No powerboards allowed on RCI ships

[rkmw]

not sure if this is new but a RCI moderator posted this on facebook

 

you cannot take powerboards onboard the ship, they will be confiscated. We recommend taking a double power adapter instead. Please remember your AU to US power adapter as well

[Kiwi_cruiser]

A lot of people who have been on the Voyager of the Seas, have said the same thing, some have lost their power boards and other have got them on.

 

I guess its how they are packed etc...

 

If we every do a RCI cruise, I will take a power board, other wise I don't know how we are going to charge all our cameras/ notbook etc...

[benjoon]

We have a travel double board. You wrap the cord around it. The case is just big enough to carry adapters as well. Very neat. We have used it on our last 3 cruises and never had it taken off us. We use to take a long power board but nowadays there always seems to be enough power points. When we were on the Mariner we took a US adapter and a European one as they had both types.

 

We now carry a night light that has one socket and a USB socket. Most things now seem to have USB chargers. I'm currently looking at getting a double adapter with at least 2 USB sockets.

[thied]

This is becoming the norm on most cruise lines about no/some power boards

[Kiwi_cruiser]

Power boards on cruise ships - what next! unbelievable and completely unbelievable that anyone would think they could actually take them!

 

Ok, here is a question for you.

 

A room has one power point; we are a family of 3.

 

I have 3 digital cameras (two of them go underwater) and a Video camera,

 

My dad has a digital camera ,

 

Me and my dad both have shavers, and cell phones, plus a notebook computer.

 

How do we charge these things up, while we are on a 10+night cruise???, we use a Power board and we have been using a Power board on all 14 cruises we have done.

[The_Big_M]

not sure if this is new but a RCI moderator posted this on facebook

 

you cannot take powerboards onboard the ship, they will be confiscated. We recommend taking a double power adapter instead. Please remember your AU to US power adapter as well

 

This has been a rule for some time. The above would be a reminder, and they may be increasing vigilance for them.

[KarateMan]

Ok, here is a question for you.

 

A room has one power point; we are a family of 3.

 

I have 3 digital cameras (two of them go underwater) and a Video camera,

 

My dad has a digital camera ,

 

Me and my dad both have shavers, and cell phones, plus a notebook computer.

 

How do we charge these things up, while we are on a 10+night cruise???, we use a Power board and we have been using a Power board on all 14 cruises we have done.

 

It is extremely easy.

 

I have a battery shaver too and on a single charge it can last an entire week (7 days) and 2 shaves per day with 1 hour to charge.

 

Cell phones - again easy. Switch the keypad sounds off and operate in battery saving mode. Switch the phone off at night to conserve power. Use a usb device to charge it from your laptop or ipad.

 

cameras again very easy. Always have two battery packs per camera. Lithium batteries are the best and last the longest. Personally I can use a SLR camera and a single battery can last over several 1000 photos and movies and a single charged battery can last for 30 days. Perhaps you have invested in poor equipment. But with cameras simple turn off the warning sounds and beep. The operation of cameras can be done without warning sounds. This saves power. On cameras use the view finder and switch off the LCD. You can shoot better pictures without the LCD and all the shooting information is in the viewfinder.

 

In your case it is probably cheap equipment such as poor performing batteries and power hungry equipment on the wrong settings.

 

As for laptops, notebooks etc. Again 6 hours worth of operation on battery. Rotate charging times and switch off when not in use. I seriously doubt anyone who pays money to go on a holiday will spend the entire duration on the device when there at 101 things to see and do.

[Brossy]

Of all the ridiculous and stupid things that people do this one would stand out as bizarre, idiotic and completely ridiculous. The mind boggles just to think of why people do it, what goes through their mind and exactly what planet or parallel universe they are living in.

 

The ships engines and generators can only produce so much power. All power has to be accounted for and allocated to services. Just because a ship can produce its own power does not mean it has an endless supply that people can bring power boards into their cabin to power up every device known to man, woman and child.

