Travel related Smart Phone Apps

[FoxyTerrier]

Someone on the X board posted about an app called "Ship Mate" and how they used it at check-in before deciding to take an upgrade.

 

Have any of you used it? It's not free but cheap enough at 1.99. There is not an iPad version and some iPhone apps aren't so good when using an iPad. Can anyone comment on this app? There is a version for each cruise line so you might need more than one if you cruise multiple lines.

 

I have also come across these useful apps.

 

TripIt - used for organizing air, car rental and hotel reservations. I think it could be used for cruising too. I have only used the free version and not sure what more you get for the pay version.

 

uPackingList - used for creating saved packing list. Can be used for other travel related lists such as things you do at home before leaving on a trip. Now that we have 2 homes we find our lists differ for the one that we are living in most of the time. This apps comes in free and paid version - I've been happy with the free version so far.

 

If you have other great apps please share. I'm sorry I don't know anything about Android apps as we have Apple products and a BlackBerry which have very limited apps.

[Mary Ellen]

I have the Ship Mate for HAL on my iPad. Totally worthless to me. The itineraries on both my last HAL cruise and the next one are incorrect. BIG time wrong. IMO if I can't trust the information that is easily available, why should I trust anything else there?

 

TripIt I love!

[Tampa Girl]

What is there about this app that makes it relevant for a decision to upgrade? What does it do?

[FoxyTerrier]

What is there about this app that makes it relevant for a decision to upgrade? What does it do?

 

"Its a great app for cruisers. We got upgraded at check in 2 years ago, and I was able to check the stateroom before boarding! "

 

The full thread can be found here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1580618

[nothriver]

I recently uploaded the DeckDirectorHD app for my ipad. Probably not worth the money but it is fun to have the deck plans on my ipad. They are not as detailed as other deck plans, the don't show the passanger capacity of each cabin, the ones with showers only instead of tubs, or the ones with the solid balcony railings.

 

I've really enjoyed using an app called Maplets. Again, not nearly as detailed as an online map but they are downloaded so you can use them offline which will be nice in Europe where I don't want to use roaming. Availibility is limited, but I was able to find maps for most of our ports, for my sons college campus, local bike maps, some local hiking trails we use regularly, so it is a fun app!

 

I recently received amy ipad as a gift and I'm still not entirely sure what all I should do with it, so additional suggestions for apps are very welcome!

[FoxyTerrier]

I recently received amy ipad as a gift and I'm still not entirely sure what all I should do with it, so additional suggestions for apps are very welcome!

 

FlightAware is another travel app for tracking airline flights and delays.

 

FlipBoard is a great free app that can be used to merge content from other sources such as FaceBook, Twitter and newspapers. It's one of my favorites.

 

GoogleEarth for maps

 

If you are a reader the Kindle app is good.

 

For games I like these: CoverOrange, Angry Birds, Scrabble, SceneIt, and Millionaire.

 

Hope this gets you started.

[Randyk47]

The only travel application we use is Flight Tracker. Really started using it to track mostly my wife's business travel but works well for our personal travel. With only one cruise a year I don't see much use or need for a cruise application.

[Tampa Girl]

Foxy, but what does the app show you about the stateroom? Dimensions, picture, position in ship in reference to public areas?

[sue117]

An app that I really like is called "Touchnote". It's free to download.

What it does is send "postcards" to anyone you want. Of course there is a fee, but I paid for 8 postcards so I have "credits" on my account. I use a photo that I have taken with my iphone, and "send" the postcard electronically. It's a nice laminated card that gets sent...and you can put a caption on the picture side and also a nice note on the back of the "postcard". It looks like a postcard, but uses your own photo.

 

There is also a website for this too, I think I "bought" my credits through the website and not the app, but I've sent postcards to my family and such through it and they have all gotten them without any issues. It's the same price to send a postcard to the states as it is overseas. I think it's like 80 cents total, but I'm not 100% on that.

[Mary Ellen]

Foxy, but what does the app show you about the stateroom? Dimensions, picture, position in ship in reference to public areas?

It shows the deck plan. Nothing more than you get in the map from HAL at check in. Same as available on-line.

