Computers on Oceana

[Sweeterpea]

Hi everyone!

 

One month left to go before our cruise "Adriatic Interludes" on the Insignia .. it seemed like yesterday (in actuality a year ago ) I was posting and asking if Oceana cruises were ok. What a dumb question ;)

 

I have questions regarding the computers. Should we bring our own USB cable or do they provide them? Is there any cost to make a word document? I'd like to do a journal of sorts so I remember how to caption my photos when I get home (seems everything in the Mediterranean is white walls and red roofs)

 

Recent cruisers: are the computers that sloooooow? I know they are expensive but to me it seems like such a chore to hunt down a cyber cafe when we have such a short time on shore, and I would rather pay for the convenience of using Oceana's unless it's totally not worth it.

 

To have a disc made is it just $15.00 or do they charge for computer time as well? Has anyone had any problems with them? I'm nervous to have them done -- don't want my pictures lost.

 

Any other tips regarding the computer services on Oceana are welcome and appreciated!

[Druke I]

Yes, the computers are very slow (Nov 06 on Nautica).

 

I won't attempt to answer your other questions. (I don't know, not being coy.)

[hondorner]

I'll try, although I didn't use all of the services.

 

First, while there are plenty of computers in the computer room, there are also two computers in the library (at least, there are on Regatta, and I've heard the same for the other ships). These are usually available at any hour.

 

All of the computers are networked, so it doesn't matter which one you use for your work. You are assigned a ship email address, usually "yourname@oceaniaatsea.com" -- you will receive the actual name with your documents.

 

You log on to your account on the ship using this name and a password you choose on the fly the first time you log in. You will be presented with a choice -- proceed to the internet, or go to a home page for you.

 

If you go to the internet, the charges start to accumulate -- $.95 per minute for what I am told is slow access, as slow as dial-up, or possibly even slowere. You can also buy a package -- or example, $80 for 100 minutes. That's still $48 per hour, which is pretty darn expensive. If you are very good at composing messages (like this one) off line, then cut and paste into the actual online format, you can get a lot accomplished in a short time. But, if you're browsing the 'net or Googling a shore tour from the ship, the time will fly by, and that tour will probably cost you a lot more than you thought!

 

If you go to your home page, you will see a standard Windows desktop with some application icons. I can't remember them all, but I believe MS Word and Photoshop are at least two of the applications. You can use them for free as much as you like. The only cost will be burning an actual CD at the end of your cruise; I believe that's $15 per each.

 

You will also see Outlook Express. You can open Outlook Express and check for email sent to your shipboard email address (because you logged in with it, the email you will see is only your own). You can also send an email from Outlook Express. Each email that you receive and each one you send will cost you $2, or higher if you email large pictures. There is no other charge for the composition time, etc.

 

You could get sneaky with your journal. The $2 charge per email is for up to 100,000 bytes, if I recall correctly. That's a lot of text. You could use Outlook Express to compose your journal, then send yourself an Email at home for $2, and the journal will be there waiting for you when you get back home. Keep some pencil notes and send an email other other day or so, and the total will be less than $20. If you want others to keep track of your trip, send your journal chapters to a relative or friend back home, and ask them to forward it to list of others who might be interested. If you know how to reduce the size of your pictures, you could probably sneak a picture of two under the same size limit -- I can usually get a .jpg picture down to less than 30,000 bytes at 640x480 resolution and a slightly higher compression rate.

 

If you compose your journal on the ship's computers and do not email it home, you can probably burn the text onto the same cd with your photos.

 

Finally, I'm ready to be corrected by others on any of this. I only used the ship's computers to check for emails and send one reply to an emergency email I received (total cost, $4). I poked around a little, and used my "native" computer literacy to figure out the rest. I brought my own laptop on board, composed my daily journal on it last thing every evening, and downloaded all the photos from both our digital cameras as a backup. I never tried to use the ship's internet, nor did I use any internet cafes ashore, despite the 26 day length of our cruise. After all, I was on vacation ;).

 

I did turn my laptop on in every port and tried to connect through any unsecured wireless connections that happened to reach the ship. I never succeeded, however.

 

I also had some fun (well, it was fun for a geek like me :rolleyes: ) with my GPS antenna and mapping software (Delorme) on the laptop. I was able to set the antenna on the balcony railing, get a signal, and track the location, direction and speed of the ship. Of course, the same information was directly behind me on the TV screen, but that's what geeks do....

[LHT28]

We were on Regatta and the speed was just as good as here at home most days ...there were a couple of slow times but I logged off and just waited for another time.

 

The computer in Library you can use for word doc without using the interent time. I think the ones in the lab are the same.

I did use the library one to do a letter up & print it off free of charge.

 

We did see many people uploading pictures but don't know if they had any problems in the end.

I took my laptop so use it to upload our photos till we got home.

