Technology on a cruise ship can be a trying thing. In the first place, Internet is never unmetered, never fast and rarely free. Things that work like magic at home (iCloud and dictation and automatic backups) don't work at all on a ship. But I've already admitted that the only reason we can leave the country as we do, for extended periods of time, is that so much of our lives is managed through our iPhones. Given that, it might surprise you that until last month, G was limping along with an iPhone 4 and I was using that 4S I had bought at the Galleria Mall after my tragic phone drowning in January 2013.
With the launch of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus on September 19th, we remedied that situation (Plus-G, regular-me) and are still amazed how much a larger screen simplifies all the administrative things we do. And to prepare ourselves for more winters at sea, we both purchased phones with 128G of memory, at G's flat out, vocal, nonnegotiable insistence. And, yes, world, I'm admitting it here, in writing...he was right!!! This is up from 16G from me, which is like graduating from a pedal car to a Maserati.
With the launch of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus on September 19th, we remedied that situation (Plus-G, regular-me) and are still amazed how much a larger screen simplifies all the administrative things we do. And to prepare ourselves for more winters at sea, we both purchased phones with 128G of memory, at G's flat out, vocal, nonnegotiable insistence. And, yes, world, I'm admitting it here, in writing...he was right!!! This is up from 16G from me, which is like graduating from a pedal car to a Maserati.
Also new for me this year: my very first iPad. I was way overdue, and had wanted one since they first came out (but, it was a splurge and we just don't jump headlong into splurges). Finally, it was the fact I could no longer see the TV without my contacts that provided the motivation. I do nearly all my video viewing now on the iPad. And, good grief, I do love that thing!! If I was forced to flee my burning home, I'd grab my husband and my iPad. Not necessarily in that order. (Just kidding...)
The best benefit of these new iDevices is the ability to carry so much entertainment with us on cruises- movies and TV shows and maps and books (especially travel guides). I remember the days of pulling the pages I would need out of travel guides to lighten my load; now whole books come with me on iDevices. I reviewed eight Tahiti travel guides from our local library, and chose my favorite two that were available for Kindle. I purchased them through Amazon and can read them, in their entirety, using the Kindle app on my iDevices.
An aside here...Hidden Tahiti is a wonderful guide for Tahiti travel- in fact it might have been my very favorite- but it's not available on Kindle. Still, if you want to take a "book book" with you, that's a great one.
A second aside here...Anne Vipond has a book called Hawaii by Cruise Ship, and the 3rd edition of that book supposedly covers Tahiti. I loved Anne's book Panama Canal by Cruise Ship, and so I ordered her Hawaii book for Kindle. Well, it contains about 6 pages on Tahiti, and is not nearly sufficient for an extended trip there. Luckily, with Amazon's liberal return policy for Kindle items (within 7 days), I was able to return it for a full credit.
In my view, the best two Tahiti travel books available on Kindle.
Two pages about the walking tour of Papeete from the Open Road Guide.
In August, Cruise Critic member Chewbaka posted that an app called Maps.me was being offered free for one day only (I get such great advice from Cruise Critic!). Maps.me provided exactly what we were looking for: the ability to download detailed maps onto our iDevices and use them when Internet access is not available. We now have maps on our iPhones of all the islands we'll be visiting, along with helpful information such as ATM locations, pharmacies and bus stops.
Downtown Papeete street map from Maps.me
Guide books, maps, camera and video camera all in one device that fits in a pocket - well, at least mine does (G had to buy special cargo pants and shorts to hold his)...it's a very good thing.
Using the Offline Pages app, I've downloaded several travel articles found on the Internet for viewing offline. This, along with Overdrive, Kindle and Audible, has been among my favorite apps, and has proved itself invaluable for travel.
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| My Tahiti to-do list on Offline Pages...suffering through one "best" beach after another :-) |
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| My homework for the long flight, courtesy of Offline Pages |
On the advice of cruise friend Vickie, I've subscribed to Next Issue, allowing me to download the current and up to three years of past issues of over 140 magazines for offline viewing for about $15 a month. I have all sorts of magazine addictions- sports, news, sports, politics, sports, travel, home organization, politics and sports- and this is app definitely provides my "fix". Especially as we've traveled so much in recent years, I've missed out on lots of magazine reading, and am still playing catch-up (but have skipped any reading about Super Bowl 2014...that was one advantage of being in the middle of the ocean immediately following THAT travesty).
Next Issue, along with using the Overdrive app to "check out" e-books and audiobooks through our local library, has eliminated the need to bring any reading materials at all. I'm bringing more content than ever before...and holding it all in one hand. And, with Overdrive, I can continue to check out and download ebooks for 21-day lending periods while on the cruise. Even with slow ship wifi speeds, it takes only a few minutes per book (audiobooks, with their significantly larger file sizes, take much, MUCH longer).
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Bookshelf from Overdrive app |
With the Comcast 2 Go app, we're each able to download up to ten movies or TV shows for offline viewing, and I've decided to get caught up with Nurse Jackie.
We also have...well, it's a lot of video content downloaded from iTunes, probably close to 80 hours of it. We had to fill up that 128G of memory with something, and the nice part is that we can delete content as we view it to free up space for photos and videos we take on our trip.
I have a feeling we'll be having a 100% repeat rate of entertainment on the Pacific Princess from one cruise to the next. Flying entertainers to Tahiti is not cheap, and with so few ships cruising there, it isn't as though a comedian can simply move from one to the other. So aside from enjoying the local entertainers who come on board, and the live music on every cruise, I think we'll try to see most of the entertainment the first cruise and then attend shows sporadically after that. Late nights in port and dramatic sunsets over towering peaks should keep us entertained and happy, with reading and watching TV shows/movies on iDevices to fill in the blanks.
I will continue to compose a blog post everyday, but am unsure of what Internet is going to be like in that part of the South Pacific. I remember on our transpacific cruises losing all satellite coverage for days at a time; I just don't remember exactly where that occurred. No worries, though, I'll get caught up with posting when I can. Just don't be surprised if I don't post a lot of videos. In the Caribbean, I generally do that in Fort Lauderdale or St. Thomas where Internet is free for us; that opportunity probably won't exist in French Polynesia. I will try to add back videos after I return home (hopefully), and will post when (if) I've done that, so you'll know where to look for them.
And, as for taking photos in wet environments, Lifeproof is sitting on their hands and doesn't have a waterproof case available yet for the iPhone 6 (grrrr...). I'm taking along my iPhone 4S in its Lifeproof case and will primarily be using it for beaches and snorkeling. When I asked the 20-somethings at the Genius Bar at our local Apple Store how to access photos taken on one phone from another phone in the absence of wifi, I swear I heard their jaws collectively drop to the floor. "Absence of wifi???!??? That's our worst nightmare!"
Yep, mine too. I get the shakes. ;-)