Authorized Apple® Reseller at Sea ON Celebrity

[Burlingtontownie]

Next year, my wife and I will be on the Celebrity Eclipse, which will have a iLounge, and is also an Authorized Apple® Reseller at Sea. I would like to buy a top of the line ipad, so, where would I get my best deal, before the cruise on land or on board the cruise ship?

 

Thank you.

 

F + J Landry

Ma/

[Keith1010]

In general pricing is fairly close.

 

I would buy it on the Apple Web Site. You could check Frys at Frys.com

 

They are usually priced about the same.

[sail7seas]

You would save sales tax if you buy on the ship but will have to declare it on your customs declaration. Be sure you do not go over your duty free exemption.

[Laurie S.]

Amazon.com

[Scrapnana]

From what I have read, the inventory on the ship is limited and they may not have what you want. If you live near an Apple store, buy it there -they will set it up and answer all your questions, they even have training sessions.

[klfrodo]

Since Apple doesn't authorize discounting of it's products, it probably wouldn't matter when or where you buy it.

 

I would also research this place as a "Reseller". Does this mean they are selling NEW products? Or "reselling" refurbished products?

[Laughing Angel]

An "authorized reseller" means that the store enters into a legal agreement with Apple (the manufacturer) to act as their sales agent or representative. The products being sold come from Apple and are new. Go to the Apple website--they should have a list of authorized corporate, catalog and internet resellers. Always a good idea to double check, so you know you're getting the real deal.

 

To the OP: Your best bet is to purchase your iPad at the Apple Store. As was mentioned earlier, the selection on board would probably be rather limited and you won't find much in the way of any discounts on the ship.

[slidergirl]

If you find an iPad for a price that isn't the same as in a land-based Apple Store or on their website, let us know!!! Apple normally doesn't allow a retailer to discount their commodities.

 

I would really go to an Apple Store to buy it. There are several considerations to look at for an iPad: iPad or iPad Mini, storage, WiFi only or WiFi and (att) (Verizon) (Sprint) 4G availability, white or black. If you aren't familiar with working with an Apple iPhone or iTouch or MacBook, you probably want some startup assistance, which the Apple will provide one-on-one.

 

If you plan on taking your iPad internationally, I would suggest you get one with the 4G capability. You can go to a store and buy a SIM card with some data allowance for fairly cheap (I got 3GB with the SIM from Telecom Italia Mobile - aka "TIM", there is even cheaper 250MB option) for 35 EU. Used it for everything for 10 days in Italy. You don't have to activate the 4G at home if you don't want to.

[RockeyBullwinkle]

you can save sales tax buying from Amazon.. why would you want to buy an Apple from a ship reseller? go to your nearest Apple Store or Amazon.

[Keith1010]

you can save sales tax buying from Amazon.. why would you want to buy an Apple from a ship reseller? go to your nearest Apple Store or Amazon.

 

This depends what state you live in. Several states now charge sales tax .

 

Keith

[Burlingtontownie]

First, let me thank everyone on this board for your kind advisement. Joan and I appreciate it and your quick responses.

 

Joan is a nurse, and I am a medical librarian. Joan has critical care patients in her care and will need to follow some of them next year, especially if her colleagues, who will be covering for her while she is away, have non-emergent questions on wound care. I have two boards for two cruises now on "cruise critic" and would like to post pictures and stories on the fly next year, and catch up on e-mails from home on my frail elderly parents, and Joan's brother, who is in a nursing home and in declining health.

 

The above reasons are why I am looking into an ipad, that would enble me to do all these things onboard Celebrity Eclipse in the spring of next year, for future cruises and at home. [ We have Comcast wi-fi at home-so what would we need to hook up the ipad internally and secure it as opposed to my laptop Dell PC?]

 

 

With the advice all of you have given me, I have decided to buy my ipad just after Christmas in New Hampshire, avoiding sales taxes, and signing up for instructional classes locally and onboard the ship as we get closer to sail day.

 

 

I know the ipad will come loaded with aps, but which "practical" ones would you people advise for both Joan [nursing] and me [ news + information services, and travel ] that would be either free or low cost.

 

Again, thank you all for your help and advice for a real "newby," who is just trying to stay up to date and avoid " planned obsolescence" with Internet devices and services.

 

F + J Landry

Burlington, Ma.

[Keith1010]

Good decision.

 

One thing I do when figuring out what apps to add to my devices is to do google searches of top recommended apps.

 

Keith

[kitty9]

First, let me thank everyone on this board for your kind advisement. Joan and I appreciate it and your quick responses.

 

Joan is a nurse, and I am a medical librarian. Joan has critical care patients in her care and will need to follow some of them next year, especially if her colleagues, who will be covering for her while she is away, have non-emergent questions on wound care. I have two boards for two cruises now on "cruise critic" and would like to post pictures and stories on the fly next year, and catch up on e-mails from home on my frail elderly parents, and Joan's brother, who is in a nursing home and in declining health.

