Power strip?

[misspuss]

can we use a power strip with a serge protector  in our cabin?

[1025cruise]

No. Surge protectors are not allowed.

[lx200gps]

16 minutes ago, 1025cruise said:

No. Surge protectors are not allowed.

Correct.  Power strips are fine as long as they do not have any form of sUrge protection. If they do, they stand a very good chance of being confiscated if found.

[CapnCrews]

55 minutes ago, lx200gps said:

Correct.  Power strips are fine as long as they do not have any form of sUrge protection. If they do, they stand a very good chance of being confiscated if found.

Put more bluntly:   DON’T use a surge protector.   Ship’s electrical systems cannot handle a sudden disruption in power flow because of how they are wired, and how surge protectors are manufacture to work.  
 

Your home electricity has power coming through one side of the recepticle, and then it returns via a neutral wire.   The surge protector only disrupts the flow of the live side. 
 

On a ship, there is current traveling through both sides of a plug.  And when one side is disrupted while the other continues to deliver a charge, there is a risk of not only a fire, but a fire anywhere in the ship where the wiring also travels besides just your stateroom.  Think of a baby’s cradle on another deck being exposed to fire because you tried to sneak a surge protector through.   
 

Power strips without surge protection are fine.    Power strips with surge protection are banned.  
 

If anyone brings one on board, the rest of the ship should HOPE it gets found and confiscated.   

[Bwana Tom]

Some of the power strips appear similar to a surge protector, quite possibly even more so to a worker on the ship from a foreign country. As a safeguard against it being accidentally confiscated by an unknowledgeable person, I stuck a blank stick-on address label on my power strip and wrote "this is not a surge protector". I figure it never hurts to take an extra degree of precaution to prevent problems down the road. 

[runner15km]

The cabin attendant gave us  a power strip to use.

 

[PMGS247]

31 minutes ago, Bwana Tom said:

Some of the power strips appear similar to a surge protector, quite possibly even more so to a worker on the ship from a foreign country. As a safeguard against it being accidentally confiscated by an unknowledgeable person, I stuck a blank stick-on address label on my power strip and wrote "this is not a surge protector". I figure it never hurts to take an extra degree of precaution to prevent problems down the road. 

 

This is good advice.  I feel like even having a non-surge protecting power strip is likely to get you one of the embarkation day notes requesting that you report to the Security office on a lower deck.

[LACruiser88]

This is what we use, purchased on Amazon.

[MissP22]

It seems that it they had planned ahead & included a sufficient number of AC outlets in all the ships, they wouldn't have the problem of people having to bring power stripe with them in the first place. 

[John99]

43 minutes ago, LACruiser88 said:

This is what we use, purchased on Amazon.

Thanks for the information.  I just ordered the power strip this morning for our upcoming Alaskan cruise.  John

[suzyed]

1 hour ago, Bwana Tom said:

Some of the power strips appear similar to a surge protector, quite possibly even more so to a worker on the ship from a foreign country. As a safeguard against it being accidentally confiscated by an unknowledgeable person, I stuck a blank stick-on address label on my power strip and wrote "this is not a surge protector". I figure it never hurts to take an extra degree of precaution to prevent problems down the road. 

Many of them also say they have no surge protector.

 

[BamaVol]

2 hours ago, Bwana Tom said:

Some of the power strips appear similar to a surge protector, quite possibly even more so to a worker on the ship from a foreign country. As a safeguard against it being accidentally confiscated by an unknowledgeable person, I stuck a blank stick-on address label on my power strip and wrote "this is not a surge protector". I figure it never hurts to take an extra degree of precaution to prevent problems down the road. 

I printed the page off of Amazon where I purchased mine.  It clearly states that it is not surge protected and is safe on cruise ships.  I taped that to the front of the box.

[capriccio]

7 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

This is what we use, purchased on Amazon.

We have the same one.  I just taped the Amazon blurb on the back of it highlighting the non-surge protector for travel clause in case security ever has a question (so far on 1 pre-covid and 2 post covid cruises we've had no issues).

[cr8tiv1]

I have a power strip from IKEA.  Bought it from IKEA but it is also sold via Amazon.  I got called down to the "naughty" room and pleaded my case that it WAS NOT a surge protector.  No use, I lost.  

 

I now have "documentation" (printed from Amazon) that my power strip IS NOT a surge protector.  Will see how far that gets me.  Never thought of adding a note to my device.  

 

AND YES, Princess does not have enough outlets for modern times.  A step in the right direction for replacing bed lamps with usb ports.  

 

7 hours ago, PMGS247 said:

 

This is good advice.  I feel like even having a non-surge protecting power strip is likely to get you one of the embarkation day notes requesting that you report to the Security office on a lower deck.

