Outlets/Power Strips?

[snoopy5386]

Getting ready to depart on the Ruby for an Alaska cruise soon - 4 people in a balcony cabin and their assorted devices - 2 ipads, 3 iphones, 3 kindles, 2 portable DVD players (traveling with young kids), 2 camera battery chargers and a white noise machine that will need to be plugged in all night. Obviously not every device will need to be charged at the same time, but at a minimum we'd need to charge the phones and plug in the white noise machine every night, so that makes 4 things plugged in at once. Are power strips allowed on the ship? I know some lines confiscate them from luggage, is Princess one of these?

[Elitein85days]

Princess confiscated our power strip on our last cruise. They gave it back at the end. First time they've taken it.

[beg3yrs]

Power strips without surge protectors are allowed.

 

Surge protectors are forbidden as they are a fire hazard because the ship's wiring is different from land systems.

[Astro Flyer]

Princess states in their safety information that surge protected devices are prohibited: "The use of extension cords fitted with surge protection devices are prohibited in staterooms".

 

https://book.princess.com/html/personalizer/downloads/pdf/Safety_Information.pdf

 

I attempted to locate a previous discussion where a career ship chief engineer 'chengkp75' (including cruise ships) educated us about the hazards of surge protectors. I immediately stopped using mine & purchased a multiple plug device without surge protection.

 

I purchased a Monster Power Outlet like in this thumbnail photo from Amazon for $5.99...two USB & three AC sockets which worked great on our cruises.

Edited July 8, 2016 by Astro Flyer

[chsalas]

I usually take a small extension cord, that has 3 outlets to plug in tablets, cameras, or whatever gadget i need to charge. and I can usually find a spot on the vanity where my wife doesn't have her stuff on to put all that stuff on.

[limoncello07]

Are power strips allowed on the ship? I know some lines confiscate them from luggage, is Princess one of these?

 

Wow, thank you for raising this, I had no idea surge protection was prohibited.

 

I purchased a Monster Power Outlet like in this thumbnail photo from Amazon for $5.99...two USB & three AC sockets which worked great on our cruises.

 

Thank you so much for the specific recommendation for something that is permissible; everything seems to have surge protection these days, not sure I would have found this on my own.

[HistoryandTravel]

Yes, thank you! We brought a surge protector on our last cruise and no one said anything. We'll search for a power strip instead.

[hijinks]

Also consider a multiport usb charger.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Anker-10-Port-Charger-Multi-Port-PowerPort/dp/B00YRYS4T4/ref=dp_ob_title_wld

[kirenne]

We brought a power strip with us and had no issues. We were nervous that they would take it from us, but they never did. I believe it did have surge protection - didn't realize it was prohibited until reading this thread!

[Colo Cruiser]

We brought a power strip with us and had no issues. We were nervous that they would take it from us, but they never did. I believe it did have surge protection - didn't realize it was prohibited until reading this thread!

 

Its a fire hazard with marine electrical systems.

[kirenne]

Its a fire hazard with marine electrical systems.

 

Yes, I read that above, thanks

[XBGuy]

Also consider a multiport usb charger.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Anker-10-Port-Charger-Multi-Port-PowerPort/dp/B00YRYS4T4/ref=dp_ob_title_wld

 

This type of device does a great job for devices like iPhones and iPads--and, I suspect, various products from other vendors. It reduces the actual number of power outlets that you need. We took this one on our last cruise.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Photive-Desktop-Charger-Intelligent-Technology/dp/B00LMIA9L4/ref=sr_1_12?s=wireless&ie=UTF8&qid=1468005841&sr=1-12&keywords=usb+charger

 

It was the only thing we had to plug in. My brother sold me on this one because it has "intellegence" to detect the draw requirement from the USB connector. Who knew that different USBs drew different power levels?

[oldjetdriver]

Princess states in their safety information that surge protected devices are prohibited: "The use of extension cords fitted with surge protection devices are prohibited in staterooms".

 

https://book.princess.com/html/personalizer/downloads/pdf/Safety_Information.pdf

 

I attempted to locate a previous discussion where a career ship chief engineer 'chengkp75' (including cruise ships) educated us about the hazards of surge protectors. I immediately stopped using mine & purchased a multiple plug device without surge protection.

 

I purchased a Monster Power Outlet like in this thumbnail photo from Amazon for $5.99...two USB & three AC sockets which worked great on our cruises.

 

This is a great power outlet. Used it on the land portion of Australian cruise with no problems. Did need a plug adapter for their outlets. If you use it with 220 volt outlets just make sure anything you plug into the Monster Power Outlet is certified for 110/220 volts since it is not a transformer.

[Yehootu]

There is plug on the vanity, as well as behind the TV set. We use a power strip and an extension cord that we run behind the bed to my wife side.

I use a Bipap machine, and sleep on the vanity side. On our last cruise on the Grand, my humidifier wouldn't work. Getting home I had my respiratory therapy company check it and they said all was OK. They thought the reason was the current I was getting from the ship.

We use a cord for the plug behind the TV of charge our devices on that side of the room.

We are going on Carnival in 2 weeks and I've told I'll have to use duct tape to secure a extension cord to the floor as there aren't any plugs on the bed side of the cabin.

