Laptop usage on Princess

I'll be on the Princess Coral departing Ft. Lauderdale next Sunday. I called Princess to ask about cost of using my laptop in Wi-Fi zones. She said that the only area Wi-Fi is available is the atrium and the cost is the same as using the computer room terminals, but I could buy the Princess Wi-Fi card for $50 and have unlimited usage for the entire cruise. This doesn't sound right, but she did check with the manager and he confirmed it. Has anyone had experience with this card? Thanks!!

The Atrium area is usually the only place besides the internet cafe that laptops can be used. But I have not heard of unlimited usage for $50, I have heard of 50 cents per minute for the Wi-Fi connection though. Unless this is something new, I have never heard of unlimited before on any Princess ship.

Just off Caribbean Princess and they did have an unlimited package -- don't know the price but there was an ulimited package.

Just off Caribbean Princess and they did have an unlimited package -- don't know the price but there was an ulimited package.

Well, that seems to answer that question. I wonder when this all changed? I know that last month on the Star it wasn't offered.

Well, that seems to answer that question. I wonder when this all changed? I know that last month on the Star it wasn't offered.

I hope this is true for the Diamond in January. I can write all of my emails in advance and just cut & paste them in when I get online. That will save lots of online time. I'll be carrying the laptop anyway to use for downloading photos, and I'm taking posters' advice to keep a spreadsheet to keep track of onboard expenses.

We will be on the Golden May 3rd and I will bring my laptop. We are in a PH category that is suppose to have unlimited internet. Does anyone know if they cabins on the Caribe Deck get a Wifi signal? I plan to do a "Live" report and I alway write the days report off line then post. On HAL I burn thru $100 rather quickly at 55 cents a minute.:eek: It will be nice not to have to pay for it.

I would check with Princess about this. Last I checked, Wi-Fi was not included in the unlimited perk with the suites, the unlimited was for the internet cafe only.

We were on the CB in November...we don't get a wireless card from the ship. We purchased a minutes package and used our laptop. The benfit is I did emails, added pictures etc all off line and then went online to send and receive.

Just off Caribbean on December 23, 07 and they

did NOT have unlimited Internet deal.

We were just on b2b on Crown (12/8-12/22) and there was not an unlimited package for laptop wi-fi. In fact, the packages, ie for Platinum, etc. were only available for the computers in the Internet Cafe. Laptops wi-fi were charged at $.50 per minute.

So another words, if you are a Suite or Platinum you have to use theri computers not your own. You would think they would want you to use your own so you can free up their computers in the Internet Cafe:confused: Oh well, that will just save me one less thing to have to bring and just use their computers.:)

So another words, if you are a Suite or Platinum you have to use theri computers not your own. You would think they would want you to use your own so you can free up their computers in the Internet Cafe:confused: Oh well, that will just save me one less thing to have to bring and just use their computers.:)

I hope this is true for the Diamond in January. I can write all of my emails in advance and just cut & paste them in when I get online. That will save lots of online time. I'll be carrying the laptop anyway to use for downloading photos, and I'm taking posters' advice to keep a spreadsheet to keep track of onboard expenses.

Hi there,

Are you on the Diamond to Hawaii on January 2nd? If you are, we hope to meet you at the meet & greet on January 3rd.

Barbara & Frank

No, we're on the 17th.

Just used my laptop with wireless built-in on the Coral. Location was finicky--I could only get a decent signal in the Library or in the atrium lounge on Plaza deck.

There is nothing magical about using Princess' wireless card--any decent one should work, and you can get one for much less than $50. No package deal was offered for wireless use--just 50 cents per minute.

Les

I am considering bringing a laptop on our Alaska cruise on the Star Princess. Some of the posts seen are interesting. But something I'm wondering about is whether the private safe in the stateroom is big enough to hold a laptop. I would be uncomfortable with leaving it unsecured in the stateroom when I'm not there. Also - as per the use of the computers in the Internet Cafe - it sounds from earlier posts that there is no charge for using them. Is that the case? It does sound from earlier posts that if you use your personal laptop with a wireless connection, you pay for that in some fashion. And if I don't bring the laptop and instead choose on-ship services to download memory sticks to CDs, what kind of price have people experienced with those services?

