Is it worth taking the Laptop?

[Jackie V]

Thanks everyone. I am leaning toward taking the laptop but I have until Thursday to decide. Since we have a 5 hour flight to Seattle, we will be bringing movies. So, I will either bring the laptop or the mini portable DVD player. Of course the DVD player is lighter and much more expendable if lost. I hate the thought of leaving the laptop in the hotel room and cruise cabin. Any thoughts on the best way to secure it?

[coiran]

I have taken our laptop and left it out in the open in the cabin - no problems - you can buy a cable lock if your laptop has a connection for it.

 

Ron

[SPI_Rick]

Jackie V, I agree with Corian, you really don't need to worry too much about the laptop while on the ship. Many people leave their laptops on the desk during the entire cruise. I tend to put mine out of sight in a drawer. I'm not too worried about the cabin steward, but I might be a little concerned that the steward could leave the room unattended for a couple of minutes during cleaning and a fellow passenger might succumb to temptation if it was in plain sight.

 

What some people do is to put their laptop in a suitcase when not in use and then lock the suitcase and store it under the bed. At least that way some one has to work a little harder to steal it. This is also a tactic that can be used in your hotel room before or after the cruise.

[kryos]

We are sailing on the Saphhire Princess 8/21, and I am trying to decide whether or not to bring my laptop. I would like to keep up with emails as much as possible. Since there are computers on board and internet cafes in many of the ports, is it worth lugging the laptop? Does anyone have current pricing for internet packages? Is there a difference for using the on board computers versus your own?

You're gonna pay the current pricing whether or not you have the laptop. The laptop only gives you the convenience of using the WiFi hot spots instead of the internet cafe. Also, some lines have access from your stateroom via modem hookup.

 

Personally, I only bring my laptop if I have other things I need to do with it during the cruise. Once, on a writer's conference at sea cruise, I brought it because I had to do some writing while onboard. On my upcoming Hawaii/South Pacific cruise in January, I'll bring it because I have to continue my preparation for the California Bar Exam which I will be taking in February. All my exam prep software is on the laptop. But on other cruises where I didn't need a laptop to do other things, I just used the terminals in the internet room to check my email.

 

In my opinion, to lug a laptop on the airplane and then onto the ship just for email communications is more trouble than it's worth.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[cactusrose]

Just make sure it is "b" compatible. If you have a "b, g, b/g or a/b/g card" - you should be fine.

 

Thanks Coral. That helped. I'm leaving on September 10th for a 27 day B2B and have been debating about taking my laptop. I was going to buy a Wolverine Flashpac to download pictures, but I like to be able to review and edit them and for that long of a trip I may want to watch a DVD or two (probably not but like to be prepared) so I think I will take my laptop. Even though I have free internet on Princess and know I won't get the wireless free, I may use the wireless occassionally to upload a picture or two to send home.

[Mindy97]

If you are planning on uploading pictures from your camera to your laptop, think about purchasing an inexpensive card reader before you leave home. They are under $15. these days. That way you don't run the camera batteries down when you are uploading, and you can leave the camera cable at home. Plus it makes it very easy to view your pics on a larger screen.