En route to Bilbao, Spain. Arrive on 13-May (about an hour).
Mobile Phone Ecosystems
Guests on this cruise seem evenly split between Apple iPhones and Android phones. The problem comes when you want to share the “cool picture” you just took.
- Android user can connect their phones via Bluetooth and swap the picture with file sharing
- Apple users have built-in “Airdrop”, which is also uses Bluetooth
- However, one cannot share directly with the other
The only option is something external like WhatsApp or email, but that requires the picture to go out the ship’s WiFi, thru the satellite and back. Kind of wasteful.
I have not found a perfect solution to this. You could use some kind of flash drive, but you need to stock up on connector adapters, as there are different standards there too. There are WiFi flash drives so you can share without needed to worry about phone connector adapters.
There’s a part of me that thinks the ship should offer file sharing within its own servers – kind of like a local “cloud” storage. I’m sure there are security issues with that, but they could offer back up services as they slowing copy files onto a land-based system.
Mobile Phone Tethering
I get mobile phone coverage when we are in port, so when I have a large amount of data to send (like a video), rather than using the ship’s internet I “tether” my phone to my laptop and use my mobile phone data. While I had known about the possibility, I had never used it before, so there was a small learning curve – for example, I need to turn WiFi off on both my laptop and phone or they will try to default to that. Sometimes it took almost 30 minutes for the phone/laptop to recognize the internet while tethering, but most times it just takes seconds.
It’s much faster, but will use your mobile phone roaming minutes. Google Fi had no problem with that, but your provider may differ.
Underwater Camera
If you the type of person who enjoys swimming, snorkeling or even diving, it probably makes sense to have a “water resistant” camera. Yeah, it’s one more thing to carry around, but it is the only way to capture sure images.
Low Overhead Email
I’ve been using Gmail for years, an enjoy it. However, it does have some overhead as it loads the client. There were many days when the ship was at sea with particularly slow internet and the client would not load. At all. Even after hours. It was then I noticed a little link on the loading page that essential said “Slow connection? Click here to use HTML version.”
The HTML version of the Gmail client is more old fashioned, but loads quickly. Next time I cruise I will change that setting before I leave the house.
Sidenote: Silicon Valley
I live in San Jose, California. Which considers itself the capital of Silicon Valley. So, when I’m asked where I live, I usually say “Silicon Valley” and then explain further if they don’t know where in California that is.
I met someone who had not heard that term. They only knew “silicon” in association with breast implants… I said that was Hollywood.
No, I did not bother to explain the difference between “silicon” and “silicone.”