What type electrical outlets on board ships?

[denaliland]

What type outlets will we find on cruise ships? Will we need to bring adapters to use electrical appliances like while traveling in other countries? Or will outlets be like in American homes, etc.?

[SadieN]

If the line caters to Americans expect one 110v American outlet. Some lines also have a 220v outlet available. Either a Two-pin or British outlet.

 

What line and ship? Outlets do vary even within ships of the same line.

 

Many electrical things these days are dual voltage, only needing a plug adapter, not a converter. The item will be marked with something like "110v-240v"

[Keith1010]

Do you have a specific ship in mind.

 

Keith

[chengkp75]

As others have said, it depends on the ship. But generally, there will be one US 110v 15a flat blade outlet, and one 220v 15a outlet, either European two round pin, or UK three broad flat blade.

 

Electronics, like phones, Ipads, laptops, etc, generally are marked on the "power brick" or "cube" that input voltage is 100-240vac. For these, you can use either the 110v or 220v outlet, the 220v outlet only needs the adapter that changes the pin configuration, not a voltage converter.

 

Some hair care appliances now are also marked for 100-240vac, and these also generally have a power brick near the plug. Again, use either outlet with an adapter.

 

If your appliance (and no appliance with a heating element, other than hair care items are allowed) is marked only for 110vac, you will need a voltage converter as well. These generally come in two types; low wattage for electronics, and high wattage for hair dryers and the like. Make sure you don't buy a low wattage transformer and plug a 3000w hair dryer into it, you will have a smoking ball of molten plastic in a short period.

 

It all depends on how much stuff you are going to plug in, as to whether or not you need to use the 220v outlet.

 

Do not try to use an electric clock onboard. The frequency is not stable enough, and your clock will gain or lose several minutes each day. A battery clock is recommended.

[denaliland]

We are looking at Carnival's Glory ship. So if it has dual type of electrical outlets if we used adapters could we use different types of adapters?

 

Thanks for the help.

[chengkp75]

We are looking at Carnival's Glory ship. So if it has dual type of electrical outlets if we used adapters could we use different types of adapters?

 

Thanks for the help.

 

It will have one US 110v outlet, and one 220v outlet next to it. You won't need an adapter for the US outlet, but you will need a European two pin adapter for the 220v outlet. Many places like Target, Amazon, and Radio Shack have adapter kits that will have several adapters (or one that looks like a Swiss Army knife) that will adapt various (European round pin, UK, Australian, and others) outlets to a US plug format.

 

Again, depending on your appliances, you may need a transformer to use the 220v outlet.

[Jackytar]

If your appliance (and no appliance with a heating element, other than hair care items are allowed) is marked only for 110vac, you will need a voltage converter as well. These generally come in two types; low wattage for electronics, and high wattage for hair dryers and the like. Make sure you don't buy a low wattage transformer and plug a 3000w hair dryer into it, you will have a smoking ball of molten plastic in a short period.

 

Seconded! It's far too easy to set up an electrical fire hazard by mismatching the transformer to the load. Please, check the power demands of all the items you plan to use with that transformer, and ensure it's rated to handle the demand from the highest-powered item.

 

Do not try to use an electric clock onboard. The frequency is not stable enough, and your clock will gain or lose several minutes each day. A battery clock is recommended.

 

I'm going to disagree with you here. Modern marine electrical power systems are very frequency-stable. The time loss issue occurs on ships where the primary power generation is at 50 Hz (typically ships built to UK/European spec). The voltages are stepped down by transformer from whatever the primary generated voltage is, but that doesn't alter the frequency, and power converters don't alter it, either. Analog clocks (i.e., a motor turning the hands) will run at 5/6ths normal speed and therefore loose time, 10 minutes an hour. Digital clocks don't generally use the power supply frequency to control the time (unless it's a really, really, really cheap clock - like the 9.99 special at Wal-mart kind of cheap :) )

 

That said, if you're bringing any kind of modern digital electronics like a phone, tablet or laptop, they also make excellent, highly reliable clocks. :D

[chengkp75]

Seconded! It's far too easy to set up an electrical fire hazard by mismatching the transformer to the load. Please, check the power demands of all the items you plan to use with that transformer, and ensure it's rated to handle the demand from the highest-powered item.

