Couldn't find it on my search....

[mrskmirolla]

I tried the search engine to see any information on taking a laptop with you on board, but couldn't find anything. I am buying my husband a laptop for Christmas (I'll force myself to use it:D) We are going on the Ryndam February 21st to the Sea of Cortez and I was wondering if we could use it on board? Thank you in advance for the information.

 

Kathy

[noblepa]

Yes, you can bring your own laptop and use it onboard. You can buy internet connection time, but its not cheap and its not fast. If you do buy it, try to compose any email you want to send offline. Then logon and send it all in a single "burst", receive any incoming emails and store them on your hard drive. The logoff and read the emails at your leasure. I wouldn't recommend it for leisurely internet surfing.

 

If you have a digital camera, a laptop is also very useful for storing your photos. You can upload them from the camera to your laptop and even burn them to a CD. This can save you having to buy additional memory cards for your camera, although they're becoming more and more affordable.

 

Paul Noble

[mrskmirolla]

Paul,

 

I thought you could just sit near a wifi location and use it but if I understand you correctly I need to buy internet service:confused: If I need to do that then I should just use HAL's internet, right??

 

Kathy

[sail7seas]

Having your own laptop gives you the option to use it where you want. All the ships are WiFi. There is a simple sheet of instructions located in the Explorations Cafe that tells you how to buy your minutes and use your laptop through HAL's satelite time.

 

If you use their computers, you can only do so at the Explorations Cafe where they are all located.

 

There are 'hot spots' all over the ship and depending upon your cabin location, you may even be able to use it there.

 

People in "S" suites near the Neptune say they are able to go on line from their cabins. But yes, you definitely have to buy the internet minutes you use.

 

The prices are something like $55 for 100 minutes; $100 for 250 minutes or you can pay by the minute which is very costly. There is a one time start up charge for all plans of about $3.95.

 

 

[jtl513]

Paul,

 

I thought you could just sit near a wifi location and use it but if I understand you correctly I need to buy internet service:confused: If I need to do that then I should just use HAL's internet, right??

 

Kathy

 

To use your laptop on board you must have an account on the ship's server. See www.mtnsat.com/digitalseas/hal.htm for details.

[ekerr19]

We like to store our digital photos - especially nice with all the pics we took in Europe this summer. While we were on the Noordam inaugural, our memory card malfunctioned and we lost tons of wonderful photos (yes, I tried to save it, it couldn't be done). Now we download them to the laptop at the end of the day and also create another portable backup (via laptop) just in case. We have spare memory cards now too.

 

Also, having your own laptop is nicer for logging on to your bank accounts etc. in order to move money, pay bills or simply check things. I have direct deposit and though I process the P/R for our company, I still like to see that it got there, lol!!! I never feel entirely "safe" logging on to my accounts from a public computer.

 

As Paul mentions, type your email in MS Word or whatever format you use, and simply attach it to the email (or Copy & Paste) and then send it - it saves a ton of time.

[mrskmirolla]

Thank you all for the information and the listing of the charges. I guess I will just leave it at home:o I thought if you brought your own it wouldn't cost anything, silly me. But we do plan on taking it on road trips just so we can pay bills on line and keep in touch with the family.

 

Thank You all again.

 

Kathy

[Scottish Cruiser]

Sorry you do not feel it is worth it to take your husband's laptop - I would never go without mine. If you decide to take it, a tip I discovered - go to the second dinner sitting and log on to the internet during the early sitting. Traffic is quieter and the speed better - not fast, but better than other times. Forget it during the day on sea days, everyone is logging on then and it is really slow.

[jtl513]

... type your email in MS Word or whatever format you use, and simply attach it to the email (or Copy & Paste) and then send it - it saves a ton of time.

 

I just use my normal Outlook Express and choose "Send Later". Then when I do connect, I not only send a batch but also grab any incoming for further off-line processing.

[noblepa]

The ship's wifi network is secured, so you have to pay them for access to it.

