Kindle

[Coravel]

Has anyone used Kindle (WiFi or 3G) aboard Olsen ships? If so, how well did it work when you were at sea?

[Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines]

Subject to satellite availability a Kindle should work fine once on board with WiFi but not 3G. This does applies to sea days as well as port days.

[GM0NJl]

If you have a good number of books loaded into your reader before you go on holiday it will not need to connect by wi-fi or phone.

Just read the loaded book.

I have used one for a long time and never needed to connect while away from my home.

 

Ron

[Coravel]

Thanks very much for both replies. What I would like to do is subscribe to my usual daily newspaper to read each day, but how would that work in practice? I realise I have to pay Amazon for the subscription fee but would WiFi charges also apply? My understanding is that there are no connection charges for Kindle but I would be very surprised if that were really the case. :confused:

[KenQE2]

As I understand it there are no connection charges for the 3G, the network data cost is built into the price for the download, although I'm not sure how that works when you leave your home country network and incur roaming charges. It could be that Amazon have data centres worldwide (or at least Internet presence) so the connections are all local and roaming doesn't come into it.

 

The situation with WiFi is more difficult. Obviously there are no costs if you have a free (and open) WiFi network to connect to, but any public (free or subscription) hot-spot that requires a web browser to first of all log on to the gateway is going to be tough to negotiate with the Kindle. Even if you manage to log on, there is no way a Kindle will tunnel through a pay-wall for free. That's what I envisage as being the case on-ship.

[Coravel]

That's exactly what I think Ken. Hopefully Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines will be able to clarify the situation for me. :)

[KenQE2]

FO have already replied that a Kindle WiFi should work fine, but as I described I don't see how it can. Will be interesting to hear from somebody who's actually tried it.

[Coravel]

That's what I was hoping for Ken. I haven't purchased a Kindle yet just in case it doesn't work as I hope it will.

[Bristol Pirates]

Just returned from a Western Caribbean cruise. The 3G did not work on board and only worked in 2 ports, Barbados (where there is free wifi anyway) and Panama, so not very successful. I did not try the wifi as I had plenty of books loaded.

[Bristol Pirates]

Sorry folks just discovered that my Kindle 3g is faulty. So perhaps that is why I had trouble with reception. Though looking at the 3G coverage for the Western Caribbean some of it is not very good. Some people did have trouble with their mobile phone reception so I would be prepared with plenty of books downloaded. It will be a bonus if you can pick up your emails as well. I had very good reception last year at a Kenya beach resort.

[Coravel]

I suppose the answer would be to buy the 3G and WiFi version to cover all bases. Yes, keeping up with e-mails would be extremely useful on a long cruise.

[KenQE2]

It will be a bonus if you can pick up your emails as well.

I use an iPod Touch for that (as a replacement for my dead PDA), but I didn't know the Kindle can act as an email client - that's interesting.

[Floppydog]

Just back from an Iberia cruise with FO. 3G on my Kindle, which I used for a newspaper subscription, worked fine in most ports. Not, of course, at sea, but I didn't want to pay for wi-fi access.

[anyoldname]

I got back a few ago from a Black Watch cruise.

 

WiFi was available at £10 for 50 minutes, and I was able to pick up my emails just fine.

[Coravel]

Thanks so much for the continued replies to my queries.

 

Do you have any web browsing capability on your 3G Kindle Floppydog?

 

And to Anyoldname, were you using the ship's wifi on your personal laptop and what were the speeds like? £10 for 50 minutes may not go far if it's still as slow as it was last year!

[Dartmoordan]

I used my kindle on our carribean cruise and couldn't get wifi to work on it, it works fine at home but I just couldn't get anything to work on it apart from the books I had preloaded.

[Floppydog]

Yes, I was able to use the web through 3G while in port - a bit slow and clunky but then it's like that at home! it was good enough to download my newspaper subscription, and check a few emails. :)

[Coravel]

Thanks Floppydog. That would be good enough for me.

[Tiggertastic]

You only need wifi and 3g if you want to download more books. The ones on your kindle are stored there and accessible without wifi.

 

Remember to turn off the wifi when you get on board as it drains the battery quickly

 

x

[leagle]

I have travelled a lot with my 3G Kindle.

As has been said, you can read whatever you have loaded on to it without connecting (and the battery lats much longer).

There is no charge for the 3G, but the charge to connect to a wifi network is the same as it would be for a computer, that is you just put in the password, if any. If there would be no charge (MsDonald's, Starbucks etc.) it is free for the Kndle, if there is a charge for access, you pay it.

The quickest way to order new books is on a computer, then turn on the Kndle for it to download, but you can order directly from the Kindle.

I get my daily paper on the Kndle too (£13.99 per month for the Independent. A month's subscription for hard copies would cost around £36 in central London, the newstand cost is more.) I have received it, on time (London morning time), in tiny villages in the Japanese Alps, in Barcelona, in Italy, in New York....

When I crossed the Atlantic on the QM2, I only got the paper the day we left Southampton and when we neared New York, when it tried to download 5 days at once. It suceeded after it flashed and rebooted itself. The most recent came up in the normal position, the others on the last page. For 4 days I had only the 400+ books already on my Kindle.

The Amazon Kindle site, under "Manage my Kindle", has maps that can give you information about where you can get a signal.

When you are out of reach, you paper won't come on time, but when you are back within the signal, the back copies will download too.

The Kindle can send and receive emails, but it is slow and clunky, useful for sending yourself your itinerary and e-tickets and for emergencies, but not much else.

A Kindle is an e-reader. It is superb for reading books. The font is adjustable, it stores up to 3,500 books, the battery lasts 2-4 weeks, it is not back-lit so it is comfortable to read and is fine in bright light.

It is not a tablet computer, which is less good for reading, but does other useful things.

[Coravel]

After much encouragement from the above posters I've taken the plunge and bought a Kindle 3G. I've spent the past week familiarising myself with it and I'm

now fully confident about using it. The 3G works very well indeed and I'm quite impressed with the way it accesses the internet and downloads all my favourite websites. I suppose it's a little bit like dial-up but it's better than I expected. The only website I have difficulty with is my bank account which loads just fine but then freezes when I get to the log-in screen. I shall have to use my netbook to keep an eye on that while I'm away.