Hairdryers and voltage on NCL Spirit?

[clover_cruiser]

Seeing as the ship was originally built to cater to the Asian market, I was wondering if this has an effect on electronics onboard the ship? I’ve already heard that the onboard hairdryers aren’t the best so I was hoping to bring my own from home as well as my beloved hair-straightener. Will I need an adaptor? What is the voltage limitation onboard?

[Scoop_MSU]

You have a couple of options - first off, you should definitely bring a power strip. There is one 110v plug to use for it and works fine for charging phones, ipods, etc. As to the hairdryer/straightener - the hairdryers really cause a big problem. Would work in the power strip better than the onboard dryers but try not to tax it. The other option is to just go buy another one that has the euro plug adapter for it (the two round type plugs). Then you could use it fine in the other outlets on the boat.

[Toyz711]

walmart has a international blow dryer with dual wattage? anything over 1500 could blow the power to your cabin and surrounding cabins. OR get the adaptor.

[somfitily]

Better yet, go to a Radio Shack store and buy their multi-pack power converter. Contains all types of prong configurations in one package. Costs about $20. We were on the Spirit and it came in handy since there are a lot of 220v outlets, but only one 110 volt outlet

[tallsuse]

This may be a dumb question....but are you saying

 

1. If I buy the converter (i.e. at Radio Shack) that my 1875 watt dryer will work fine or am I still at risk for taxing the outlet?

2. Regarding the dryer from Walmart, or the like, is it as powerful as an 1875 watt dryer?

 

The reason I ask is I have VERY thick hair and the regular hotel/cruise ship dryers don't dry it worth a flip. I'm wondering if I'll just be going around as a wet-head for the whole cruise. :)

 

 

Thanks,

Tallsuse

[canada_cruiser]

I found the hair dryer on the spirit to be fine. I have long curly hair which I blow dry straight each day and I did not have a problem. I also plugged my straightener (I have a Chi) directly into the plug and didn't have a problem with that either.

[NoPiratesPlease]

NCL has a policy of no passenger-owned heating devices--irons, coffee pots, immersion heaters, or hair dryers because of the fire hazard. I don't know if this applies to rechargable curling irons or hair curler units--my wife doesn't use them on board, preferring to let the salon do that if she wants it fancy. There are dryers in every cabin.

[nolaAlive]

The outlet in the room is labeled 110 volts/500 watts.

 

Maybe they are fibbing, maybe not.

 

There are a couple of non-US outlets that don't list wattage.

[IWORK2CRUISE]

1st time on Spirit I didn't bring my own blower and did not like the blwoing machine ing the bathroom.

 

Had no problem using an 1875 blower a few years ago on our 2nd voyage.

[Don Haynes]

Buy a new dual voltage hair dryer, just about every store carries them. It will be good for American 110 outlets for your home as is. For the ship use the European 220 oulets using a European/American adapter, so the hair dryer can plug into the European 220 outlet. If you use your American hair dryer, you will overtax unsafely the 220 gauge wiring, most likely by blowing the circuits. Ohms law: E =I x R

 

The ship was built for the Asian market by Star Cruises with smaller 220 gauge wiring for the 220 outlets. When the ship was moved to the American market half of the outlets, one of the two in each cabin were converted to American 110 outlets. Its simply a matter of switching the plastic outlets. However, the ship still contains her smaller 220 volt wiring, which is impossible to replace unless you are willing to pull half her wiring. 220 volt wiring carries sufficient current with smaller gauges, whereas 110 volt wiring requires larger gauges.

[clover_cruiser]

Thanks for all your replies folks. I decided to play it safe and bought myself a fantastic Conair-Sport hairdryer. It's tiny, international/dual voltage, packs easily and yet only cost me a mere $10 at Zellers. I also managed to pick up an a cheap adaptor.

 

To my knowledge, anything that's under that 120v/500W limit should be okay to use in the American outlet (I.e. my hair straightener should be fine). If I want to use a more powerful hairdryer, I switch it to the other voltage option and use the european adaptor so as to no overtax the system. Did I finally get it right? LOL

[nolaAlive]

I think Clover is as close as possible and Don missed the boat a little.

 

It looked to me like the 110 was added as an after thought, true. However, there were 3 outlets in our cabins.

 

I suspect: there are several cabins connected on each 110 circuit; the 500 watts is a suggestion, not a limit; and a 1875 dryer *might* work, as long as 2 or more cabins don't attempt to use at the same time, or it will be time to call an electrician to reset the breaker.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am a professional - your mileage may vary. :p

 

[Don Haynes]

With 2000 passengers aboard the ship, I never assume I am the only person using a hair dryer. Its the hair dryers that use lots of watts or current. Just about everything else uses less than 500 amps. And yes, there are several cabins per circuit, so someone could get away with using a wattage hair dryer......that is when no one else is using one nearby. But if someone else is, the circuit is blown, a huge inconvenience for everybody on that circuit.

 

Buy a dual voltage hair dryer, they are available and not expensive either, and use the 220 outlet with an adapter. Its the European double pole round adapter.

 

While the Spirit has a 110 outlet, the reason for the low current remains her 220 smaller gauge wiring which don't carry the current as US 110 wiring.

 

However, 220 volt hair dryer doesn't use or need the high current of a 110 outlet hair dryer.

 

Back to Ohms law. Voltage equals current times resistance. Since both hair dryers have the same resistance, the electric heater, a hair dryer that uses more voltage doesn't need the higher current.

[nolaAlive]

With 2000 passengers aboard the ship, I never assume I am the only person using a hair dryer. Its the hair dryers that use lots of watts or current. Just about everything else uses less than 500 amps. And yes, there are several cabins per circuit, so someone could get away with using a wattage hair dryer......that is when no one else is using one nearby. But if someone else is, the circuit is blown, a huge inconvenience for everybody on that circuit.

 

Buy a dual voltage hair dryer, they are available and not expensive either, and use the 220 outlet with an adapter. Its the European double pole round adapter.

 

While the Spirit has a 110 outlet, the reason for the low current remains her 220 smaller gauge wiring which don't carry the current as US 110 wiring.

 

However, 220 volt hair dryer doesn't use or need the high current of a 110 outlet hair dryer.

 

Back to Ohms law. Voltage equals current times resistance. Since both hair dryers have the same resistance, the electric heater, a hair dryer that uses more voltage doesn't need the higher current.

 

If they really did that, they must not be too concerned with safety or codes. Hopefully they are using suitable circuit breakers and not pennies or

 

to complete the circuit.

 

As an Electrical Engineer, I know for a fact it is really Ohm's observation, and not a law at all. But I digress...