Laptops

[*erika*]

I recently got a new digital camera, however, I'm not sure that the card I have will hold enough pictures for the week. I was considering bringing my laptop since it's tiny and only weights 3 lbs. I was wondering how many people bring their laptops, and if it's more of an inconvience than anything else.

 

Leaving Sunday for the Explorer, cant wait!

-erika

[madforcruising]

I bring mine for picture storing too.

[springtxbill]

I would get an extra card or two instead of taking the laptop as it will not fit in the safe in your room.:)

[budaman]

We took ours for both photo downloading and music. Took a 3pc speaker system and it worked out great in our JS. Next cruise though, might need to get an Ipod Photo which will do both of those functions and fit in the safe!

 

www.homepage.mac.com/csealove/

[Wennfred]

I bring my Tiny Dell 700m with me all the time, I leave it out and open, never had a problem with it left out in the open.

[PVDCruiser]

How big is the card, and at what resolution/quality do you save your pictures?

[worldsbestcandles]

I too had the same question as the OP. I am nervous about bringing extra cards because I'm worried I will lose one or damage it somehow and everything on it will be lost... I don't know why loading it onto a laptop makes me feel "safer" but it does... however my laptop is not exactly light since I have to run some pretty heavy programs for work.... anyone have any issues with their memory cards or am I worrying for nothing?

[*erika*]

dandude,

 

I just got my camera as a gift for my birthday (!!) so I haven't really checked it out yet. I know it's not any larger than a 128 card though. I was checking prices for other cards, but they're too expensive for me to get one now. (note, I'm a college student, enough said!)

[dh01498]

I bought one of those laptop cases on wheels that also serves as an overnight bag. I used it as my carryon. I got it at Office Max I think or one of those computer stores. You pull it just like luggage and the laptop stores in the side where you can pull it out for inspection. Be prepared to turn it on as some TSA people make you do that. Then you can put some clothes etc. in the other part.

 

As for the laptop in your cabin I left mine out and no one disturbed it. It was a great help for storing pictures as you are very limited as to what you can do in the internet cafe on the ship with their computers.

[PVDCruiser]

dandude,

 

I just got my camera as a gift for my birthday (!!) so I haven't really checked it out yet. I know it's not any larger than a 128 card though. I was checking prices for other cards, but they're too expensive for me to get one now. (note, I'm a college student, enough said!)

 

I know how you feel about money.

 

A 128 is okay - make sure it's enough for a shore excursion worth of pictures though!

 

If you don't bring a laptop, I would recommend a 1GB card.

[*erika*]

I had a digital camera previous to the new one I have now, but the cards aren't interchangable like I had hoped. We'll see how everything goes, and I'll probably just end up with taking the laptop.

 

Thanks for everyones input!!

[cruzincurt]

You would be very unhappy if the laptop walked off with all of your stored pictures on it. I prefer the small SD storage disks.

[azcater]

We're considering buying an ipod photo so we can download pics right from our camera on to the ipod photo and then we'll have plenty of space on the camera. I really don't want to take my laptop, and don't want to have to buy extra memory cards. The ipod photo will be nice when traveling to visit family we can just hook it up to the TV and voila we can share our pics. I don't know... we're still considering all the options though.

[gail811]

I took my laptop and downloaded pictures at the end of each day. Also set up a "blog" and sent pictures daily. Family and friends could follow us as we went port to port. We were on the Miracle and could connect wireless in several places on the ship. Never worried about the computer being stolen.... guess I'm an optimist!

[cruisinisforme]

I have a very large card, but I always bring my laptop, then I know for sure my pictures are safe, plus if you are with other people, you can get theirs too instead of waiting for them to send them when you get home. It is kind of a pain, but to me, well worth it.

[CessKinKoS]

i have been thinking about the same thing for the last 2 months. My laptop is pretty heavy, 8lbs, more like a portable desktop, and we'll be 3 women in a cat L. So my options were either to buy new cards (i use Smart Media so 128MB is the largest) or buy the camera link for the iPod since i'm bringing that anyway.

