Need Advice on Taking Laptop

[CecilCtyCruiser]

We are scheduled to travel on the Maasdam next month, and have discussed taking our laptop with us but we have a few questions. In particular, is it safe? I believe it is too large to fit in the room safe, and we are leery of leaving it out in the room. We are wondering how others have handled this situation, and if you had any trouble.

 

Also, is wireless internet available on the ship or while in port, and what is the charge?

 

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give!!

[Candy]

We are scheduled to travel on the Maasdam next month, and have discussed taking our laptop with us but we have a few questions. In particular, is it safe? I believe it is too large to fit in the room safe, and we are leery of leaving it out in the room. We are wondering how others have handled this situation, and if you had any trouble.

 

Also, is wireless internet available on the ship or while in port, and what is the charge?

 

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give!!

Wireless internet access is offered on the Maasdam in the Atrium area on decks 7 & 8, Java Café, Internet Café, Explorer’s Lounge, Library, and Card Room. You can connect 24/7 for a one-time charge of $3.95 +

• 250 minutes for $100.00* (only $0.40 per minute!)
  
• 100 minutes for $55.00* (only $0.55 per minute)
  
• 33 minutes for $25.00* ($0.75 per minute)
  
• Laptop Rental $20 per day. Wireless Radio Card Rental $10 per day (rental insurance optional)

Please Note: Wireless Time Plans and Internet Café Time Plans are not interchangeable between systems. * Pricing is subject to change

 

Stateroom dialup is offered only on the Vista class ships. We usually take the laptop and post daily "Live from...." via dialup because we can write all the messages and then connect for a short time only to send and receive. We have found the stewards and other attendants quite trustworthy, so we always leave the computer open on the desk and nobody has ever bothered it.

 

Candy <-- not booked, and not happy

[bepsf]

I always leave my laptop out on the desk and it's been perfectly fine.

 

The locks record whose keycard has been used to access your stateroom for the past 100 days - so the staff can fairly easily learn who's been in your stateroom if there is an issue.

[dougnewmanatsea]

I used the wireless network on ROTTERDAM this past August - we had very dodgy satellite reception in the Baltic (apparently a trouble are); to be fair they were very nice about it and refunded a lot of free time to my account. The wireless network itself worked perfectly, strong signal all over the place even in many areas that weren't designated hotsposts.

 

I left my notebook out on the desk in the cabin and had no problems. At some point they will probably fit safes that hold notebooks (hotels do this) but I have never had anything stolen from my cabin and don't know anyone who has either. As Brian points out, with the fancy "Big Brother" technology on today's ships, if anything untwoard were to happen, it would be pretty easy to figure out who did it.

[Atomica]

Anyone have any experience using a Mac laptop wirelessly on the ship? I'm thinking about bringing my iBook with me on the Oosterdam in February - normally I'd never bring my laptop, but it'd sure beat trying to play 'type as fast as you possibly can before your Internet minutes run out!".

 

I doubt it'd be problematic, but I've never really tried it, either!

[TidePrideGA]

We left our lap top out on the desk the whole time - no problems. I would have trusted Yakim impicitly!

 

Not sure about the other ships, but we only used our laptop to clear the cards on our camera. I found it much easier to use the Internet Center for online time. I bought the 100 minute package and never had any trouble getting on (Western Caribbean). If you're only planning to use it for going online, you might want to consider that.

[dougnewmanatsea]

Anyone have any experience using a Mac laptop wirelessly on the ship?

I don't (wish I did, but I'm chained to Windows because I use Windows-only software), but I saw a lot of people using iBooks and PowerBooks with no problems.

[Crazy]

Thanks for this information. I am sailing tomorrow and taking my MAC.

[Atomica]

I don't (wish I did, but I'm chained to Windows because I use Windows-only software), but I saw a lot of people using iBooks and PowerBooks with no problems.

