Laptop to upload pictures? Do I bring?

[moosetracks17]

Im debating whether to bring my laptop to upload digital pictures everyday, or just buy an extra memory card and hope everything is fine when we get home.

 

Im on Vision of the Seas Alaska May 11th 2007.

 

Also- if I take just my camera, is there a place to recharge batteries? If I take my laptop, is there a place to plug it in and hide it during the day? Are there safes in the rooms?

 

Advice please!

[kingsgirl]

Im debating whether to bring my laptop to upload digital pictures everyday, or just buy an extra memory card and hope everything is fine when we get home.

 

Im on Vision of the Seas Alaska May 11th 2007.

 

Also- if I take just my camera, is there a place to recharge batteries? If I take my laptop, is there a place to plug it in and hide it during the day? Are there safes in the rooms?

 

Advice please!

 

I would like to know the answers to all of the above AS WELL!! ;)

[madforcruising]

Im debating whether to bring my laptop to upload digital pictures everyday, or just buy an extra memory card and hope everything is fine when we get home.

 

Im on Vision of the Seas Alaska May 11th 2007.

 

Also- if I take just my camera, is there a place to recharge batteries? If I take my laptop, is there a place to plug it in and hide it during the day? Are there safes in the rooms?

 

Advice please!

 

I can´t answer the question wether to bring it or not, as that is a personal thing. I just can say I bring mine for exact that reason and use it for Internet access too. But main reason is uploading pics.

 

The cabins are equiped with 110V US flat pin style sockets and 220V round pin European style sockets.

 

There are safes in the room but a Laptop does not fit in. Plugging it in and hiding it at the same time could be a problem. You can hide it in the closet or your suitcase. However I just let it sit on the desk, plugged in and nothing ever happened.

[archaeologyman]

Why not purchase an image bank? That way you don't have to lug the laptop and you will have the image bank for future travel use.

 

Do a search for "Image Bank" on B&H Photo Video (www.bhphotovideo.com) and check out the options. The Wolverine's are reasonably priced,as are a few other brands.

[0ldog]

The Internet connection on most ships is extremely slow and would take a while to upload your pics. I've taken my laptop and have just left it in the room, too small to fit in the safe. I used it to transfer the pics. to CD, RCI will do it for you but like most things on the ship it's not free. Just bring a charger for the camera bats.

[madforcruising]

The Internet connection on most ships is extremely slow and would take a while to upload your pics. I've taken my laptop and have just left it in the room, too small to fit in the safe. I used it to transfer the pics. to CD, RCI will do it for you but like most things on the ship it's not free. Just bring a charger for the camera bats.

 

You are right about the slow internet connection. Just to make it clear when I talked about uploading the pics, I was talking about uploading them to my laptop, not to the Internet.

[critterchick]

When you say upload, do you mean load them onto the laptop, not to the Internet? If you take a gazillion pictures, you might want to spend a little time going through them each day so you're not overwhelmed when you get home (which in my case would mean never organizing them). I also use the laptop to do a little surfing, but I also kept a diary of our last cruise, which I wouldn't have done by hand. I went back and read it the other night just to relive the experience! So if it's not a major hassle, bring it along.

 

As for security, I put mine in the vanity drawer more to keep it out of the way of the cabin steward's feather duster (the power cord is visible, so it wasn't secure). I wasn't really worried about theft, though.

[Russ_MT]

We brought a notebook and unloaded the camera to the hard drive.

But if that were the only reason, I'd just buy more memory cards.

 

We use it on the plane to watch DVDs and play games, in airports and hotels for Internet access. There have been times when we were able to check check our flight info and change seats while in the airport. We also watched the "Cruise in review" DVD as soon as we bought it on the ship.

 

The safe is the size of a shoebox so we just put the notebook in a suitcase in the closet. It would take a brave and dishonest room steward to go poking around in the closet and suitcases. Imagine if you walked in on him while he had it out? You could also lock the suitcase.

[forpaws]

My laptop did fit in the safe on Sovereign without a problem (we were in a GS). It's a Dell Latitude D610. Evidently the cabins that have safes on Sovereign are a little bigger.

[suziehmkr]

I take my laptop with me when we cruise. I was burning images to DVD and storing them on the hard drive as double protection. This time I will have a couple of thumb drives with me to store them on instead of burning CD's... I keep the cd's/thumb drives in a seperate bag than my laptop. Have I mentioned I am freak about storing photos. :) I am a scrapbooker, so it is instilled in me as an obsession. Especially for Alaska where I plan to take THOUSANDS of photos. ;)

 

I leave the laptop on the vanity without any problems. UNLESS the vanity is in the direct view of the door when the door is open. It isn't the cabin steward I wouldn't trust, but the passerby that sees an easy opportunity if your cabin door is open while you steward is cleaning, etc.

 

I would go thru photos in the evening, or when I had a chance, and delete photos I didn't need.

 

If you don't want to bring your laptop - consider purchasing another memory card (very inexpensive this time of year) so that IF something happens to one, you wont' have lost ALL of your photos - you would still have any that were taken with the other. Maybe alternate them each day.

 

We have a travel charger for each of our camera batteries. We bring two cameras...sometimes DH will carry one and I will - for different points of view on our vacation. Did I mention I am a photo freak? Easy to pack and inexpensive.

[BearySweet2Cruise]

we always take the laptop and unload the digital camera to the laptop daily.. we end up with about 800 pics + per cruise.. of course we then decide which ones later to put on a disk to get made into prints.

anyhow, I have never had a problem leaving anything around the cabin and never felt the need to worry someone would steal either the computer, or the dig camera, or cash for that matter... everything is always in the same mess I left it on the vanity.

