Why internet on a cruise?

[spongerob]

Hmmm, no one has mentioned pornography...are you just afraid to admit it? :D

 

These are the days of electronic communications. At the very least we check our e-mail and travel schedules just to make sure nothing has changed for the trip home. It's also nice to find out that "back home" is cold and miserable while you are enjoying an adult beverage in a sunny, exotic location.

[FritzG]

As others have noted

1. I have elderly parents with whom I can keep in contact when we're out of cell phone range.

2. My cousin is an avid cruiser, too, and I "share" my trip with her. Plus she will tell me things my parents won't that might need my attention.

3. I keep an eye on my credit card purchases. On a previous trip to the UK someone stole our acct. #, and I was able to stop fraudulent purchases.

4. We like longer cruises, and bills come due.

5. I check port info, and exchange rates.

6. It's fun to post "Live from" for other CCer's.

[Ula]

On a cruise we turn off our cell phones and lock them in the safe. The internet is really good in case there is an emergency at home. We have dogs that we board, my contact person knows if a problem to e-mail me. That larger dog in the picture above is over 17 years old.

That is all we juse the internet for. Don't play games or such.

[hotglass]

We use it instead of a cell phone or ship to shore phone (really high prices), just to keep peace of mind that our "grown son" is doing ok. If he's run into some difficulty and needs advice, we can help him out & if it's more than that, we can tell him who to contact. You know, they think that just because they are over 18 they know & can take care of everything, but sometimes they still need a little guidance.

[mehitabel]

Everyone's vacation needs are different. I assume it's a big deal because people either need to use it or want to. Just like the pool, the casino, the show lounges, the library, the gym....

 

How about a cruise where there is no access to phone or internet at all? That might be a perfect choice for you to get what you're after (or, rather, not after.)

 

Why on earth would I choose another cruise? I'm not criticizing those who like to be on the internet on vacation. I was just curious as to why. It's not like I die a little inside every time I pass the Internet Cafe.

[Pam in CA]

If I'm going to be away for 3 - 5 weeks at a stretch, I don't like being out of touch for that long. My daughter doesn't come on my longer cruises (she has to work... poor her) so I often write her a summary of what we're doing and what we've seen. Then, when I get home, I put those summaries together for a review or just keepsake. My catsitter also sends me weekly reports; with an 18YO cat who is doing well but has some health issues, that's important to me.

 

While on my 31-day Sapphire cruise this past spring, I learned that my part-time online job had ended (the site closed) and at the same time, I was offered a part-time position on another site. I was able to say, "Yes" and complete all of the employee/personnel things so that when I got home, I was ready to go.

 

Last summer while we were on the Prinsendam, we met a couple who sold their condo and bought another while on the cruise, and they were moving two weeks after returning home. It just happened that they'd had their condo on the market and had looked at other condos in the location they wanted and everything came together at the same time. They used business centers while in port to do all the signatures and legal documents.

 

There are many, many reasons why people use the Internet while on a cruise; probably as many reasons as there are people.

[chipmaster]

I always see lots of discussion on the boards about internet perks/benefits and questions about internet or wireless access. Why is being able to be online such a big deal when you're on vacation? Isn't part of being on vacation being able to put all that aside for a little while?

 

I don't know if our cellphones will get reception on our upcoming cruise--but I can tell you we're going to TELL everybody that they don't! Same thing goes for internet. I'm compulsively checking my email and favorite websites all day, every day. It'll be a nice break not to be able to for a week.

 

So for those of you that use the internet frequently onboard--is there a reason why? Or you just like having internet access just in case?