Hope fully someone will answer your other questions

Enjoy the cruise

[HappyMarv]

All,

 

Don has don a terrific job of explaining the shipboard computers. If I may, I'll just add a thought or two.

 

About a year ago, O had an agreement with a satellite carrier that offered pretty good speed - almost up to the speed of my DSL here at home. That company (owned by Boeing Aircraft) closed it's doors. Then it was back to the EVER SOOOO SLOOOW service. Slower than dial-up here. So, like Don said, the 100 hour plan won't last you ANY time at all. You won't believe it's already gone. (This was as of last November)

 

The shipboard $2.00 per e-mail plan is usually the best way to send updates back home. But remember, that's $2.00 for each person you send your E to. So Don's right on when he says, send it to someone who can forward it to a list of your favorite people. Actually, you can send a pretty large E for the $200 charge. AND, DO write it up off-line and reduce the size of the pictures you send back home. PhotoShop Elements on their computers will do it nicely.

 

No, the ship wont give you a USB cable to use. There are to many different kinds. Your best bet is to take you own - the one that came with your camera -the one that has one plug that fits into your camera and the other end that fits into the computer. This way, you can download pictures to the computer, then clear up the space on your camera's memory card.

 

Now, here's a trick... Yes, you can get your word docs and pictures burned onto a CD for $15 but I use my own Flash (Thumb) drive to download things from the computer. It's easy to find these things that have 2 or more gigabytes of capacity. Lately, I bought a Western Digital "flash" drive that holds 160 Gigabytes for $115 at Sam's, I think . . . (Could have been Costco). But WAS one or the other. It's about the size of a man's wallet and is powered by the computer over the short USB cable that came with it. It also has a nice, padded zipper pouch.

 

Another thought for your pictures is to buy extra memory cards for your camera. Yesterday, I saw a 2 Gig SD card at CompUSA for $24. A few of these will hold tons and tons of pictures, and if you're real savvy, you can also store word docs on them as well.

 

Hope this is of some help. I'm like Don, I take my laptop with me so I can "compute" in my cabin. I love to edit my pics each evening so they're ready to show when I get home.

 

Have a wonderful trip.

 

Marvin

[JimandStan]

Another way to do this is to pick up a couple or three 1 gig memory cards (they're running less than $20 at Amazon). I can't see you taking more pictures than they could hold.

FYI, we usually write out a few "title cards",explaining what the pictures on that memory card are, and take a picture of the written card. This way, the explanation goes with the photos and no need to waste valuable vacation hours organizing pics.

Have a great cruise ;-)

[Sweeterpea]

Thanks everyone for your help!

 

Unfortunately, my camera takes the old "CF" type cards, which at Costco here in Canada are $85.00 for 2GB; I would not have use for a 2GB card other than the cruise and I'd rather spend $15.00 for the CD.

 

Don't have a laptop or need for one, so it's great to know I can write up word documents and print them later for free.

 

Again, your thoughts are much appreciated. :D

[Imagineer]

Thanks everyone for your help!

 

Unfortunately, my camera takes the old "CF" type cards, which at Costco here in Canada are $85.00 for 2GB; I would not have use for a 2GB card other than the cruise and I'd rather spend $15.00 for the CD.

 

Don't have a laptop or need for one, so it's great to know I can write up word documents and print them later for free.

 

Again, your thoughts are much appreciated. :D

 

Hi there Sweeterpea, haven't heard from you for a while. So you're all geared up and looking forward to your trip, that's great!! We had to put everything on hold and have re-booked the same cruise for 2008. Now it goes on April 13th and you're on the Regatta, a few itinerary changes as well, instead of visiting Sardinia we go to La Spezia and see Cinque Terre. They've also changed the port days so you're now in Florence when everything is open...

...just thought I'd pass on some observations as a professional photographer who now shoots exclusively digital. Don't consider CF to be old fashioned, it was just one of the first kids on the block, still very capable and quite sturdy, as opposed to SD and XD, my daughter actually managed to bend one of her SD cards. CF is still the standard for almost all professional DSLR's.

You can now buy a 1gb card for close to $50 in some stores, check around...

...this is what I'll be doing next year, but you can do it now. Go to somewhere like Futureshop, look at the various types of external memory drives. There are many that operate as stand alone devices, not requiring a computer as an interface between it and the camera. Find a price you're comfortable with, buy it and take it along, that way when your cards are full just download them onto whatever memory storage unit you buy, re-format your cards and keep on shooting...

...it would be great to hear about your trip, please let us know how it all worked out after you get back. It's always nice to get a first hand report on somewhere you plan on going. Wish you all the best on your trip, bon voyage.

 

cheers,

 

the Imagineers

NCL cruise to Alaska on the Norwegian Wind - Aug 27/06, it was great, I'll miss the Wind.

Mediterranean cruise on the Insignia - Apr 28/07 (cancelled, by us)

upcoming Oceania cruise Rome to Venice onboard the Regatta - Apr 13/08.