 

bring a power strip it is extremely valuable to plug in all the extra gadgets since there are typically only one, and two at most outlets in teh cabins

[chasetf]

we always take the laptop and unload the digital camera to the laptop daily.. we end up with about 800 pics + per cruise.. of course we then decide which ones later to put on a disk to get made into prints. anyhow, I have never had a problem leaving anything around the cabin and never felt the need to worry someone would steal either the computer, or the dig camera, or cash for that matter... everything is always in the same mess I left it on the vanity. bring a power strip it is extremely valuable to plug in all the extra gadgets since there are typically only one, and two at most outlets in teh cabins

We basically do the same thing. I have a cheap Dell 12" that I use for traveling. I have nothing on it but my pictures, so if I loose it I will not be out important personal info. I use it to back up my camera memory and start to get a good look at how the pictures are coming out. I also try to carry plenty of memory so I do not have to overwrite. Only one trip (Med / Greek Islands) did I have to. Bought more so I did not have to worry on the British Isles trip. I typically take over 4k pics on a "major" trip.

 

I never worry about leaving it in the cabin. Just put it in the drawer when not in use. I also never leave home without my power strip. ;)

[Seeing360]

I had enough cards that I didn't have to erase any, but I brought my laptop to backup and organize them. I thought the internet access was too expensive, at 55 cents a min. and slow..... didn't we take this cruise to get away from it all!

 

jim

[AFT_LOVER]

as my DH bought a great item called ROADSTOR that uploads from the card & saves onto a DVD. I believe he got it for $30. Loads smaller than a laptop & TSA isn't crazy to see it either.

[sjtracey]

I also never leave home without my power strip. ;)

 

I'm glad to see that someone mentioned this... It's one of my top tips for anyone taking a cruise! There are just never enough plugs for all the stuff we wind up needing to plug in, charge, etc.

 

As for the laptop... we've taken ours on all three of our previous cruises, and will on the next one too. I'm a prolific photographer, and I upload my pics to the laptop each night first to clear out the camera, but also so I can start editing them so I don't have a thousand pics to go through when we get home. I've never hidden the laptop; just left it on or in the desk.

 

My biggest decision still to make is should I take both the BIG (dslr) and little (Sony pocket-sized 7mp) cameras or just the little one. Last time I took both, but lugging the big one around the ship was a PITA...

 

--Samantha

[Happy ks]

We now leave the laptop at home and just bring more memory than we think we can possibly use. It's a whole lot lighter to carry and we'd never bother taking the time to download pics while on vacation anyway. We took it once to watch movies and that was a drag, the screen is really too small for more than one person to watch.

 

We now pack lighter and just put up with whatever entertainment is available. Unless you just have to edit or download your pics, email, or keep up with work (the horror) while vacationing, leave the heavy stuff at home. Memory cards are so cheap now, I just bought 2 - 1 gig cards for $60.

 

So, I guess it's a personal decision. Lug a heavy laptop around with you while travelling, or spend a few extra hours at home when you return, editing then.

[mohavemommy]

I personally bring the laptop to transfer my pics and to do my internet. I like to be able to read a few things from the internet so I just add my favorite web pages as links in my favorites and when I get to the page I just save the file on my hard drive and then log off so I can save my minutes. I then spend time reading the page(s) off-line. I can also write CC responses in a word processor and then copy and paste them into a post when I log back in.

 

As for the charging of the laptop battery... I charge mine all night long as I sleep and then put the laptop in a drawer or in its case in the closet before we leave the cabin in the morning. It really is the time when the power outlets are being used the least! :D

[nickam]

took my laptop in jan on serenade just left it plugged in on desk had no problems

would take it every time to upload photos from camera,watch dvds at airport,look back at pics we took and also email them to our family and friends

[bplazo]

My daughter brought her laptop and regreted it. We had a few hours to kill in San Juan before our flight and she had to carry it around with her while we walked around.

 

Of course, mom told her to leave it at home because my husband was bringing his because of some work he had to do. Maybe she will listen to me next time. Just hate those "I told you so's"

[alexkrn46]

I accidently erased the photos on my camera and the photo shop was able to recover them all and burn them to a DVD. Best $14.95 I spent. Alex

[alexkrn46]

I accidently erased the photos on my camera and the photo shop was able to recover them all and burn them to a DVD. Best $14.95 I spent. Alex

[alexkrn46]

I accidently erased the photos on my camera and the photo shop was able to recover them all and burn them to a DVD. Best $14.95 I spent. Alex

[Russ_MT]

My daughter brought her laptop and regreted it. We had a few hours to kill in San Juan before our flight and she had to carry it around with her while we walked around.

 

Of course, mom told her to leave it at home because my husband was bringing his because of some work he had to do. Maybe she will listen to me next time. Just hate those "I told you so's"

 

Lugging a notebook can be a problem. Get a case with wheels and extension handle, it makes it a lot easier.

 

If you have any sensitive data on your notebook (quickbooks, account numbers or names and addresses) and you travel with it, it is always advisable to password protect your logon. If stolen, it would make it harder for would be thief to gain access to your confidential information.

[mohavemommy]

My daughter brought her laptop and regreted it. We had a few hours to kill in San Juan before our flight and she had to carry it around with her while we walked around.

 

Of course, mom told her to leave it at home because my husband was bringing his because of some work he had to do. Maybe she will listen to me next time. Just hate those "I told you so's"

 

I solved this by purchasing a rolling laptop bag... a little smaller than a carry-on suitcase. :D

[BillOh]

The safe will not hold you laptop. Memory cards have never been cheaper, and as far as your pictures, they are probably safer on memory cards. A laptop is a pain to lug around in comparison.