Can I use my ipad on the ship?

[Poulsbo Cruisers]

Has anyone tried using the Kindle Fire? I would rather not bring my laptop and I could read my email on the Fire if it worked okay.

[OhioDogLover]

DH took his ipad on the Ruby late February-March. He had a great wifi connections all over the ship and all the time. No probem. When we got back, Princess sent us an email saying that they were trying some new kind of system which was supposed to work better. We did not know about that at the time and thought we were just getting decent service. It wasn't as good as at home, of course, but it was pretty good. I hope they implement whatever they had on Ruby for everyone every cruise.

Ohiodoglover

[Tralynn]

I have 3g + wifi and I'm wondering if I will be able to use my ipad on the ship without incurring additional costs? What has your experience been with using your ipad on the ship?

Nope. You'll still bounce off the ships system, (there are no cell towers at sea) so you will have charges. Your cheapest bet may be to purchase wi-fi minutes from the ship and use that instead of 3G.

[billco]

Does anyone realize the first post was March 7, 2011 and that there have been two more models of the iPad released ? I doubt if the OP is seeing the responses to her question.

[Amster12345]

Anyone used wifi on the Diamond recently?

 

Sent from my Verizon Rezound using Tapatalk 2

[mochuck]

What i would like to know is apart from the ship's costs does you provider charge you extra if you are outside of your home country?

[Doug R.]

I have heard that because the nook color is an lcd screen, it's difficult to read in direct sunlight. But maybe people with one, can give you a better idea. That's only what I've heard.

 

Reading something in color such as a magazine is extremely difficult. I had no trouble reading books.

[caribill]

What i would like to know is apart from the ship's costs does you provider charge you extra if you are outside of your home country?

 

For a wifi connection, no.

[Mary Ellen]

Even though the OP probably isn't interested anymore, others may still want information. I was on the Emerald recently with a friend (elite level, using her free minutes) and we had planned on using my iPad for keeping in touch with our husbands who stayed home. Unfortunetly, since I have the latest iOS on my iPad, I was told by the Internet guy that it was incompatible with the Princess wifi system. He said that if I was running on an earlier iOS that I could have used the iPad, but something with the recent iOS 6 was phooey. He hoped Apple would fix the problem in a future update. :rolleyes:

[Coral]

Even though the OP probably isn't interested anymore, others may still want information. I was on the Emerald recently with a friend (elite level, using her free minutes) and we had planned on using my iPad for keeping in touch with our husbands who stayed home. Unfortunetly, since I have the latest iOS on my iPad, I was told by the Internet guy that it was incompatible with the Princess wifi system. He said that if I was running on an earlier iOS that I could have used the iPad, but something with the recent iOS 6 was phooey. He hoped Apple would fix the problem in a future update. :rolleyes:

 

Apple did post an update last week to cover some wifi issues (iPhone 5 and iPad Mini).

Edited December 26, 2012 by Coral

[LARGIN]

No update on my IPad... V6.0.1

[Coral]

No update on my IPad... V6.0.1

 

v6.1 will be out soon :)

[LARGIN]

v6.1 will be out soon :)

 

Thanks Coral.. Hopefully by the end of February.. :)

[DMRick]

That's interesting because others are saying you need to download the latest ios, to use the ships wifi..and so last night I d/l the latest. Guess I'll slep my netbook too, just in case.

[WarEagle76]

I used my Ipad 3 every day last week using v6.0.1 with no issues at all on Ruby.

[hillslife]

I used my iPad..no issues on the Golden...except for the slow Internet...but that is not the iPads fault:(. I never take my laptop anymore. If you do have an issue, you can always use the Internet cafe computers. But I always carry my iPad off the ship and try to log on where ever we go...I have found free Internet in many unusual places!

[satxdiver]

Even though the OP probably isn't interested anymore, others may still want information. I was on the Emerald recently with a friend (elite level, using her free minutes) and we had planned on using my iPad for keeping in touch with our husbands who stayed home. Unfortunetly, since I have the latest iOS on my iPad, I was told by the Internet guy that it was incompatible with the Princess wifi system. He said that if I was running on an earlier iOS that I could have used the iPad, but something with the recent iOS 6 was phooey. He hoped Apple would fix the problem in a future update. :rolleyes:

 

Welcome to the world of the Apple proprietary system which sometimes is out of sync with the rest of the WiFi world. As they say in the computer industry, that is an undocumented feature! The inability to connect was present at first release but supposedly was fixed with a later release.

