Power Strip

[Cuizer2]

We had ours taken away sailing from Galveston. Fortunately, we had a really great cabin steward who asked, with a lot of head movement and blinking, if we needed one for our C-PAP. He got a good tip at the end of the cruise.

 

Will extension cords still be allowed? I have a white noise maker that I like near my head.

 

It would appear that the concern is that the power strip MIGHT have a surge protector, and they just take it. It does not appear that extension cords are on their radar.

[Moonarino]

Those units are surge protected, and Bob has not recommended them in the last couple of years since I pointed out the dangers of surge protection. Regardless of whether RCI has let them pass security... Please do not use these onboard any ship.

 

I remember you pointing out the dangers, with evidence to prove. Thanks for posting here again.

 

There are tons of non-surge-protecting outlet strips on the market, very inexpensive. There's no reason at all for anybody to bring this type of potential fire hazard onto a cruise ship.

[Merion_Mom]

It would appear that the concern is that the power strip MIGHT have a surge protector, and they just take it. It does not appear that extension cords are on their radar.

There have been many reports of confiscated extension cords.

[Moonarino]

That is not correct. What I have stated in the past is that if the device has two prong plug, it cannot be surge protected. The opposite is not necessarily true, in other words the mere presence of a ground pin does not indicate surge protection any more than the third prong on an extension cord indicates surge protection. A device with a three prong plug may or may not be surge protected.

 

Thanks, you saved me the trouble. And if that were true, all of us with 3-prong laptop chargers would be SOL.

 

For years I've traveled with a 16-gauge 3-prong "extension cord" with three outlets molded into the end (very sturdy, very simple). Never a problem, not even a blink.

[Cuizer2]

There have been many reports of confiscated extension cords.

 

For being in bad shape perhaps. I have three extension cords in my carry-on and they never even open my bag. I have a long one for when I want to work out on the balcony, I have a short three outlet one for inside and I have a short extension cords when I need to move something away from the outlet to prevent it from blocking one of the other outlets.

[Cuizer2]

For years I've traveled with a 16-gauge 3-prong "extension cord" with three outlets molded into the end (very sturdy, very simple). Never a problem, not even a blink.

 

Same with me.

[Cincy2]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073ZDH43X/ref=pe_847920_287378840_em_1p_0_ti#customerReviews

 

 

Is this allowed?

 

I feel bad. I took this same thing on a cruise. They didn't confiscate it. I didn't think it was surge protected.

[Cuizer2]

I feel bad. I took this same thing on a cruise. They didn't confiscate it. I didn't think it was surge protected.

 

The description for it says that it is not surge protected ...

 

This power strip without surge protector can be ideal cruise accessories for your carnival cruise ship to extend outlets from cabin.

However, apparently it is only for Carnival ships.

[chengkp75]

The description for it says that it is not surge protected ...

 

 

However, apparently it is only for Carnival ships.

 

That unit, after researching the manufacturer's site, is not surge protected. The problem is that the "seller" on Amazon, "Surge Pro Store" advertises other NTON products the same way, as being for cruise ships, and when you look at the NTON site, you find out they actually are surge protected. NTON makes power strips and combined charging stations in both surge protected and non-surge protected models. Buyer beware, especially of third party advertising like Amazon.

[mardukeme]

The way she found mine was because it had a longer cord around 3-5ft. I have another one that has a shorter cord, and she didn't spot that one.

 

Sent from my SM-N950U1 using Tapatalk

[Scotty G]

I think I've answered your last question, the ground connection still provides safety, and it is not the floating ground, per se, that is dangerous to surge protectors, but that a ground failure somewhere far away on the ship can cause reverse voltage because there is a floating ground.

Thanks again Chief for keeping us and many others safe!!

[SRF]

People here are funny.

 

Several people post that RECENTLY they have had extension cords confiscated. That is a NEW policy.

 

So then people jump in and say they have cruised many times with an extension cord.

 

Yes, and gas used to be 30 cents per gallon for premium.

 

THINGS CHANGE.

[lilcruiser2]

I was on Enchantment June 11-15. They confiscated all power strips and extension cords. It made no difference if it had surge protection or not or if it was 2 or 3 pronged. If it was in your bags, you had to hand it over and pick it up back at the terminal upon disembarking.

[BillOh]

Chief is our own Neil deGrasse Tyson of cruise ship science

The ability to take techno babble and break it down to every day speak

 

 

Pluto is a Planet! :evilsmile:

[cello56]

We bring one of these.

 

[brillohead]

This topic pops up on every message board. I just don't understand why in this day and age of electronics, that proper charging stations aren't part of the plans when designing a ship. If it is truly a safety issue, which I believe it is, than more consideration should be taken to provide this service. If I didn't read CC I would never have known that there would have been an issue with a device that has surge protection. Not many read CC so I am sure that there are plenty of surge protectors that go unnoticed.

