Macbook specials

[mbsilk]

I noticed near the end of a short cruise a deal that if one buys a Macbook on board one of the perks was unlimited net access while on that cruise. While we were not in the market on this cruise we might consider a purchase on a longer cruise. This is a deal that would allow my other half to work while cruising and may be the difference between going and not going. How often does the CC conglomerate come across a deal like this?

[Chunky2219]

I noticed near the end of a short cruise a deal that if one buys a Macbook on board one of the perks was unlimited net access while on that cruise. While we were not in the market on this cruise we might consider a purchase on a longer cruise. This is a deal that would allow my other half to work while cruising and may be the difference between going and not going. How often does the CC conglomerate come across a deal like this?

A word of caution for you.

 

On a recent cruise, I considered buying some Apple products, including an iPad from the on-board Apple boutique. I fired up the internet, checked the prices on land at home and they were massively cheaper. If I had only had the sense to buy what I needed when we docked in New York I would have saved even more.

 

Celebrity pricing might be much cheaper, but in my expereince no amount of free net time would make up for the cost difference.

 

My advice - check prices before you go and make an informed decision once on board.

.

.

[tfrcal]

A word of caution for you.

 

On a recent cruise, I considered buying some Apple products, including an iPad from the on-board Apple boutique. I fired up the internet, checked the prices on land at home and they were massively cheaper. If I had only had the sense to buy what I needed when we docked in New York I would have saved even more.

 

Celebrity pricing might be much cheaper, but in my expereince no amount of free net time would make up for the cost difference.

 

My advice - check prices before you go and make an informed decision once on board.

.

.

 

That is odd as Apple is pretty serious about controlling the prices on its products. It usually does not matter if you buy from Wal-Mart or Amazon, the price is the same. Sometimes a retailer will throw in a small gift card, $20 or so, but the price of the product is the same.

 

Apple accessories, it can make a difference where you buy but generally not with the core product line (there may be some exceptions for educators, students, etc.).

[mbsilk]

Understood. These prices were in the same $100 band we found on land before leaving. The added value of $200 or so for the net may be enough to swing the decision. Thanks for the feedback.

 

 

y2219;31700552]A word of caution for you.

 

On a recent cruise, I considered buying some Apple products, including an iPad from the on-board Apple boutique. I fired up the internet, checked the prices on land at home and they were massively cheaper. If I had only had the sense to buy what I needed when we docked in New York I would have saved even more.

 

Celebrity pricing might be much cheaper, but in my expereince no amount of free net time would make up for the cost difference.

 

My advice - check prices before you go and make an informed decision once on board.

.

.

[Lsimon]

Another word of caution: While you might avoid sales tax by buying on board you are still responsible for paying customs duty if you exceed your aggregate family allowance. Don't even think of not reporting on board purchases on your customs form as customs requests a list of all large sales from the ship when they dock. Customs will be expecting you and will not appreciate it if you do not report the purchase to them.

[FrankinPA]

Another word of caution: While you might avoid sales tax by buying on board you are still responsible for paying customs duty if you exceed your aggregate family allowance. Don't even think of not reporting on board purchases on your customs form as customs requests a list of all large sales from the ship when they dock. Customs will be expecting you and will not appreciate it if you do not report the purchase to them.

 

How did you find out about this? :confused:

[chipmaster]

Who cares about the little savings, who wants to waste their cruise time surfing on the pitful speed of sea internet :D

[NJ Fred]

Please proceed with caution when considering the purchase of electronics on a vessel or in a foreign port.

 

Many products up for sale can be what is called "gray market." Oftentimes, warranties on gray market goods are not honored in the USA. Gray goods are always lower priced and, thus, attractive. But it can end up being the worst money you ever saved.

 

Even with an Apple product, remember that there is no "store" to go back to. That "store" is somewhere in the ocean.

 

In the words of coffee merchant John Arbuckle: "you get what you pay for."

[Charles4515]

How did you find out about this? :confused:

 

This is true. The onboard stores are obligated to, and do report purchases to customs. If you buy electronic or jewelry items over the $800 allowance customs will be expecting you. If you don't report you may be arrested.

[Charles4515]

Please proceed with caution when considering the purchase of electronics on a vessel or in a foreign port.

 

Many products up for sale can be what is called "gray market." Oftentimes, warranties on gray market goods are not honored in the USA. Gray goods are always lower priced and, thus, attractive. But it can end up being the worst money you ever saved.

 

Even with an Apple product, remember that there is no "store" to go back to. That "store" is somewhere in the ocean.

 

In the words of coffee merchant John Arbuckle: "you get what you pay for."

 

The Apple products sold on Celebrity are authorized. They are not grey market.

[Lsimon]

How did you find out about this? :confused:

 

Several years ago my DW bought a relatively expensive necklace on board. When I went down to pay duty (they usually have the customs guys in a conference room early disembarkation morning so you can take care of this ahead of time). They checked my name off a list of on board purchases which they said was supplied to them by the cruise line.

 

I guess I'm just presuming that it would be a bad thing to have your name on the list and not report the purchase. But it would seem easy enough for them to follow up on any non-reporting people when they later got off the ship and presented their custom declaration forms and ID credentials later in the day.

[Wolfie469]

That is odd as Apple is pretty serious about controlling the prices on its products. It usually does not matter if you buy from Wal-Mart or Amazon, the price is the same. Sometimes a retailer will throw in a small gift card, $20 or so, but the price of the product is the same.