 

Even though it is only $1.99 (per cruise line), it is still the biggest waste of money for an app I have on my iPad.

[Host Walt]

Interesting topic. But please don't post apps that are sponsored or supported by travel agents.

 

Thanks.

[Orlandocruiser]

 

I recently received amy ipad as a gift and I'm still not entirely sure what all I should do with it, so additional suggestions for apps are very welcome!

 

I have enjoyed two free apps from Trivial Technology - Cribbage and Gin Rummy Lite. They both have ads in the free version but will work (without the semi annoying ads) when you have the ipad in airplane mode on the ship. I also enjoy the Rummycube app (same as the regular game) - I got it for free or very low cost when they were running a special so I don't know how much it is now.

 

Weather channel has a nice free app which you can load your favorite places or travel destinations into (of course this

only works when you are "connected").

 

If you have ever played the "Sets" card game thought puzzle there is an app for that. It was IMO rather expensive at 9.99 but I do like a good brain teaser.

 

Have fun!

[FLACRUISER99]

Trip case is a fine free app.

[Stakeout]

on the Android Market

 

Trip Advisor ----Free ...

AAA TripTik -----Free ...

AAA Roadside ---Free

Earthquake Alert --Free... posts all earthquakes as they happen

Final Countdown-- Free... Countdown timer good for 'time to go' next cruises

Team Viewer -----Free .... sync with and access Home PC

UStream -------Free... broadcast Live videosfrom Android phone

Marine Traffic--- Free ... locate any ship in range

Where's My Droid--Free.. locate your lost phone.. e-z to set up

Google Sky -------Free ... e-z to locate stars and planets using phone

Star Chart--------Free... similar to Google Sky

Sundroid --------Free... Sunrise/Sunset times daily

Evernote --------Free... excellent note/folder/organizer syncs with PC

Instant Heart Rate--FREE... use phone's camera LED flash to take heartbeat

Shop Savvy ------Free... Scan barcodes.. save to group-lists

Gas Buddy ------ Free e-z to check gas prices for diferent locations

Currency Converter --Free... converts currencies worldwide

Convertr -------Free ... e-z convert measurements.. distances

Droid Light -----Free ... flashlight using phone's LED flash

Shazam -------Free.. get title of a song by singing or playing it

Geocaching--- NOT FREE $10 .. if you are into Geocaching while traveling

 

also-- you can signup for 'Free-Paid App of the day' email thru Amazon App store.. can get some good apps for FREE... you must enable(check) get App from Unknown Sources under Settings--Applications on your Android phone to allow them to download from other than Android Market

[nothriver]

Thanks for all the great suggestions!

 

Forgot to add that I use XE Currency for a currency converter. Embarassed to admit that I had to have my teenager show me how to use it at first but one I figured it out, I've been happy with it.

[imaginary-friend]

Ship mate is a horrible app. I purchased it a while ago and they can never get my itinerary right (even after repeated emails and reassurances to fix it) and any information manually input is erased on every update it seems. So if you change your itinerary they change it back to the incorrect one and any changes to lists or contacts are continually erased with updates. Wouldnt even recommend it if it were free.

[stargazer424]

I'm also looking for good travel apps that work OFFLINE. I'll be on a cruise to Mediterranean ports, so I won't have access to Verizon and don't want to rely on finding a wifi hotspot. Looking for guides that will download. So far I found the following:

 

Android

Triposo: FREE - you can download guides for countries and some cities and view them offline, includes maps and Points of Interest, restaurants, etc...You can bookmark places so you can readily see all the places you want to go. This looks like it will be the most useful app I have found

 

XE Currency: Free - Gets the latest currency rates from the last time you connected (just be sure to connect before you leave)

 

Currency Converter: Free - Does the same as above, but I preferred XE because you can customize which currencies were displayed where as this one was a drop down menu that you needed to search through to change.

 

Does anyone else have app suggestions that work OFFLINE for Android or IOS?

[djhsolara]

I got the ShipMate app quite a while back. It seems to me that the app has been updated several times and has become very "dumbed-down" since I got it. When I first got it I can remember being able to do more with it, but now it is basically deck plans and photos, etc. Not much more.

 

:) :)