Can you take a laptop w/o the worry?

[cruizelvr]

Can you take a laptop with and feel it is safe to leave it in your room? Or is the safe big enough to stash it? Or can we lock it to the desk?

Looking for suggestions or from your experience...

 

Thanks!

[RuthC]

I've never brought my laptop, but I do feel safe leaving my valuables in the cabin. I always put things away---out of sight---but they are not necessarily locked up.

The safe isn't large enough for any laptop. There's a locked drawer in the nightstands. On the S- and R-class ships it's wide enough for your laptop; the nightstand on the Noordam was too narrow. I presume the other Vistas have the same furniture as the Noordam.

There were two locked drawers on the Prinsendam. One of them wouldn't have been deep enough for your laptop---the other would.

[DesertDiva]

I wouldn't worry about security for a laptop that stayed inside of my room. The safe in the room isn't large enough for storage. The only reason I would consider taking my own would be to download the photos I'd taken. However, it's easier just to purchase extra storage cards. For me, a laptop is just one more item to pack and carry around...

[dshgl]

Of course this is just from our own personal experience. We have cruised on the Ryndam and the Oosterdam with our laptop both times. Never did we lock it up.

[CTBob]

I've always left mine out in the open and never had a problem. Laptops are so cheap now that I don't think you have to worry. However it might be good to make sure you have anything you really need backed up at home. Just in case :D

 

Bob

[bepsf]

Who would take it?

 

Your cabin steward has much more to lose by stealing anything from a passenger's cabin than he'd ever gain by the value of the theft.

[RevNeal]

I have never had a problem with my laptop left on my desk in the cabin. No problem at all.

 

Indeed, I've never had a steward taking anything of mine. Ever. I even have left loose change out on the desk from shore excursions ... the steward stacked the coins for me! :) I left him the coins as an additional tip over and above cash.

[bruceh4]

Who would take it?

 

Your cabin steward has much more to lose by stealing anything from a passenger's cabin than he'd ever gain by the value of the theft.

I have taken a laptop on every cruise since about 2001. I have never had a problem with a missing item in the cabin. But the cabin steward is not the only one with access to the room. Also there are times when the cabin steward is cleaning the room and has the door propped open and has stepped away to get some more towels or what ever, the room is open to anybody at that time. As a safety precaution I lock my laptop in the sidetable next to the bed or just put it in its case out of site. I agree that the cabin steward is not the problem.

[Krazy Kruizers]

I bought a second laptop this past August and took it on our cruise.

 

Loved it -- never worried about leaving it in the cabin.

 

When it is off, it is in lock down -- it will take someone a very long time to break the code to be able to use it.

[sailandcruise]

I've never worried about having the laptop stolen. My reason for not bringing a laptop on a cruise is that my laptop contains all my real world worries -- work, etc. -- that I go on a cruise to forget about for a while. I had a great Alaska cruise this past summer on Zaandam partly because I used the laptop only for pictures, didn't purchase any internet package, and left the blackberry and cell phones turned off in the safe.

[jtl513]

The first time I took a laptop four cruises ago I used a cable-lock for the first couple of days. Since then I haven't bothered, or even put it out of sight ... and haven't worried about it at all! Now I use the cable lock just for pre- or post-cruise hotel rooms.

[Krazy Kruizers]

The first time I took a laptop four cruises ago I used a cable-lock for the first couple of days. Since then I haven't bothered, or even put it out of sight ... and haven't worried about it at all! Now I use the cable lock just for pre- or post-cruise hotel rooms.

 

I am with you - always lock up the computer at the hotels.

[lka1012]

I always take my laptop (personal, not work) with me and never have had a problem. However, I would put it in a drawer when you are not using it. Not for theft as much as protecting it if the ship should have a sudden shift that would send everything not put up flying across the room.

[DesertDiva]

I totally agree. I'm selfish and a cruise is all about "me" time. However, sometimes I go to a cyber cafe in port to log on and check my personal e-mail. I know if I took my laptop, I'd spend too much time downloading and editing photographs so I'm planning to just take extra memory cards. I know that some people like to travel with their "technology" and that's fine too!

 

My reason for not bringing a laptop on a cruise is that my laptop contains all my real world worries -- work, etc. -- that I go on a cruise to forget about for a while.

[ekerr19]

IIndeed, I've never had a steward taking anything of mine. Ever. I even have left loose change out on the desk from shore excursions ... the steward stacked the coins for me!

 

This has been our experience as well. :)

 

I have a bad habit of leaving jewelry all over the cabin - it's never been a problem -ever.

