Using your phone rather than "paper" for cruise notes

[slidergirl]

That is because in most states it is illegal to touch the e-device. Just like when someone asks to see your ID you have to take out of the wallet for them to see it. It can go into legal issues.

 

I have taken TAM (alcohol training), hospitality law in college and work at a hotel that the owner is a lawyer.

 

 

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+1

 

I travel paperless, but have everything back up to my iPad and documented in Tripit. The one paper I must have is the one for my hotel reservation when I book as an employee - the corporation still requires the paper copy (or we must pay the full rate :eek: ) I do keep a copy of that form on my iPad - if something happens to the paper (did once - Rome took my copy of Florence and I did not realize it in my jet-lagged state), I ask if I may email it to the FD for printing or ask where the business center is to print it out myself. I do the same for people at my hotel - I need that paper, but I will happily accept an emailed copy and print it out for our records.

I just got my first smartphone back in April - it was so fun to be able to just flash my phone with the boarding pass info on it instead of having to get the paper at the kiosk!!!

[calliopecruiser]

There have been occasions where the clerk on the other side of the counter will refuse to look at your e-device and insist on looking at paper only. Even when the e-file is a pdf of the paper copy :rolleyes:

 

Better yet, the info on the clerk's screen is the info that generated that pdf in the first place :mad:

 

yes, yes.......I'm sure there will always be exceptions that will make carrying only digital copies a little more difficult (meaning you might need to email something directly to them, or print it off). Life is not perfect, and there are problems with carrying paper copies too. No single way is foolproof, and, for me, I think the pros of not carrying paper outweigh the cons of not carrying paper.

[Rina155]

Last March when sailing Celebrity out of Miami I accidentally left all of our paper cruise documents on the desk following check out and did not realize it until we were on the shuttle enroute to the port! I frantically began uploading everything into my I notes. However when we arrived at the terminal and the security requesting to see our tickets as well as everyone else's almost denied us going up to where we could get to the check in!

 

I showed our ticket reservation on the Iphone but had to do a lot of quick talking to get past and to the desk where more talking occurred. Long story long, we did get on board and once on board the internet cafe printed out all of the rest of our paid for excursions I had uploaded. And at no cost!!!

[cb at sea]

I don't print out anything, unless it's something I've paid for... Being on vacation shouldn't feel like work...I don't want files and folders! I've never even attempted to download anything to my phone....we don't use the phone on the ship, anyway!

[mochas8]

Can you use Google Docs off-line? on an android phone?

[lenquixote66]

This is the first time I will be traveling with very little paperwork for our cruise.

 

Leaving all notes for the ports, excursions, etc. on my phone in One Drive. (Tested it already)

 

I'm a bit of belt/suspenders person though, thinking what if the phone gets lost, what if One Drive doesn't work, etc.

 

How do you all handle this OR am I being overcautious?

 

Thanks.

 

 

I guess i am not in the 21st.century yet.I do not have a phone with the capability of doing anything other than making and receiving phone calls.

I pack a notebook and have sheets of paper in my pocket to make notes.

[Flatbush Flyer]

There is a great app called Tripit - organizes all of your details - many directly from a confirmation email. It can be used on or off line

 

 

I use the trifecta of planning:

 

All docs as PDFs on my phone;

All docs on a USB drive

A proprietary printed single page itinerary spreadsheet with all key contact and confirmation numbers

 

And, of course, TripIt for quick looks at what's next.

 

 

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[AussieOmni]

I have Evernote and planned on using that during my last cruise. Then my phone bricked itself the day before the trip

 

 

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[bUU]

This is the first time I will be traveling with very little paperwork for our cruise.

 

Leaving all notes for the ports, excursions, etc. on my phone in One Drive. (Tested it already)

 

I'm a bit of belt/suspenders person though, thinking what if the phone gets lost, what if One Drive doesn't work, etc.

 

How do you all handle this OR am I being overcautious?

 

Thanks.

While the phone is eminently reliable , I don't think we can say as much about free internet Based Services. For reasons having to do with Outlook rather than OneDrive I'm now using Google instead of Microsoft but even in that context I would not rely on being able to access data in the cloud from anywhere while traveling. Traveling is just too much of a high-risk operation. Therefore I would ensure that anything that I'm relying on on my phone/tablet is marked to be stored and retained locally on the phone/tablet.

 

Having said that I will note that I have had serious problems getting that to work reliably with OneDrive back when I was using OneDrive (which to be fair was more than a year ago). I recall a worship service that I was leading at church. On opening my OneDrive and clicking on my sermon, for some reason it tried to reach out to the cloud to get an updated copy even though it indicated that it has a local copy. That day the church internet was not working and OneDrive would not allow me to access the local copy which it clearly showed was there on my tablet. (Of course being the cautious worship leader that I am I had a paper backup copy that I was able to use instead.)

 

I've never had problems like that with Google Drive. I feel that its functionality is so reliable , and specifically that feature whereby when I say to keep it locally it keeps it locally and it makes it available to me even when there's no internet connection to be had , I feel comfortable now going to church on a Sunday morning when I'm leading worship relying solely on my tablet and my phone as a backup. However unsurprisingly my church congregation is far more loving than the crew of the cruise ship or the folks running excursions or the Customs officers Etc and so on. So while I might rely on the tablet and my phone for leading worship I still wouldn't rely on it for travel documents without having a paper back up somewhere.

 

This message may have been entered using voice recognition. Please excuse any typos.

[calliopecruiser]

I would not rely on being able to access data in the cloud from anywhere while traveling.

What makes you say that? In 95% of the places I've traveled, internet service has not been a problem for anything more an an occasional hour of dropped service -- and that includes small towns of a few hundred to a few thousand residents. While I haven't been to China or North Korea with it, I have traveled through several other countries on 4 continents and not had a problem. If they can send news reports from a war-torn country over the internet, I think I'm pretty safe expecting it to be able to reach the Cloud.

 

 

While it's true I wouldn't want to rely on it for truly important documentation like a passport (when that hour of lost service might be a problem), for something like tourist plans or a map, I would not worry about it.

[FlyerTalker]

Evernote is excellent.

 

Also, if using an android phone, the program "AirDroid" is a fantastic way to manage files and photos between your computer and your phone. Seamless file transfers and management.

[bUU]

What makes you say that?

The experiences that I relayed in the posting to which you posted your reply, immediately after the portion that you quoted above.

 

This message may have been entered using voice recognition. Please excuse any typos.

[calliopecruiser]

The experiences that I relayed in the posting to which you posted your reply, immediately after the portion that you quoted above.

 

This message may have been entered using voice recognition. Please excuse any typos.

 

Well, no......you talked about which service to use or not use, not whether or not you have Cloud access.

 

But nevermind.

[bUU]

Well, no......you talked about which service to use or not use, not whether or not you have Cloud access.

You are mistaken.

 

 

Having said that I will note that I have had serious problems getting that to work reliably with OneDrive back when I was using OneDrive (which to be fair was more than a year ago). I recall a worship service that I was leading at church. On opening my OneDrive and clicking on my sermon, for some reason it tried to reach out to the cloud to get an updated copy even though it indicated that it has a local copy. That day the church internet was not working and OneDrive would not allow me to access the local copy which it clearly showed was there on my tablet. (Of course being the cautious worship leader that I am I had a paper backup copy that I was able to use instead.)

[Geldhart]

Best way to test access with no Internet is to put your phone into airplane mode. That way nothing sneaks in. If it works in Airplane Mode I would trust it

 

 

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