 

Apple accessories, it can make a difference where you buy but generally not with the core product line (there may be some exceptions for educators, students, etc.).

 

Not necessarily. I bought a MacBook Air for $850.00 from MacMall on ebay. I thought that was a good buy.

[Leeroy-Jenkins]

That is odd as Apple is pretty serious about controlling the prices on its products.

 

Correct.

[Chunky2219]

That is odd as Apple is pretty serious about controlling the prices on its products. It usually does not matter if you buy from Wal-Mart or Amazon, the price is the same. Sometimes a retailer will throw in a small gift card, $20 or so, but the price of the product is the same.

 

Apple accessories, it can make a difference where you buy but generally not with the core product line (there may be some exceptions for educators, students, etc.).

Prices now for IPad 2 64GB - UK official £559, Well known New York discount store $699 = approx £449 at credit card exchange rates. Difference =19%. That's the store our butler told us about, after he'd bought some goodies himself on-shore.

 

My usual UK on-line store for computer goods has a price this morning between the two but a the lower end, includes delivery. That's an official Apple product with a UK contact that I can berate if anything goes wrong.

 

Price on board Queen Elizabeth, if I remember correctly, was somewhere upward of the $800 mark, the New York discount store was substantially lower than today's price at the time.

 

My last iPod came from a supermarket, delivered to my door. Saving over "official" price - about 15%.

.

.

[Chunky2219]

Who cares about the little savings, who wants to waste their cruise time surfing on the pitful speed of sea internet :D

Apparently plenty of people on here seem to manage to put in a bit of internet time while at sea. Some of us must just be a bit more structured in what we do and acheive more in less time than you might. If you are one of the "one finger" brigade who can be seen grinding their lives away in the on-board internet cafe then I fully understand that it's not for you.

 

As for savings, see above. What I saved would have more than paid for my 4 hour internet package that lasted me 24 nights and would have also paid a (small) contribution to my wine bill.

.

.

[smtcan]

I have never seen iPads for sale on board a Celebrity ship. They have macBooks and iPods and the price seems to be equivalent to the US Apple Store price. Apple has a world wide warranty, so it makes no difference where you buy. I made sure of this when I bought one in UK after mine was stolen. With the VAT refund it was comparable with the tax added Canadian price.

My sister in law bought an iPad in China that turned out to be a 'knock off' and stopped working soon after she got it home. Since Celebrity is an authorized Apple Dealer there is no fear of this sort of thing happening.

Sheila

[antsnanny]

Who cares about the little savings, who wants to waste their cruise time surfing on the pitful speed of sea internet :D

 

Actually the internet on the Silhouette is very fast and if you have an iPad or iPod you can sign on, wait for your messages to download and sign off, It took mine about 2 or three minutes. This allows you to read your mail when your not logged on.

[Lsimon]

Seems like every time I buy a new computer (not all that often) the first thing it wants to do is check the software and download a bunch of updates and other things to set itself up. I'm not sure how well this would go if done on a cruise.

[mluzzy1]

Another word of caution: While you might avoid sales tax by buying on board you are still responsible for paying customs duty if you exceed your aggregate family allowance. Don't even think of not reporting on board purchases on your customs form as customs requests a list of all large sales from the ship when they dock. Customs will be expecting you and will not appreciate it if you do not report the purchase to them.

 

We exceeded our customs allowance this morning by 1900.00. The duty we paid was 56.00. less than 3% overall. The first 1000.00 over was1.5%.

[Leeroy-Jenkins]

If you don't report you may be arrested.

 

Untrue.

[ORDMan]

So if the prices onboard are the same as from Apple, do they charge sales tax?

[DeltaOne]

Seems like every time I buy a new computer (not all that often) the first thing it wants to do is check the software and download a bunch of updates and other things to set itself up. I'm not sure how well this would go if done on a cruise.

 

True, but easy enough to delay getting the updates until one was connected to their home (broadband) Internet connection.

 

I would never buy an expensive item like a computer, tablet or smartphone on a cruise though. Or a camera. Much better to buy at home where I can do research, check pricing -- and become familiar with the device before leaving on vacation. Vacations are for fun and relaxing -- not updating and learning a new gadget.

[Charles4515]

True, but easy enough to delay getting the updates until one was connected to their home (broadband) Internet connection.

 

I would never buy an expensive item like a computer, tablet or smartphone on a cruise though. Or a camera. Much better to buy at home where I can do research, check pricing -- and become familiar with the device before leaving on vacation. Vacations are for fun and relaxing -- not updating and learning a new gadget.

 

I agree. That is good advise. Don't buy a computer on vacation. That is if you are from the USA. I say USA as people from some countries have more limited options on pricing and shops.

[TLCOhio]

So if the prices onboard are the same as from Apple, do they charge sales tax?

 

Saving sales tax is one of the pluses for buying on the ship. BUT, as correctly noted, there's a need for some serious research and thinking for what fits your exact personal needs. On the Solstice in June, there were not any major "specials", but we found the staff to be very knowledgeable and helpful.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Back from a June 7-19 Solstice cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Enjoyed great weather and a wonderful trip. Dozens of wonderful visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc., on these postings. We are now at 53,229 views for this live/blog re-cap on our first sailing with Celebrity and much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474