Do you bring your laptop with you on a cruise?

[2Bnºoºt2B]

Yup ... always bring a laptop along with us while travelling -

• Helpful for airline web check-in ... for changing seats, upgrades, possible itinerary changes and so forth ... getting email updates re: flight changes/delays etc
• Googling, mapping, making reservations, surfing the Internet for up to date information that we need for the destinations that we are in
• Receiving email updates affecting our travel plans ... important email updates from home or elsewhere
• Loading up photos from our camera to see how they look like - full size
• Etc ...

Quite a bit of it can be done via your mobile phone or on a free and available computer terminal at your hotel if available. But it is much easier to do a lot of things on a laptop. I don't like a lot of the mobile apps that the websites offer - harder to type and complete tasks on a tiny screen and keyboard - more secure and private than using a public terminal (I use VPN). The Surface Pro offers the best of both worlds - tablet for watching movies on the plane if the on-board entertainment bores ... and a laptop when you need it ... and this from a guy who is "Apple" loaded - lol ...

 

[FigmentSpark]

I wonder if a laptop would suck up your internet faster than a phone/tablet?

Good points about mobile apps not being as easy to navigate.

 

[firepuppy]

We do not take the computer. I have several large memory cards and keep changing them out. One of my rules is no phones out of the safe once we start dropping the lines in port on the first day. We will get them out on the last day. I know this may be silly but we need to put it away and enjoy our time on the cruise.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I wonder if a laptop would suck up your internet faster than a phone/tablet?

Good points about mobile apps not being as easy to navigate.

I don't think so, but I'm not very tech-savvy. I do know on the laptop we have to turn off all the MB-eating features.

 

[anricat]

Ditto what some others have said. We bring our smaller laptop (11-inch MacBook Air) with us to back up photos and also I like to start writing my trip reports - or at least outline them with notes if I have some down time on board or on the airplane. Sometimes it's nice to just relax in the room at the desk and write.

 

[cgolf]

Thank you. When we were onboard May of 2015 they had the internet cafe area AND a baby play area right near it but it may have changed since then. When we saw it we also said "wow that's new". It was fine until some older kids took it over and were throwing things across the promenade lounge.

MJ

If you know someone cruising soon, have them check it out, it is possible that a computer or two is still there. The baby play area was definitely in the area the internet cafe used to be, I just never walked over to check it out. So my assumption could be wrong that they did away with the internet cafe. Do you know if the navigators list it? I did upload all my navigators, on here. I could go back and look.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

If you know someone cruising soon, have them check it out, it is possible that a computer or two is still there. The baby play area was definitely in the area the internet cafe used to be, I just never walked over to check it out. So my assumption could be wrong that they did away with the internet cafe. Do you know if the navigators list it? I did upload all my navigators, on here. I could go back and look.

There is no more internet cafe on the Magic, and I'm suspecting that it will be gone on the Wonder soon. There is an internet desk there, usually staffed with someone to help you with tech questions.

You are correct that it's now a toddler play area, with a closing gate on the Promenade Lounge side.

 

[Neptune's Fork]

One of the best things about the week was once you sail out and hit the seas you're pretty much disconnected, and it turned out to be a wonderful week. Very refreshing.

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

Yes and No. I bring it with because we are always in WDW first and I just happen to have it with me, but I do not even come close to using it. When we do the TA next year, I was thinking about not even bringing it but as we are backpacking Europe first, I just may bring it along for internet cafes and the like.

 

[FigmentSpark]

Good points about bringing a laptop to use on the land portion of a trip.

 

[2Bnºoºt2B]

I wonder if a laptop would suck up your internet faster than a phone/tablet?

Good points about mobile apps not being as easy to navigate.

Sorry ... should clarify ... laptops are great for the land portion of a trip for sure. While on a cruise though, I rarely if ever, use it now. On several of our past cruises, I did get the Internet package ... but it can be such a hassle ... SLOW Internet speeds ... keeping track of your minute usage ... making SURE you do a proper log-off otherwise there goes your minutes just like that. Same with the cell phone - Airplane mode and turned off except when in port when I do a quick check of texts etc. Some people do use the laptop to post day by day trip reports of their cruise ... you just draft it on MS Word, go onto the Internet, post it and respond to any questions, then off it goes.

It is nice to be not tied down to the World Wide Web ... time is better spent standing at the aft of the ship watching the wake left behind as you cruise into paradise ... or scurrying around the ship doing your best Remy impression (Ratatouille) of sampling all the yummies available - lol ...

 

[dcassetta]

DH does - he has to work...
he pays for internet and works....(24/7/365)....

This post made me sad. Everyone deserves time off from work.

 

[SillyInventor]

The current packages are no longer by minute, but by MB, so no hassle needed. You still have to sign out, to prevent background refreshing of apps and updates!
We bring our phones and iPads. No laptops, not needed and only adding weight to our air luggage. We like to post pictures on FB during the trip, so our homefront can enjoy our trip with us. This was really great when we did a real-time report on our PC crossing!
Some banking things can be handy to do on the iPad and not on the smaller phone screen. Otherwise: staying as low as possible and enjoying the cruise.

 

[Jess_S]

I don't bring mine. Not having a laptop discourages people from expecting me to handle non-emergency "emergencies" at work. Once I say, "I can help you with this, but first I have to find an available computer in the internet cafe," many things that needed to be handled right away magically turn out to be things that can wait. My husband does bring his laptop sometimes. He writes novels in his spare time and likes to have the option to write available on vacation.

I don't miss my laptop at all on vacation. To the extent possible, I also try to disconnect from my phone.

 

[Love2Cruz]

I bring my iphone and ipad for pictures. I sometimes log on to FB to keep in touch with family.

 

[Cheerio]

I bring mine as well, so helpful to upload photos on.

 

[FigmentSpark]

Does anyone bring their laptop to use as a plug source for their other electronics?

 

[Disney_Princess83]

I know most of us will have a phone and maybe a tablet of some kind, but what about a laptop? Do you bring one with you on a cruise? If so, what do you use it for? If not, have you missed it for any reason?

We have at least one laptop with us as we are from Australia and staying in the US for an extended period. On the cruise, we rarely use it. We use it to back up photos from our cameras/phones, check email a few times and listen to music in the room.

 

[Quellman]

Does anyone bring their laptop to use as a plug source for their other electronics?

I wouldn't bring a laptop just for that purpose. Lots of brands make USB hub chargers. Kind of like an multi-outlet. Here is a generic LINK.

 

[Maddysdaddy]

I do. I respond to emails and work before my wife and daughter get up in the morning and after they go to sleep at night. I also carry around my work phone, but try to only check it every hour or so during the day. If I didn't work/respond to coworkers & clients while I was on vacation, I likely wouldn't have a job to come back to.

The biggest problem with the laptop while on board is that the internet is so spotty and slow, that logging on to Citrix to access my network at the office is an exercise in frustration, so it requires a lot of emailing back and forth of documents to get what I need, as opposed to logging in and quickly accessing it.