What Will You Be Reading on Next Cruise and Will It Be Book, Kindle or Nook?

[Lynda90]

Island Beneath the Sea, or one of the other 60+ books on my Kindle, of course! :p

[okgirl]

I just got off the Ecstasy on Thursday and took a book (which I hadn't started) and a Kindle (which I got for Christmas). I was having so much fun with my Crazies friends that I never took the Kindle out of my carry on and I only got 3 chapters of the book read..........

 

My sister didn't party as much as I did and she only took her Kindle and had several hours of reading pleasure, but I don't think she finished a whole book.

[girlguide]

I have a KOBO reader from Chapters/Indigo.

 

I've manged to half fill it with over 300 books - mostly from the Gutenberg website. Great source of e-pub books. I'm reading & re-reading lots of classics.

 

There's still room for many more books - I'll have it full before we leave in March. It will also hold most of our travel info in pdf format.

[MJC]

Voyage of the Beagle by Darwin, on my Sony Daily Edition. Plus several fiction books from the library, mostly mysteries. DH got me a special plastic case for taking it to the beach and the pool.

Edited February 12, 2011 by MJC

[retiredgram]

Old fashioned paper back book :o Love Fern Michaels Sisterhood series.

Last book in the series hopefully will be out by next cruise.

[greytam]

I took my Kindle 2 on our cruise last winter and read Little Bee, which was a wonderful book but in retrospect a bit too sad for me on a cruise. So this year with my new Kindle 3 I'll be reading more upbeat material - I have TONS already to choose from.

 

Last year I saw exactly 3 other e-readers during my cruise. I'm sure this year there will be quite a signifant increase!

 

I never thought of putting personal info and cruise info on the kindle. I think I'll put our imprtant numbers, flight info, etc. on. What other information would you suggest puting on a kindle to take along on a cruise?

[Travelcat2]

Definitely taking my Kindle again. It is so easy on the eyes since there is no glare and you can make the print just about any size you want. Also love the fact that I can read book samples before I purchase them. There is nothing I do not like about my Kindle.

[barante]

I bought a 3G Kindle (and a wi-fi for my wife) for the very reason of its usefulness on cruises. We are going to take a 28-day cruise from Rio to FLL next month. We are doing it on HAL's Veendam, which has a marvelous library and free access to the New York Times website if one wants to read the paper. That can be done either at public computers in the cafe or from many hotspots around the ship. So I most likely will read the Times on my MacBook Pro, the most frustrating but ultimately best computer purchase I have ever made.

In other words, there really was no pressing need to buy a Kindle for this cruise. Nevertheless taking a Kindle along makes sense. It's easy to handle, can be read without eye strain even in bright sun (beaches). But the reading function is only one function the 3G Kindle offers. Another important one is economic. I hope to keep Internet charges to the bare minimum by using the 3G Kindle's ability to send and receive e-mail and browse the web (How to do this is explained in the user's manual. It's also listed under experimental in the screen index). Since amazon.com pays for the cellular minutes, I won't incur any charges.

There has been lots of debate over the past several months about whether this actually works. This much is certain: E-mailing and browsing work only on 3G Kindle. And I am reasonably satisfied that most, if not all, cruise lines by now have blocked the amazon access, which was free also on ships to Kindle owners. But I also equally believe the various reports that 3G Kindles work in South American ports. So what's not to like.

So my Kindle is more than an e-reader, it is an enabler.

In brief, I'll take my Kindle along not only to read books but to access and send email. By doing so I will know exactly which emails to download and store by the time I use the ship's minutes. This will save me expensive (and slow) minutes. I can read the saved emails at my leisure and prepare answers to them without having to use expensive minutes for composing them.

I was among those who believed that by now the Kindle would be seriously threatened by competitors. In fact, I thought I would buy a Kindle until I did lots of research. Kindle today is the way to go. You don't even need to own a Kindle. By using apps, you can buy Kindle books to read on your iPhone, iPad, Android equipment and BlackBerry.

Edited February 12, 2011 by barante

[maryann ns]

My new Kobo is comming with me. It is smaller than one paperback and I will at least read on the plane. I have downloaded travel pdf files too.

[ilovetexas]

Barante-not sure what's frustrating about your MacBook Pro, I love mine:D

 

Just finished the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo trilogy on my Nook. Right now I'm in school so I'm bombarded with text books :(

 

For my cruise in June, I'll load up the last of the Mitch Rapp (by Vince Flynn) books. Plus, (Mystery Writers of America Presents) The Rich and The Dead comes out in May. If that's available for Nook, I'll get it, too!

[frangran]

We took our new Ematic eReaders on our last cruise a couple of weeks ago & LOVED them! I had over 260 books, plus 20 or so videos on mine. When tired of reading, I watched & listened to Andre Rieu videos. (SO much better than the 18-20 regular books we'd had to pack before.)

 

Funny thing, all the eReaders we saw were in the hands of adults -- not one of the kids or young people carried one!

Edited February 13, 2011 by frangran

[mikewrit]

I'm looking very seriously at a Kindle purchase before our next cruise. If I go for it, I'll load it with public domain stuff, a la Padraic. Otherwise I am usually more than content with the offerings in the ship's library. DW usually fills out the baggage weight limit with paperbacks from the Cancer Society thrift shop - we leave them in the library donation box after reading. We share addiction to Carl Hiaasen, Stuart Woods, Lee Childs and Nora Roberts in her J.D. Robb guise.