 

That's awesome, thanks so much for the info! I figured it wouldn't be a problem, but you never know. I am looking forward to being able to dump all my digital photos straight to iPhoto instead of keeping them all on my camera :D

[kkelle17]

Stateroom dialup is offered only on the Vista class ships. We usually take the laptop and post daily "Live from...." via dialup because we can write all the messages and then connect for a short time only to send and receive. We have found the stewards and other attendants quite trustworthy, so we always leave the computer open on the desk and nobody has ever bothered it.

 

Candy <-- not booked, and not happy

 

Which ships are included in the Vista Class? We are going on the Volendam in March. If stateroom dial up is offered we would consider taking our laptop. Thanks.

[TnTom]

I am aware of the rates for WiFi and Internet Cafe use, but what are the charges for using the in-room dial-up ports? I don't recall seeing that anywhere. Normally "ship-to-shore" telephone rates are incredibly high.

[Candy]

Which ships are included in the Vista Class? We are going on the Volendam in March. If stateroom dial up is offered we would consider taking our laptop. Thanks.

Zuiderdam (my fave)

Westerdam

Oosterdam (Mr. Deering runs a fine hotel!)

Noordam (2006)

 

Candy <-- not booked and not happy

[BCEagle78]

When I have brought my laptop, I have locked it in the drawer under the nightstand which is beside the bed. There is a key for this drawer which I used during the cruise. When not in use, the laptop was out-of-sight and secure.

[crystal808]

Aaron:

 

I've taken my Powerbook on all my cruises so far, and the only "problem" I've encountered is that you normally must use Internet Explorer for your initial sign-on. After that, I open Safari and am good to go.

 

Hope that helps!

Paul :)

[Candy]

I am aware of the rates for WiFi and Internet Cafe use, but what are the charges for using the in-room dial-up ports? I don't recall seeing that anywhere. Normally "ship-to-shore" telephone rates are incredibly high.

50 cents per minute, no packages available. I prefer this way because I...

• don't have to drag the thing around the ship
  
• don't have to sit near an outlet (lousy battery)
  
• can compose emails and CC posts on the fly and connect for just a short time to send/receive
  
• can check Fantasy Football scores
  
• can download photos and burn 'em for new friends before the cruise is over

Candy <--not booked and not happy

[CecilCtyCruiser]

Thanks to everyone for the information! Like always, you are a great group of people always willing to help out! Looks like we'll be packing our computer along with everything else, but it will really help us to have it along.

[kakalina]

We leave our laptop sitting on our desk with a slide show running of all our cruises and classic rock and roll playing low. Our stewards have told us that they love it and really enjoy looking at the pix. We've never even thought about safety in our cabin, where would someone go with it, they could search the entire ship and find it by the serial numbers. So enjoy your cruise and download your daily pix with no worries.

[RevNeal]

Anyone have any experience using a Mac laptop wirelessly on the ship? I'm thinking about bringing my iBook with me on the Oosterdam in February - normally I'd never bring my laptop, but it'd sure beat trying to play 'type as fast as you possibly can before your Internet minutes run out!".

 

I take my powerbook with me for photo download, management, and editing. I also use it to type up my reports ahead of time and answer e-mail off line, and then I get on to upload everything. Saves a GREAT DEAL of money over using the ship's terminals and drafting while online.

 

No connection problems, and I didn't have to use IE to access the first time ... Safari worked great last year, and this year I'm using Firefox and it worked well too. No problems.

[kryos]

We left our lap top out on the desk the whole time - no problems. I would have trusted Yakim impicitly!

 

Not sure about the other ships, but we only used our laptop to clear the cards on our camera. I found it much easier to use the Internet Center for online time. I bought the 100 minute package and never had any trouble getting on (Western Caribbean). If you're only planning to use it for going online, you might want to consider that.

I rarely bring a laptop on any cruise, but will be bringing one along next month on my 30-day itinerary. However, the laptop I'm bringing is my old one ... and it's the only one I bring onboard ship. It does not even have a wireless card. I use it not for going online, but for doing other work ... such as writing and bar review studies, and whatnot.