 

DH leaves the laptop, camera lenses, and all sorts of other gadgets - PSP, games, memory cards/sticks all over too. He even offered to let one of the stewards borrow his PSP, when the steward admired one of his new games - but the steward gratiously declined, saying he wouldn't want to get in any trouble.

[MYMOTHERSCHILD]

Liz,

As a writer, my laptop has been part of my skin for 18 years! Always on cruises until I realized on my last, I didn't open it--on the deck, there are too many distractions to concentrate and when I was in my room I rested both my body and mind after all that activity. So, on the Maasdam next week, it stays at home. I've never been one to take a thousand photos. I'm pretty good at capturing what I want the first shot, so one card is sufficient for ten days.

I live in Venice and would love to have you visit...some of my GRANDSONS are your age, but I can still whip up a conversation. Email: Mymotherschild@comcast.net

MCC

[Frick_&_Frack]

I always take my laptop for work-related reasons. Never had a problem. I usually store it in a location "out of sight" of the doorway so if the door is propped open, it's not visible to anyone passing. Or, I'll just pop it in a carry-on and keep it in the closet during it's "off duty time".

[MYMOTHERSCHILD]

Liz,

 

I live in Venice and would love to have you visit...some of my GRANDSONS are your age, but I can still whip up a conversation. Email: Mymotherschild@comcast.net

MCC

 

Oops I meant this for another cruiser, Liz.

[Harry1954]

i have taken my laptop with me for years .. now i also take a quality microphone and dictate notes each day we are on the cruise as that is easier than writing it all down. i leave the laptop out in the room and don't work about it - as someone else said, i believe the crew has more to lose than gain in something like lifting a random laptop.

harry

[jjb415]

I've always left mine out in the open and never had a problem. Laptops are so cheap now that I don't think you have to worry. However it might be good to make sure you have anything you really need backed up at home. Just in case :D

 

Bob

 

I agree.

[O2B@C]

The first time I took a laptop four cruises ago I used a cable-lock for the first couple of days. Since then I haven't bothered, or even put it out of sight ... and haven't worried about it at all! Now I use the cable lock just for pre- or post-cruise hotel rooms.

 

Those cable locks are great. I always take mine with me when I travel with my laptop. They probably aren't necessary on HAL, but they're so little trouble, if you're really worried, just bring one and that will take care of it. Why worry?:)

[Been There, Planning That]

The first time I took a laptop four cruises ago I used a cable-lock for the first couple of days. Since then I haven't bothered, or even put it out of sight ... and haven't worried about it at all! Now I use the cable lock just for pre- or post-cruise hotel rooms.

 

My husband will be bring along his brand new laptop -- first time he's taken it on a holiday trip?

 

What exactly is a cable lock and how does it work? I'm wondering if we should buy one.

 

Thanks in advance for responding,

 

New to laptops

[InTheWASide]

Can you take a laptop with and feel it is safe to leave it in your room? Or is the safe big enough to stash it? Or can we lock it to the desk?

Looking for suggestions or from your experience...

 

Thanks!

 

The safe isn't big enough, but the drawers in the nightstands are. Just pop it in there and lock it up!

[O2B@C]

My husband will be bring along his brand new laptop ... What exactly is a cable lock and how does it work? I'm wondering if we should buy one....

 

A cable lock is a piece of bike-lock type cable with a loop on one end and a locking mechanism on the other. Most computer stores carry them, or you can get them online (try searching for "laptop cable lock"). The locking mechanism at the end of the cable has a specially shaped prong that fits into a built-in dedicated cable lock slot on the laptop, which is a standard size. I think by now all laptops come with a cable lock slot, so if it's brand new, it should have one. Look for a small oval opening with an image of a padlock or chain near it.

 

It works like this. You wrap the cable around something immovable like a table leg, and then put the locking mechanism through the loop in the cable. Then you insert the prong into the cable lock slot, and lock it (some have a key, others require you to enter a combination using movable wheels). The prong will not come out of the slot unless and until the key is used or the correct combination is entered. Voila - no worries! :) Of course, you have to be sure the cable is arranged so that it can't just be slipped off of whatever you have wrapped it around.

[JimVrhovac]

Would not worry about security from crew on HAL ships. We leave our laptop on the desk for the whole cruise.

 

On more than one occasion Ruth has left jewlery in drawers and they have mailed it to us without a problem.

 

One cruise forgot a suitcase and before we were home got a call and ok them to ship it to us UPS.....

 

Ruth & Jim