 

You'll hear all sort of must have reason related to keeping daily communication line open; business, personal, etc. etc. With the advancement of technology we now all feel the requirement whether real or perceived to be available at any moment by email or cell phone. Just look around at all the people talking in their cars just minutes away from their house :eek::confused:. If we cant' wait to talk on in our cars how can we bear to be a days away from communication :D

 

The fact of the matter is that both business and personal life today is far different then even 5 years ago. Many professions today simply aren't going to be competitive without being on call 7x24. We've taken that behavior and put it into our daily lives, most of us that whether we need to or not!:rolleyes:

[MickeyGD]

Believe it or not my husband works sometimes on a cruise. We are self-employed & due to the nature of our work, have to touch base with clients and work on data, etc. to keep the project's due date. It's not so bad really, can't beat the views! DH made a comment to one of the bartenders on our last cruise in June(he asked why are you working?!?) that "he was working so we can do this!" Love him!

So, anyway, that's how we use our internet time onboard!

[DocM3]

I am contemplating taking my laptop with us on our Sept cruise - need to be in touch with family. Instead of lugging it around, is it difficult to get on a shipboard computer? and, can my family send e-mails to the ship and have them delivered to me - we were able to do this on the QM2 but don't know about Princess.

[gambit57]

I am contemplating taking my laptop with us on our Sept cruise - need to be in touch with family. Instead of lugging it around, is it difficult to get on a shipboard computer? and, can my family send e-mails to the ship and have them delivered to me - we were able to do this on the QM2 but don't know about Princess.

 

Friends did it on our honeymoon cruise. They sent a congrats note to the ship and it was printed out and tacked up to the front of our cabin door. It's not private and actually supposed to be only used for emergencies (we didn't know at the time). Plus, for non-emergency e-mails to the ship, I remember people reporting that sometimes they didn't get the message for a couple of days. Ours showed up a few hours after it was received (not exactly sure how long cuz we don't know when it was stuck on our door).

 

It's not difficult at all to get on the shipboard computer. Just use a internet based e-mail account like hotmail, yahoo, gmail, etc. I wouldn't use anything going through a vpn or something like that. Just the plain vanilla internet mail accounts. This is how we normally communicate if necessary.

[Quenby]

Hi DocM3/Betty :D

 

I'm taking my laptop with me on Sept 25 now that I can use my free internet package for my wireless laptop. I've done it twice on HAL and it's pretty easy. The advantage for me is that I can use my regular Outlook. I can download email in less than a minute and then log off the internet and read/respond.

 

The problem with the ship's computers is that you have to be online (and using minutes) while you do anything.

[hubofhockey]

You'll hear all sort of must have reason related to keeping daily communication line open; business, personal, etc. etc. With the advancement of technology we now all feel the requirement whether real or perceived to be available at any moment by email or cell phone. Just look around at all the people talking in their cars just minutes away from their house :eek::confused:. If we cant' wait to talk on in our cars how can we bear to be a days away from communication :D

 

The fact of the matter is that both business and personal life today is far different then even 5 years ago. Many professions today simply aren't going to be competitive without being on call 7x24. We've taken that behavior and put it into our daily lives, most of us that whether we need to or not!:rolleyes:

 

I am just happy to leave the blackberry at home. Those are the 24/7 devices that stay home. The laptops/internet is at most, 10 to 15 minutes a day when there's downtime. I will say that I'll call my parents to check in on them if I'm at a beach in St Thomas or other US port where cell phone use is free. Why not?

[chipmaster]

I am just happy to leave the blackberry at home. Those are the 24/7 devices that stay home. The laptops/internet is at most, 10 to 15 minutes a day when there's downtime. I will say that I'll call my parents to check in on them if I'm at a beach in St Thomas or other US port where cell phone use is free. Why not?

 

 

Good for you! I heard a great story from a co-worker that recently got the crackberry. He was raving all about it. It went something like this...

 

"Instead of going to the study to respond to mail in the evening, I can take care of it as real time, at the dinner table or when I'm watching TV when I get an email I can just take care of it. Makes for more family time."

