On the Ship and On the Grid

Day 10, Grand Asia 2017

Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2017 – At Sea

When I started cruising about 25 years ago, there was no Internet at sea. Phone calls from the ship cost $16 a minute, as I recall. I never called anyone at that rate. I liked being out of touch, particularly with the office. And that huge corporation seemed to survive just fine without my input for a week or two.

During the past 12 years, however, I frequently have worked an hour or so a day for clients while on a cruise. It pays the bills and doesn’t take too much time. So I am accustomed to buying Internet time and know the tricks to keep its use to a minimum. Email is easy. Just pop online from the laptop, download new messages, go offline and read and respond at my leisure. Social media is not as efficient, as it isn’t possible to reach much or respond while offline. I haven’t found a way to reply to comments on this blog without writing them while online, so I’m keeping that to a minimum.

It costs 25 cents a minute for Internet service (when you buy a big package), which wouldn’t be so painful if the service were faster. I bought 1,100 Internet minutes for this cruise before I left home. I have used 268. At this rate, I would use 2,160 minutes by the end of the cruise, costing me $500. I predict I will use slightly less. While the Internet speed isn’t fast, HAL does deliver excellent Internet coverage throughout the ship.

There are options to go online when you are ashore. In Europe and most likely in Asia there are plenty of Internet cafes and locations with free access. The best source for finding them is from the crewmembers who go to these ports repeatedly. You have to beware of security issues, but it is fine for downloading new issues of magazines, for example. A VPN makes it more secure. I just would rather spend my port time seeing new places instead of browsing the web. Alaska is an exception, as my cell phone plan covers virtually all my online activity there.

This year I was looking forward to life beyond the 24/7 news cycle fed by this most unusual presidency. But just to make sure I didn’t miss anything major, I signed up for daily email news summaries from Politico and The New York Times. We have sporadic cable news signals on the cabin television. As I reported earlier, we also have complimentary access to the online New York Times, thanks to its promotional partnership with Holland America. So yes, I am usually up on the latest presidential tweets and celebrity news. There is no getting away, I guess.

Holland America’s Navigator is a new-to-me feature on this cruise. It is the free-access home web page for the ship, which in addition to being a portal for paid and complimentary web sites, also provides the daily schedule of activities. You can add specific activities to your itinerary for easy referral. You also can see deck plans, sign up for tours, make dinner reservations and check your account status online. You just want to put your smartphone on Airplane Mode so you don’t accidentally connect with the ship’s cell signal.

When we get the satellite signal, we have CNBC, MXNBC, Fox News, BBC and two ESPN channels on our televisions. In addition, there are four movies looping every day. Each day a new movie plays in the theater and then on the cabin televisions the next day. Yesterday’s feature was Wonder Woman, so it is on TV today. And there are move than 1,000 DVDs for loan from the front office.

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Day 10: Executive Chef Andrew Sloley gave today’s cooking demonstration of Chicken Karage and Spicy Tuna Sashimi. I wish I could sample the dishes, but apparently that doesn’t meet kitchen sanitation requirements.

The theme of tonight’s gala night was black and silver. My lobster tails were excellent (not always the case on cruise ships, where they can be overcooked and tough). I ate with a American couple who has lived in Ecuador for four years, following seven years living on a sailboat in the Florida Keys. The Black and Silver Ball followed dinner, although the increased rolling of the ship made dancing a challenge. We get another hour of sleep tonight as we set the clocks back again. We will do it nightly until we reach Japan. I try to stay awake late so I won’t be getting up at 3 a.m. On the positive side, when we have the TV signal I can watch yesterday’s Morning Joe before I go to bed.

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A request for commenters:

I love getting comments, but sometimes I have no idea who is commenting. If you would, could you include your name if I know you, or a reference to your interest (e.g. you are taking this cruise next year). That will really help me in my replies. Thanks!