 

I just got off Harmony this week. There is one plug by the bed, three plugs at the desk, plus two USB ports at the desk.

 

The vast majority of the fleet was designed and built before "this day and age of electronics" that we take for granted these days.

 

It wasn't all that long ago that most people didn't have a cell phone (and if they did, it was a flip phone).

 

Remember when you needed film and batteries for your camera?

 

Remember when calculators were a thing that you went to the store and purchased, because you didn't have a cellphone with a calculator app and your landline phone at home certainly didn't have a built-in calculator because it still had a rotary dial?

 

Remember when you needed a boombox, Walkman, or Discman to listen to music on-the-go? MP3 players weren't even a thing until this current century, and certainly not wireless Bluetooth speakers.

 

Remember when you had to plug your headphones into your music source with a cord? Wireless Bluetooth earbuds are pretty darn new, too.

 

Remember back when you had to clip a pedometer on your waistband to count your steps? Fitbits are pretty new, too.

 

Most of these USB-rechargeable electronics weren't even in existence when these ships were designed and built, let alone practically standard issue for all of middle-class Americans these days.

 

My car is ten years old, and it doesn't have Wi-Fi or USB ports or a backup camera or a GPS screen in the dash -- I'm pretty impressed that it has an Aux In port, to be honest. That was pretty "advanced" ten years ago, when MP3 players were really starting to get popular.

 

Harmony, a newer ship, does have USB ports and a few electrical outlets above the desk. I would assume the other newer ships will share this design. However, the cost to change out electrical fixtures in thousands of staterooms on dozens of ships would be huge, and I can understand why the company doesn't want to assume that expense when each passenger can just bring whatever chargers they need with them.

[dadofjessie]

I just got off Harmony this week. There is one plug by the bed, three plugs at the desk, plus two USB ports at the desk.

 

The vast majority of the fleet was designed and built before "this day and age of electronics" that we take for granted these days.

 

It wasn't all that long ago that most people didn't have a cell phone (and if they did, it was a flip phone).

 

Remember when you needed film and batteries for your camera?

 

Remember when calculators were a thing that you went to the store and purchased, because you didn't have a cellphone with a calculator app and your landline phone at home certainly didn't have a built-in calculator because it still had a rotary dial?

 

Remember when you needed a boombox, Walkman, or Discman to listen to music on-the-go? MP3 players weren't even a thing until this current century, and certainly not wireless Bluetooth speakers.

 

Remember when you had to plug your headphones into your music source with a cord? Wireless Bluetooth earbuds are pretty darn new, too.

 

Remember back when you had to clip a pedometer on your waistband to count your steps? Fitbits are pretty new, too.

 

Most of these USB-rechargeable electronics weren't even in existence when these ships were designed and built, let alone practically standard issue for all of middle-class Americans these days.

 

My car is ten years old, and it doesn't have Wi-Fi or USB ports or a backup camera or a GPS screen in the dash -- I'm pretty impressed that it has an Aux In port, to be honest. That was pretty "advanced" ten years ago, when MP3 players were really starting to get popular.

 

Harmony, a newer ship, does have USB ports and a few electrical outlets above the desk. I would assume the other newer ships will share this design. However, the cost to change out electrical fixtures in thousands of staterooms on dozens of ships would be huge, and I can understand why the company doesn't want to assume that expense when each passenger can just bring whatever chargers they need with them.

 

A flip phone? What's a flip phone?

[chengkp75]

A flip phone? What's a flip phone?

 

Heck, I can remember when cell phones were "bricks" or "bag phones".

[Biker19]

A flip phone? What's a flip phone?

 

Motorola Razr - the phone to have in 2006.

[sft429]

Again, it is not that 3 prong plugs are "bad" or that grounding your devices is "bad". Don't misunderstand what I've said. Power appliances like hair dryers, curling irons, and laptops use a 3 prong plug to provide the safety of a ground connection should the device have an insulation failure to prevent a shock. The ground on the ship works the same way the ground on land does, so the 3rd prong is necessary for safety.

 

You will also see that I rebutted the poster who claimed that all 3 prong plugged devices were surge protected. That is not correct. What I have been saying is that if you bring a device that only has a two prong plug, then you don't have to worry whether it is surge protected, because it can't be. However, note carefully my next statement. Just because a device has a 3 prong plug does not mean it is surge protected. A device with a 3 prong plug may or may not be surge protected. The only way to tell if a device is surge protected is to look for a specification of "joules of protection" or "clamping voltage" on the device or its packaging. Lacking these terms, the device even with a 3 prong plug is not surge protected.

 

So, to answer your question directly, 3 prong plugs are not prohibited, they are preferred, it is surge protection that is prohibited, and this cannot be determined by the number of pins on the plug.

 

So is a device that says it is overcurrent or overvoltage protected ultimately surge protected?