But something I'm wondering about is whether the private safe in the stateroom is big enough to hold a laptop. I would be uncomfortable with leaving it unsecured in the stateroom when I'm not there. Also - as per the use of the computers in the Internet Cafe - it sounds from earlier posts that there is no charge for using them. Is that the case? It does sound from earlier posts that if you use your personal laptop with a wireless connection, you pay for that in some fashion. And if I don't bring the laptop and instead choose on-ship services to download memory sticks to CDs, what kind of price have people experienced with those services?

Yes, there is a charge to use the computers in the Internet Cafe. You can buy a package based on the number of minutes you think you'll be using.

The Photo Dept. has a service to transfer images from your camera memory card to a CD. I don't remember how much it is. Perhaps someone can fill in the blanks here.

The safe in the cabin is NOT big enough to hold a laptop. A suggestion is to bring a lock and when you're not using the laptop, put it in one of your suitcases, lock it and put it under your bed.

Pam,

That's not necessarily true. I've put our "travel laptop" into the safe before. It's a 12-inch Apple iBook and it was purchased specifically for travelling. I have put Lil' Buddy (yes it has a name) in both cruise ship and hotel safes. It's a tight fit, but it is possible. Now if it was a 15-inch or 17-inch laptop, there would be no chance of it fitting.

Having said all of this, we have left our laptop sitting in our cabin without incident. Still, we always travel with a cable lock.

The wireless speeds are ok for downloads - not broadband speeds as you would get at home, but tolerable. The upload speeds tend to be abysmal. On our last cruise I had a difficult time sending emails with embedded photos. Many of them took a few retries. They eventually all were sent, but at $.50/minute I simply referred to them as "golden" emails. :rolleyes:

Jim

We have actually had quite good luck with our laptop on Princess. We build our website as we go so that the kids can keep up with our travels. We write the pages off line .. on the balcony and instert all the pictures from that day. They we go to Gatsby's for a martini and let it upload . It takes some patience .. but hey with a martini in hand, cruising along .. I tend to have tons of patience.

On the Carib Princess in Sept .. we bought 100 minutes for 50 cents a minute and on the next to the last day we found we needed a few more minutes, but it was available in 15minute or 30 minute chunks for a reduced price.

Pam,

That's not necessarily true. I've put our "travel laptop" into the safe before. It's a 12-inch Apple iBook and it was purchased specifically for travelling. I have put Lil' Buddy (yes it has a name) in both cruise ship and hotel safes. It's a tight fit, but it is possible. Now if it was a 15-inch or 17-inch laptop, there would be no chance of it fitting.

I have had iBooks previously (12" ones) and they would not have fit into the safes on the Princess ships I have sailed.

I just leave my laptop out. I seriously doubt Princess employees would steal it - they know they would lose their job if they did. Plus, people have far more expensive jewelry than my $1000 laptop.

The problem with laptop theft is not the cost of the machine, but the value of the information that might be on it. Think identity theft. :eek:

I once had to cancel a credit card because an employee of hotels.com had his laptop stolen and it was possible that my credit information was on it.

Anyone who keeps personal or financial information on their laptops would be taking a chance leaving it unsecured anywhere.

I wouldn't worry about having your laptop in your cabin. I take mine each cruise to download photos from my camera onto the hard drive and CDs and leave it sitting out on the desk. I've never had a problem and I've never heard of anyone having any trouble because they left theirs in their cabin.

One word of caution - there have been a few times on cruises where people have used the onboard service to move pictures from their camera over to CDs so they can take more pictures. Then when they've gotten home they have found the CD had errors and the pictures were lost forever because the ship doesn't save a copy. Unfortunately you can't use the computers in the Internet Cafe to burn CDs - that's why I take my laptop and save them both to the hard drive and CD before I erase the camera memory. If you don't want to fool with your laptop, I'd recommend picking up some extra memory for your camera.

The problem with laptop theft is not the cost of the machine, but the value of the information that might be on it. Think identity theft. :eek:

I once had to cancel a credit card because an employee of hotels.com had his laptop stolen and it was possible that my credit information was on it.

Anyone who keeps personal or financial information on their laptops would be taking a chance leaving it unsecured anywhere.

This is why there are encryption tools...