User computer w/o paying for Internet?

[sandiego1]

I'd like to use the computer on the Diamond Princess to view my digital camera pictures so I can reguarly delete the bad ones and save space on my memory card. I don't need Internet access to do this. I can just hook up the camera to a USB port on the PC.

 

Does Princess allow you to connect external devices to their PCs?

 

Would I be able to burn a CD of my pics if I brought my own blank CDs and CD burner software? I can't imagine that they would let me install SW onto their PCs, but you never know.

 

We're on a 1 wk cruise to Alaska followed by a 2nd wk touring on our own. Even though I have two 1G cards, I'm afraid I'll run out of space!

[CTGirl]

For the most part Princess does not let you connect external devices. At least on the ships I've been on. The processors on most terminals are locked up and out of sight on the Golden, but there are a few terminals near the printer that you can actually see the processors. There are 2 usb ports (I think 2 maybe 1) on the processors. Technically, you can hook up an external device on these computers but, and its a big but, you cannot get at the drive. So, one way or another you are blocked out. Also, all the processors on the Sea Princess were locked up.

 

I bring my laptop and download pictures every night. I create a folder for each port and download accordingly. This helps me stay organized.

 

Shelly

[coiran]

Two 1 gig cards should be enough for almost 2000 pix - you are going to be very busy for 7 days behind your camera! Princess will burn them to a CD for a reasonable cost. You also may be able to find an internet cafe on some of your port stops.

 

Ron

[sandiego1]

I use a very high picture quality when I take my pics. So I get about 300-350 pics per card. On a recent 1 wk Carib cruise, I took over 300 pics. I expect that on my 1st trip to Alaska w/ all the amazing scenery and wildlife, I will definitely exceed that :)

 

I was looking for a way to off-load some pics w/o having to lug my laptop while traveling around the 2nd wk. I'll check into some Internet cafes while in port to burn some CDs. I bet it's cheaper than using Princess's services. Thanks for the tips.

[RodneyG]

I take a stack of pics , in fact can fill 8 gigs in a day (Raw + Jpeg = 18mb on my cam)

I bring 2 things along , a laptop with a burner and a EPson Photo viewer with a 80 gig hd.

You can get stand alone hd or other data storage devices as well that will directly read your card for a cheapish price.

Or take the card down to the photo lab on board and have them burn it to a cd

[LidoShuffle]

I take a stack of pics , in fact can fill 8 gigs in a day (Raw + Jpeg = 18mb on my cam)

I bring 2 things along , a laptop with a burner and a EPson Photo viewer with a 80 gig hd.

You can get stand alone hd or other data storage devices as well that will directly read your card for a cheapish price.

Or take the card down to the photo lab on board and have them burn it to a cd

How do you like your Epson? I was just considering getting the Epson P-3000 because my laptop is pretty big and don't like to take it everywhere. I thought that the photo viewer might do the job. Do you feel secure putting your pictures on there then deleting them from your camera?

[madjohn]

What I like to do is take my labtop with me. Then in the evenings (not much of a party animal) I down load my pics and do the touch ups and then use my program to turn them into album pages. If I do not do this on the cruise I will never get it done. I have no time at home. But on the cruise it is fun and I get to see all that we have done and then when I get home I am ready to really bore everyone who did not get to go.

 

My question is does anyone know a good pic printer that will print 8 1/2 by 11 pages that I can easly take with me. Love to be able to print them out right when I do them

 

John

[Casshew]

I do that too, mostly because I travel with my daughter so we are in the cabin for bed early. She sleeps and I download, crop, organize the days pics - it's enjoyable :)

[S&M in Pgh]

Do you have the ability to connect your camera to a TV? If so, you might want to bring the AV adapter. That way you can use the TV as a monitor.

 

For storage, I use my wife's iPod. With their camera adapter, it works great.

 

You'd never get the kind of access to the PC you need to use their PC to do it or to burn CDs.

 

Mike

[brendielee]

I too was trying to figure out a way to download my pics without taking my laptop....on one of the sites here on CC I saw things about the Epson and the wolverine. I went to the Wolverine Data website and they had some 'refurbished' mvp's for about $200. So, I bought one, got it, and nowhere does it indicate that it is refurbished! It's a 60GB Portable Multimedia Storage and Viewer, it is about 6" x 3" and weighs very little. I wanted time to play with it before we cruise in May, and I can't believe how easy it is to use! I especially like that you can view the pics!.

Brenda

[bubbadog]

the sd cards are cheap now i just bought a couple,so i dont have to worry,and can play with pics when i get back,and they dont take up much space lol:))):p :D

[zaandam_2]

i had a VERY bad experience with using an ipod to store pictures. i bought a new ipod and photo adapter, which cost about $525, for my 28 night b2b med cruise. about 2 weeks into the trip the piece of junk wouldn't even turn on.

 

a few days later i tried again and it did boot up, but didn't show any photos. i hooked it up to a friend's computer as an external device and was able to see the photos, which i then copied to her hard disk. i had to spend part of my day on mallorca finding some CDs to burn them to.

 

next time, i'll just buy some extra cards. they're pretty cheap now.