[Astro Flyer]

This is a great power outlet. Used it on the land portion of Australian cruise with no problems. Did need a plug adapter for their outlets. If you use it with 220 volt outlets just make sure anything you plug into the Monster Power Outlet is certified for 110/220 volts since it is not a transformer.

 

Thanks for the reminder that it's not a transformer & that devices need to be certified for 110/220 use and to have adapters when using it outside of the US.

 

So far I have only used it on cruise ships & none of these factors have affected my usage.

[IECalCruiser]

Also consider a multiport usb charger.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Anker-10-Port-Charger-Multi-Port-PowerPort/dp/B00YRYS4T4/ref=dp_ob_title_wld

This is a great charger and eliminates the need to bring multiple individual USB chargers. On the Pacific last December we had 2 iPhones, 2 Apple watches, 2 iPads, a couple of Bose noise cancelling head phones and a Kindle charging at the same time. I checked the output with a USB ammeter and it does correctly adjust the output for each device. Edited July 9, 2016 by IECalCruiser

[Astro Flyer]

Wow, thank you for raising this, I had no idea surge protection was prohibited.

 

Thank you so much for the specific recommendation for something that is permissible; everything seems to have surge protection these days, not sure I would have found this on my own.

I only became aware of this situation a couple of months ago & hopefully that works as well for you as it has for me.

Edited July 10, 2016 by Astro Flyer

[IECalCruiser]

I had a monster three outlet power strip with a surge suppressor that I brought with on our cruise in 2014. Didn't use it all on the ship but plugged it in at out hotel in Madrid. It was only rated for 120V and with a loud pop, the lights went out. Fortunately, no damage was done to the room and with a breaker reset by maintenance we were good to go. This is not the same issue as on board ship but is another consideration when traveling.

[Astro Flyer]

I had a monster three outlet power strip with a surge suppressor that I brought with on our cruise in 2014. Didn't use it all on the ship but plugged it in at out hotel in Madrid. It was only rated for 120V and with a loud pop, the lights went out. Fortunately, no damage was done to the room and with a breaker reset by maintenance we were good to go. This is not the same issue as on board ship but is another consideration when traveling.

My Monster Power outlet doesn't have surge protection so hopefully it won't be a problem.

[Lucky TGO]

I usually take a small extension cord, that has 3 outlets to plug in tablets, cameras, or whatever gadget i need to charge. and I can usually find a spot on the vanity where my wife doesn't have her stuff on to put all that stuff on.

 

I do the same it works great.

Tony

[ccrain]

With two apple devices, 1 android device, one laptop and three cameras, all with different charging requirements and capabilities, we do the following:

 

Behind TV - Spare 120VAC outlet:

 

Three outlet extension cord - Monster - Non-surge suppressed.

 

One outlet for camera battery charger

 

One outlet for laptop

 

One outlet for 5 outlet Photive USB charger with 2 apple cables and three USB

cables

 

This system works well in hotels as well. Just have to take the correct adapter plug for the Monster extension cord. Double check your chargers, but my laptop and Photive chargers accept 120 or 240.

 

At Desk - Two 120VAC plugs

 

One for camera battery charger - which typically covers the other plug

 

One for inductive toothbrush charger

[XBGuy]

This is a great charger and eliminates the need to bring multiple individual USB chargers. On the Pacific last December we had 2 iPhones, 2 Apple watches, 2 iPads, a couple of Bose noise cancelling head phones and a Kindle charging at the same time. I checked the output with a USB ammeter and it does correctly adjust the output for each device.

 

Very cool, and with 10 ports it has more capacity than the one I bought.

 

I also buought the Monster 4-outlet power strip. It folds up very compactly for travel purposes. So, between this and the 6-port USB intelligent charger, I am good to go. I agree that if an extension cord that reaches to the bed is required, then these will not do the job.

[caribill]

Behind TV - Spare 120VAC outlet:

 

 

Not on the Royal and the Regal.

[SadieN]

Very cool, and with 10 ports it has more capacity than the one I bought.

 

 

 

I also buought the Monster 4-outlet power strip. It folds up very compactly for travel purposes. So, between this and the 6-port USB intelligent charger, I am good to go. I agree that if an extension cord that reaches to the bed is required, then these will not do the job.

 

 

This has a power breaker. How is this different than a surge protector?

 

Did a google search and now even more confused.

Edited July 11, 2016 by SadieN

[chengkp75]

This has a power breaker. How is this different than a surge protector?

 

Did a google search and now even more confused.

 

A circuit breaker is totally different from a surge protector. A circuit breaker protects against excessive current or amperage, which would be caused by a fault in the appliance that is plugged in and protects the user from this excessive current causing electrical shock. A surge protector protects the appliance that is plugged in from excessive voltage like a lightning strike, which can damage the electronic circuits of most electronics without causing any danger to the user via electricity or fire.

 

A circuit breaker does just that, breaks the circuit, essentially opening a switch to stop the current. A surge protector diverts the excessive voltage to the ground wire of the electrical system. So, a surge protector does not open a circuit, it only diverts it. The problem is that the electronic components of the surge protector that actually trigger this diversion of power, while compatible with shore side wiring standards, are not compatible with shipboard wiring standards, and can be exposed to power conditions that are not harmful to your electronics that are plugged in, but are harmful to the semi-conductors in the surge protector, which can fail and cause a fire.