 

Its a safety issue and power boards could cause a major problem to the safety and well being of all passengers. Just think of the consequences if some fool overloaded these things, tried to drain too much power and caused a major electrical fire.

 

You may be able to plug your toaster, kettle, ipad, chargers into convenient places at home but this is a cruise ship and not the place for heavy duty devices.

 

Of all the ridiculous things to read and all the foolish things people take about without putting any thought into their actions and consequences there of this here would have to be right up there. The mind boggles as to what kind of people actually exist in this world and how on earth they manage to survive.

 

Power boards on cruise ships - what next! unbelievable and completely unbelievable that anyone would think they could actually take them!

 

I have used a power board on some ships because sometimes the power points are in awkward spots and once I have put my travel adaptor on I can't use the PowerPoint. My children's iPods are the perfect example. They use a belkin charger and these do not fit as they adaptor is a strange shape so I have always used a powerboard. My powerboard has been checked for faults etc. We don't overload the board either. Sometimes double adapters don't work either.

 

I have seen travel powerboards with USB slots on the US eBay site but can't seem to find Aussie ones. Hopefully these will come out eventually as they are a great idea.

[kiwipete]

This can't be a serious posting!!!!

 

of all the ridiculous and stupid things that people do this one would stand out as bizarre, idiotic and completely ridiculous. The mind boggles just to think of why people do it, what goes through their mind and exactly what planet or parallel universe they are living in.

 

The ships engines and generators can only produce so much power. All power has to be accounted for and allocated to services. Just because a ship can produce its own power does not mean it has an endless supply that people can bring power boards into their cabin to power up every device known to man, woman and child.

 

Its a safety issue and power boards could cause a major problem to the safety and well being of all passengers. Just think of the consequences if some fool overloaded these things, tried to drain too much power and caused a major electrical fire.

 

You may be able to plug your toaster, kettle, ipad, chargers into convenient places at home but this is a cruise ship and not the place for heavy duty devices.

 

Of all the ridiculous things to read and all the foolish things people take about without putting any thought into their actions and consequences there of this here would have to be right up there. The mind boggles as to what kind of people actually exist in this world and how on earth they manage to survive.

 

Power boards on cruise ships - what next! Unbelievable and completely unbelievable that anyone would think they could actually take them!

[rugbypopsie]

Sutho(Karateman) or whatever....sometimes you have valid information but the message gets lost into your arrogant responses. My concern is that apart from alcohol the banning of some items being brought onboard is a safety issue. No one wants a fire at sea. There are alternatives and yes charging all our gear is a problem..perhaps the cruise line should publish some information on these safe alternatives or even rent out safe alternatives through your room steward for a small fee? Good publicity for the manfacturers and perhaps they could be stocked through the ships stores..

 

I'd love to see some pictures of suggestions for alternative to power boards.

 

Sue

[joybook]

I always take a small power board and no one has told me there is a problem. I will continue to take one with me until told OFFICIALLY otherwise.:)

[Pushka]

I have posted before that RCL didn't allow powerboards on our med cruise last year.

 

For what it is worth, we had a 4am house fire that was caused by a powerboard. Only $10,000 damage :eek: and seeing the fire brigade come to our home sirens blaring at 4am is something not to be repeated.

 

The issue is that they get dusty, and then get hot if too many things are plugged into them. In our case, it was a heater that my son had left on in his bedroom. The fire alarm went off and woke him up.

[KarateMan]

This can't be a serious posting!!!!

 

 

Of course it is serious. It should be common sense.

 

There is only 120V of electricity in those cabins unlike the 240V we are used to here. You cant just plug any powerboard into their system. You don't know if its a dodgy board and if the + and - terminals are in the correct place.

 

There is only limited amount of power that goes to each cabin and unless you know what amount of power each device is going to drain from the system and multiply it by the number of passengers doing the same thing its best you keep quiet. Playing with electricity is dangerous. Cruise lines have every right to ban these devices. It is foolish and irresponsible to take them and a reckless indifference to the rules and other peoples safety.

