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Acceptable Wall Charger...


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1 hour ago, Acrusa said:

Just off Sirena. We had 4 USB ports in our staterooms A3. 1 on each bed side and 2 on the desk

It seems we had plenty on Marina in December. But honestly I don't need to charge everything at once.

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1 hour ago, Acrusa said:

Just off Sirena. We had 4 USB ports in our staterooms A3. 1 on each bed side and 2 on the desk

Thank you for the information.

That should work fine for us in our A1 stateroom on Sirena in April.

 

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Regarding the charging issue -- I have left my camera and computer on always and never were they unplugged.

 

Recently we have been in suites that provided laptops (I think those have been removed now) so I just unplugged the laptop and plugged mine in using the European cable.  No problem with that.

 

For the camera I also used the standard issue plug and that wasn't ever removed.  Perhaps they weren't concerned about those connections.

 

I certainly would NOT want to start a fire on board!  Had they unplugged my camera I would NOT have fussed.

 

Mura

 

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Trying to prepare for our cruise, and I am still confused. I have been all over Amazon trying to find suitable chargers and adapters. All multi-port USB chargers like the Anker unit in post #5 have surge protection. All universal plug adapters like the one in post #31 have surge protection (and some even prominently say so on the device). Seems like there is no guarantee that these will not be confiscated.  

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2 hours ago, fdl2020 said:

Trying to prepare for our cruise, and I am still confused. I have been all over Amazon trying to find suitable chargers and adapters. All multi-port USB chargers like the Anker unit in post #5 have surge protection. All universal plug adapters like the one in post #31 have surge protection (and some even prominently say so on the device). Seems like there is no guarantee that these will not be confiscated.  

No guarantees at all. Some cruise lines dont want to have to train staff and have them spend the time and effort trying to vet all the different power bars, adapters, etc that pax might bring aboard (and then argue they should be able to keep if caught) so they have a blanket ban - not even extension cords allowed.

 

Edited to add:

As per earlier post if all you need is to charge multiple devices with a USB outlet there are several of these outlets in the cabins now.

 

Some of the difficulty of finding one comes from terminology, and marketing confusion from the vendors.

 

For example, what is an adapter? Some vendors are very clear that the product they sell is only an outlet plug pin adapter and does not do any voltage conversion. Others are not so clear on that.  And the words "surge protection" might even be missing from any description but in the product details speak of a clamping voltage or such.

 

So for me, I want to see in clear print that there is no surge protection.

 

And what you select also depends on what you want - only a USB hub for charging phone and such or also the ability to plug in appliances with North American style pins (i.e. type A or B) AND do you want voltage conversion as well or only use appliances that can input 110 or 220?

 

Personally I dislike the cube tap type adapters because they have the European style two pins (i.e type F ) for the power in and the North American type two slots for power out so APPEARS that one could just plug the adapter into the wall and then plug their NA device into the adapter. That would be okay if the device switches to 220 otherwise you will have a real problem. I would feel better with them if where the NA device plugs in there was large print reminding that the adapter does not convert.

 

I have a voltage convertor I can use for 110 devices and also have dual voltage devices and have a (cheap) USB hub that does not have surge protection but I've been considering this power bar with USB charging outlets (NOT an adapter and NOT a voltage convertor):

 

https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/CE5F1D7A-0943-4BA8-992E-F525F77CEE9A?ingress=0&visitId=36fb863f-4972-4a8a-bc7f-bd5112074b52

 

It clearly states no surge protection and it has a 4.5' power cord so can be double duty as an extension cord (albeit short) if needed.

 

I like that its outlets are widely spaced so power blocks and angled plugs with not block the other outlets from use.

I don't care for its "lie flat" type plug as it is angled and if the wall socket is very close to a surface, as it is, or was, at the bedside table outlet, it can be hard to plug it into the bottom socket. Post #3 helpfully has a picture of the outlet and the ground pin socket is up so this plug could go into either.

 

I cannot recommend the product; I have no personal experience with this power bar or the manufacturer, and I would prefer one that is UL / CSA listed but I've not found one that ticks all those boxes yet. Many of these electrical devices on Amazon are made outside of USA or Canada and it is difficult to find one that is UL or CSA listed.

 

Edited by YoHoHo
maybe did not need all of this if only USB charging hub
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6 hours ago, Earl Rosebery said:

Fdl2020.  There is no need to be confused.  What do you need to do?   If you want to charge several USB devices at the same time (phones,iPads,cameras,kindles ),  buy the Anker unit.  

I may have mentioned earlier here or elsewhere but I charge things regularly with no problem. I don't need to charge them all at the same time. Who does?  And we use the little two prong 'extender' (what is it called?) more than anything else.

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20 hours ago, YoHoHo said:

Personally I dislike the cube tap type adapters because they have the European style two pins (i.e type F ) for the power in and the North American type two slots for power out so APPEARS that one could just plug the adapter into the wall and then plug their NA device into the adapter. That would be okay if the device switches to 220 otherwise you will have a real problem. I would feel better with them if where the NA device plugs in there was large print reminding that the adapter does not convert.

 

Totally agree you need to know if your device is dual voltage before you plug it in to anything.  My cube adapter does plug into both North America and two pin (F) and a bunch of others.  I have used the four USB ports all other Europe and on the ships plugging into F and NA.  I have charged IPhone, IWatch, Nook, and Bluetooth speakers with no issue.   

