Poll: How do you use computers at sea?

Carnival Dream is set to debut in September, and with it the line will introduce its brand-new "FunHubs" program. In lieu of the traditional Internet cafe, 36 stations will be spread around the ship. Each one will offer access to the Web (for fee), as well as free use of Carnival's new ship-specific social networking setup and what basically amounts to a digitized version of Carnival Capers (daily ship program with activity lists, sample menus, shore excursion info, etc.). Got us thinking: How do you use computers at sea?

Vote in our poll! And as a secondary question, what do you think of a social network that encompasses one ship for the length of one cruise?

I use my laptop a multiplicity of ways. I upload my pictures, edit and caption so that when I get back to my ISP I can shoot them to my Kodak Gallery right away. I keep a journal daily, which I then post on an internet cruise forum daily (not Cruise Critic). I check email and another cruise forum. EM

On my last trip I used the Internet Café to find another cruise to book onboard.

I download all my pictures from the digital camera to my laptop. I do some editing and start building Powerpoint Presentations with the pictures. I also check email, sports, investments.

On my last trip I used the Internet Café to find another cruise to book onboard.

Same line?

I'm one of the "other" folks. I have a business so bring my laptop and daily check email, update/process orders as well as download photos each day to my laptop from my digital camera. I use between 15-45 mins a day depending on business is. I sometimes am on twice if a very busy time.

I journal a little about what we did each day, which I use in the scrapbook I make from each cruise. I also download pix.

 

Vote in our poll! And as a secondary question, what do you think of a social network that encompasses one ship for the length of one cruise?

No No No!!!! I waste too much of my life on Facebook (and here on CC ;) ). I need a vacation from technology & status updates and constant minute-by-minute reporting.

Our next cruises will have us gone for almost three months straight.

Since we do not have a personal CPA, we still have the responsibility of paying our bills in a timely manner. I've managed to set up "auto" pay for the major items (mortgage, car payment, etc.) but there are items that we

have no idea "how much" the bill may be.

I've got "almost" everything set up as "e-bills" that are sent to my e-mail address and paid thru our on-line banking system. Those items that I may have missed, a friend will check our mail and scan any bills and send them to my e-mail address.

Hopefully, everything will be handled in a timely manner.

I could not think of any other way to handle this matter. If someone has a better idea, please let me know.

I check e-mail more than a couple of times but not every day. Unless DH brings his laptop I go to the Internet cafe.

I like to check my email to see how my business is doing and if there are any issues I need to sort out.

I don't bother with stocks and shares, mine are worth very little currently nor do I have time for facebook and the likes during a normal day. I miss cruise critic but catch up when I get back, the servers and the sattelite connection are too slow to do anything but email. An intranet onboard a ship may be different in terms of speed though but only for pages served from the server onboard not subject to outside connection. The Carnival hubs may be quite quick but I am unsure of their purpose other than to waste more time and push more promotions for this and that at people.

We write and publish to our website while we cruise. It started as a place for our grown kids to follow us and it has become a fun place for both family and friends to follow us.

Store and organize photos as we go, occassionally check email or send an update home to family, and sometimes do work - I know but my DH's job doesn't just stop because we go on holidays! Oh yeah, we also bring DVD's and sometimes the kids watch one in the cabin!

What is Face Book?

I check into my home bound flight and print our boarding passes.

I check into my home bound flight and print our boarding passes.

That's all I do as well. RCCL gives past crusiers ten free minutes and that is all I need!

I check into my home bound flight and print our boarding passes.

Same for us. We print the boarding passes and that's it. I figure my e-mail can wait until I get home.

For a couple of cruises, I did take my own laptop and did "Live" reports -- spent a fortune -- $400 worth of minutes inspite of the fact that I wrote off-line and then just copied and pasted. The internet was so bad that I wasted minutes trying to get on.

Stopped doing that.

Now if I want to check something -- I use the internet cafes in port.

I sold, serviced and gave tech support for computers for years until I retired. Even now I am online most of the day. But come on, get a life. Leave the computer home. With so much to do on a cruise who needs to check in everyday? Are you really that important? Now don't get all bent out of shape, I'm just yanking your chain. Have fun, enjoy everything you do, that's how to have a good life.

using internet on a ship. I check a few times while in port and it's always less than $5 and a lot faster than on board. As for photos, I have 4 1 g cards that will store everything I need and don't transfer them to the computer until I get home. Watching some people on board at the computers makes it seem to me like they have to keep in touch to prove they are alive. It's the same with people talking on cell phones as they walk around different ports, not noticing what they are missing. How sad.

What is Face Book?

A social networking site :D

I use my Blackberry for the occasional email checking, although this cruise we'll probably check more as my mom is staying with our 17 month old son.

We have enough storage on our memory cards for the camera that we don't worry about loading them to a computer until we are home. But we do go through the pictures each night to delete some.

Otherwise, I'm on vacay and technology can take a break for a while!

Last cruise I used the internet for checking a few emails that I was awaiting responses on... and for checking in for my flight. I wonder if these terminals will have access to a printer or if a portable printer and laptop will be the way to go now.

I use my computer to download video and photos. I take time to delete the bad ones and do whatever enhancing I need to the pictures. Then, I create a daily travelogue, drop in some photos, create a PDF and save it to my thumb/flash drive. In port I find a internet cafe, create an email for my "cruise group" (the group of email addresses I want to send to which I set up before sailing), attached the PDF from my thumb drive and send. I write very little in the body of the email - just a quick note because the travelogue updates tell it all. This may sound complicated to some, but I have a journalism background and currently work in graphic design so doing this is like breathing to me. Actually, the key is the thumb drive - small and convenient - no matter how you create your messages.

I check into my home bound flight and print our boarding passes.

Ditto, if I'm flying home. And that's absolutely it for me. I am on vacation, and for our family, that truly means vacate - work, email (both home and work), etc. can wait until we get home. As we sailed down the Mississippi from New Orleans on the Fantasy last week, we spotted this guy:

While we did this:

Guess who was having more fun? One of my greatest hopes is that my children are learning these habits from us.

I don't, but DH does. He has to be online for an hour every weekday morning to move money, etc. His company does pay for internet charges on the ship and hotels. And he's up early and has done his internet thing usually before I'm up. He usually comes back to the cabin while I'm getting ready.