 

 

 

I'm going to disagree with you here. Modern marine electrical power systems are very frequency-stable. The time loss issue occurs on ships where the primary power generation is at 50 Hz (typically ships built to UK/European spec). The voltages are stepped down by transformer from whatever the primary generated voltage is, but that doesn't alter the frequency, and power converters don't alter it, either. Analog clocks (i.e., a motor turning the hands) will run at 5/6ths normal speed and therefore loose time, 10 minutes an hour. Digital clocks don't generally use the power supply frequency to control the time (unless it's a really, really, really cheap clock - like the 9.99 special at Wal-mart kind of cheap :) )

 

That said, if you're bringing any kind of modern digital electronics like a phone, tablet or laptop, they also make excellent, highly reliable clocks. :D

 

Yes, anything that converts power to DC will not be affected by frequency drift. However, there are times where shipboard frequency does vary, generally in the 58.5 to 62.5 hertz range. This is caused whenever large loads are added or removed from the bus (starting more engines for getting up to sea speed, starting/stopping or even ramping up thrusters, propulsion changes while maneuvering, or adding another A/C chiller), when the mechanical systems of the diesel engines cannot react as fast as the electrical systems react. This is a transitory frequency fluctuation. The ship's master clock will gain or lose a couple minutes a day due to the ship not maintaining exactly 60 hertz, and requires the bridge officer to adjust the clock daily.

 

And what else would you bring to a cruise other than a 9 buck WalMart clock?:D

[wieslaw]

...... the ship not maintaining exactly 60 hertz,.....

Are you ' saying ' that all ships , or all cruise ships have the 60 Hz ( plus or minus the 2.5 cycles) ....... or do some of them have the 50Hz ( plus or minus the small amount) frequency

 

picture for the op; on the RCI's Navigator they had these below outlets:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=217612&d=1326222023

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=217613&d=1326222137

Edited May 29, 2014 by wieslaw

[Jackytar]

However, there are times where shipboard frequency does vary, generally in the 58.5 to 62.5 hertz range. This is caused whenever large loads are added or removed from the bus (starting more engines for getting up to sea speed, starting/stopping or even ramping up thrusters, propulsion changes while maneuvering, or adding another A/C chiller), when the mechanical systems of the diesel engines cannot react as fast as the electrical systems react. This is a transitory frequency fluctuation. The ship's master clock will gain or lose a couple minutes a day due to the ship not maintaining exactly 60 hertz, and requires the bridge officer to adjust the clock daily.

 

And what else would you bring to a cruise other than a 9 buck WalMart clock?:D

 

Are you ' saying ' that all ships , or all cruise ships have the 60 Hz ( plus or minus the 2.5 cycles) ....... or do some of them have the 50Hz ( plus or minus the small amount) frequency

 

Hm. Master clock system as fitted on HMC Ships doesn't gain or lose, but then it takes its reference from sat signals. I can see that a cruise ship might not need that fanatically close-kept time. :) I know the type of transitory frequency changes you mean; seen them myself at sea as ET of the watch in my younger days, but transitory changes of as much as +/- 0.5 Hz from 60.0, provided it settled back to 60.0 was never considered a serious problem. As for what clock to bring - I'm going to be on holiday; what is this clock of which you speak? :D

 

wieslaw, so far as I've been able to find out, it depends on the ship. QM2, for example, has primary power generation of 11 kVac, 3 ph, 60 Hz. The primary is stepped down as required for various systems; the main reason it's so high is for the electric propulsion. Other cruise ships with diesels for main propulsion may go as low as 450 volts, and frequency may be 50 or 60 Hz. The only benchmark I have for comparison is naval vessels; Canadian ships mainly produce 450 Vac, 3 ph, 60 Hz (known as "NATO standard power"), and the same applies to most classes of USN ships so far as I know.

Edited May 29, 2014 by Jackytar