Regatta Cabins - Concierge vs Veranda

[LHT28]

Just to be sure - The A-1 staterooms have an in-room safe?

 

ALL the cabins have an in room safe

[Rocket4Oh]

ALL the cabins have an in room safe

Thank you for the quick reply

[MarilynA]

[quote name=hondorner;23051176

 

I bought a smaller convertible laptop/tablet with a 12" screen some time ago just for that purpose. Plus' date=' my internet AirCard hooks up through the ship's cell data service at a cost below their internet charges (although that didn't work on Regent, which uses a different cell service provider).[/quote]

 

I'm with Don on this issue, I will be bringing my own laptop (and/or iPad) and putting the provided laptop out of the way. I never did see why that was such a great amenity since most people have their own. I would like to know more about your card though, Don, if you don't mind sharing. Where did you get it and how does it work?

 

Marilyn

[hondorner]

I would like to know more about your card though, Don, if you don't mind sharing. Where did you get it and how does it work?

 

Marilyn

It's generic name is AirCard, but different providers have different names for it. It's actually a mobile broadband cellular hookup that you use with your computer, not a tethered cell phone.

 

You may remember some of the ads on TV -- a couple of years ago, AT&T had a fake British-type guy running around in bizarre circumstances and still being able to use his laptop. Verizon has run similar ads, and the latest from Sprint pushes their super-high-speed 4G (4th generation) hookup where it is available, and even more lately has been advertising their "mobile hotspot" which allows up to 5 connections.

 

Betsy and I had the Sprint version for years, each plugged in to our own laptops, because we were often in 2 different places when I was working on our country property and she might be off to a quilt show somewhere. Since we both retired we are usually together, so I canceled the air cards and got one of the 3G/4G mobile hotspots from Sprint. I just got it a couple of weeks ago, and I/m still experimenting with it, but it's all we use -- we travel in our RV where WiFi is not always available, we have two houses where it would be too expensive to have fixed internet in each, and it's just as fast (using the 3G protocol; 4G has not reached us yet) as DSL service.

 

Aboard ship, it works by hooking up to the ship's cellular service using data protocol similar to that used by Blackberries, and such. While I'm up to date in some ways, I'm hopelessly behind when it comes to cell phones -- my phone doesn't take pictures, let alone come under the heading of "smart". That is, it does so on Oceania, but not Regent, because they use different cellular service providers. I don't know about any other cruise lines.

 

The last time I used the air card on board Oceania, my only cost was similar to sending a text message (40 cents). I missed my scheduled cruises this year due to a sudden health issue, so I don't know if it still is as cheap -- I keep thinking they're going to discover whatever loophole this thing is working through, and plug it with some high data rate. So, there are no guarantees from me.

 

The cellular service on Regent is faster and cheaper, so if I was Oceania, I'd be thinking of possibly changing all the ships to that service as soon as my contract was up, so that could change the whole equation, too.