Is it worth taking the Laptop?

[Jackie V]

We are sailing on the Saphhire Princess 8/21, and I am trying to decide whether or not to bring my laptop. I would like to keep up with emails as much as possible. Since there are computers on board and internet cafes in many of the ports, is it worth lugging the laptop? Does anyone have current pricing for internet packages? Is there a difference for using the on board computers versus your own?

[T_Bird]

I like to bring my laptop to download my cruise pics. However, if your only use for your laptop is to check email, I would just use the internet cafes. You'll be charged regardless of whether you use your computer or theirs.

 

Have fun!

[trixie54]

We have to bring our laptop in order to download email attachments my DH needs for work - the ship's & cybercafe's PC's won't allow that (for obvious reasons like viruses, etc.)

[doven]

Be sure to take all the necessary "stuff" needed for your laptop to hook it up. Somehow we failed on the Coral with our laptop and my husband could never get it hooked up right - a disappointment after lugging it all that way ! That was okay though - we would not have had time to use it anyway so it remained under our bed the entire time of our Alaskan cruise.

[nitterm]

The whole point of the cruise is leaving the laptop at home!!!

[LeftatGator]

I love taking ours, not for work of course. But, at the end of the day I dump all my photos into the laptop, then me and the wife plop on the bed and review our day. It's fun. Last year, I put all the photos into adobe premiere and made a movie that was finished on the plane home.

 

But I say NO! to emails

[montgomeryfamily]

I agree that if you are only going to check email, the computers on the ship will work just as well. It is a hassle to lug the laptop and also to keep it secure for just this purpose. The only exception would be if some of the emails might contain sensitive or proprietary information, as the computers are all in the same room and anyone can see what is on your screen.

 

If you are going to handle attachments, prepare documents, and/or download cruise pics, it is worthwhile, as the computers on ship have significant limitations in this regard. Hopefully you are not going to have to do that and can just relax and have fun!!

[kate8]

My husband always takes his laptop with him. He downloads his pictures each night, as well he has the cruise ship put the pictures from the disposable underwater cameras on to a cd, so he can download those as well. On the long flight home he becomes the PhotoShop fairy and organnizes and adjusts the pictures so they are ready to print out when we get home. I love it, as I am no longer in charge of the albums.

Kathy

[cafeamericaine]

On the Grand in June (Greek Isles), we found the laptop with wireless worked much faster and reliably to get on the internet than did the computers in the internet cafe. Seemed to me they were constantly having to reset the servers and the internet cafe terminals were very, very SLOW.

 

And ... as other posters have mentioned, you cannot upload/download pictures, documents, etc from the shipboard ones. We also took lots and lots of pictures with digital cameras and were able to download to the laptop each day plus make CD's.

 

Yes, was kind of a hassle, but worth it overall.

[alolewis]

My DW will not allow me to take a laptop so it is a mute issue with us. For the digital camera since mine uses compact flash cards, I borrowed a couple of compact flash cards from friends which was an economical way to store all the photos until we got home. I agree with the others, no need to check e-mail, I would think your company/job can survive a week without you. The purpose of vacations is to relax and enjoy yourself!

[CruiseFever]

My husband always takes his laptop with him. He downloads his pictures each night, as well he has the cruise ship put the pictures from the disposable underwater cameras on to a cd, so he can download those as well. On the long flight home he becomes the PhotoShop fairy and organnizes and adjusts the pictures so they are ready to print out when we get home. I love it, as I am no longer in charge of the albums.

Kathy

 

We do that too. We take a LOT of digital photos and that really makes it easy to keep them organized plus it's a lot less expensive than buying extra camera memory or paying the ships photo gallery to make a CD of it for you.

 

If I must get online and do anything other than read email I can use my laptop with the ship's wireless Internet system to upload and download files. That is prohibited with the ship's computers.

 

I guess that must be more popular than I thought with the cruising public as Carnival has started having all of the new ships set up to offer wireless Internet all over the ship, not just in a certain area.

 

On one hand I dread the thought of such things like that and offering cell phone service at sea, on the other hand if someone had some serious concerns ashore I suppose that would make it easier to keep in touch. But there's a part of me that likes seeing this:

 

[WCAB]

Just got a laptop and I am thinking of taking it to download my photographs. Also might take along a movie or two, that I never seem to have time at home to watch.