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072PT17X3?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf

[chengkp75]

So is a device that says it is overcurrent or overvoltage protected ultimately surge protected?

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072PT17X3?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf

 

No. Overcurrent protection is what a fuse or circuit breaker does to control the amount of current drawn, and is perfectly safe onboard ships. Overvoltage protection is different from surge protection. Surge protection happens when a voltage comes down the wire to the device that is above the "clamping" voltage of the surge suppressor (300 to 600 volts for most consumer power strips), and a set of semi-conductors in the device "switch on" to direct that voltage to the ground conductor, and removes the high voltage from the wiring system. Overvoltage protection is merely when a device senses a higher than normal voltage (around 300 volts for most USB chargers), and the circuitry in the device simply shuts off the output voltage from the USB port (which is normally 5 volts). It does not require a ground to operate (which is why all "pure" USB chargers are only two prong plugs), and does not provide the protection that surge protection provides, since an extremely high voltage (like a lightning strike) can "burn through" the overvoltage protection and send damaging high voltages to your electronics.

 

A word for those wondering about surge protectors, know that absolutely none of the electronics onboard the ship, from the internet servers, to the TV system, to the ship's servers, to the POS registers at bars and shops, to the many desktop computers used onboard, to the electronic navigation or communication devices on the bridge that keep you safe, to the automation systems in the engine room that keep the lights on and the propellers turning, have any surge protection what so ever. Surge protection is not needed onboard ships.

[Clarea]

... Surge protection is not needed onboard ships.

Does this apply to those ships that connect to shore power while in port? I seem to recall some regulation about that in California.

[payitforward]

Even when purchasing non-surge protected cords, be aware that ALL extension cords are still on RCCL's prohibited items list. Therefore, they are within their rights to confiscate them. I wish they would get with the program in realizing that there is a need for electricity in areas other than just the desk. I I recently had a large group traveling on Freedom. Despite the fact that I had requested extension cords for a number of passengers who use CPAP machines, they were not in a few of the rooms. When the travelers asked for them, they were told they did not have any more. They had even escalated the issue to the housekeeping supervisor, and were STILL told they could not get them. Obviously, this is not acceptable when there is a medical need. However, had I not been onboard with them to remedy the situation, they would never have gotten them.

 

Not as urgent, but still important to me: I don't have the luxury of being able to go unplugged every cruise. Therefore, I answer emails from my bed each night. I also tend to stream my favorite shows as I fall asleep. I am more than happy to bring a non-surge protected extension cord in the original packaging (willing to buy a new one for each cruise if needed); so they can see it has no surge protection. Training their staff to READ the original packaging shouldn't be that difficult.

[chengkp75]

Does this apply to those ships that connect to shore power while in port? I seem to recall some regulation about that in California.

 

Still not needed. Surge protection protects against essentially two problems: lightning strikes and blown auto-transformers on the utility pole.

 

Lightning strikes on a ship, even if in port and plugged into the grid, because of the floating ground, the lightning will go through the hull to the water, and there is no connection between this ground and the power system, so no way for the extremely high voltage of the lightning to get into the wiring and need a surge protector.

 

Blown auto-transformers on the utility pole is not a problem on the ship (but not for the obvious reason that there are no utility poles!). Auto-transformers use one winding, and a "partial tap" to drop the voltage from the 10k volts at the pole to the 220 volts that comes into your house. A short in this type of transformer can lead to 10k volts being fed to the house, and the need for a surge protector. Ships do not typically use auto-transformers, they use dual winding transformers, where there is no physical connection between the high voltage input and the lower voltage output. So, a short in the primary (10k) winding will not transfer to the secondary (480) winding. Hence no voltage surge. Also note that ships use "stepped" transformers, where the generated 10k volts (propulsion, thrusters, a/c) is stepped down to 480 volts for general use (motors), and then stepped down in a separate transformer to 220 volts, and then to 110 volts in another transformer. So, to get a high enough voltage surge to cause a surge protector in your cabin to activate, you would need a fault in 2 or more transformers.

 

While the shore power for cruise ships does feed into the ship at 10k volts, it still must go through the various transformers before getting to the cabin, just as power generated onboard does. The ship is also grounded to shore through the shore power cables, but this is just a continuation of the ship's normal floating ground.

[Clarea]

Still not needed. Surge protection protects against essentially two problems: lightning strikes and blown auto-transformers on the utility pole.

 

Lightning strikes on a ship, even if in port and plugged into the grid, because of the floating ground, the lightning will go through the hull to the water, and there is no connection between this ground and the power system, so no way for the extremely high voltage of the lightning to get into the wiring and need a surge protector. ...

Thanks, appreciate the info. Maybe the ship being all metal and connected to ground is like it's own Faraday cage. I know that if lightning strikes close enough to my house, it gets into the network cables and power cables and destroys electronics, even when the power is out to the house.