GPS on the ship

[ck53]

I've read about this on the boards that you can chart your course.

I'm sure this is something my DH would like but I don't want to get him excited and run out and buying items we don't really need. He loves electronics! Can someone explain how it works and if we can use the (portable) GPS system in our car.

 

Thanks!

[KLLund]

We have a portable GPS we call Jill .. lovely voice !! Hubby uses it in the car ( lord the man can get lost in a parking lot ) .. Took it with us on the Sapphire in Asia last year and it worked great !!! You have to download the region you are traveling in .. but most come with that or it is available for a small fee. It really was fun seeing where we were from the balcony since we were in a totally unfamiliar place.

[custompcsys]

I've read about this on the boards that you can chart your course.

I'm sure this is something my DH would like but I don't want to get him excited and run out and buying items we don't really need. He loves electronics! Can someone explain how it works and if we can use the (portable) GPS system in our car.

 

Thanks!

 

You would need a GPS with a marine database for the waters you will be sailing in. Your car GPS probably has road maps, so while I'm sure it works great to give you driving directions, it won't do well once your in the water :) That being said, you may be able to purchase and load up the marine data for your current portable GPS rather having to buy a totally new unit for the task. Check with the company that manufactures your GPS unit. Once you have that database loaded, the unit will give you position, speed, and plot your track for the cruise.

 

Also, keep in mind you have to be outside to lock onto the satellites. This certainly won't work from inside your cabin, so hopefully you either have a balcony cabin or will like spending time on the Sun Deck.

 

I've heard of people bringing them, but I always leave my GPS unit at home when I cruise. Quite honestly, as long as we keep to the itinerary and they tell us about any changes, all I care about is the location of my next beer :D

[Jstringers]

I brought my handheld GPS on the CB last year. Granted the Explorist 300 isn't the most expensive GPS in the world, but I was not able to connect to any satelites inside my stateroom. Too much metal I assume....I never brought it upstairs after that (too much beer I assume :p )

[ggprincess2004]

Jill sure gets around, doesn't she? She has accompanied us on a number of cruises - and is a pretty good traveling companion.

The "sea" is mapped, and we can track the course. It is nice to know the name of land masses that we pass.

We have found that to get the satellite reception, we need to be on the balcony or on deck.

[Are we there yet?]

We have a portable GPS we call Jill .. lovely voice !! Hubby uses it in the car ( lord the man can get lost in a parking lot ) .. Took it with us on the Sapphire in Asia last year and it worked great !!! You have to download the region you are traveling in .. but most come with that or it is available for a small fee. It really was fun seeing where we were from the balcony since we were in a totally unfamiliar place.

 

Very funny about getting lost in a parking lot!!:D

Do you mind if I ask which GPS you have? We were thinking of buying one for our trip out West in 2009, but if we can use it on our cruise we would buy it now. Thanks:)

[Princess Chatterer]

My GPS never worked well under the balcony awning. My internal GPS street maps missed islands in the vicinity.

 

GPS is useful on shore stops with the right street maps but on board the GPS map on the cabin TV is just fine for me.

[emileg]

One of the Channels on the TV in your stateroom will provide you with some of the GPS navagational data you are looking for as well as other information such as the sea condtions, winds, temperature and so on.

[ancldaca]

Thank you emileg on that post. One less thing for me to pack in September!

[turbo46032]

If you anticipate a pre- or post- cruise driving period a navigation system would be useful. We borrowed one from work for our week in San Juan, and it proved invaluable. Onboard the Crown Princess, not quite as useful. It had maps of St Thomas, and that was about it.

 

Keep in mind that if you want to collect GPS data it won't do you much good since none of the car navigation systems are able to collect and dump data points. You need a real 'GPS receiver' for these, the kind you plug into your computer. Car navi systems also run off rechargeable batteries, and unless the laws of physics were rewritten recently, in battery mode no car navi system will give you more than a few hours. Then since the ship does not have a car accessory charger, you're toast.

 

If he's looking to buy a navi system for a car, look for the buzzwords NAVTEQ maps and SIRF III. Garmin makes some pretty good units, not many bells and whistles for the cheaper units but they work very well.

[KLLund]

Very funny about getting lost in a parking lot!!:D

Do you mind if I ask which GPS you have? We were thinking of buying one for our trip out West in 2009, but if we can use it on our cruise we would buy it now. Thanks:)

 

 

Ours is a Garmin .. and it does connect to the computer to download .. I don't remember the model number .. but is a couple years old so they would not have than anymore anyway. Just be sure to tell the salesperson the two ways you want to use it and they will steer you right I am sure.

[KLLund]

Jill sure gets around, doesn't she? She has accompanied us on a number of cruises - and is a pretty good traveling companion.

The "sea" is mapped, and we can track the course. It is nice to know the name of land masses that we pass.

We have found that to get the satellite reception, we need to be on the balcony or on deck.

 

Jill is a real floozie for sure .. I suppose she says "Recalculating" to you too !!! LOL

[Are we there yet?]

Ours is a Garmin .. and it does connect to the computer to download .. I don't remember the model number .. but is a couple years old so they would not have than anymore anyway. Just be sure to tell the salesperson the two ways you want to use it and they will steer you right I am sure.

 

 

Thank you:)

[ck53]

Thanks so much for the imput. We have a Tom Tom (?) and "she" is British. "Take the roundabout to the motorway" I do also believe

it hooks up to the computer.

 

I will give DH all the above suggestions and thanks again!

[ggprincess2004]

Jill is a real floozie for sure .. I suppose she says "Recalculating" to you too !!! LOL

 

The B***** has toned down the attitude on that lately! Amazing. One of the problems that I have with her is my DH is happy to let her tell him where to go, but me - well I couldn't venture a "maybe you should turn here".