 

However, many companies and homes have installed wifi networks and neglected to secure them. Some people have reported that, while in port, they were able to locate and connect to shorebound wifi networks. You can't count on this, though.

 

Moral of the story, if you have a wifi network in your home, make sure it is secured. Your next door neighbor could be using YOUR network to do all sorts of illegal things. An internet trace to the source would bring them to your doorstep.

 

Virtually all home wifi devices are unsecured by default, out of the box. You just plug them in, turn on your computer and go. Very convenient for you, but also for your neigbors. There have even been cases reported, in which someone noticed a strange van parked on the street outside their house. It turned out a computer geek was engaging in a practice called "demon driving", in which they drive around town looking for unsecured wifi access points.

 

Paul Noble

[noblepa]

duplicate

[mrskmirolla]

The ship's wifi network is secured, so you have to pay them for access to it.

 

However, many companies and homes have installed wifi networks and neglected to secure them. Some people have reported that, while in port, they were able to locate and connect to shorebound wifi networks. You can't count on this, though.

 

Moral of the story, if you have a wifi network in your home, make sure it is secured. Your next door neighbor could be using YOUR network to do all sorts of illegal things. An internet trace to the source would bring them to your doorstep.

 

Virtually all home wifi devices are unsecured by default, out of the box. You just plug them in, turn on your computer and go. Very convenient for you, but also for your neigbors. There have even been cases reported, in which someone noticed a strange van parked on the street outside their house. It turned out a computer geek was engaging in a practice called "demon driving", in which they drive around town looking for unsecured wifi access points.

 

Paul Noble

 

Paul,

 

Thanks for the info. It just so happens one of my daughters own the house next door to me so that wouldn't be so bad:o but then again the other ones could use it. Wow how technical this world has become.

 

Scottish Cruiser; I was only going to bring it to see how it would work. My husband is able to take many pictures without downloading. When we went to Europe he took almost 2000 pictures and still had room on his card and the pictures were great. But thank you for your concern.

 

Good thing my husband doesn't go on this site or he would find out what he is getting for Christmas:eek:

 

Kathy

[sunflowerstarr]

Another benefit to taking your own laptop instead of using the ships computers is the ability to access favorites. For example, one of my email accounts, if you dont have it set up on outlook express or remember the site to access webmail, you have to go to the cable companies website, click a link to go to one place, enter this information and submit, then clikc webmail, then sign in and submit and finally access your mail. That can eat a lot of your minutes. If you have it bookmarked, you can simply click the link once and eliminate the other steps and time. That is one huge benefit for me with my school. The school's email site is too long for me to remember so i must log in to my school program and click on links through there. It is a great time saver. Just food for thought. We also have ipods and simply plug them into the laptop and have an instant sound system in our room while getting ready. I never once felt like it would be stolen, didnt lock it up, most of the time it was sitting in plain sight. Also with all the talk of noro lately you know who has been touching your keyboard and can keep the keyboard clean and eliminate a potential source of contracting the virus.

[jtl513]

It just so happens one of my daughters own the house next door to me so that wouldn't be so bad:o but then again the other ones could use it. Wow how technical this world has become.

She can use your secured network ... just give her the WEP key (an alphanumeric string of about 24 or 26 characters)

 

 

My husband is able to take many pictures without downloading. When we went to Europe he took almost 2000 pictures and still had room on his card and the pictures were great. But thank you for your concern.

 

It is still good insurance to download your pictures to the laptop every night in case of a malfunction of the memory card, or loss of the camera. On our last cruise I did lose my camera for a few hours, and until I found it again I was feeling worse about the possibility of the losing one day's pictures than losing the camera (which I had been thinking about replacing anyway). I'd have been sick if it had been several days of pictures in jeopardy!

 

Noblepa: I was given one of those little "signal detector" gadgets for my birthday, and was amazed to find that about half the houses with wifi near me have unsecured access!! Ignorance is bliss I guess! :)