Any GPSr Users Out There?

[alansfreed]

I'm one of those geeks who loves toys, like my GPS receiver. I was just wondering whether anyone else might have this quirk, and has marked waypoints for various points of interest in this region?

 

I'd be interested in receiving any coordinates that might be of interest in Cabo, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta as we head there next month.

 

If you're on the Legend of the Seas on 6/13, I'll be the geek on the top deck, saying things like "Wow! Only 137.55 miles to the next port!" Feel free to slap me.

 

Nordic Empress 10/91

Voyager of the Seas 9/01

Majesty of the Seas 4/03

Legend of the Seas

[CruiseCATnMACK]

We are GeoCachers and always take the GPS with us and a print out of a few near by caches. On our Pride cruise our time in port was spent on tours so no time for GeoCaching.

 

If you don't know about GeoCaching check out the following site:

 

http://www.geocaching.com/

 

CAT

 

Check out our cruise pictures:

 

http://community.webshots.com/user/mackncat

[alansfreed]

Yep... I'm an active geocacher as well... and I'm looking forward to checking out a few Mexican caches on our upcoming trip!

 

Nordic Empress 10/91

Voyager of the Seas 9/01

Majesty of the Seas 4/03

Legend of the Seas

[Splinter]

We always take a marine map(s) of the area where we are cruising. My dad is a sailor and takes along his GPS to be sure the captain is in the right spot! He plots our course for the entire cruise, which is more up-to-date and accurate than the ones posted by the ship. He looks up important landmarks that we will be able to identify before going and programs these into his GPS.

 

HA Constitution 1986

NCL Skyward 1988

Crystal Harmony 1992

Dawn Princess 1994

HA Independence 1995

Celebrity Zenith 1997

Grand Princess 1999

Regal Princess 2000

Crystal Harmony 2000

HAL Ryndam 2001

HAL Statendam 2003

RCI Vision of the Seas 2003

HAL Ryndam 2004

[D4]

Alansfreed: I want to be just like you!

 

I only know a little bit about GPS's but I've thought they would be really fun on cruises. (I'm not an outdoors person the rest of the year.) What kind did you buy? I should do some reading up on how to use them and get one before my next cruise.

[alansfreed]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>What kind did you buy? I should do some reading up on how to use them and get one before my next cruise.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

Wow -- not many people claim they want to be just like me!

 

I got a simple Garmin eTrex for Christmas in '02, and it's a nice starter. You see them all the time on sale around $99 (they're yellow).

 

I like that one a lot -- it has the basic functions that tell you your location within just a few yards... your speed, distance from points you've marked, etc.

 

This year I bought an eTrex Legend, which runs closer to $200, but has mapping capabilities. I use it in the car all the time. I can upload very detailed maps to it -- they have every little street very well documented, so I have NO excuse for getting lost!

 

I use it for geocaching (which is like a world-wide treasure hunt of sorts - www.geocaching.com as mentioned previously in this thread), and I use it on my own boat.

 

When we took a cruise last April, I took the eTrex along, and I found it interesting to know what speed we were going, direction, distance to the next port, etc. I'll be the first to admit that not everyone gives a hoot about these things, but I find it fascinating that I can sit on the top deck and have these statistics in the palm of my hand.

 

On that cruise, we were forced to miss Key West due to high winds, so we spent the day at sea. With the GPS unit I was able to see how we had passed Key West, and I could watch as the ship turned around (it wasn't otherwise obvious that we were turning around since there wasn't land around us).

 

Anyway... I really enjoy having it. The technology blows me away!

 

Nordic Empress 10/91

Voyager of the Seas 9/01

Majesty of the Seas 4/03

Legend of the Seas

[suziehmkr]

Hi alansfreed!! I will have to tell my DH! If we don't get our M & M set up, we will have to all meet up. If not, he will look for you with your GPS! He was watching a special on Discovery or something about geocaching.... he has a metal detector and used to go out all the time. Not the same as what you do, but all in all he finds it all interesting! See you in 3 short weeks!

 

Legend of the Seas 06/13/04

 

<font color=purple>Viking Serenade 6/1992

 

</font>

Roll Call Legend of the Seas 06/13/04 Click Here!

 

[D4]

Alansfreed: You must be back from your cruise now. I earlier said I want to be just like you and I still do! I've been busy, but I need to get a GPS book and then a GPS to get ready for my cruise.

 

Do you think the yellow $100 Etrex is good enough if I just want it for cruises? I saw the Etrex Legend on sale online for $150 which sounds like a good deal. It's hard to know what I might want to do in the future with a GPS. I'm not an outdoor person and my town isn't huge. But who knows, maybe I'd get hooked and find lots of fun things to do.

