Kindle at Sea

[ridgecrest]

I plan to get my DW a Kindle for her birthday this July. We will be on the Freedom of the Seas August 14th. I'm still trying to learn about its capabilities. Besides being a great reading device for her, if I get the 3G, Wi-Fi model, will I be able to use it while aboard the FotS to send and receive email? Can you surf the net with this device? Thanks

[teajak]

I plan to get my DW a Kindle for her birthday this July. We will be on the Freedom of the Seas August 14th. I'm still trying to learn about its capabilities. Besides being a great reading device for her, if I get the 3G, Wi-Fi model, will I be able to use it while aboard the FotS to send and receive email? Can you surf the net with this device? Thanks

Great gift, we love ours,you will be able to download books with that model. Yes you may send and receive mail but will be charged the charge per minute to access the cruise lines Wi-Fi.That was the case in April.No problems reading but when I tried to access e-mail it gives you a notice you are entering a charge for service zone.

[popcicle]

I love my kindle, but I got the cheaper one with wifi, not 3G, because I figured I would have it loaded before I cruise on Freedom in March.....and I can usually find a wifi hot spot if I need to load something right now. I will be waiting to hear what others say about your e-mail question, for me it will be kind of nice to get away from the cell phone, face book, and email for a week.....yea, kind of addicted......on a side note I got a real nice zippered m-edge case for it and a skin to fancy it up a bit at the A company, not real impressed with the reading light so usually use my headlamp instead......great gift, your wife is one lucky lady......

[firstplacechef]

I have a 2nd generation Kindle and never had to pay when using the internet while cruising. It takes a little getting used to but sort of like texting. That said, I never tried to connect on sea days but only on port days. The past two cruises I was able to check email to see if there were any "fires to put out" and only answered those that I felt necessary as I WAS on vacation.

[BMT]

According to IT officer, on board it is 2G and Kindle is 3G.

 

I could only use it in port. Be interested to learn of anyone using it at sea.

 

I have problems with Hotmail freezing the Kindle, but Gmail is fine.

[nancronin]

I read a thread awhile back and it had so many answers to all my questions about Nook and Kindle - hope you enjoy it: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1281745

[chris153]

I plan to get my DW a Kindle for her birthday this July. We will be on the Freedom of the Seas August 14th. I'm still trying to learn about its capabilities. Besides being a great reading device for her, if I get the 3G, Wi-Fi model, will I be able to use it while aboard the FotS to send and receive email? Can you surf the net with this device? Thanks

We will be on the same sailing. I was wondering about the Kindle wi fi too. See you on board.

[mommabean]

I plan to get my DW a Kindle for her birthday this July. We will be on the Freedom of the Seas August 14th. I'm still trying to learn about its capabilities. Besides being a great reading device for her, if I get the 3G, Wi-Fi model, will I be able to use it while aboard the FotS to send and receive email? Can you surf the net with this device? Thanks

 

Yes the 3G model works for free off the ship's cell tower. The kindle will show GPRS rather than 3G. It is slow. But I downloaded a book sample to test it. With the experimental browser you can check a web based email account for free. It will be slow going though since you have no mouse or touch screen. It takes a bit of getting used to and patience.

 

The email that costs money is through the kindle mail account you will have. I wouldn't need it. I check my pop mail account for free from my iPhone with the free minutes from crown and anchor.

 

Gina

 

Gina

[jwolf2006]

On the Mariner in January, I could not get my Kindle 3G to work off the ships system. In port it usually worked fine getting some land based 3G connection.

[ridgecrest]

Thanks everyone for your input. Sounds like the unit has additional utility besides being an excellent reader. I will definitely pick one up for my DW.

 

firstplacechef - I hear you about vacation. My email need was primarily for me to rub it in with my son (24) and daughter (30) that they are home and we are cruising. Cruel, I know, but it will feel so good :)

 

popcicle - do you mean headlamp like the kind fishermen and cyclist wear? Have you tried any other lighting options?

[ridgecrest]

Nancronin - I thought that there was Kindle thread before. I did a search on Kindle and that thread did not show up. Thanks for the link.

 

Chris153 - Very cool. Did you sign up for our Meet and Mingle Roll Call? I hope so, as I look forward to meeting you. To be honest, we have about 80 days before our cruise and I am already wanting to pull out my suite case and start packing. We cruise every two years so I am ready to get out there. I'm driving my DW crazy :)

[popcicle]

Hey Ridgecrest, yea that is what I mean, I am a scouter in the bsa and it is a whole lot easier to maneuver in a tent with both hands free, basically just a small led light on an elastic strap. I did get the m-edge zippered cover and light that slides in the slot in the back of the cover but find I get a lot of glare and can't see the bottom of the page without adjusting the light. I like to have a flashlight with me anyway so it serves two purposes.