[Guest012]

More scary than the power board is the flippant attitude to safety..... toast yourself by all means but leave the rest of us out of it............... shakes head.....

[Kiwi_cruiser]

You cant just plug any powerboard into their system. You don't know if its a dodgy board and if the + and - terminals are in the correct place.

 

If the board is in good working order (For us we have a powerboard, that we only use for cruising, and this boards has done at lest 7 cruises!), then there should be is no problems.

[rugbypopsie]

Heaven forbid that I find myself agreeing with Sutho...sorry Kiwi "should be Ok" does not fill me with confidence. I don't think they are banned without reason, you take one board, the next cabin feels entitled to take a powerboard , a steamer and an iron, the next cabin takes all of that and a kettle...where does it end...potentially a tragedy at sea. We can manage without all this stuff..I use a camera with lithium batteries because its more convenient...hate the hair dryers in the cabin but heck they do the job, I take a double adapter and converter and just juggle whatever else needs charging.

 

Perhaps an electrical engineer or a moderator can throw some more light on the issue.

 

Sue

[markj23]

so what would stop someone from taking multiple double adaptors onboard, plugging them all in to each other and creating an even bigger fire risk?

 

In my workplace double adaptors are banned, power boards are ok because they can be tested & tagged appropriately

[The_Big_M]

Heaven forbid that I find myself agreeing with Sutho...sorry Kiwi "should be Ok" does not fill me with confidence. I don't think they are banned without reason, you take one board, the next cabin feels entitled to take a powerboard , a steamer and an iron, the next cabin takes all of that and a kettle...where does it end...potentially a tragedy at sea. We can manage without all this stuff..I use a camera with lithium batteries because its more convenient...hate the hair dryers in the cabin but heck they do the job, I take a double adapter and converter and just juggle whatever else needs charging.

 

Perhaps an electrical engineer or a moderator can throw some more light on the issue.

 

Sue

 

(Aside from broken ones) the issue is like pushka said - they can be overloaded. In the home you should never put a heater on a powerboard as they can easily consume the full 10A of domestic supply. But because you have multiple sockets, people can then put other things such as worst case, another heater or an iron, which can also exceed the line capacity.

 

It will then overheat and you have fire next.

 

The same thing in a cabin, although people (probably) aren't bringing in heaters and irons, it still makes it easy to exceed the capacity as sutho said. Fortunately a lot of devices used in the cabin such as chargers don't have a high power drain, it's often not an issue.

 

But as most people aren't researching what's safe, the lines have taken a blanket approach to make it less likely there's going to be an issue.

[fishtaco]

Of course it is serious. It should be common sense.

 

There is only 120V of electricity in those cabins unlike the 240V we are used to here. You cant just plug any powerboard into their system. You don't know if its a dodgy board and if the + and - terminals are in the correct place.

 

There is only limited amount of power that goes to each cabin and unless you know what amount of power each device is going to drain from the system and multiply it by the number of passengers doing the same thing its best you keep quiet. Playing with electricity is dangerous. Cruise lines have every right to ban these devices. It is foolish and irresponsible to take them and a reckless indifference to the rules and other peoples safety.

 

ROTFALMAO at your stupid statement:D

 

Volts supplied to each cabin have nothing to do with it:p

 

Its Watts V Amps drawn that is a problem:rolleyes:

 

A kettle for instance draws at least 1000 watts a camera/iphone or other similar draws around 5 watts, voltage has nothing to do with it!

 

RCI doesnt have Laundry's so too many smuggle aboard irons kettles, steamers and electric curling wands which all use about the the same 1000 watts + and will overload the circuit.

 

Also shows you havnt cruised RCI! as they have 110V and 220 V plug sockets lol

[steve1970]

I just don't get it. RCI bans 4 way power boards and I have seen the pile on disembarkation. They also ban irons.

Has anyone here also tried to iron a shirt with the wife's hair straightener? It's not worth the hassle.

