Laptop

[cousins]

Probably sounds like a stupid question...but here it goes...If I take a wireless laptop on the cruiseship can I email to home? Does it cost money to use or email?

[cousins]

Probably sounds like a stupid question...but here it goes...If I take a wireless laptop on the cruiseship can I email to home? Does it cost money to use or email?

[TrvlPro]

Yes and yes. You can bring the laptop or use the internet cafe, the ships computers. There will be charges for the card to access the ships wireless connection and then a charge for the minutes you use. A block of minutes goes fast and the cost can be pretty high depending on how much you buy.

Cheers, Neil

[cousins]

Thank you Neil!

[PA Steve Rocky Mount]

I'll add a bit to what Neil said...which is 100% right! They will let you use their internet for a fairly steep charge. And it's NOT high speed...takes a little bit! But they have drawings for free time...enter and maybe you'll get lucky. Plus at the opening night show they give away some time. But, with respect to your education, can you place a price on learning??? Have a great time!!

[PA Steve Rocky Mount]

Sorry...I just read your post again...there was someone else who wanted to check assignments from school. You want to check email. Sorry, forgot. It's the "3-week-before-cruise' memory blank that everyone gets because you're so preoccupied with leaving!! Am I right Neil???

[Larry in Miami]

The last time I used the on board connection the price was between 55 and 75 cents per minute depending on the plan you bought. Not cheap at all

If you are downloading/uploading big files it will often crash. For email and surfing the net it is fine.

[Dave]

I take my laptop along on cruises so I can post updates here, download e-mail, and do a quick check of a couple other websites.

The connection is never especially fast, although I had a pretty decent speed on the Holiday this past March - I'd say it was in the 256k range. But dropouts are common (you are dealing with a moving ship and satellites). Even by doing things smart - like writing my updates for this forum offline in Word and then doing quick copy/pastes to the message blocks - those minutes still pile up quickly. The cruise lines actually like people who bring their own laptop since you quickly leave their access page and are in your own familiar surroundings (your homepage, etc) and will tend to forget about the time you are using since things will seem like you are at home on your wireless broadband service.

[TrvlPro]

You're spot on Steve. Although my memory seems to blank a lot lately and my next cruise isn't until Sept.

Cheers, Neil