 

Best travel buy I ever bought was the charging cord that splits and charges the IPhone and IWatch from one USB port.  

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35 minutes ago, ATSEAMYLIFE said:

Not sure about other ships, but the Insignia had more USB ports that I could use at any one time.  

Good to know. Doing 24 days on her later this year so one less thing to fuss about. Marina has not yet been "updated" so our last TA was a bit of a challenge. Thanks.

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On 2/8/2020 at 10:35 AM, KS&JW said:

We travel with this.  Small and charges many items at once.

 https://www.anker.com/products/variant/powerport-4-ports/A2142112

I have used these Anker devices for years.

Have one cord for each unique device (Fitbit, iPad, Androids) that I just leave plugged in - put in a ziplock bag for travel - all set!  Charge quickly as well.

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  • 2 weeks later...

On Insignia (recently renovated) the rule is that all devices must be unplugged when you leave the cabin. But my unplugged gadgets were left in full view and I never had a problem.  On the renovated Insignia, there are a limited number of USA and European outlets - they all have a third hole for plugs with a "ground". They also include USB slots. These outlets are insufficient if you have your own lap top, chargers for two telephones, and tablets, chargers for hearing aids, hair drier etc. I always bring an adapter to multiply my outlets. I use one that plugs into a single wall outlet. Adapters that require two wall outlets often don't fit the space available. I used these during the night and when we were in our cabin and we never had any concern from the staff.

 

In regard to electrical gadgets, the renovated Oceania ships now have flat screen TVs that don't have a HDMI  slot, nor do they have a USB slot for flash memory gadgets, nor do they have a DVD player . Obviously, they also no longer provide film DVDs at the Reception desk.  So you must watch video clips and films on your laptop screen. 

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48 minutes ago, Overthewaves said:

 . Obviously, they also no longer provide film DVDs at the Reception desk.  So you must watch video clips and films on your laptop screen. 

Do they not have Movies on demand  on the  new  TV system ?

 

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1 hour ago, LHT28 said:

Do they not have Movies on demand  on the  new  TV system ?

 

Yes, with an extensive selection of new and classics along with tv shows, prepare to binge if you desire

Edited by ropomo
spelling
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Ropomo asks "Do they not have Movies on demand  on the  new  TV system ?" The correct answer is "Not on the Insignia cruise I just finished in February of this year". The new TV system had two sorts of films. ON DEMAND had a selection of 15 to 20 films that did not change in the 22 days of our cruise and could be played at any time. They were mostly children's cartoons, horror films, science fiction and a few soap opera series. None of this was suited to Oceania clientel. It was impossible to select the language, as on a DVD. One was in French, none were in Spanish, the remainder were only in English. The other system was, as in the past years, scheduled films played on the three or four TV channels reserved for films. Some of these were good films; unfortunately the TV was not programmed to show the schedule nor was the schedule distributed. A kind reception staff employee made arrangements for us to receive on our bed the weekly schedule of movies, printed out and delivered by hand. It does not take a genius to adapt this new technology to Oceania requirements, but my point - in describing the electronic gadgets in our stateroom - is that cruisers who expect the film fare which used to be available  will be disappointed unless they make their own arrangements to replace the previously available sytem of DVDs and request as I did a private copy of the schedule. 

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19 minutes ago, Overthewaves said:

Ropomo asks "Do they not have Movies on demand  on the  new  TV system ?" The correct answer is "Not on the Insignia cruise I just finished in February of this year". The new TV system had two sorts of films. ON DEMAND had a selection of 15 to 20 films that did not change in the 22 days of our cruise and could be played at any time.

It was I that asked the question

 So they do have the on demand but not what you were expecting or wanted

We rarely  watch movies in the cabin ... unless  we are sick  we rarely watch the TV

Thanks for sharing

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LHT28 Thanks for the kind reply. Indeed the equipment for "on demand " films exists, only Oceania has not yet created a useful inventory of films. My warning to cruisers is more than taste in films. I advise that their TV cannot be used, as on their previous cruises, to review their camcorder videos, photos, watch films they brought with them, nor can they pick up a list of American and international films on DVD, from Reception,  that they can play in their Stateroom. This is not a complaint, but rather a warning that they should bring the right kit to work around this problem (put their selected Netflix films on DVDs or in Flash memory) and a laptop to play them. Happy Cruising!

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6 hours ago, Overthewaves said:

 

 

In regard to electrical gadgets, the renovated Oceania ships now have flat screen TVs that don't have a HDMI  slot, nor do they have a USB slot for flash memory gadgets, nor do they have a DVD player . Obviously, they also no longer provide film DVDs at the Reception desk.  So you must watch video clips and films on your laptop screen. 

I wrote directly to Oceania last week to ask about whether or not the tv has an HDMI slot so that I can connect my IPad to it to watch saved movies.  They confirmed with me that every tv has an HDMI slot.  This is for Riviera ships.

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  • That would be great. I believe that Insignia has just come out of a major refit and has new equipment and redesigned staterooms with the flatscreen TVs flat against the wall.  In any case I can only give you the situation that existed this past month in my stateroom on Insignia as stated above. You were wise to consult Oceania, as they are in the middle of a renovation of their fleet and it is possible/probable that there are significant differences of this nature between ships. Have a good cruise.
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