I agree, it's over the top to ban power boards for my 2x 1.5v AA batteries, my 6v phone, 14v laptop and 8v video camera. BUT if we had daughters I could see them all bringing along a curling iron, hair straightener and all of them preening, steaming and setting their hair at the same time.

I can see their logic as not everyone is aware of the risks of overloading on heavy demand devices.

[CCC's]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KarateMan View Post

Of course it is serious. It should be common sense.

 

There is only 120V of electricity in those cabins unlike the 240V we are used to here. You cant just plug any powerboard into their system. You don't know if its a dodgy board and if the + and - terminals are in the correct place.

 

There is only limited amount of power that goes to each cabin and unless you know what amount of power each device is going to drain from the system and multiply it by the number of passengers doing the same thing its best you keep quiet. Playing with electricity is dangerous. Cruise lines have every right to ban these devices. It is foolish and irresponsible to take them and a reckless indifference to the rules and other peoples safety.

 

ROTFALMAO at your stupid statement

 

Fishtaco.....What does ROTFALMAO mean ??

[Royalty X]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KarateMan View Post

Of course it is serious. It should be common sense.

 

There is only 120V of electricity in those cabins unlike the 240V we are used to here. You cant just plug any powerboard into their system. You don't know if its a dodgy board and if the + and - terminals are in the correct place.

 

There is only limited amount of power that goes to each cabin and unless you know what amount of power each device is going to drain from the system and multiply it by the number of passengers doing the same thing its best you keep quiet. Playing with electricity is dangerous. Cruise lines have every right to ban these devices. It is foolish and irresponsible to take them and a reckless indifference to the rules and other peoples safety.

 

ROTFALMAO at your stupid statement

 

Fishtaco.....What does ROTFALMAO mean ??

Rolling On The Floor And Laughing My Ass Off... :D

[greatam]

This is a stupid question from an American. What is a powerboard? You mean what we call a power strip-three-10 outlets powered off one plug in?

 

IF so, they can be VERY dangerous. My dear departed DH was an electrical engineer. Even at home, he was always checking, checking, checking the few power strips he would allow in the house. IF we needed more outlets, he just ran another circuit which you obviously can't do on a cruise ship.

 

I remember one time he walked into the bathroom. Perched on a shelf was a power strip with my blow dryer, electric toothbrush, curling iron and make up airbrush kit all pulled in. I didn't hear the end of that for a LOOOONG time. We had a 4 outlet plug installed by the end of the week.

[sandysu]

I have used a power board on some ships because sometimes the power points are in awkward spots and once I have put my travel adaptor on I can't use the PowerPoint. My children's iPods are the perfect example. They use a belkin charger and these do not fit as they adaptor is a strange shape so I have always used a powerboard. My powerboard has been checked for faults etc. We don't overload the board either. Sometimes double adapters don't work either.

 

I have seen travel powerboards with USB slots on the US eBay site but can't seem to find Aussie ones. Hopefully these will come out eventually as they are a great idea.

 

Agreed, they do put those power points in odd places :)

 

We have a Jackson travel power board with two power points and a USB slot. It has been allowed on-board a few cruises now (Royal Caribbean, Princess and Carnival) and it's usually all we need - along with an adapter of course. Here's a link to an Aussie site that sells them.

[thied]

Ok, here is a question for you.

 

A room has one power point; we are a family of 3.

 

I have 3 digital cameras (two of them go underwater) and a Video camera,

 

My dad has a digital camera ,

 

Me and my dad both have shavers, and cell phones, plus a notebook computer.

 

How do we charge these things up, while we are on a 10+night cruise???, we use a Power board and we have been using a Power board on all 14 cruises we have done.

leave the cell phones in the safe and don't use them, leave the note book in the cabin in the day time on charge and share it with the cameras don't need to be on charge all the time and all the same time , most phones and cameras charge up full in an hour or two, as for the shaving just use a bic and make more time for the other chargers ( they are lighter to carry)

 

if you manage the charging time right you will only need one power point and you have more time to enjoy the cruise ship and what it has to offer