 

Carol

[Jackie V]

Thanks, everyone. Does anyone know the cost for the packages on 7 days cruises?

[NASCAR Bubba]

:D It depends on who is giving the laptop.

[PescadoAmarillo]

Also, I believe that the free internet that kicks in when you reach the middle Captain's Circle level (is it platinum?) does not apply to wireless internet over laptops.

[Mindy97]

That's true, free internet (which begins on your 6th cruise [Platinum]) does not include wireless.

[edYYZ]

Many people mention that you can check email using the computers offered in the internet cafe areas. That's only true if you're using web mail. Outlook users will find it more difficult - there are ways but it may be easier to just have the laptop if it's that important. For convenience with digital pictures, it's much more convenient to just have extra memory. In Alaska this year, I wen't photo crazy but really only ended up with a little over a gig of photos. Memory prices nowadays are so cheap that it might be worth just getting an extra card instead of lugging the laptop with you (unless you have an ultraportable).

[lablvr2]

If you are planning on taking tons of digital pics you will need a pc to d/l them to each night. I always carry my pc onboard just for this reason. I also hand carry it on the flight/ship and off.

 

Susan

[coiran]

Many people mention that you can check email using the computers offered in the internet cafe areas. That's only true if you're using web mail. Outlook users will find it more difficult - there are ways but it may be easier to just have the laptop if it's that important. For convenience with digital pictures, it's much more convenient to just have extra memory. In Alaska this year, I wen't photo crazy but really only ended up with a little over a gig of photos. Memory prices nowadays are so cheap that it might be worth just getting an extra card instead of lugging the laptop with you (unless you have an ultraportable).

 

You can check your outlook express e mail by going to http://www.mail2web.com - enter your address and password and your email pops up - no problemo!!

 

Ron

[cactusrose]

For those of you who have used the wireless access on Princess, do you need anything special or will my existing internal wireless card just work with their system?

[captainron]

Hey folks,

You can now get 1GB cards for your digicams that literally give you hundreds ...hundreds of pictures.

Questions:

Which is heavier?

Which is more inconvenient to carry around?

Which requires auxiliary equipment to go with it?

 

I think that with the digicam mem cards you can get now, you'd be a lot better off just taking a power bar and a battery charger for your camera. You'd have to take a power bar anyway so that becomes a no player in the decision making process.

 

Have a great cruise and take lots of photos, but leave the computer at home. You can download them all when you get home.

 

Ciao for now!!!

[Coral]

For those of you who have used the wireless access on Princess, do you need anything special or will my existing internal wireless card just work with their system?

 

Just make sure it is "b" compatible. If you have a "b, g, b/g or a/b/g card" - you should be fine.

[bubbadog]

not for work ,but for fun yes:))),and yes i agree wireless is better way to go ,it could take you an hour to send an e-mail,just ridiculus,and the ports worked pretty good for wireless,especially remember rotterdam being good,their cafe was very close to boat:))))

[hcs81m]

I bring my laptop to play music and movies.

[SPI_Rick]

Jackie V, I'm sure you've gotten more opinions than you needed on this subject. As you can see people have well reasoned opinions on both sides of the issue. I think it just depends on what you plan to use your laptop to do. If you just need to check email every couple of days and don't need to download email attachements during the cruise, then don't bring it. You can use the ship's computers or internet cafes in your ports of call. If you use your laptop for other reasons then bringing it may make sense. I have brought mine on my last 2 cruises and yes, it is a pain to lug through airport security and on shuttle buses, but I do it anyway. The reason I started bringing mine is that I do the following with it while cruising:

 

 

Check email

 

 

Compose long rambling emails off-line to be sent later when I connect

 

Keep a cruise journal

 

Download photos from my digital camera

 

Burn photo CDs or DVDs from my downloaded photos

 

Watch movies (I copy 3-4 DVDs to my hard drive before the cruise and then watch them on evenings when we don't want to go out after dinner)

 

So, I plan to take it again on my next cruise, but if future pre- or post-cruise travel plans get too complex then I may leave it behind and rely on the ship's internet cafe and photo shop to replace it.