[Hoyaheel]

Hey Ridgecrest, yea that is what I mean, I am a scouter in the bsa and it is a whole lot easier to maneuver in a tent with both hands free, basically just a small led light on an elastic strap. I did get the m-edge zippered cover and light that slides in the slot in the back of the cover but find I get a lot of glare and can't see the bottom of the page without adjusting the light. I like to have a flashlight with me anyway so it serves two purposes.

 

Ditto. My dad has the light that plugs into the kindle USB but that takes too much power for me (I use my kindle almost only when traveling and don't always have access to power to recharge whenever necessary so I try to conserve where I can) Since I always travel with a headlamp (ever been stuck in a foreign hotel during a power outage? You'll start travelling with a flashlight too:p) The headlamp works great for reading and it's a multi-tasker - another great for travelling light. I have an led with 3 different lighting levels - I use a lower light for reading than I would for trying to sew a button on or making dinner.

[Putterdude]

I have the light that slips in the edge of the M-Edge case and have no trouble with reflection off the screen or reading the bottom of the screen; I only need to adjust the goose neck once each night when I start to read. I keep it at low power and have not had to change the AAA battery since early February which I find amazing. I just purchased the latest generation Wi-Fi model because with smart phones and laptops I couldn't see spending the extra money.

[barante]

You can always read your downloads anywhere on the ship without any extra charge. As for receiving and transmitting, yes, you can use your Kindle onboard -- but only in wide-open areas -- if there is coverage from a shore tower. On a recent trip from Rio to FLL, once we got past Barbados in the Caribbean we had a nearly continuous GPRS or EDGE coverage. It is free of charge; my 3G Kindle could not connect through the ship's system so I don't know what a previous poster had if he/she was able to do that at additional costs.

In ports that we visited, the Kindle connected with the local operator without any charge to us.

Much as I love my 3G Kindle, it is primarily an e-reader. While possible, surfing the web and sending/receiving e-mails within the coverage of a land signal is frustratingly slow and cumbersome. But, then, the ships' costly Internet also is slow. Also, the Kindle works with yahoo mail, but not hotmail. This is just one example of sites that are blocked). The CC board worked fine on my Kindle but was maddeningly slow, due to much-discussed CC slowness problems.

I pre-ordered a book on the Amazon which was automatically delivered to my unit when the book was released.

To repeat: On my trip on the Volendam it was impossible to connect the Kindle via the ship's system. Otherwise it was an amazing machine. But that only goes for the 3G Kindle; the low-cost wi-fi is intended for domestic use only.

[Underwatr]

This is just one example of sites that are blocked).

Probably not blocked, just incompatible with the Kindle browser.

[barante]

I apologize for my imprecise language. Incompatible. All in all, the 3G Kindle is an amazing piece of technology that undoubtedly will improve over the years. No idea about the capabilities of the Nook. That said, I would buy 3G Kindle for cruising.

[Quilcruisers]

If you decide to buy the wifi only kindle, just make sure all of your reading material is downloaded prior to sailing. You only need a connection to download. Once downloaded, the content is there forever, or until deleted.

 

I have books and magazines on kindle, iPad and games and things on my smartphone. I have no intention of connecting to the Internet whatsoever once the cruise leaves ft lauderdale. It will all be downloaded and ready to use.

 

Btw, I use books, mags, movies and music while cruising. I love my kindle wifi and iPad. Also, I subscribe to many email blogs and as long as they have been received in my phone, I can read them without an Internet or data connection.

[Bristol Pirates]

I have the 3G and found it quite useful to view emails, though the whole thing is a bit laborious, it does enable you to act on anything urgent. I think you would have to be a bit desperate to surf the net but it is possible. Used in the airport at Mombassa to view the current weather conditions in the UK (not that knowing them made any difference!) I bought mine last December and used it in Kenya very successfully.

On a cruise in March I made sure that I downloaded plenty of books in case I could not connect to 3G. It was as well that I did because the 3G function packed up, but really its much better to buy your books before you leave there is space to store thousands. Amazon replaced it very quickly on return to the UK.

When you are using it where there is not a chance of recharging make sure you turn off the 3G and wifi (they have to be turned off together) as wifi and 3G functions do drain the battery quite quickly. If used on an aircraft, you have to turn these off anyway.

Go for it, you can store books, pdf files and even have newspapers delivered.