 

Did you find out any coordinates for the Mexican Riviera route?

 

Any advice is appreciated.

[Cruzor]

We are going to the Mexican Riviera next week and I'll bring my GPS. I really dont know how to use it very well. I have an etrex $200 unit (dont know exact model). Anyway, any tips on how to use it on the ship? Will it include Mexico maps?

 

Thanks.

[D4]

Cruzor: I'd love to hear any GPS tips you have after your cruise.

 

I decided to order the Etrex Legend online last night. Today I bought the "GPS for Dummies" book.

[alansfreed]

Just a couple other tips and notes as I'm thinking of them...

 

I had mentioned in another post that I would recommend getting rechargeable batteries (NiMH, or whatever they're called). I found them to be very helpful in general, but especially as I was keeping the GPSr on a lot during the trip.

 

You'll probably find that you'll have a hard time getting good reception in oceanview staterooms, but they work well on balcony rooms, and exceptionally well at the top of the ship.

 

The eTrex Legend worked very well for me on this trip. It has a built-in basemap that was sufficient for the trip. I'm not sure a detailed uploadable map of Mexican areas is even available (I have the USA Streets CD, or whatever it's called). I simply relied on the basemap for the ports, and it was good enough for that.

 

I used Microsoft Streets & Maps to locate a number of points of interest ahead of time, and I marked some waypoints from data I gleaned from that program.

 

On our Mexican Riviera cruise last week, the captain often came on the PA system and announced our current position, speed, etc., and I found it interesting to compare my own data to what he was saying -- and it was always right on target.

 

I've said it before... not everyone finds it interesting to know just where the ship is (most people are quite happy knowing that they're merely "in the ocean somewhere"); but I am amazed and fascinated by the technology of these gadgets, and I really get a kick out of knowing where we are.

 

On the way back to San Diego, for example, we were much closer to shore than we were on the way south. There were a few islands that were visible to us, and I recall hearing people debating what the islands could be. It was very easy for me to glance at the eTrex and see *exactly* what island it was, how far away we were, blah blah blah.

 

I had posted these coordinates in another thread, but I'll re-do them here in case they're of interest to anyone heading down to the Mexican Riviera. If anyone's interested in some of my other ones (Miami, Coco Cay, etc.), I'll be glad to dig those out, too!

 

Cabo's Tender Pier: N22 52.830 W109 54.510

Cabo Wabo: N22 53.035 W109 54.752

Mazatlan Pier: N23 11.600 W106 24.850

El Faro (natural lighthouse in Mazatlan): N23 10.654 W106 25.655

Senor Frog's of Mazatlan: N23 13.730 W106 25.841

Puerto Vallarta's Pier: N20 39.241 W105 14.527

[D4]

Alansfreed: Thanks for all your tips. I just bought rechargable batteries yesterday because I read GPSs go through them quickly.

 

My Etrex Legend is supposed to arrive by Weds, so I haven't used one yet. Please forgive my stupid questions. I'm intrigued by you saying you could tell which islands you were near. Does the basemap that comes with the Legend display a rough map with their names? Does it display its map of where you are all the time when it is turned on?

 

My cabin will be an oceanview so I'll just have to turn it on when I'm outside. Do I just mark a waypoint every once in a while so I'll be able to see where we've been?

[alansfreed]

I'm intrigued by you saying you could tell which islands you were near. Does the basemap that comes with the Legend display a rough map with their names? Does it display its map of where you are all the time when it is turned on?

 

The basemap automatically shows those details -- pretty slick, eh? I'm not sure how detailed the basemap is for overseas, but it's pretty good for North America. I keep the unit loaded with the more detailed maps of my home area, but it'll show Interstates and other major roads, towns, etc. on the basemap all the time.

 

No need to mark waypoints on the Legend to look them up later -- you'll see the details on the map as you're passing them!

 

I had marginal luck with using it in the oceanview stateroom, by the way. If I kept the unit right at the foot of the window (which meant balancing it above the bed, I believe), it would get a signal most of the time. It works a lot better with a clearer view of the entire sky, though.

[Nancy_Hawks]

Actually I'm not really one yet, but I ordered my Magellen SportTrek 4 weeks ago from Amazon and I still haven't gotten it yet. So much for free shipping.

I'll be going to the Caribbean in midAugust and I plan on taking my GPS unit with me. I'm hoping I'll be able to do a little geocaching while I'm on the islands.

[pnjkeith]

Lots of fun.

[CruiseCATnMACK]

Nancy, welcome to the adventure.

Mack and I recently purchased a Jeep to expand our GeoCaching abilities.