin makes software sets for maritme use and for Europe and other areas of the world, as well. The software for my monochrome Etrex Vista even showed bouys, markers and lighthouses, but the MapSource software that comes with the color version (North America) does not feature those items.

 

I suggest you do research on the internet for a model that will suit your needs. If I can help you in any way, let me know!

[Terpnut]

I plan on taking my Garmin on my Alaska cruise in August. This way, I can: (1) track the ship's inside passage progress (to know when/what islands and glaciers we're passing), (2) know where I'm going for hiking and other excursion activities (and to find my way back to the ship if I get lost), and (3) use it while driving around Vancouver/Whistler pre and post-cruise. FYI, you need hiking/topography maps for the first item and Mapsource NACN maps for the third. Don't know what people do without one!

[RMILLER4292]

I always take mine too!! Go up on deck once or twice a day and get our position and save our progress. It will also tell you eta to your next port etc.

 

Ryan

[PelicanBill]

I carried my Magellan GPS on the Carnival Glory in January and brought lots of batteries. I actually left it running on the balcony a lot of the time, finding I could keep a signal lock there most of the time, and could even keep the signal inside the window of the cabin some of the time.

 

 

I upgraded the base world map before we left - that cost $80. Without that the caribbean is a much of inaccurate blobs on Magellans.

 

I will be taking it on Voyager of the Seas in October... it may be harder to use on the balcony because there is more steel around the balconies.

 

It was lots of fun to see exactly where we where and what speed we were going.