Laptops On Cruises???

[dyanalee]

I was wondering if anyone brings their laptop on a cruise and if so do they work? Are you charged roaming fees with your cell phone carrier? Or should I just use the one on the ship if I want to send an email? And check MY email?

 

Thanks,

Dyanalee

[Philob]

I you're just checking email, use the one of the computers on the ship.

 

They have internet price plans from about 75 cents per minute, pay as you go. Or down to 45-55 cents, per minute for a bundle of say 200 minutes. Doesn't matter if you bring your own laptop, same charge.

 

I bring my laptop to download my pictures, view DVDs on the flight, and check email and my blog. Also to get a head start of the slideshow we bore our friends with when we get back:cool:

[dyanalee]

 

 

Thank you for the quick reply. In the long run I guess it would be easier to just use one on the ship, one less case to carry, lol.

 

 

Dyanalee

[anjoliza]

I was wondering if anyone brings their laptop on a cruise and if so do they work? Are you charged roaming fees with your cell phone carrier? Or should I just use the one on the ship if I want to send an email? And check MY email?

 

Thanks,

Dyanalee

 

I always bring my laptop on a cruise with me.. On the older ships there are areas that you can get wireless access and on the newer ones, the whole ship is covered for wireless - in your cabin, on the balcony, it's great.

 

Not sure what you mean about the cell phone? You would not be using your cell phone to access the internet. If you do use your cell phone to make phone calls you can pretty well count on roaming fees and they generally are pretty expensive - but may be cheaper than using the ship to shore phone - I would check with your carrier.

 

In regard to internet access on board - there is a charge for that whether you use your laptop via the wireless or use their computer in the internet cafe and the cost is the same.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Annette

[dyanalee]

 

 

I'm sorry, I did not explain that very well. I was referring to the card for your computer that acts like a cell phone. So, if I am understanding this right, it would cost about 45-55 cents per minute to use my computer, the same as the ship charges?

[paul929207]

I bring my laptop so I can down load pictures. I am platinum with Princess, so I get 250 free minutes on the ship's computers in the internet cafe. So I use that for email.

 

If you have a wifi card, you can connect to the ships network at the same cost as using the internet cafe. Connecting to your cell provider thru your laptop would depend on finding a signal. You would have to check with them on costs. These vary from provider to provider and also by the plan you have with them.

[Krazy Kruizers]

I took my laptop on our last 3 cruises -- just to do "Live" reports -- we are retired so don't need it to do work.

 

But with the internet so sloooow on our last cruise, I spent a bundle.

 

No laptop anymore.

[anjoliza]

 

 

I'm sorry, I did not explain that very well. I was referring to the card for your computer that acts like a cell phone. So, if I am understanding this right, it would cost about 45-55 cents per minute to use my computer, the same as the ship charges?

 

Yes, my reply was assuming you had a wireless network card in your laptop, I am not familiar with the cell phone cards and as the other reply from Paul said, those would work only if you were able to find a signal and it would be more expensive than the ship's internet.

 

What I like about bringing my laptop is that I can type up my letters, etc. while being offline and then either attaching them or cut and pasting them into an e-mail.

 

I usually buy a package of 100 or 200 minutes and use that. The internet can be very slow and if you have problems where you can't log on to things and waste some minutes just go to the cafe and talk to the people there, they are pretty good about adding minutes.

 

My problem is logging on to messenger and chatting with friends - that really eats up the minutes fast :rolleyes: .

[craykclan]

But not for work or surfing the net. We plan on watching movies or playing games on sea days, when we just want to stay in our cabin.

[the queen of clutter]

This time we're driving to the port so I'm taking my laptop. I consider it too much of a hassle when flying. The downside is, if I can't get to my cabin when I board to drop it off (and some ships do block the way), I have to roll it around with me while touring the ship and eating lunch.

 

My camera takes decent, short bits of video, but it uses up memory cards fast, so I can download video and my pics onto the computer.

 

Also, I do some digi scrapbooking, so if I so desire I can play with my scrapbooking obsession, um, hobby, with the new pics. Too efficient to come home and print out an album with the cruise pics!

 

I'll also use it for journaling since I love to write.

 

Finally, we're taking our 9-year old for her first time so I'm taking a few DVDs for her in case she doesn't feel well; hopefully it'll take her mind off of the swaying ship, etc. We're not big TV people so it will be a huge deal for her to watch a movie or two! And maybe take a little nap?

 

Personally, I look forward to NOT spending time on e-mail.

[hajekfam]

We have taken our laptop on a cruise as we were going to be gone for 36 days - 28 of which were on the ship and had to pay bills and take care of other things during that time. We found that using our own computer for the internet was faster than using Celebrity's computer. Celebrity offers hot spots, you buy internet minute packages and use your computer from a hot spot or their computer in the interent cafe. Luckily, our cabin was two decks above the internet cafe and we were able to use our laptop in the cabin.

As far as speed, we had an occasion to use the ship's computer to access the internet. From our laptop, I had booked our rental car for our arrival in Ft. Lauderdale while on the cruise (waited for the hot deals to come out the week or so before we disembarked) but had to go to the internet cafe and use Celebrity's computer to print out our express checkin for the rental company. It took less time on our laptop using a wireless connection to research rental rates from various companies and then rent the car and fill out the documentation to express checkin than it did for us to just pull up our reservation and hit print on the ship's computer.

[I Am Canadian, Eh]

I was wondering if anyone brings their laptop on a cruise and if so do they work? Are you charged roaming fees with your cell phone carrier? Or should I just use the one on the ship if I want to send an email? And check MY email?

 

Thanks,

Dyanalee

 

If you're just checking email, and don't HAVE to do it every day, you could always find an internet cafe in port. There's always one (or more) very near the dock... and would only run a couple of dollars.

[snowskier]

If your reason for taking a laptop is to communicate with friends / family while on vacation a great solution is to invest in an iTouch. It is easy to find and access free (or very inexpensive) wi-fi in most ports. Take the iTouch out of your pocket -- check the internet, check your e-mail, send a SHORT e-mail and continue on your way. Since this is an iPod as well you have music and videos at your fingertips in addition to the internet.

 

Ok .. so an iTouch costs a few hundred. Internet minutes on a cruise ship add up -- a few cruises and you have paid for the iTouch. And you can use it at home -- many urban areas in the US and Canada have free wi-fi -- so when you are out and about in your hometown and need an address or phone number of other info from the internet, pull your iTouch out of your pocket or purse and you are set.

 

Now if you want to download from a camera -- take your laptop or use the internet cafe on the ship to make CDs.