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Icon and curling iron issues?


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I haven't had a problem with flatirons but I've had an issue with blow dryers due to the amount of watts required to produce the heat (not on icon, but on other ships and in hotels).


I don't think any curling irons require an abnormal amount of heat, but if your curling iron is one of those interchangeable units from Dyson, they require a lot of power and that may be the issue. Might have tripped a breaker or something. 

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14 minutes ago, ARandomTraveler said:

I haven't had a problem with flatirons but I've had an issue with blow dryers due to the amount of watts required to produce the heat (not on icon, but on other ships and in hotels).


I don't think any curling irons require an abnormal amount of heat, but if your curling iron is one of those interchangeable units from Dyson, they require a lot of power and that may be the issue. Might have tripped a breaker or something. 

Agree, only other thing suggest is try a different plug, do Public Bathrooms have one? At least then you'd know 

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Plug something else into the same outlet and see if it turns on.  If not, contact maintenance.  I would NOT plug the curling iron into another outlet... why blow two breakers? 

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Posted (edited)

The bathroom in my Icon cabin had a GFCI outlet that frequently tripped.  I had to reset it often.  This was even when I didn't have anything plugged into it.

 

Are you using the outlet in the bathroom or by the desk?

 

For those that haven't sailed Icon it does have a regular outlet in the bathroom, not just a shaving outlet.  Given the regular type outlet in a bathroom there is a GFCI with a red light, test and reset buttons just like at a home bathroom in the US.

 

If you are using the outlet in the bathroom try pressing the GFCI reset button on the outlet.  

 

 

Edited by twangster
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There are some issues posted in the Carnival section about problems with Dyson models and also curling irons with ceramic heating elements.  It has to do with some differences in shipboard electrical systems that land electric power delivery don’t have.  Seems it can be a problem for some manufacturers and models but others work fine.  
 

 

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3 hours ago, ARandomTraveler said:

I haven't had a problem with flatirons but I've had an issue with blow dryers due to the amount of watts required to produce the heat (not on icon, but on other ships and in hotels).


I don't think any curling irons require an abnormal amount of heat, but if your curling iron is one of those interchangeable units from Dyson, they require a lot of power and that may be the issue. Might have tripped a breaker or something. 

Thank you for your input. Our charging station works in that outlet.  It’s not a Dyson or a fancy curling iron. 

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3 hours ago, S.A.M.J.R. said:

Plug something else into the same outlet and see if it turns on.  If not, contact maintenance.  I would NOT plug the curling iron into another outlet... why blow two breakers? 

Our charging station works in that outlet.  

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3 hours ago, twangster said:

The bathroom in my Icon cabin had a GFCI outlet that frequently tripped.  I had to reset it often.  This was even when I didn't have anything plugged into it.

 

Are you using the outlet in the bathroom or by the desk?

 

For those that haven't sailed Icon it does have a regular outlet in the bathroom, not just a shaving outlet.  Given the regular type outlet in a bathroom there is a GFCI with a red light, test and reset buttons just like at a home bathroom in the US.

 

If you are using the outlet in the bathroom try pressing the GFCI reset button on the outlet.  

 

 

I have tried all outlets in the cabin.  I have also posted on our Icon FB page, other ladies having the same issue.  It’s crazy to me that a ship that cost $2 billion dollars to build can’t support a hair device!  Grrrrr! 

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2 hours ago, Anton said:

There are some issues posted in the Carnival section about problems with Dyson models and also curling irons with ceramic heating elements.  It has to do with some differences in shipboard electrical systems that land electric power delivery don’t have.  Seems it can be a problem for some manufacturers and models but others work fine.  
 

 

Apparently, it’s an issue on Icon as well!  I’m not a happy cruiser at the moment! Thank you that information! 

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15 minutes ago, Littlebeachlover said:

Apparently, it’s an issue on Icon as well!  I’m not a happy cruiser at the moment! Thank you that information! 

As noted in the thread linked above, the problem lies with ceramic heating elements in straighteners and curling irons.

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33 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

As noted in the thread linked above, the problem lies with ceramic heating elements in straighteners and curling irons.

You can't just leave it at that, our local master of all things tech on cruise ships 🙂 Don't need a book, but some insight maybe? BOUND to be some interesting quirk behind them.

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7 minutes ago, GJustice said:

You can't just leave it at that, our local master of all things tech on cruise ships 🙂 Don't need a book, but some insight maybe? BOUND to be some interesting quirk behind them.

 

Quoting @chengkp75 from a 2021 CC post that Google led me to:

The semi-conductors that generate the heat in these ceramic irons require the neutral and ground to be at the same potential, which they are not on ships.

 

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8 hours ago, cruiselvr04 said:

I’ve used my ceramic hair dryer and straightener on lots of ships in every class.  So this must be new to Icon?

