Thoughts From a Clicker
By Tiny Ruisch
The wife and I are on one of our cruise ship holidays. We usually go for all of January and part of February. This year, I’ve been reflecting on how technology has changed some of ways I cruise. The Mrs. took me on our first cruise ship in early 1990. I don’t remember much about it except for some concerns that the airplane wouldn’t be able to take off for Miami because of all the snow on the ground and the bad weather. We finally made a late takeoff. Our luggage left even later and didn’t catch up to us until we were on the ship for almost two days. There wasn’t a lot of personal technology back then. A few people were getting desktop computers, laptops were almost unheard of and the internet was in its infancy, mostly restricted to universities, governments, military services, etc. The World Wide Web and America On Line was still a year or so in the future.
Fast forward to March 2013. I was on my eighth cruise with the boss (this time, she didn’t have to force me to go). On this cruise, I didn’t take my laptop. Instead, I used my new Archos 70IT tablet. It was running Android 2.2 (Froyo). When paired with a Bluetooth keyboard it made an excellent machine for shipboard cruising. I used it to write some blogs for my website.
Two years later, I did basically the same thing on another cruise. Same equipment, except for adding my first “smart” phone. It was the Galaxy Note II. I liked that phone, but it had enough quirks that I’ve never gotten another Samsung. I also carried a laptop.
Now it’s 2020. What’s new? This trip, I’m carrying more equipment. But using a smaller bag. I’ve got a seven inch tablet, an older tablet that I use only for reading books, my smartphone and my laptop. Besides a mouse, Bluetooth headphones and various USB cables, I’ve brought along two very important items. Over the years, I’ve learned that electrical outlets are hard to find aboard ship. I pack a small power strip and a voltage transformer.
The other big change is that I’ve purchased the Satellite data plan. Surprisingly, upload speeds are faster than download. Of course, faster is a relative term. Speeds average between 1-1/2 to 2 mbps. The good news is that I’ve got plenty of time to watch people and to practice my thumb twiddling. I’ve mostly been able to download and play the podcasts that I like to listen to. A few sites are extremely slow. Although slow, the connection has been mostly reliable. The only places on the ship where I haven’t been able to connect is in the bathrooms. Another aggravation is that you can only go online with one device at a time. I had to delay downloading a major security update for my phone until I could shut down my laptop for an hour.
The satellite data plan is a little pricey. I justify it by telling myself it is free because I use cruise credits I get for being a frequent cruiser. My guess is that is as good a story as any other fairy tale.
Many other things have remained the same. I’ve had a few discussions with other passengers and showed them ways to make their electronics easier to use. There are also a few that can’t wait to get back home to check if their local library subscribes to Overdrive, Hoopla, Zinio, etc. I met one person that thought I was an electronics wizard when I plugged a flash drive into my phone to watch a video. The weirdest thing I saw was a fellow that came to the table where I was writing an article. I was there because that was where one of the few plugins were. He plugged his phone in and asked if I would watch it for him. Then he just walked off and was gone for a half hour or so. Maybe, I look trustworthy?
Other things haven’t changed too much. Most people are still doing their book reading on Kindles, iPads, Android tablets or large screen smart phones. It does seem that fewer people are reading an actual paper book. I won’t be taking the “Behind the Scenes” tour this time so the only shipboard technology I’ve seen is the retail sales system and the bingo playing software. Of course, there is a lot of other technology at the casino.
The wife has already planned our cruising for the next two years. She probably won’t have to twist my arm to get me to go.
Thanks for reading.