 

a new card would be btwn 20-30$, and the link would be at least $40. i still have time to decide though.

i'm leaning towards the link bc my cousin's digicam uses the xD card, so then this way, we can all upload the pics to the iPods. We'll just have to see.

 

erika, let me know when you get back how the laptop works out for you... i'd love to bring my laptop too, if it's going to be a hassle.

[azcater]

I currently have an ipod, and thought I would have to get ipod photo to be able to store pics. You're saying there is a link available for the regular ipod? Can you tell me where to find it?? Thanks so much!!

 

i have been thinking about the same thing for the last 2 months. My laptop is pretty heavy, 8lbs, more like a portable desktop, and we'll be 3 women in a cat L. So my options were either to buy new cards (i use Smart Media so 128MB is the largest) or buy the camera link for the iPod since i'm bringing that anyway.

 

a new card would be btwn 20-30$, and the link would be at least $40. i still have time to decide though.

i'm leaning towards the link bc my cousin's digicam uses the xD card, so then this way, we can all upload the pics to the iPods. We'll just have to see.

 

erika, let me know when you get back how the laptop works out for you... i'd love to bring my laptop too, if it's going to be a hassle.

[fmax]

Timely thread. I've just started researching what to buy for uploading photos when I take a Med Cruise at the end of the summer. I thought you needed the IPOD Photo with Belkin accessory for photos. It would be interesting to know if you can do with regular IPOD and Belkin.

 

I don't won't to take a lot of memory cards as, knowing me, I'll probably lose one. I've seen recommendations to take a couple of smaller cards rather than 1G card because if something happens to the card then you don't have back up for taking more pictures. You can get photos copied to CD on some ships, but would have them verify photos are there before deleting memory card.

 

I have a Kodak digital. Know they just came out with a media player but it says it holds less than 200 photos which isn't that great. Other media storage though is so expensive it would almost be cheaper buying a laptop, if not for the size.

 

The ones I've got on my list to looking into, and some of them burn directly to CD. are:

 

Sony MCS1 Photo Vault, Smartdisk Fotochute, Apacer Disc Steno CP 200,

Jobo Image Maestro Pro, Flashtrax 40 GB Multimedia Storage Viewer

Sony 40GB Hard Disc, Photostorage, Olympus M:Robe MR5001.

If any one has one of these, has any views on them, or has something better to recommend, please feel free to comment.

Thanks, Frances

[RSS from SF]

I recently got a new digital camera, however, I'm not sure that the card I have will hold enough pictures for the week. I was considering bringing my laptop since it's tiny and only weights 3 lbs. I was wondering how many people bring their laptops, and if it's more of an inconvience than anything else.

Hi Erika -

On a cruise with my brother he took his laptop and I took my digital camera. This was a couple of years ago, when the cards were even more expensive.

 

We both agreed that this was a great convenience for the both of us. Every night I would move the card contents to the laptop -- never needed to worry about running out of room this way. (I was using a 4MB camera with a 256MB card.) We ended up taking over 900 photos.

 

The best trick was almost every day we'd meet up with our friends and family at the Windjammer for breakfast or lunch and my brother would bring the laptop while we ate and enjoyed a small slideshow. A meal and a show!

 

On the last day, while we were waiting for our colors to be called, we all gathered around a table at one of the lounges (some of us were flying out at different times to go to different parts of the country). We had a last full slideshow. The laptop and camera combo was a hit -- even bystanders were enjoying the show.

 

So if you're traveling with a few friends or family you may get more bang for the buck by bringing the laptop -- as we did.

 

My brother didn't keep the laptop out in the open when we weren't in the cabin. He would put it under furniture or somewhere where he could tether the laptop (using a lockable security cable) -- he's just security conscious that way.