 

And i was like, that was an improvement, somepeople have left all prospective in the trashcan :eek::D

[WeBeGone]

I take my laptop, and in the comfort of our suite, write my daily "journal/travelog" entries. When finished, I email to friends/family, and when I get home, print out my writing for the scrapbook. Sure beats trying to summerize a long cruise at the end.

[Tak8]

I miss a newspaper. By using the Internet, I can go to USA Today and keep up with the outside world.

[mtaylor04]

I manage the finance department of a large company and need to be able to make financial transactions for the company.

 

I also like to check in with the kids on occasion

 

I have yet to spend all the "free" internet I get for being platnium

[DocM3]

Hi Queenby - I will probably take my laptop - It is a Dell Inspiron 9300 so it's quite large and heavy to carry - however, aside from keeping in touch with family, I do like to use it to keep my "log" and also to clear the pictures from my camera. I'm still not sure where I will be able to use it though,when I need to connect to the internet, if there isn't wifi around the ship ?????

[OuiOnboard]

Just spent $100 on our 12 days Celebrity Galaxy Mediterranean cruise for the 250 minute (plus 50 minute Celebrity Elite bonus pkg.) to keep up with business matters(which is why and how we afford to cruise), check at-home family status and monitor future cruise related issues.

The fee helped us really appreciate our Princess Elite internet pkg. :D

[Quenby]

Hi Betty - mine's the Inspiron 6000 -- I refer to it as the "anchor". It weighs about 3X my son's laptop. It will work in the internet cafe and the atrium area - maybe out on the promenade too. It's my understanding that the Island has wifi. On the HAL ships it has worked very well in my cabin. This will be my first time taking it on a Princess ship. :cool:

[WWCJR]

Hi Betty - mine's the Inspiron 6000 -- I refer to it as the "anchor". It weighs about 3X my son's laptop. It will work in the internet cafe and the atrium area - maybe out on the promenade too. It's my understanding that the Island has wifi. On the HAL ships it has worked very well in my cabin. This will be my first time taking it on a Princess ship. :cool:

 

Yes, The Island Princess does have WiFi. last summer on our Alaska cruise they were expending the locations that it could be used and on that week it would only work in the Horizon Court and not in and around the Atrium. I am sure that they have that worked out by now. The packages of minutes were also available to use with the WiFi.

[MaryPoppinz]

Why on earth would I choose another cruise? .

 

I must have misunderstood when you said you wanted to put that all aside for awhile.

[mehitabel]

I must have misunderstood when you said you wanted to put that all aside for awhile.

 

I believe you must have! That's okay though.

 

What I meant was that I, personally, am looking forward to putting it aside. If the cruiser next to me is wired to the eyeballs, it bothers me not a whit.

[chipmaster]

Hi Queenby - I will probably take my laptop - It is a Dell Inspiron 9300 so it's quite large and heavy to carry - however, aside from keeping in touch with family, I do like to use it to keep my "log" and also to clear the pictures from my camera. I'm still not sure where I will be able to use it though,when I need to connect to the internet, if there isn't wifi around the ship ?????

 

Looking and editing pictures is a favorite of mine too.

 

My only tip would be NOT to clear the cards. These days the cards are so cheap it is both easy and cheap to have enough flash cards to cover anything but the professional photographer. I general download, look, edit and leave everything on the cards till I get home. There I backup everything then clear the cards. Things have been know to crash HD, especially laptops.

[we2cruze]

The internet is the least expensive way to keep in touch with our kids when we cruise without them. When they cruise with us I usually never even figure out where the internet cafe is located.

[woodofpine]

Some of the 'rationales' are amusing and bizarre...

 

Emergencies at home... As if you can do a thing about it...

 

Check my investments... Trading on vacation - or not... spare me.

 

And the BEST - I manage a large financial department and have to work...

- either your employer treats you like crap... or,

- you've 'managed' to eviserate your staff's capability to operate in your absence... something's very wrong there (the myth of indispensibility).

 

In my life there's never been (a) generation(s) so completely disconnected in their 'connectedness'...