 

5 hours ago, BamaVol said:

I printed the page off of Amazon where I purchased mine.  It clearly states that it is not surge protected and is safe on cruise ships.  I taped that to the front of the box.

 

[2 cruises a year]

Redundant

Edited March 15, 2023 by 2 cruises a year
Redundant

[MissP22]

25 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

AND YES, Princess does not have enough outlets for modern times.  A step in the right direction for replacing bed lamps with usb ports.  

Except that the lamp charge ports are somewhat slow. 

[jakubowskit]

On 3/14/2023 at 4:39 PM, misspuss said:

can we use a power strip with a serge protector  in our cabin?

No..we were on Sky in November and had ours confiscated..got it back on disembarking. Bring a cruise approved charging cube ..ordered mine on Amazon.

Edited March 19, 2023 by jakubowskit

[kilili]

Would something like this be allowed?

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BL1DDH4H?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

[damiross]

I use an earlier version of this extension cord.  Mine had 3 outlets and 2 USB ports. A newer version has 4 outlets and 3 USB ports which should be more than enough for most peopk\le,

[Dobby_The_Ship_Elf]

 

 

For those who are interested in what is required, we requested a power strip - this is what we were provided.

 

Edited March 19, 2023 by Dobby_The_Ship_Elf
spelling

[chengkp75]

On 3/14/2023 at 6:08 PM, CapnCrews said:

Ship’s electrical systems cannot handle a sudden disruption in power flow because of how they are wired, and how surge protectors are manufacture to work.

Huh?

On 3/14/2023 at 6:08 PM, CapnCrews said:

Your home electricity has power coming through one side of the recepticle, and then it returns via a neutral wire.   The surge protector only disrupts the flow of the live side.

Not quite accurate regarding how AC current flows in wiring systems, but never mind.  The surge protector will disrupt current flow on both legs of the power strip, the circuit breaker only interrupts one leg (for US type consumer power strips)(this is a problem with the USCG Safety Notice about surge protectors on ships, in that it combines a failure of a surge protector and a single leg circuit breaker into explaining why surge protectors are dangerous).  You will see in the photo above of the power strip supplied by the ship, that it has a two pole circuit breaker, so it will interrupt current flow in both legs.

 

On 3/14/2023 at 6:08 PM, CapnCrews said:

 And when one side is disrupted while the other continues to deliver a charge, there is a risk of not only a fire, but a fire anywhere in the ship where the wiring also travels besides just your stateroom.  Think of a baby’s cradle on another deck being exposed to fire because you tried to sneak a surge protector through.

Again, not accurate.  A failure of a surge protector, even with a single pole circuit breaker, will not magically "transfer" the fault to another area of the ship, causing a fire there.  What I have mentioned before, and you may have misunderstood, is that a wiring problem somewhere else on the ship (like a light fixture outside filled with water, that would normally not be a fire hazard on its own), can cause the surge protector in your cabin to fail and catch fire.  So, it is a problem elsewhere that can cause a fire at your cabin, not a problem in your cabin that can cause a fire somewhere else.

[Rick&Jeannie]

5 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Huh?

Not quite accurate regarding how AC current flows in wiring systems, but never mind.  The surge protector will disrupt current flow on both legs of the power strip, the circuit breaker only interrupts one leg (for US type consumer power strips)(this is a problem with the USCG Safety Notice about surge protectors on ships, in that it combines a failure of a surge protector and a single leg circuit breaker into explaining why surge protectors are dangerous).  You will see in the photo above of the power strip supplied by the ship, that it has a two pole circuit breaker, so it will interrupt current flow in both legs.

 

Again, not accurate.  A failure of a surge protector, even with a single pole circuit breaker, will not magically "transfer" the fault to another area of the ship, causing a fire there.  What I have mentioned before, and you may have misunderstood, is that a wiring problem somewhere else on the ship (like a light fixture outside filled with water, that would normally not be a fire hazard on its own), can cause the surge protector in your cabin to fail and catch fire.  So, it is a problem elsewhere that can cause a fire at your cabin, not a problem in your cabin that can cause a fire somewhere else.

You beat me to it regarding how electrical current works!  Several very interesting interpretations made in that post!

[GK95]

On 3/15/2023 at 6:20 PM, MissP22 said:

Except that the lamp charge ports are somewhat slow. 

Yes! And you can't use a USB splitter to charge a phone and tablet at the same time because it's like a trickle charge.

[MJC]

We each bring one of these and have never had issues bringing them on board. Much faster than charging by usb. Since we each have a phone, tablet, and camera, we are plug hogs. 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

[MissP22]

59 minutes ago, GK95 said:

Yes! And you can't use a USB splitter to charge a phone and tablet at the same time because it's like a trickle charge.

I was contemplating that idea before I tried it for the first time. 

They must have bough some of the cheapest chargers available.