I think the DH is getting bored with Jill, truth be told. He found this new floozie with a Aussie accent, who shows up occasionally. :p

 

I do think Garmin has a good product, and it can be recharged on an outlet charger, not just a car charger. Also, it downloads all kinds of updates. But, it still has us driving into a lake when we visit my parents. The construction is too new - waiting for the maps to be updated.

[free2travel]

We have a portable GPS we call Jill .. lovely voice !! Hubby uses it in the car ( lord the man can get lost in a parking lot ) .. .

 

Heh Kathy! You are NEVER lost till you stop driving!! LOL

Paul

[derf5585]

I am planning to bring my GPS on my future cruise to see how it functions.

 

On the question of a battery backup

 

USB emergency power

Pull the USB power connector out from the battery pack to have an extra reach.

from

http://www.boxwave.com/products/batteryadapter/index.htm

[Tater1800]

Any GPS that has a base map for the area you are sailing will do fine if it can be powered by batteries. Marine maps are a plus but not necessary. I have cruised with mine many times and love to keep a track of our travels. It is also fun to mark locations for later reference. I marked the "tubing" caves in Belize then found the location on Google Earth. I have a Garmin Quest, (standard version), that has a world base map.

[emileg]

Thank you emileg on that post. One less thing for me to pack in September!

You are welcome. You'll love the Crown Princess. Took it in June. However, it is much bigger than many of the ships you have been on.

Why are you cancelling because of a change in smoking policy? Are they going to prevent you from smoking or are they allowing smoking? Which ship?

[trvlcrzy]

Has any attempted to find geocaches while cruising? This is a brand new hobby for me (I have 8 finds...all on one day). I think it would be very interesting to find something that doesn't have the same latitude as my home!

[palolake]

We go geocaching on every cruise. It's amazing how many caches there are all over the world. One year we left a travel bug in a cache that is right where we docked in St. Thomas. (Princess uses a different dock now) We were hoping that it would travel around the world for a while before we got it back. Would you believe that the person who picked it up lives in the same state as we do and brought it right back with him!!!

[legalsea]

I have a Garmin Quest (couple years old). I used it last year on a cruise around the United Kingdom. We rented a car in Glasgow and drove to Stirling Castle, etc, and found it very useful. Prior to driving off from the rental agency I made the agency the 'home' location. At the end of the day, when we were ready to start driving back, I simply pressed the 'home' button, and the GPS led the way (we call ours "Gennie").

 

On a Christmas cruise along the Danube the GPS unit also worked well (of course, prior to leaving home I downloaded that part of Europe I would be travelling through). Garmin did not cover Hungary, so when we reached Budapest we were 'off the grid'.

 

We are on a cruise of the Black Sea soon. However, Garmin does not, to my knowledge, cover those areas. Hence we must leave at home.

[LeeW]

We have a Garmin 60C handheld. Works well on balcony (even covered Aloha or Riviera) provided it is out near the rail. Works better with a $20 powered antenna from Ebay. All mapping GPS units use proprietary maps. With Garmin you have two choices - Worldmap software gets you the whole world but is a bit sketchy on island details. Bluechart gives all the navigation details but is VERY expensive - the Caribbean has about five areas that you buy separately. Worldmap works fine. On deck it is not unusual to have an 8 satellite lock with 10-15 foot accuracy.

 

Nice setting the next port and knowing the ETA and distance. We also bring the track back and plot it on the computer. This can also be plotted on Google Earth if you want.

 

The laptop-based units (like Rand McNally, Delorme or AAA) don't work well onboard - they have to guess the satellite locations on every startup and this can be a problem if they only see half the sky (higher end units maintain the satellite positions even when turned off). Our laptop unit would only get a good position lock on the balcony when we were in port.

 

Most mapping units work outside the basemap, but you just get raw position data like a non-mapping unit. Since tracks are just a list of time and locations you will still be able to plot these later.

 

If you are interested in exploring GPS units (reviews, user guides, and links to discount sellers try this:

 

http://gpsinformation.net/

[captainbk]

I have a Delorme Earthmate GPS that plugs into my laptop. On out cruise to alaska, I set the laptop on the desk and ran the cable to the gps antenna out to the balcony. I got reception 80% of the time. I was running the Delorme street map program but have just recently bought the topgraphic version. It is quite detailed for the inland passage route.

 

Some people would say that I have way too many toys....i would say I don't have enough.

[ggftwayne]

I have a Garmin Etrex Legend gps.

Black and white only.

No voice, no color, no touch screen.

Even though there are "better" models out there, it is still a marvel of technology.

It runs all day and night on 2 AA batteries.

While I am driving it helps to keep me from getting lost.

Not by turn by turn voice, but by clues.

On a dark and stormy night I know what direction we are headed and how far off the main road I am.

It has made me a hero to my wife a couple of times.

On a plane it will give me speed, altitude, time and heading.

On a cruise, I strap it to the balcony rail (in a baggie).

While ashore on an excursion, we are having too much fun to pay attention to the gps.

So I seldom look at it to tell exactly where we are at that moment, but later, where we have been.

It records our track and, of an evening, I download that to the computer via the serial port (no usb).

I use a piece of free software called TrackMaker (http://www.gpstm.com).

This gives me a plot of our trip over a dowloadable map (free).

And via the internet, I can plot that same track over Google Earth (free) and see a satellite view of every gas station, motel and ship turn within a few meters.

I can zoom in and see where, when and other information.

I have saved each trip in it's own file.

And so it is fun, long after the trip, to show our friends not only our album of the trip, but the plot of where we were.

:)