[sultan_sfo]

I still think that the Princess Photo department offer to burn a CD for $10 is very reasonable. Especially, now a days, considering the hassle of taking a laptop on planes, risk of it being stolen as soon as you set it down for a second at any airport, and the wear and tear on the laptop in traveling. Just managing a 1 or 2GB card downloads and the possibility of the card becoming damaged and unreadable are other reasons. /Sultan

[Admiral Horatio Nelson]

You wouldn't be able to use the internet cafe machines to burn CDs or even look at your pictures. They are set up to surf the internet and don't even have CD burners.

 

You can have your images put on to a CD by the Photogs onboard, they can burn a CD or even print the digital images to paper using digital processing (on the bigger ships at least).

[whale-watcher]

How do you like your Epson? I was just considering getting the Epson P-3000 because my laptop is pretty big and don't like to take it everywhere. I thought that the photo viewer might do the job. Do you feel secure putting your pictures on there then deleting them from your camera?

I purchased an epson p-4000 from ebay before our panama canal cruise this winter, and it is fantastic. The image quality on the viewing screen is wonderful, and you can also hook it up directly to a TV (including those in the staterooms). It is also possible to print directly off the p-4000 without using a computer.

 

The wolverine device sounds like a great deal, however...I paid nearly double that amount for the epson.

[jlp20]

I'd like to use the computer on the Diamond Princess to view my digital camera pictures so I can reguarly delete the bad ones and save space on my memory card....Does Princess allow you to connect external devices to their PCs?....Would I be able to burn a CD of my pics if I brought my own blank CDs and CD burner software?....

 

 

On our first cruise, some years ag, each computer station had the tower right there. You could use the floppy drive, that's about all. The USB had not been invented.

 

About three years ago, everything was locked away. Screen, keyboard and mouse were all that was visable.

 

Last year, I was suprized to see that there was a "universal" card reader at each computer. Never used it so I have no idea what software was available.

 

As posted on other threads, another independent operator has taken over the computer rooms of Princess. As I understand it, everything is locked away again, so you will be out of luck.

 

You have several choices.

 

1. Take your laptop (we do) and edit in your spare time.

 

2. Buy one extra memory card and have the ship "burn" whatever photos you have. You will need the extra card since they will take 16-24 hours to do the job and without a card, your camera is just an expensive door stop. I don't know what the current charge is, but it's a flat rate if there is 1 or 400 photos on the card.

 

3. Buy several cards and hope you have enough for the entire trip.

 

4. All the ships we have been on have a self service "printer" where you put your card in, edit-crop-or fix, choose the number of copies and wait a few minutes for the photos.

 

5. I have also seen a self-service CD burners the past two years, but I have never seen anyone use it. Don't know how they work or if depenable.

[UT-Volsfan]

Having the ship's Photo shop download the pictures and burn them to a CD is an easy and fiarly cheap way to go.

 

Just have them check the CD on their computer before they delete the photos from the memory stick. A friend of ours last year went on a 2 week cruise and did every 3 or 4 days. Only problem was that when the cruise was over, she got home and her CD with all of her pictures from Ireland and Scotland was non-recoverable. CD gave errors trying to load it and she never got any of these pictures recovered off of it. Her other two CDs she had made later in the cruise were fine.

[Grannycb]

I take hundreds of pictures on multiple cameras with different types of cards. I always take my laptop. The digital cards are loaded onto the computer and then burned to CDs each day along with my daily notes. The CDs are carried in a different bag from the computer. There are too many people who have lost photos because of drive crashes and theft. The only things we bring home from cruises are pictures and memories so I want to keep them safe. It's worth the bother to bring the laptop IMHO.

[RodneyG]

The Epson is marvellous for a few reasons and is a dog for a few more.

I have never had a problem with the device in terms of losing info , however it does not take every type of card , has a proprietory battery and is somewhat slow to display or DL.

It has some real good plusses , like long battery life , exceptional screen and viewing quality and is easily seen as a storage device by most puters.

Where it comes into its own is the fact that its a portable viewer and we store all manner of pics on it. Far easier to pass around a group of ppl than a physical album.

We put pics of our country and stuff on it and often show ppl these whan they ask about life in South Africa. Also easy to show others pics of the cruise afterwards.

Its a pretty expensive "toy" and approaches the price of some cheap laptops.

go to http://www.dpreview.com and search for photo storage devices , you will find a lot of options.

I generally write to a DVD as well as transfer to this device. A lot of why I go on cruises is photo opportunities and am a little paranoid of losing those I take.

[okbowler]

Got an e-mail from epson yesterday showing the p-3000 for $399.99 and free shipping. Don't know wether this is a good price or not. Bill

[CrusinAgain]

We take the cables to connect to the room TV and view the pictures deleting those that are not needed. Sorry, I don't see how you can view the pics on the Diamond's computers. We were there just last week.

[Lewdog]

I would not use an ipod, they aren't really made for that type of use. Sure they can store photos but they apply a heavy amount of compression thus degrading the quality of your images.

[fti]

Two 1 gig cards should be enough for almost 2000 pix - you are going to be very busy for 7 days behind your camera!

 

It depends at what quality you shoot at. I use the finest setting and get 150 pictures from a 512MB card. That would mean about 600 pics from 2GB.

 

I always recommend shooting at the finest setting - it allows you to do more cropping if desired and/or to make bigger and better enlargements.