 

The above reasons are why I am looking into an ipad, that would enble me to do all these things onboard Celebrity Eclipse in the spring of next year, for future cruises and at home. [ We have Comcast wi-fi at home-so what would we need to hook up the ipad internally and secure it as opposed to my laptop Dell PC?]

 

 

With the advice all of you have given me, I have decided to buy my ipad just after Christmas in New Hampshire, avoiding sales taxes, and signing up for instructional classes locally and onboard the ship as we get closer to sail day.

 

 

I know the ipad will come loaded with aps, but which "practical" ones would you people advise for both Joan [nursing] and me [ news + information services, and travel ] that would be either free or low cost.

 

Again, thank you all for your help and advice for a real "newby," who is just trying to stay up to date and avoid " planned obsolescence" with Internet devices and services.

 

F + J Landry

Burlington, Ma.

 

 

There may be some difficulties in using the iPad in the ways you mention. Internet service on cruise ships is VERY slow, and the per minute charge is not cheap. Downloading one page of information can take three to four minutes, and forget downloading photos, as it took me 20 minutes to download one photo attached to an email on Celebrity Equinox. The other problem is that Internet is not reliable as it can go down for hours at a time.

 

Internet charges are $.65 per minute, but you can purchase a block of minutes for a set charge which will reduce the per minute charge to as low as $.40 a minute. But even those packages aren't cheap.

[slidergirl]

Hmmmmmm. This one made me think a little bit;)

 

ATT has a global data package you can add to your service on your iPad. If you can wait until you are in port to do your sending and checking (you know, you can do it from your room/public area, or on land), this may be a good way to go. On their website, they also mention a cruise package for certain Celebrity ships. But, it seems rather restrictive - if you have it, you can only use it on the ship in international waters; otherwise normal roaming applies.

 

Personally, I'd start out with buying the iPad with Wifi/ATT cellular, but don't immediately activate the ATT. Go talk to them about it, search the Net for info.

Then, when you travel to Europe or someplace else, you can look into buying a SIM just for that place. The EU is currently looking at a proposal to eliminate roaming charges on providers, which would make it really easy. You'd buy a SIM and a data package when you land, and you could theoretically use it everywhere you went for the same price. I sure hope that passes!

 

For home use: I have Comcast at home, also. If you don't already have your own little network at home, it's pretty easy to do. You need to buy a home router (go to Best Buy, Fry's, or whatever your favorite electronics store is). If you're not inclined to dive in yourself, you can get a Geek Squad or whatever your electronic store's inhouse help team is called, to set it up for you. Basically, your Comcast data port gets connected to the router and the router uses the IP address Comcast provided. Then, the router set up will act as the external interface to it's own local net in your house, with NAT to provide IP addresses to your devices, but as far as Comcast is concerned, you just have one device. You set up security on your router so that neighbors or Internet freeloaders can't hop on your network and play on the Internet for free. Honest, it's not as difficult as it sounds. I have several devices at home, and when friends come to visit, they can bring their tablets or laptops and get wifi access at the house. And, once it's set up, it's pretty invisible - you just tell your device which "network" to attach to and you're good to go. It's just like getting on the Internet at a hotel (without the name/password nonsense).

[RockeyBullwinkle]

This depends what state you live in. Several states now charge sales tax .

 

Keith

 

unless you happen to live in..

Items sold by Amazon.com LLC, or its subsidiaries, and shipped to destinations in the following states are subject to tax:

 

Arizona

California

Kansas

Kentucky

New York

North Dakota

Pennsylvania

Texas

Washington

[Keith1010]

My good friend who lives in South Carolina tells me he also has to pay tax.

 

Keith

[bob brown]

From what I have read, the inventory on the ship is limited and they may not have what you want. If you live near an Apple store, buy it there -they will set it up and answer all your questions, they even have training sessions.

Regarding those training sessions....wouldn't they let you attend regardless of where you bought your Apple product? Or is it only for those that bought it at an Apple store? And don't they have Apple reps aboard the cruise ship stores, or at least Apple trained, that will also train and/or set up your new purchase?

And for those that have more OBC than they would normally spend, can't it be used towards that Apple purchase on board? Another possible reason to buy on board....

[RockeyBullwinkle]

My good friend who lives in South Carolina tells me he also has to pay tax.

 

Keith

 

well OK.. I just go by what Amazon has on their web site. wonder who he is paying it to?

[CaveDiving]

I think it is a great idea to have an Authorized Apple® Reseller on a cruise ship.

 

I sail a great deal on Holland America and with their deal with Microsoft, really miss having someone who can help out with problems with Macs, iPads and iPhones.

 

Scott & Karen

[Scrapnana]

Burlingtontownie,

 

A really good free app for your iPad is "Free Wi-Fi Finder". You can find places around the world that have free wi-fi. It will give you a map and street address. It also has a downloadable database so you don't have to have an internet connection to use it.

 

You might want to check out this thread on the "Cruising Technology" board. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1772100