For the first time in 2010, I left town without my laptop… and mostly stepped off the grid. Fortuitous timing I suppose, as the NY Times recently suggested that digital downtime is good for the brain. And while I did savor about 5 days of R&R, several at sea, you know I wouldn’t leave town completely tech-free.
When we last cruised in 2008, Kindles ran about $400 — too rich for my infrequent reading blood. Not to mention fear of water or sand damage and theft made it a somewhat impractical proposition. But the dynamics are entirely different at $139. Of course I don’t want my Kindle stolen, but at this price point I had little problem tempting fate and leaving it on the beach while snorkeling. Plus, I took a page from Mrs. GeekTonic’s book and used a Ziploc bag to keep the e-reader sand and water-free when ashore. In our stateroom (above) and other areas of the ship, I obviously had no need to sully the Kindle with plastic wrap.
Another change this year is how the iPhone handles ‘airplane’ mode. Two summers ago, disabling the cellular radio also meant disabling WiFi. Fortunately, nowadays you can independently toggle WiFi – which comes in handy when traveling abroad. So we purchased 60 minutes of shipboard satellite-based Internet service at 40 cents/minute to keep up with email (and maybe I sneaked a peek at Engadget headlines). But, in the end, we only used about half of our allotted time.
Earlier this year, I dropped the Sony DSC-WX1 in favor of a DSC-TX1 Cybershot variant for more accurate/realistic color reproduction. And I’ve been relatively pleased with its performance, despite not really enjoying fiddling with a touchscreen camera interface. I’d say about 2/3rd of our trip photos were taken with the Sony, while the rest were taken via iPhone(s). The best camera is the one you have with you. Although, for the second time this summer I was bummed that I didn’t have a waterproof digital camera of some sort with me. I’ve been meaning to pick one up for some time, but haven’t yet pulled the trigger. Which is kinda ironic as I’m always recommending Kodak’s waterproof Flip-esqe PlaySport.
It was also good to leave the work Blackberry at home with the laptop.
Two years ago we were on Royal Caribbean, while we road Norwegian Cruise Lines this time. Sadly (?), Internet service was much better two years ago. Is that because less people were connecting or something different between service providers? Also, the max rate 2 years ago was 55 cents/minute, whereas on NCL it was 70 cents this time. Hm.
The ship’s gym was pretty cool. Most of the cardio gear had water views and a personal television – like other televisions onboard, it offered three channels via satellite (CNN, Fox News, ESPN) and various rotating movies. Unfortunately, instead of keeping up with college football ESPN was playing US Open coverage seemingly 24/7. Ah well. ;)
As for the waterproof camera, check out the Panasonic lineup. After the wife broke two digital cameras, one by smacking against a rock, I decided to get a Panasonic TS1 which is shockproof and waterproof. Best investment we’ve made as the wife can do whatever to it and it won’t break! There is a new TS2 our which I belive adds freezeproof. You can typically find these for around $300. Also shoots HD video.
Yeah, I’ve mentioned the TS1 a few times. Glad to get a personal endorsement though. I think I was a little reluctant though based on noisy images I had from a previous Lumix and I can’t recall if the TS1 brings up a picture preview immediately after taking a pic…? Also something about the HD video not working in iTunes or older iTunes. Hm. But it’s true, I’d rather have a waterproof camera that does HD video versus a waterproof video camera that does (lower res) stills.
Let me check the settings, but I believe you can do instant review of the image without having to go into the “play” menu. As for video, you can shoot in both AVCHD Lite (which is hard to work with on a Mac), or use the Motion JPEG which is more compatible with the editing tools. The advantage of AVCHD Lite is the storage space you will save compared to the Motion JPEG.
I wish Apple would allow users to enable the GPS receiver on the iPhone when in airplane mode. As it is now, if the phone is in airplane mode, GPS functionality is disabled.
The only way to use the GPS functionality of the phone overseas without risking getting charged for incoming calls (since the charge occurs regardless if the call is answered or not) is to remove the SIM card.
Pretty sure one has been able to turn WIFI back on while in APM. I have done it at least since March 2008, while in Chile. Been doing this for several years in order to use the iphone for skype while abroad and for quick email.
Morac, ah – that explains why I couldn’t get a lock for Facebook Places when I was at sea.
tivoboy, were you jailbroken? On my summer ’08 cruise I could not do it. (Which pre-dates Skype…) I believe I did remove my SIM back then – maybe you did the same? Then again, maybe there wasn’t WiFi and I didn’t try. Hm. Forget which update split the two.
