UK Electrical Appliances

[adey22]

I'm 1st time cruiser, Diamond Princess, 6th Nov Beiijing to Bangkok. I'm also not a very techy person so I would be very grateful for any info/advice about using UK electrical appliances in the stateroom. I'm thinking about laptop, tooth brush, mobile phone, also my wife may well use her own hairdryer and will certainly use her hair straighteners

[sidari]

Hi Guys .... UK electrical things seem to work ok on the ships, however you will find that all 4 outlets (usual number) will all be close together around the area of the Dressing table... there is a shaver outlet point in the bathrooms.

 

The one downside we have found is that for some unknown reason the power supply is poor when it comes to Re charging Batteries for Cameras! apart from the Video camera!... many USA cruisers take what they call a power strip with them which may well be the UK version of the 4 to 8 outlet extension sockets we have here..... someone will iam sure elaborate a bit more on them for you.

[redwinegirl]

In the UK we work at 220v and the states work at 110v so hair dyers, strengtheners may be a problem as they will not work probably. You can buy a 'step up' converter however they normally only work if the watts are lower than 45w (I would say that the hair dyer and strengtheners will be 50w, so you will probably blow the step up). Most lap tops have a converter installed (take a look at the label), however we never had a problem with them and never used a 'step up', mobile charger etc were also fine.

 

New GHD strengtheners already have the converter in them if that helps. I found the hairdryers on board fine and I have long hair.

 

Hope that helps.

[Shogun]

Hi There,

 

My other half fixed the problem by going shopping, and buying items in the US so that they would work on board.

 

yours Shogun

[JPRLHR]

We too always take a hairdryer that we bought in the US. Laptop's aren't a problem as previously explained but mobile's do take twice the length of time to charge due to the reduced US voltages. As for the toothbrush, we always take a battery operated one rather than the mains one.

[newport dave]

For toothbrushes, why not just take manual ones, no need to worry about power.;);):D:D

[OldJerseycruiser]

We always take a power strip (an extension lead with 4 outlets) with us now, particularly if travelling with DD. :)

[Marque]

Hi. My wife and I are US citizens and residents. We solved the electrical problem by always making sure that our appliances are dual voltage. On one of our trips to London, we purchased a 220 power strip with UK connections. Then we got a UK to Europe two-prong connector to plug the power strip into the ship's 220 socket. In addition, we carry a US 110 power strip to plug into the ship's 110 socket. The key is as you replace your appliances when they wear out, buy dual voltage appliances and lots of adapters.

[h3rjp]

The only thing we had a problem with was trying to recharge the toothbrush. It's not dual voltage and wouldn't fit the outlet in the bathroom.

 

However.. we found a European (round, 220v) socket in the bar area of the suite. I had no idea what it was there for (possibly for a vacuum cleaner), but our multi adaptor fit that and allowed us to charge up.

 

I don't know if this is normal fitment (I suspect not), but that's what we found anway.

[caber]

Hi There,

 

My other half fixed the problem by going shopping, and buying items in the US so that they would work on board.

 

yours Shogun

Same here. The hairdryers on Sea Princess were so bad I bought US type in the Caribbean a few years ago. I keep it for cruises. The straighteners I have are travel ones with dual voltage but most will work if you leave them a bit longer to heat up. Normal UK to US adapters normally are fine.