Electrical Outlet Question on the Encore

[luv2ndhalf]

First time cruising NCL…. What is the outlet situation in the balcony cabins? Thanks 

[hallux]

If it's like the Bliss and the Joy (nearly identical ships), there are two US outlets by the desk, a European outlet by the desk and I believe USB ports in the bed-side sconces (which I wouldn't use, look up 'juice jacking').

 

Google 'Norwegian Encore balcony cabin tour' and I'm sure you'll find any number of videos showing the outlets...

[omahabob]

I wouldn't worry about juice jacking. It's extremely rare, and phones nowadays have USB data access disabled by default. You can always check, and disable it yourself. But juice jacking requires malware to be installed on the USB port. Besides being difficult to do, many ports don't allow such installs. Add to that the fact that both the installation of the malware and data retrieval requires physical access, and there's practically no chance this could be an issue for you on a cruise ship. That is, unless your cruise is hosting a hackers convention, and you leave your cabin door open a lot.

Edited June 23, 2023 by omahabob
grammar (sorry, Mom)

[YVRteacher]

@omahabob thank you for your voice of reason! It is needed and appreciated.

[bluesea777]

If you use a CPAP machine, bring at least 15ft simple extension cord. 
 

 

[BirdTravels]

10 hours ago, luv2ndhalf said:

First time cruising NCL…. What is the outlet situation in the balcony cabins? Thanks 

Encore plug situation below.
 

You should never, ever plug you phone or device into a USB outlet. Cyber crime is big big business,,, not a grade school prank. Thousands of people a day become victims of cyber crime because someone told them that the probability was very low…. But never zero… 

 

While different, think about the “low probability” person who caused the Colonial pipeline to shutdown closing gas stations down the east coast in 2021. And the “very low probability” that cost the owner of the meat packing plant $20M the following week. 
 

Always use your power adaptor and never plug into a USB port at a mall, plane, airport, or cruise ship. Never use “free” Wi-Fi in ports,,, nothing is free. 


 

Edited June 23, 2023 by BirdTravels

[Grimix]

Life is about managing risks. Roughly 3700 people a day die per day (1.35m/yr / 365) in an automobile accident, and you have a 1 in 93 chance of dying in one in your lifetime. I was unable to find any statistics on how many people have been "juice jacked" and the only information I found was that security researches haven't found any incidents out in the wild, only as part of demonstrations. There must be millions of people who use these free ports each day, and one report I read dated April 17 2023 called the local FBI office who said they've had no reported incidents of it having happened. (Probably as mentioned because many of our phones/laptops already protect against the attack, thus the time/effort required to implement such a scheme doesn't pay off when it's much easier to make card skimmers)

 

If I saw some random USB plug somewhere that I thought was a strange place for one I'd probably not plug in. I wouldn't have any fear (although there is still a chance) of plugging into an airport chair, or hotel/cruise USB port. You have a higher chance of dying in automobile accident on your way to the port than having your data stolen in this manner. I've known people who have died in auto accidents, but have never known of anyone who's been juice jacked, and I'd be more concerned using public Wi-Fi (although I believe that chance is very small as well...)

 

Also, that doesn't mean you should stick any found USB device into your computer... Because there are many documented cases of that causing issues, just ask the Iranians...

[omahabob]

4 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

...You should never, ever plug you phone or device into a USB outlet. Cyber crime is big big business,,, not a grade school prank. Thousands of people a day become victims of cyber crime because someone told them that the probability was very low…. But never zero… 

How do you charge a phone without a USB outlet? It's true that the chance is never totally zero, but that's true every time you turn your phone on. It's open to wireless data access 24/7, unless you turn it off.

 

I'm very aware of cyber crime. I was an IT security specialist for years, and worked in intrusion defense for some of those years. Juice jacking became known only when researchers at a DEFCON hacker convention in 2011 set up a mobile charging station to demonstrate the concept. There have been absolutely ZERO reports of it ever happening out in the world. It requires the installation of hardware, which is difficult to do, especially on a cruise ship. It would probably be easier for them to access the USB charger you carry around. Phones also have data access and sync via USB disabled by default since around 2012, unless you specifically take action to allow it.

 

Hackers expend effort based on probability of success. Windows hasn't been the primary target because it's less secure. It's because there's far more of them, so the probability of success is much higher. They pay less attention to Apple, because there's fewer of them. They almost completely ignore Linux, which is open source, and thus would potentially be easier to hack. Juice jacking presents a probability of success far lower than all of those, And getting access to cruise ship cabins to do all this would be nearly impossible. That is why no one has ever done it in the wild, and why the probability is practically nonexistent.

 

So, while the chances may not actually be zero, it would like 0.0000001%. You'd have a better chance of being struck by lightning and winning the lottery, on the same day. So, you walk around with a dead phone. I'll charge mine.

 

We're off topic, so you do whatever you want.

[omahabob]

I've gotten some questions offline, so I'm going to add some more info. If you're really concerned about juice jacking, there are things you can do.

