DSLR on DCL and Castaway Cay??

[cobbler]

I would really like to take my DSLR with me on our upcoming cruise. But I am concerned about theft, damage and the like.

What concerns me the most is taking it to Castaway and having sand damage or not being able to enjoy the water because I obviously don't want to leave it in a bag unattended.

Have any of you taken your cameras on the cruise? What did you do? How did it turn out and are there any recommendations??

 

[Quicklabs]

I took mine. When we were out snorkeling, I wrapped my camera up in a beach towel and placed it in my beach bag under a bunch of other stuff. I don't know what I could have really done if someone wanted to take it. But I was thrilled with the pictures I got on the cruise. We took about a thousand of them.

 

[Jeanne B]

I would absolutely take your dSLR with you on the cruise. The cruiseship really isn't that far away when your docked at CC...you could always take the camera with you in the morning, spend some time taking pictures before going in the water and then run it back to the ship. I've done what the previous poster has done but there is a certain amount of risk with that and it's important to be discreet about hiding the camera in case anyone is watching (it's a rare occurence but I have read about people having stuff stolen on occasion at CC). We also have a Canon p&s with an u/w housing and our first time at CC we only used the p&s and it was with us all the time, in and out of the water.

 

[SueInBoston]

I've always taken my cameras on DCL. CC is beautiful especially the bike path. What I did with my DSLR when I'm playing in the water is I put in my backpack and lock both end of the zipper with a small lock, then I use a retractable cable combination lock and thread the cable through both end of the zippers again and wrapped the cable around the beach chair a few times. Then I lay our clothing and towels over the backpack. This method won't stop a real thief with a cutter to cut through the bag but will stop any casual walk by and take thief.

I've secured my stuff this way on all my vacations on cruises, carribbean, Mexico and in hotels. So far so good, but I do plan to look into the pacsafe bags, those bags will resist cutting.