Bringing laptop on board

[CRUISINGGRANMA]

Is there any benefit to taking a laptop on board? We have cruised with Princess before and had free internet use because we were past cruisers. We will be going on the 49 night Carnival Splendor South America cruise in January 2009 and wonder if we would save money by taking a laptop on board. Or will we be charged per minute usage anyway?

[LHT28]

I cannot answer about the usage charges many lines have packages that cost less than the per minute fee.

I like my laptop because I have all my websites bookmarked & passwords etc...I don't have to remember them all

Plus I can do my banking online, pay bills in private not in the computer lab.

[jlp20]

Is there any benefit to taking a laptop on board? We have cruised with Princess before and had free internet use because we were past cruisers. We will be going on the 49 night Carnival Splendor South America cruise in January 2009 and wonder if we would save money by taking a laptop on board. Or will we be charged per minute usage anyway?

 

We have taken a lap top on every cruise, and never used it for getting on the web. Connection speeds are so slow (when they are working) that it is not enjoyable. We use it for all other functions; editing photos, music, DVD's, writing emails BRFORE GETTING ONLINE etc...

[CC Help Michell]

I cannot answer about the usage charges many lines have packages that cost less than the per minute fee.

I like my laptop because I have all my websites bookmarked & passwords etc...I don't have to remember them all

Plus I can do my banking online, pay bills in private not in the computer lab.

 

You can also download photos from your camera's memory card to the PC (or even burn them to CD on your laptop) -- if you lose a memory card or even your camera, at least you will have backups of the photos taken before that point. On our last cruise we also used our laptop to watch DVDs in the cabin. You could also keep your trip journal in Word on your laptop. I don't know that you'd save money, but it would be a time-saver/convenience.

[serene56]

if using your laptop to get online you still will be charged the fee.

[kitty9]

If you use the laptop for internet, you will be charged the same price as if you're using one of their computers. Internet connections and download time is awfully slow, so you really add up the minutes for nothing. Unless you want to use the laptop to download your photos, it really isn't going to save you any money on internet access.

[SheilaNC]

One thing I plan to do on our next cruise is to have a blog so our family and friends can keep up with us when we're gone for a month. I just set it up (my first time). I can do all of the writing offline and just hook up to post every few days and upload what I've written. Much more efficient and less expensive than using the computers onboard...we will purchase a package of minutes and only check email if we see a good deal at an Internet Cafe on shore...Hope it works.

 

I also like to download and organize my pictures, especially on sea days, gives me both a back-up and makes sharing easier when we get home.

[eh2zed]

Other than photo editing, the real advantage is for email composition and reading offline.

[iEmpire]

I have brought my laptop on my last few cruises. I usually would use it in those far-and-few-between minutes of downtime in the cabin to listen to music or update my fantasy football team! It doesn't hurt to be able to surf the net, etc. as well but I really do spend very little of my time inside of my cabin. Cheers!

[hajekfam]

Like LHT said - you can use to bank in private. We are bringing our laptop on our cruise this November. We are doing a back to back for 28 days plus a pre and post stay. We will need to pay bills while we are gone. Hubby has set up bill pay with our various credit cards and utilities and banks so that we can take care of it onboard. He also created a spread sheet and has set up a computer reminder of due dates for the various bills since we won't receive them while we are gone.

I am also checking into downloadable travel guides so that I don't have to bring 11 to 12 travel guides in book form (don't need the extra weight for books-would rather be able to use it for clothes).

[rianvi]

Our DD brought her laptop on our cruise in August. It was great for editing pictures, etc. I didn't think we would use it much but we did.

Peace, Anna:)

[RockerWife]

Be careful when paying bills if you access your account numbers. Most wireless service is not secure. In other words, the reason you all can get on, is because it is open.

 

My suggestion is to set up payments before you leave. In other words, set up your Visa to make a payment of 200.00 per month and if you need to change it, do it when you are home with a secure network.

 

NEVER access your bank account or credit cards in an area with unsecured wireless service.

[Krazy Kruizers]

HAL charges the same rate no matter whether you use their computers or you use your own laptop.

 

I took my laptop on our last cruises. I was able to write up everything first. Then I just logged on and copied and pasted. Saved a lot of time and money.