Hey Dave, is that a butterfly on your ankle? ;P
John
We are taking our first cruise ever on our honeymoon in November. We are on the Norwegian Jade, hitting up palma de mallorca, barcelona, monte carlo, florence, rome, and naples. Let me know if you have any good NCL tips! I look forward to hanging out on the balcony with the nook too…
J4ydubs, It’s a Z… that was almost a L. Good thing I listened to the tattoo artist’s lessons on love back in 1994, as L is long gone. ;)
jon, Your cruise sounds far more interesting than ours – enjoy! I’ve only been on two cruises as an adult and don’t have many tips, but it’s easy to overeat if you’re not careful. I assume you’ll be in good shape without a power adapter/converter since most of the ships seem to service the US at some point.
Good article. I sent my wife off on her cruise (a polymer clay crafting cruise, hence the reason I’m home) with some of the same equipment. The Kindle is the only thing she didn’t have (it’s on order at the moment) but we’ll be all set for the next cruise.
I wish I were able to travel without the laptop :( But I doubt it will happen. Have a cruise scheduled for around the holidays and will likely take along the Lenovo X201 which is lightweight and the new Kindle will be coming along as well. The iPad will be left behind…
Yup, I’m with tivoboy. I’ve been turning Wi-Fi back on independently after putting my iPhone in Airplane Mode all along. It’s an important capability I wouldn’t want to be without, especially on Wi-Fi-equipped planes!
@Morac. Actually you can do GPS in airplane mode, you just need atleast ONE radio on for GPS to work, and it doesn’t have to be the cell radio. I work at a location with no cell coverage(nearest tower is 45 miles and 2 valleys away) but sitewide wifi. I can get GPS signal fine so long as wifi is enabled, but the second I turn off wifi it loses GPD signal.
tivoboy, MHA – I think iPhone 2.0 OS enabled turning WiFi on while in airplane mode (and was released the week after my prior cruise). Either that or my memory and Google aren’t as good as I thought they were.
@Dave B
GPS won’t work in airplane mode since that’s an FCC requirement (I believe). What the iPhone does is try to simulate GPS when you turn on Wi-Fi in airplane mode by using triangulation. It uses Skyhook’s Wi-Fi position system to figure out where you are, not the GPS receiver. That’s also why “GPS” works on the iPhone 2G despite not having GPS hardware.
You can test this out by going someplace remote where there are no Wi-Fi signals (or where the Wi-Fi signal moves such as a plane or ship). The simplest test is to take a picture with the camera. It won’t have any GPS tagged info.
For more info on Skyhook see:
http://www.skyhookwireless.com/press/skyhookapple.php
For how the iPhone uses it to track you see:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/23/technology/23iht-ptend24.1.9427665.html
I can’t comment one way or the other on the GPS being active in airplane mode, but Apple gave up Skyhook for their own solution:
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2010/07/30/skyhook-loses-a-big-fish-apple/
@Morac. I actually do work completely off the grid(remote minesite in AK). And with the wifi antenna on, even when I’m on the road into the site with zero wifi coverage it shows me exactly where I am at on 2 different GPS applications I have and updates it in realtime.
yeah, GPS doesn’t work YET without the phones radios on. Can’t get it to work in APM even with WIFI on. Skyhook MIGHT work, but without any nearby towers it won’t have any location data AND it probably needs the data network to get a lookup from the skyhook servers. Would be nice if they allowed it to work.
NOW, if one has their iphone jailbroken, one can hookup any number of bluetooth GPS devices and get data to the phone. then, applications like motion gps, and copilot and others which CAN or DO have local map data will function.
I dumped my kindle for my iPad. But the ziploc still comes in handy when I get on the boat though.
I don’t think we should be pressured to leave our media devices home just because we are on vacation. The fact is, most of us enjoy these devices, otherwise we wouldn’t have them. Obviously, there is a problem if you spent a whole cruise just glued to your laptop. However, checking your e-mail, your favorite websites, etc once in awhile on a trip is perfectly acceptable. I have left my devices home before, and it bugs me the whole trip because I don’t know what is going. For me, it is much more relaxing just to “check in” once per day, and then I feel I am up to date and can enjoy my vacation.