Ipod question

[gullcruiser]

Can I use my Ipod on a Princess cruise? How do I get connected or would it be best to just use their computers? Thanks for your help.

[C&F]

I'm not sure what you mean by connected. Do you mean to be able to connect to I Tunes? If so, their computers would probably not be able to accomodate that as you can't download software onto their computers. They are really for surfing the net, and checking email etc..

You can get an inexpensive wall charger and plug that in to recharge the battery. You can also get the cable in Radio Shack that connects to the connections in the front of the TV and play it through there.

We bring along a travel I Pod alarm clock. Great as an alarm clock, stereo, and charger all in one. I cannot leave without my I Pod!!

Hope this helped.

F

[cruiserjanet]

If it's just for charging up the iPod, I too take a wall charger and charge my iPod up that way. I don't know if you can plug it into a Princess computer as I have never looked to see if there is a USB port for use.

[chipmaster]

Can I use my Ipod on a Princess cruise? How do I get connected or would it be best to just use their computers? Thanks for your help.

 

You are free to listen of course :D

 

If the ship has wifi you can connect if you want to pay the fees thru your own computer or if you got a TOUCH thru its built in WIFI

 

If you are thinking connect thru the shipboard computer thru the USB forget it. You'll as the OP said need to buy a AC plug adapter. You can find them for 10-20 bucks: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5750794

[MiddleEarth]

Can I use my Ipod on a Princess cruise? How do I get connected or would it be best to just use their computers? Thanks for your help.

 

I will assume that you are asking about an iPod Touch. The iPod Touch has WiFi built in and can connect to WiFi networks. (The iPhone can use the same WiFi software to connect but you would probably want to disable the data connections over 3G cell networks... roaming charges for data will ream you seriously.)

 

I recently used an iPod Touch on board the Azamara Journey transatlantic cruise from Barcelona to Miami. I will further assume that Princess provides and allows WiFi access similarly to Azamara.

 

We used the Touch for all our e-mail (Apple's Mail for iPod) and some web browsing (using Safari) and some other apps from the App store (weather forecasts for both upcoming ports and back at home).

 

Just a warning however. If you are using any device to connect to the the internet and do e-mail, you will want to use SMTP mail services with a real E-mail client rather than using a webmail service like Hotmail or GMail.

 

Using Mail on the iPod allows you to check and retrieve your e-mail in about 2 minutes connection time after which you can log off the WiFi network, compose your reply off-line and then log back on to transmit your messages.

 

I do not know what Princess's policy is toward supporting Apple, Macs, or other devices. Azamara doesn't support Apple Mac or iPod/iPhone but they can be used very effectively.

[CTGirl]

I took my IPod touch and my laptop with me on the Emerald. The IPod worked quite well and was very useful because I could do a quick check (just see if I got any) of my emails without carrying around the laptop. When I wanted to read the emails, I would use the laptop. I found it much easier on my poor old eyes to read the emails on the laptop than on the IPod.

[madjohn]

MiddleEarth, love the handle.

 

John

[satxdiver]

Cell phone service on Princess is provided by Maritime Communications Partner AS (http://www.mcp.com). The service is called CellAtSea. This is a different provider than what Carnival, Royal Caribbean and others use. Go to their website to send them an inquiry about what they support and the cost. It will be billed back through your cell phone provider.

[gullcruiser]

Just a warning however. If you are using any device to connect to the the internet and do e-mail, you will want to use SMTP mail services with a real E-mail client rather than using a webmail service like Hotmail or GMail.

 

Thanks for the information. Yes, I do have an ipod touch and will have my adult children explain what you wrote!

Could you tell me, however, why I can't use gmail on the ship.

Thanks for your time, I really appreciate it.

[MiddleEarth]

you will want to use SMTP mail services with a real E-mail client rather than using a webmail service like Hotmail or GMail.

 

The reason I suggest that you don't want to use a webmail service is that you can't collect your mail, log off, read the message off line, compose responses and then log on to quickly send them and log off again.

 

Think of it this way... with web based e-mail, you walk down to the post office, open your mailbox and the envelopes, read the letters and while standing around the mailbox, compose your replies, address them and walk over to the counter to buy stamps, and hand the outgoing messages to the mail clerk at the counter. Then you walk back home.

 

With a "real" mail client (like the one on your iPod Touch, or your computer (eg: Mail, Entourage, Outlook or Eudora), its like having home delivery. You call the mailman for the mail to be delivered to your mailbox, you hang up and within 2 minutes, the mail is there for you to read and process at your leisure. After you written any responses, composed new messages, you call the mailman to pick it up, he collects it, tells you that you have no new mail (or immediately hands you any new messages that may have arrived.) Again the elapsed time is 2 minutes.

 

Here's where my analogy gets a little "Canadian Winter" on you... :)

In the first case, imagine that the walk to the post office, and the whole time you are there reading and writing replies etc., and the walk back home the temperature is -15 degrees ($0.65 per minute.)

In the second case, the mailman charges you $0.65 per minute because he had to endure the 2 minutes each way of -15 degree weather.

 

Ok.. This was fun...

 

If gMail provides you with an option to set up Mail on your iPod (or other mail client software on some other device) you should try to get those settings for your device. Precise details for setting up emails are beyond the scope of what I am prepared to do here.

 

However... if you go to http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1385 you should be able to get full instructions to set up the iPod Touch for Mail

[gullcruiser]

Thanks MiddleEarth, I'll contact apple and go from there!