[satxdiver]

I got curious and did a google on the Apple problem. I worked in IT for decades and we ran Microsoft and UNIX so no Apple products in this house. However back to the problem. You can find more info on the WiFi bug in AOS 6.x.x here:

 

http://www.macworld.com/article/2021314/apple-releases-ios-6-2-with-wi-fi-fix.html

[nellydean]

Yep, I understand that some folks need the connectivity for business...but I wonder how long before you walk out on the deck of a ship by the pool to find everyone connected to their iwhatever.

 

May the age of connectivity go on forever...can I get an amen!

 

I'm all for peace and quiet and lack of technology whenever possible, especially on holiday, but we got caught out in the Iceland volcanic eruption four years ago and were stuck in Turin, trying to get back to the UK. It took us until 3.30 in the morning to book Eurostar train tickets from Paris to London (the train from Turin to Paris is another story again!), using the hotel's dodgy internet service, which kept stopping every 20 minutes and having to be reconnected (at more cost, obviously) and, by the time we eventually managed to book tickets, only the most expensive ones were left, so it cost us nearly £1,000 to get home (and 2 and a half days, via Paris), of which we only got a couple of hundred back from the airline.

 

With all the stress and cost that caused, I swore I would never be in that position again so, next week, we board the Emerald Princess with two smartphones (and my old one, just in case!) and a brand-new new ipad.

 

Can someone please update me as to the way it works on the ship? We have the wi-fi version. Having only ever used ships' internet cafes before, I have no idea whether we can use our phones/ipad as normal, or, whether we have to buy some wi-fi from the ship, so any information gratefully accepted (I'm still trying to figure out how televisions work!).

 

Many thanks.

 

ps sorry for bumping a very old thread, but it popped up when I searched the subject

Edited May 22, 2014 by nellydean

[Grannycb]

It is too expensive to use the phones on the ship. As to using an iPad, the Internet Cafe will have instructions to connect and disconnect. Pay close attention to disconnecting properly. You can buy packages of Internet minutes to get lower rates. Sometimes there is a special bonus for buying the first evening of the cruise. Tip: Compose your emails off line, sign in to download new email and send your composed email, then disconnect. It takes about three or four minutes of Internet time.

[nellydean]

It is too expensive to use the phones on the ship. As to using an iPad, the Internet Cafe will have instructions to connect and disconnect. Pay close attention to disconnecting properly. You can buy packages of Internet minutes to get lower rates. Sometimes there is a special bonus for buying the first evening of the cruise. Tip: Compose your emails off line, sign in to download new email and send your composed email, then disconnect. It takes about three or four minutes of Internet time.

 

OK, many thanks. So, to summarise, I can't just take my ipad onboard and get free wi-fi? :) Presume that is the same as the hotel I am staying in in S.ton beforehand, because they buy their own wi-fi and you have to connect to theirs, so have to pay?

 

Am I getting the hang of it yet?!

[CCFC]

You can go to princess.com for free which has some news and other sites for free, they used to let you send an ecard from the ship too but I'm not sure if that is still the case, see you next Sunday! :D

[DavidTravels]

You can go to princess.com for free which has some news and other sites for free, they used to let you send an ecard from the ship too but I'm not sure if that is still the case, see you next Sunday! :D

Hi:

We were on Emerald in September and Ruby earlier this month. You have to buy or use your free internet minutes (if Elite or Platinum). You don't get it free even with WI FI I PAD. We only used the internet cafe to print out our boarding pass for the flight home.

I found we could use the IPAD anywhere...we used in on deck, in our room, on our balcony and in the International Cafe. To set it up you can log on anywhere and just follow the directions.

We were able to send free e-cards from the princess.com free site.

 

BY the way....I was born in Southam/Warwickshire. Where are you located?

DavidTravels

[CCFC]

Hi:

We were on Emerald in September and Ruby earlier this month. You have to buy or use your free internet minutes (if Elite or Platinum). You don't get it free even with WI FI I PAD. We only used the internet cafe to print out our boarding pass for the flight home.

I found we could use the IPAD anywhere...we used in on deck, in our room, on our balcony and in the International Cafe. To set it up you can log on anywhere and just follow the directions.

We were able to send free e-cards from the princess.com free site.

 

BY the way....I was born in Southam/Warwickshire. Where are you located?

DavidTravels

 

Not far away, Coventry, but I hate to call it the West Midlands, seems so 70's :)

[peety3]

I have 3g + wifi and I'm wondering if I will be able to use my ipad on the ship without incurring additional costs? What has your experience been with using your ipad on the ship?

The answer to your first question is NO. The answer to your second question is that my iPad served as a great way to show our tablemates some samples of the pictures we'd taken so far on the cruise, and as a great way to read a book or play a game so I could fall asleep.