Many of these items will work on one ship and not another, or even work one day on Icon, for instance, and then not work the next day.  The problem is not with the ship, it is whether or not the ship has a ground fault anywhere on the ship, in any equipment, that could affect the electronics in your hair appliance.  Ground faults are serious things for ship's engineers, and are usually traced down and cleared as soon as possible, which is why your appliance may not work one day, and then start working the next.

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My daughter and friend were on Icon in April. My daughter has a cheap, non ceramic, curling iron that she bought in Barcelona that has a European plug. That curling iron worked fine. Her friend who has a US brand, not expensive or ceramic would not work. They called maintenance and they could not solve the issue.

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3 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Many of these items will work on one ship and not another, or even work one day on Icon, for instance, and then not work the next day.  The problem is not with the ship, it is whether or not the ship has a ground fault anywhere on the ship, in any equipment, that could affect the electronics in your hair appliance.  Ground faults are serious things for ship's engineers, and are usually traced down and cleared as soon as possible, which is why your appliance may not work one day, and then start working the next.

Is it possible that size matters?  I would think that the larger the ship, the more ground faults you are likely to have. So might that be why people believe there is a bigger problem with the Icon? That said, the larger ships may have a large staff to fix the faults. Just curious on your thoughts.

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6 minutes ago, Jersey42 said:

Is it possible that size matters?  I would think that the larger the ship, the more ground faults you are likely to have. So might that be why people believe there is a bigger problem with the Icon? That said, the larger ships may have a large staff to fix the faults. Just curious on your thoughts.

Size really is of no account.  And, a newer ship should have less ground faults.  I don't think "people believe there is a bigger problem" with Icon, it's just that when it happens to you, you think it is caused by the ship's design.  But, I don't see massive amounts of reports of appliances not working on one particular ship, but lots of folks will chime in with problems they've had on other ships as well.

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The best bet would be to use a simple curling iron or hair dryer that has no electronic or temperature control device.  This would be the type that has a simple sliding switch with maybe just a high or low setting.  This type of device usually has no electronics in them at all   Any device with an LED screen or push button switch probably has unprotected electronic components and can be sensitive to power variations.

 

There is nothing wrong with the power on cruise ships it is just not as clean as the power we get on land from the power grids supplied by our utility companies.   Power that is not clean can play havoc with electronic devices.  This generally is not a problem for most of our electronic devices as they usually have some way of dealing with this.  Most devices the power is supplied through a charging transformer which converts the power from AC to DC which alleviates the issues.  Generally anything with a plug-in transformer should be fine.

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On 7/23/2024 at 8:42 PM, cruiselvr04 said:

I’ve used my ceramic hair dryer and straightener on lots of ships in every class.  So this must be new to Icon?

I agree....This was my 31st cruise never an issue until sailing on the Icon.  Same Revlon curling iron for several cruises with no issue.  

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On 7/24/2024 at 9:29 AM, fred30 said:

The best bet would be to use a simple curling iron or hair dryer that has no electronic or temperature control device.  This would be the type that has a simple sliding switch with maybe just a high or low setting.  This type of device usually has no electronics in them at all   Any device with an LED screen or push button switch probably has unprotected electronic components and can be sensitive to power variations.

 

There is nothing wrong with the power on cruise ships it is just not as clean as the power we get on land from the power grids supplied by our utility companies.   Power that is not clean can play havoc with electronic devices.  This generally is not a problem for most of our electronic devices as they usually have some way of dealing with this.  Most devices the power is supplied through a charging transformer which converts the power from AC to DC which alleviates the issues.  Generally anything with a plug-in transformer should be fine.

What I took was a simple Revlon curling iron that I have used on several cruises...definitely nothing fancy...$15.  I have been on 31 cruises and never an issue with my hair appliances until the Icon. Lot's of ladies on the Icon complaining with the same issue, so it wasn't just me.  I was able to get a loaner curling iron from the ship...brand name WEEYUM, it was a ceramic tourmaline curling iron with an LED screen and push button settings and boy, did that thing get hot! Still unsure what the difference was in the appliances. I'll be purchasing a WEEYUM for future cruises.  🙂    

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39 minutes ago, Littlebeachlover said:

What I took was a simple Revlon curling iron that I have used on several cruises...definitely nothing fancy...$15.  I have been on 31 cruises and never an issue with my hair appliances until the Icon. Lot's of ladies on the Icon complaining with the same issue, so it wasn't just me.  I was able to get a loaner curling iron from the ship...brand name WEEYUM, it was a ceramic tourmaline curling iron with an LED screen and push button settings and boy, did that thing get hot! Still unsure what the difference was in the appliances. I'll be purchasing a WEEYUM for future cruises.  🙂    

As the Weeyum iron is made in China, for Chinese wiring (240v), it does not have the neutral and ground bonded together as US models do, so it does not look for that condition before turning on.

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