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Geocaching while cruising


fischymom

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Not exactly sure where the absolute correct place to post this would be so decided to give it a shot here. :rolleyes:

Has anyone gone geocaching while cruising? I am curious on to how you handled the geocaching website and how you did not end up with a huge cell phone bill. I am going on the assumption that you used the website app on the phone, which is how I have done ours so far. Any help or suggestions welcome. We will be cruising to St Martin , St Thomas , and Coco Cay.

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We have gone geocaching on cruises before.... and it was great fun. Did not try in any of those locations and we have a handheld GPS, so we downloaded what was in the area from the site. Not sure if your phone can do that and operate in airplane mode (doubtful - it needs the signal?). Maybe get an inexpensive handheld GPS unit so you can still geocache?

 

Have a great cruise.

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Sorry I couldn't be of more help. Since we have the handheld GPS we have never tried it with a phone. We recently found my family homestead property in South Dakota using the handheld. Hope the phone still works in airplane mode - keep me posted.

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I am not sure I am going to invest in a handheld unit but I may if I one that is not to expensive. I don't want to put lots into it because I probibly will not use it a lot after the cruise.

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OP not sure if this would help but I have a friend who LOVES to go "letterboxing." It's the same idea geocaching but you don't use gps The way I understand it you print directions to the "letterbox" (cache) and follow them to the prize (6 paces east, turn south at the tree...etc). Might be an alternative to consider?:rolleyes:

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I Geocache in every port. But I do not use a phone. I load all my queries to GSAK, do my filtering and load the resulting caches on to my GPS. If there are any Virtuals or Earthcaches I print off the descriptions prior to the cruise. I am upgrading my eTrex Vista HCx to an eTrex 30. This way I can do paperless caching. I'll have everything on the GPS that I need.

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I would be leery of doing it out there because of concerns about trespassing in a foreign country.

This spring, when a cache was placed in my yard (that'd be private property), even after I removed it it took a while for the word to get out and for people to quit knocking about in our driveway and disturbing us.

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I would be leery of doing it out there because of concerns about trespassing in a foreign country.

This spring, when a cache was placed in my yard (that'd be private property), even after I removed it it took a while for the word to get out and for people to quit knocking about in our driveway and disturbing us.

 

I try to ask permission if I am going to be trekking on private property. I would hope that most caches have been placed with permission. I am really sorry that someone placed one on your property without it. Here this spring we did a cache on some property of a friend that I work with and I stopped by prior to going through his field and pasture. I know the site does say to get permission prior to placing the cache.

And in a forgien country I am not sure I would feel comfortable caching on someones property. I would try to stick to ones in parks or along roadways, etc.

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Wish I planned on geocaching earlier because last minute shopping for a handheld did not work out. No cheap device available locally and then I was worried that Bermuda wouldn't be in the native maps :( So I cruised to Bermuda and no geocaching :( The phone was not an option because of the cost (roaming data). Now I know to shop/research for one ahead of time for the next international trip.

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Ok question time for you out there. I tried the geocaching site and could offline download the caches and then turn my phone onto airplane mode and the gps still worked to locate the caches. Does this give me the option of using my phone without the huge charges?

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Ok question time for you out there. I tried the geocaching site and could offline download the caches and then turn my phone onto airplane mode and the gps still worked to locate the caches. Does this give me the option of using my phone without the huge charges?

 

Is there anyway your phone company can assist with the question? If it was me - I would go into the cell company store if there is one nearby and ask for written info about what charges may apply. Worst thing that can happen is that they say it's big bucks and you don't do it. But if they say no charge... get names etc. from the reps plus any docs they have and go for it... they try to charge you then you have some kind of documentation to back you up.

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  • 5 weeks later...

GPSr can be had for cheap, even at a walmart. Garmin Etrex basic models are or were available for around $100 and are easy to use.

 

If you upgrade a bit you can put everything in the gps, cache page, recent logs,etc. Then you can log the find on the GPSr and simply upload the log when you return home as a field note and easily transfer that to a completed log. (Garmin Colorado or Oregon, possibly other newer models, I haven't stayed too current in recent times)

 

As someone else mentioned, if you are going with the higher end model and downloading a lot of caches, GSAK is worth the small fee for it's use.

 

Also sorry for reviving an older thread

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  • 1 year later...

I'm sure you've already found the answer to your question but just in case somebody else comes here with the same question, I'll answer it. All I know for sure about is NCL. They have onboard computers that you can use. It's $55 for 100 minutes and $100 for 250 minutes, if I remember right. When I last went (2010) they also had a separate WiFi plan, using your own device, but from what I've recently read, the WiFi plan is now part of the above mentioned time deals. You can get to geocaching.com from the ship's computers but you can't download anything to your GPS receiver. You'd have to use your own laptop/tablet for that (if your tablet supports that--mine doesn't). I downloaded the caches I was interested in before I left for the cruise. The WiFi may not be available everywhere on the ship. You don't actually HAVE to sign up for their WiFi package but I highly recommend it. I didn't, and started out using the ship's computers. But I got so excited when I found out that my Blackberry would connect with their WiFi from my balcony even though I didn't sign up for it that I went hog wild and had fun on the 'net. My cell phone bill ended up with a $180 charge on it. (I didn't go THAT hog wild. My daughter did sign up for the WiFi and didn't pay anything like that.)

 

And remember that I said I only know about NCL.

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