[barante]

frangran -- There is nothing mysterious about older people liking e-readers. Nothing to do with books. Instead, the 45-65 age group if amazon's big market because their eyes are getting bad and they want the ability to enlarge the text.

ilovetexas -- The first computer I owned was a Mac, yet I found transitioning from a Dell to the MacBook Pro to be a frustrating experience. The learning curve was steep. I'm finally learning to operate it, even though I probablyj master only 60 percent of its capabilities. The biggest plus: The Mac is stable and operates with the kinds of constant error messages I got on the Dell.

Interestingly, I asked for the opinion of a fellow cruiser, a computer professor, before I bought the new computer a year ago. He advised against buy Mac for the very reason of a learning curve.

Love my Mac.

[Mist_ynight]

What will you be reading on your next cruise? I love easy reading mysteries on vacation (Janet Evanovich, Sue Grafton) and will be bringing both on my next cruise. This is the first time I'll be bringing a Kindle rather than actual books on vacation. If I get tired of reading, I can always play Scrabble. I'm addicted!

 

Do you play scrabble on your Kindle? I don't know how to do that but would love to. Can you tell me where to find it? Thanks

[flgojo]

kindle-

who knows what though. Currently reading fleeing famous and rereading the first jd robb book. Might get cruise confidential I haven't read it yet. Love every word but haven't got scrabble yet.

[Happy ks]

I took my Kindle 2 on our cruise last winter and read Little Bee, which was a wonderful book but in retrospect a bit too sad for me on a cruise. So this year with my new Kindle 3 I'll be reading more upbeat material - I have TONS already to choose from.

 

Last year I saw exactly 3 other e-readers during my cruise. I'm sure this year there will be quite a signifant increase!

 

I never thought of putting personal info and cruise info on the kindle. I think I'll put our imprtant numbers, flight info, etc. on. What other information would you suggest puting on a kindle to take along on a cruise?

 

 

My sister and I are both avid readers and both had our Kindles with us on our last cruise (December). It was almost hard to read as so many people stopped by to look at them and ask about them. I almost wish I had gotten the largest sized Kindle, as I read fast and have to constantly turn pages (what a chore ;)).

 

I haven't selected a book yet, we cruise in May and I'm sure if I get one now, I won't be able to resist reading it before the cruise.

 

I'm really into Jane Austen right now and I have other classics downloaded (free), so I may just concentrate on those. What I love about Jane Austen books is that you can re-read them over and over and never get bored with her writing.

[sparky-elpaso]

I read in wet places so no electronics for me. I only could get through two paperbacks on this cruise at best, so probably a mystery and pulp romance... or one good classic, like Sherlock Holmes.

 

Look up TrendyDigital waterproof covers - they have3 them for all the e-readers. Sort of like a super ziploc bag. I got one for my Nook so I can read in the bathtub. Got it from Amazon - about $20.

[5326jan]

I like to find fiction that takes place in the country/region I am about to visit. I love mysteries. My next book is Assasin of Athens!:o

[Doug R.]

I have a Pandigital Novel e-reader which is Nook compatable. Love it!!!! Just finished the Girl with/who Trilogy and Dean Koontz's latest. Definitely going on our Hawaiian land vacation in April and any future cruise TBA.

[soozles]

I don't have a cruise booked yet, but I just came back from one, and I had my nook onboard. I prefer the nook to the kindle, but that's just me. I do want to get a new case for it though, my current case is a bit bulky and not that comfortable to hold. Plus, it's getting dirty.

[Deb in Cali]

I never thought of putting personal info and cruise info on the kindle. I think I'll put our imprtant numbers, flight info, etc. on. What other information would you suggest puting on a kindle to take along on a cruise?

 

 

How about important phone numbers that may not be in your cell phone? I always carry a printout of my address book when we travel. That way if there is some emergency back home I have any and all number to contact family, friends, doctors, etc.

[welove2cruise232]

Look up TrendyDigital waterproof covers - they have3 them for all the e-readers. Sort of like a super ziploc bag. I got one for my Nook so I can read in the bathtub. Got it from Amazon - about $20.

 

I just put my Sony Touch reader in a big ziploc bag to read at the beach and had no problems seeing through the bag or turning pages (with the page turn button, not by swiping the screen).

 

I love my Sony reader because I can get "free" books at my local library!

[Haoie]

I'm normally a huge bibliophile.

 

But I'd rather not read while cruising. Reading is for when one is bored/idle. Onboard - I'm unlikely to be ever bored.

[ILoveScotland]

I took my Pandigital e-reader (uses Nook Books) on my cruise last month and loved it. I've got many different kinds of books downloaded so had choices of what to read.

[divingaggie]

We're leaving on Friday for the Panama Canal on Princess, and I'll have my Nook Color with me. I've loaded it up with Moning's series, but I haven't started that yet. Plus some good old romances by Susan Wiggs and the last of the Nora Roberts bride quartet. I'm also excited about having a few magazines to read on the Nook Color instead of having to lug them around. I'm a big magazine reader on planes and trips, so it's nice to just have it all in the Nook.