 

If you want to confirm where the default USB action is set for Apple or Android, the easiest way is just to lock your phone and connect a USB data cable between the phone and a computer, and see if you can view your phone's files or folders on the computer. If the phone is locked, you should see the phone on the computer file manager, but not the folders or files. That should change when you unlock the phone. If that's the behavior you see, you're protected.

 

If you don't get that behavior, your options need to be changed, and things get more complicated. But I won't delve further into that here unless someone needs me to.

 

However, there's an easier way that avoids phone locks and settings, and works anywhere. Go to Amazon and order a USB Data Blocker for about $5 to $10. Alternatively, you can buy a USB cable that's charge only. The problem with that is most of them are easily confused with regular USB cables, so the blocker is probably a better idea. Or just plug in your own USB charger to a power socket instead of using the cabin USB jacks. Problem solved. Personally, I use a travel, non-surge protected power strip that has USB jacks on it.

 

 

Edited June 25, 2023 by omahabob

[BirdTravels]

Never use a non trusted usb port.  

Edited June 25, 2023 by BirdTravels

[hallux]

13 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Never use a non trusted usb port.  

I mean, it's really not hard to just bring your own USB chargers, right?  Not to mention that a lot of devices now are using USB-C on both ends out of the box, so the USB-A ports in the lights are going to be a slow charge compared to what you would normally get AND you have to be sure to bring the right cable...

[RoundGuy2771]

33 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Never use a non trusted usb port.  

 

Yeah, you've said that twice now in the last 5 posts. Yet, you've never given us concrete, real-world, or personal anecdote examples as to why you're saying it.

 

 

 

[omahabob]

48 minutes ago, RoundGuy2771 said:

 

Yeah, you've said that twice now in the last 5 posts. Yet, you've never given us concrete, real-world, or personal anecdote examples as to why you're saying it.

 

Actually, he has somewhat of a point if it's out in a public area, like an airport, bus station, some sort of public lobby or other public area where bad actors could manage to install hardware without anybody noticing. They have USB devices now like those skimmers people attach to the face of an ATM machine to steal your ATM card data. Some people don't lock their phones before plugging them into strange USB ports, or have altered their default USB settings to make their phone vulnerable (that's not simple to do though). It doesn't have to be juice jacking either. People have deliberately created USB ports in public areas that damage phones with high voltage or current, just to be cruel. There's pretty much zero chance of that in a cruise ship cabin though, as I pointed out before. The chances are still very low in other places, especially for juice jacking, but it's arguably more possible to at least some degree. Doesn't hurt to be safe, and I pointed out easy ways to do that. I very rarely plug my phone into a public charger, and I always make sure it's locked when I do. Sometimes when on a trip, I'll disable the USB data feature entirely, so it won't work even with the phone unlocked.

Edited June 25, 2023 by omahabob

[omahabob]

1 hour ago, hallux said:

I mean, it's really not hard to just bring your own USB chargers, right?  Not to mention that a lot of devices now are using USB-C on both ends out of the box, so the USB-A ports in the lights are going to be a slow charge compared to what you would normally get AND you have to be sure to bring the right cable...

While USB-C cables have the ABILITY to deliver higher amperage and wattage, that doesn't actually happen unless the equipment on the other end has adopted the Power Delivery (PD) standard. So it's not just the cable you use, by itself. The charger has to be PD compliant too. But if it's a charger that came with a USB-C plug, meaning both ends of the cable are USB-C, especially if it came with your device, it's very likely PD compliant. If you just plug a cable with a USB-C connector on one end to a charger using a USB-A connector on the other end, it probably isn't PD compliant.

[hallux]

8 hours ago, omahabob said:

If you just plug a cable with a USB-C connector on one end to a charger using a USB-A connector on the other end, it probably isn't PD compliant.

That's my point.  If you're bringing your own charger it will likely support the higher power delivery and give faster charge rates.

[omahabob]

8 hours ago, hallux said:

That's my point.  If you're bringing your own charger it will likely support the higher power delivery and give faster charge rates.

Absolutely. I wasn't disagreeing. I was just pointing out that a USB-C cable alone may not get you that higher power advantage. I have lots of USB-C cables, but they all have USB-A at the other end, which goes to chargers that are not PD compliant. But that doesn't matter to me. My phone charges fine on the old standard, and I'm not on it a lot. But for those who want or need the higher power, you need both the correct USB-C cable, AND a PD compliant charger.

[UKstages]

On 6/24/2023 at 9:04 PM, omahabob said:

I've gotten some questions offline…

from whom?

 

you’ve received questions offline from fellow cruise critic members?

 

please share how this was accomplished.

[dexddd]

31 minutes ago, UKstages said:

from whom?

 

you’ve received questions offline from fellow cruise critic members?

 

please share how this was accomplished.

Telepathic.

[omahabob]

3 hours ago, UKstages said:

you’ve received questions offline from fellow cruise critic members?

Nope. Someone else read it. I do know someone from here though, and we have talked a couple of times about stuff on the forum, so it is possible.

[wallyworld1059]

Is the plug layout the same for an inside cabin on the Encore?  Same distance to the bed, etc?