Laptop on HAL.....

[kryos]

IMO, the only con is carrying the dang thing through airports etc. The pros are numerous.

Tell me about it! They say that thing is light-weight, but once it's hanging from your shoulder for a couple of hours, it seems to weigh a ton. :(

 

But you're right. The pros greatly outweigh the cons and I bring my laptop now on any long trip. For short ones, I don't bother.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[jtl513]

As for on the ship, no dial up. You have to use a wireless connection.

Sail is going on the Maasdam, but on all Vista ships and the Eurodam there is dial-up in all cabins. The port is on the wall next to the telephone jack. In timing tests I did in my cabin on the Zuiderdam, the dial-up beat the wireless downloading, 47 Kbps to 43 Kbps.

[ilovhywd]

You have given me talking points for the computer debate with my husband!

 

We are doing B2B trans-Atlantics, so there will be a lot of sea days when we need to check in with our office and our family.

[sail7seas]

Just so you have all the info when you speak with your DH, remember the ship has computers guests can use. We have always used them in the past and it was perfectly satisfactory. One of my biggest motives for bringing a laptop this cruise is because we do not have to fly. We are boarding the ship very close to our home.

 

I'm not sure I would want to lug it through the airport. Too much hassle already without adding a computer into the mix.

 

[jtl513]

You have given me talking points for the computer debate with my husband!

 

We are doing B2B trans-Atlantics, so there will be a lot of sea days when we need to check in with our office and our family.

Here's one more then: if you intend to do any sort of blog, or "live from" postings, you can type it all up in advance, off line, in Word or some such program, and then just "copy and paste" it in seconds when you get on-line.

 

If you want to read any CC threads at minimal cost, click on Thread Tools in the top right corner of a post and choose Show Printable Version. Then under the File pull-down in the Standard Buttons bar, choose Save As to save it under some unique name. After you've done this for all that you want to read, disconnect and go read them for free!

[jtl513]

If you want to read any CC threads at minimal cost, click on Thread Tools in the top right corner of a post and choose Show Printable Version. Then under the File pull-down in the Standard Buttons bar, choose Save As to save it under some unique name. After you've done this for all that you want to read, disconnect and go read them for free!

One warning, though: this only gives you a maximum of the first 40 posts of a thread. :(

[cf_chuck]

Here's one more then: if you intend to do any sort of blog, or "live from" postings, you can type it all up in advance, off line, in Word or some such program, and then just "copy and paste" it in seconds when you get on-line.

 

If you want to read any CC threads at minimal cost, click on Thread Tools in the top right corner of a post and choose Show Printable Version. Then under the File pull-down in the Standard Buttons bar, choose Save As to save it under some unique name. After you've done this for all that you want to read, disconnect and go read them for free!

 

Good points, John. To these I'll add that it's not only possible to read the posts offline, but also create responses to others packed together in one post. This can be simply done using quotation marks, or, have the posts look more similar to the standard quoteback by using quote tags.

[jtl513]

One warning, though: this only gives you a maximum of the first 40 posts of a thread. :(

Allow me to correct or clarify this. If you want, say, the posts on page 15 of a thread, you must first Display Printable Version and then navigate to the page you want before you do the Save As. If you just Display and then Save immediately you will always get the starting posts only.

[HeatherInFlorida]

Don't go by my experience, but I brought my laptop on Veendam last year and it was a nightmare. The Internet Manager tried to help ... put in all the codes, etc., but it couldn't hold a connection even in the café. I couldn't get any connection at all from our cabin.

 

I ended up using one of the ship's computers. My computer went into hissy fits from the configuring the Manager did. She sat with me for ages trying to work it out to no avail. It just kept freezing up.

 

But they're terribly nice and helpful and I'm sure for most people it works just fine. Could be my firewall, my virus protection, who knows. But I finally just had to remove everything she did to get it to stop being spastic ... such a mess.

 

Nobody's fault! Just a temperamental computer, but mine can't be the only one. It works fine at home, in airports, visiting my Mom using her WiFi, etc. So who knows?

[Alexat2]

The scenario we are talking about is what page to bring up as your "home page" when you first establish a session on board, not whether you can use HTTPS or anything else after sign on to the network server on board. What happens is the network server intercepts the initial web page request and you go into a log-on sequence. After the log-on sequence, the server then forwards the original web request. If the initial web request is one that uses a secure link, there will be an error message generated, burning connect time. I tried using the Yahoo sign-in page (https://login.yahoo.com/config/login?.pd=c%3DaMtFxUmp2e6zaBL942f2v6LoDw--&.src=my&.done=http://cm.my.yahoo.com&.intl=us) for the initial web page request and consistently ran into problems. Using any normal http request for the initial page for the log-on sequence will work, but as John stated, picking one with low content is good to avoid wasting time. After the log-on, HTTPS is available where required.

 

I never have a problem with it and never change my home page on my laptop - but the page address is the short version, not the long one you're using, that may be your problem. Just use http://my.yahoo.com and you'll still get your page.

 

Lydia

[Alexat2]

So I should be able to upload files via FTPCommander while on the ship?

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

 

:) Yep. Just be prepared to babysit the upload/download if they're large files. You may have to tell it to keep downloading.

 

Lydia

[airlink diva]

Last year was the first time that I brought my laptop with me on a cruise. I signed up for 250(?) minutes. Since I purchased it on the first day, I received some bonus minutes.

I couldn't get a connection in my cabin so I had to use it else where (some people stated that they can receive connection in their cabins, but I guess it's where you are located on the ship). I got a great connection in the lounge next to the Pinnacle Grill and also access to a plug.

I mainly brought mine along to download my photos.

Since the safe is too small for a laptop, I just placed it in one of my bags under the bed and locked it.

Since airlines are getting so picky about carry ons (and I work for one!), I don't feel like going along with the hassle of bringing it along.

I also didn't like that the last two days on the ship it was very hard to get any type of connection.

Since there are computers onboard, I might just purchase a small plan and use what's on the ship. Late at night there were very few people around and it's a great time to get on one.

Happy sailing!!

[sail7seas]

We've used the ships computers for years and never have had a problem getting access to one whatever time of day we tried.