 

Since the battery in it only holds about an hour's charge at this point, I leave it plugged in on the desk in the stateroom at all times. Never had a problem. Of course, it's probably not a machine that would be attractive to most people to steal. I got it in like 1997 or 1998. :)

 

Unlike a hotel, where employees turn over so fast, I don't think you have to be concerned so much about theft on a ship. The cabin stewards are stuck there for at least the duration of the voyage. They're not gonna steal something that could bring the wrath of their supervisors down not only on them, but on the heads of all of their co-workers.

 

You're pretty safe keeping the laptop in your stateroom. Though, as someone else mentioned, if all you need it for is getting online, I would probably just use the computers in the internet cafe and save myself the trouble of lugging the thing through airport security.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[cruisingagainsoon]

Could someone tell me what the wireless availability is on the Oosterdam, if it's only a one time charge of $3.95 to connect 24/7 then I'll bring my laptop. thanks

[Kabana]

The charges are per minute, they have packages (I think the biggest package is 250 min for $100).

[LAFFNVEGAS]

We are scheduled to travel on the Maasdam next month, and have discussed taking our laptop with us but we have a few questions. In particular, is it safe? I believe it is too large to fit in the room safe, and we are leery of leaving it out in the room. We are wondering how others have handled this situation, and if you had any trouble.

 

Also, is wireless internet available on the ship or while in port, and what is the charge?

 

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give!!

 

The last time I took my laptop was on the Maasdam when I did my live reports. I have always left my laptop out on the desk with no problems, I also have my camera set up to upload pictures to the lap top. We had a Verrandah Suite while on the Maasdam and we were not able to get any WiFi connection in our cabin but from the Verrandah deck we were not that far from the aft stairs and I just walked down one flight and I was right at the library where I uploaded the reports I had wrote. It actually was pretty easy. The easiest was when we were on the Westerdam in a S Suite I was able to connect to internet in our cabin. The signal was not at the 5 bars but was quite strong. I did not take my laptop on our last cruise on the Oosterdam since we were going to be in 5187 corner aft and I knew there was no way I could get a signal in the aft cabin and it would be quite a walk to haul the lap top to where I could connect. I had said I would definitely take my lap top when we returned to the Oosterdam in Feb. because when I said that I thought we would have the cabin across from the Neptune and I knew we would have a signal but....we changed cabins and are having our aft 5187 again. So I have decided NOT to bring my lap top. This will be a totally relaxing cruise and I plan to do NOTHING:D

 

Just a note I really enjoyed posting from the library on the Maasdam, the veiw of New England was so great looking out the library windows while on the interent.

[K&RCurt]

There is some interesting information on this thread which contradicts what I was told while on the Westerdam.

 

We brought along my laptop and were told by the folks in the internet center that the data ports in the staterooms were not connected and that we had a choice of the wireless connection, or using the computers in the internet center. Some on this thread indicate otherwise, that they were able to access the internet from the stateroom. I chose the wireless option and, as luck would have it, was able to get a nice strong signal out on our veranda. I read and compossed email off-line and only connected to send / receive as well as to check out weather for our next port and info on flights home.

 

I also left my laptop out in the room, either plugged in charging on the desk or sitting on the coffee table. Never had an issue.

 

It was great to have in order to download photos from our cameras and also play DVDs on the trip down and home, either on the plane or waiting through airport delays.

[formercruisestaff]

Anyone have any experience using a Mac laptop wirelessly on the ship? I'm thinking about bringing my iBook with me on the Oosterdam in February - normally I'd never bring my laptop, but it'd sure beat trying to play 'type as fast as you possibly can before your Internet minutes run out!".

 

I doubt it'd be problematic, but I've never really tried it, either!

 

One of my friends who worked as stage crew on the O used his ibook all the time. He had UP (deck 4) room.

[FoxyTerrier]

I've never taken a laptop on a cruise with me, but when traveling for business or pleasure on land I take my laptop cable and lock.

 

You get can get a laptop lock at any computer store or best buy. Or even easier on-line.

 

Just a thought if you are worried.

 

Joni