 

Last month I cruised and didn't bring my laptop, just because I didn't want the extra weight or hassle. I brought an extra 1GB SD card (got it for about 70-80 bucks with rebate at either OfficeMax or OfficeDepot.) I wasn't travelling with a group who'd want to see the photos during downtime, so I considered that I would bring my laptop if there were more than a couple of us cruising..

[1corona4u]

Definitely do it! I took mine, and left it up on the vanity all week. Get the Cybercabin, it's worth it once you get online. I liked being able to upload all my pics every few hours or so.....

[CessKinKoS]

azcater, fmax,

yes, you can use a regular iPod to store pictures, anything really. it is a hard drive. you wont be able to VIEW the photos though, but there is a menu option to access the file names of the photos, so u can see that the pics did indeed upload to it. the iPod photo will let you view the pics on it. the camera link i'm talking about is by Belkin and i found it on the Apple.com site to be the cheapest ($50). Circuit City wants A LOT more, even more than Belkin's website. It's just called a Camera Link (here's the link on apple.com). They also have a media reader, but i didnt consider it bc it does not support xD (linky). Not sure of those links will work, but they are on the apple site, go to Shop, Accesories, Extras and you will see them.

 

I've brought my laptop on vaca before, but it was to a resort and we had a huge suite. There were 5 digicams taking pics everyday, and everynight i collected everyone's cards and used my multi card USB reader to upload the pics of the day to my laptop. Was great. The last night of our stay, everyone gathered down at the bar/lounge and i turned on the slideshow. our last few hours together were spent sharing the time we had together. I don't need to do that for our upcoming cruise bc everyone will be staying at my house before they go back to their part of the world.

 

i still don't know if i want to do, bring the laptop, get new cards, or get the camera link.

[worldsbestcandles]

How does the internet work on the ship? I have bluetooth on my laptop but I have no isp, only a VPN to connect to work. usually hotels have their own isp to connect to the internet through. Does the ship? Or will I need to log into my VPN first and then I can get to the internet? I know a little about computers but am what some would consider "a high-end user":o I am planning on having my dad show me how to load everything up to a website so they can see our pictures as we go...

 

Also, how much do they charge for hooking up to their wireless connection? I'm sure it costs something....

 

Thanks

[Gonedownlately?]

In an effort to simplify packing, I leave the laptop at home. When the camera's memory is full I have the ship's photo shop download the images to a CDR for permanent storage. That clears up memory space in the camera and still provides a durable storage medium for the shots I've already taken. Simple and effective.

[dh01498]

How does the internet work on the ship? I have bluetooth on my laptop but I have no isp, only a VPN to connect to work. usually hotels have their own isp to connect to the internet through. Does the ship? Or will I need to log into my VPN first and then I can get to the internet? I know a little about computers but am what some would consider "a high-end user":o I am planning on having my dad show me how to load everything up to a website so they can see our pictures as we go...

 

Also, how much do they charge for hooking up to their wireless connection? I'm sure it costs something....

 

Thanks

 

The ship has it's own ISP like a hotel. It's called cybercabin and you have to get a "modem" from the service desk for $100 for the week. you plug it in where the phone is on the vanity and into your laptop.

Then you have to set up the program on your laptop which is very easy. Once you do that you are ready to go. BUT... the connection is very slow, it's not digital or cable, it's modem proabably 56k at best. And there was no wireless last year when we were there. Apparently they were installing it that week because that's the reason they told us the internet was not working. Yes I lugged my laptop only to use it one day and then it all went down for the rest of the week. Not sure what ships now have wireless if any. But it was nice while it was working since you didn't have to go to the cafe to read mail etc and not worry about how much it was costing you since it's unlimited for $100.

[CuseJeff44]

Nevermind, the questions was just answered above.

 

100 bucks for the week? Eeks. Thats more steep than I thought. I'm someone who owns a newish laptop that I would love to have with me, but will probably use it for 5-10 minutes a day max. Probably better off keeping it to 5 and using the internet room...