Boat Cruises, Customs, And Gps Devices.

[flir67]

I hope this is some helpful information about going abroad with gps devices.

 

I just got back from a royal carribbean cruise on the navigator of the seas to the carribbean.flying with gps was no problem if anyone is still wondering I just put mine in my carry-on back pack and it went right through all the x-ray machines with no damage. customs leaving the united states didn't care either. they had the same x-ray machines the airport had so again it went right thought with no problem. same with the boat x-ray screeners to get on and off the boat. all went well. my magallen must have been scanned 6+ times just to get aboard the ship. airport-deport airport -arriving, port-departing, boat-boarding,etc. after all this my magallen gps unit worked flawlessly. out at sea it did take about 1 to 2 minutes to find it self again. much longer than I had to wait in the states.

 

once aboard I fired up my magallan color sportrak gps and watched us set sail. once or twice the onboard boat tv gps system wasn't up to date and said we were in the middle of cozumel or else where so my gps device was very handy and keeping me up to date all the time. I used cog(course-over-ground) some as is what the crew used too. the navigator of the seas has a peek-boo bridge deck. you can see everything they do. and the equipment they use.

 

as for onlookers, no one even cared I had it in my hand or took a second look. I did spot 1 other geocacher onboard wearing his geocaching t-shirt but I didn't bother him since he was eating breakfast with his family.

 

none of the ports of call had any x-ray machines, just the cruise ship. just id checks so no problem there. just watch your back for backpak pic pockets,etc.

 

on the way back

miami was no joke , all shoes off and lots of random bag checks , on the way back into the states my bag caught a scanners attention since I had a lot more crap in it at miami airport and he took it off and they took swap samples from the zippers and sent the results to some machine right beside it( I guess to look for bomb ingredients or such), a few seconds later she said all was fine and to move along.

 

I didn't use my gps device on the airplane flight. alots of laptops,cd players,mp3 cellphone players etc were being used, but no gps devices so I decided not to chance with it being confiscated.

 

 

hope this info helps.

[+IV_Warrior]

I didn't use my gps device on the airplane flight. alots of laptops,cd players,mp3 cellphone players etc were being used, but no gps devices so I decided not to chance with it being confiscated.

I doubt they'd confiscate it. If they had a problem with it, they'd likely just tell you to turn it off. Now, if they told you once to turn it off, and 20 minutes later saw you using it again, THEN you might have a problem.....

[+greengolftee87]

i did the same with mine on the enchantment of the seas. i cached in belize and found it quite amusing that when using my gps on my room balcony and watching the coords on the tv, that the boat was actually so big that mine read differently that theirs!!!

[+Alan2]

out at sea it did take about 1 to 2 minutes to find it self again. much longer than I had to wait in the states.

 

If you haven't used your GPS and you travel a few hundred miles, the GPS'almanac has to be updated. It's like a cold start. It's got to figure out where it is all over again.

 

Thanks for the interesting report.

 

Alan

[+Johnnie Stalkers]

We did a Carnival Cruise from New Orleans to Playa Del Carmen and Cozumel 2 weeks ago. No problems with security. I left the leatherman and pocket knife at home.

 

We also met some fellow cachers on board. I found it interesting to use the GPSr while at sea.

 

Good times.

[habercacher]

We sailed on the Splendour Of The Seas this past early December,& also had no problems with security.The only thing that really sucked was that I hadn`t heard of caching until March. Bummer.Oh well...there`s more cruises

[+Latitude 26]

Thanks for the info.

 

I brought mine along on the Explorer OTS last summer (Miami/W. Caribbean), and used it a few times, to see where we actually were, and how fast the boat was cruising, and how far we were from home, etc...

 

We're leaving Sunday on the Adventure OTS & the GPS will be on my carry-on bag. We are gonna try to do some caching in Aruba, and possibly some of the other islands...Should be fun!

 

 

"Bassmedic"

[+2GeoGrannies]

How do you like your SporTrak? I just ordered one. It is my first GPS and I hope I made a smart buy. I am taking mine to Europe next month. Thanks for the travel tips.

[flir67]

I like my sportrak color really well. the only down fall to it is the serial connection and slow upload speeds, I'm about to buy a serial to usb converter soon.

 

any body notice better speeds with the usb connector vs serial.

 

thanks.

[robertlipe]

I like my sportrak color really well. the only down fall to it is the serial connection and slow upload speeds, I'm about to buy a serial to usb converter soon.

 

any body notice better speeds with the usb connector vs serial.

 

This question is frequently asked. Unless you have a serious pup of a computer, you won't notice a difference.

 

http://www.mtgc.org/robertlipe/myfaq/Magellan_FAQ.shtml

 

Search for "firehose".

[+2GeoGrannies]

Thanks for the link, Robert. I am sure I will be referring to it when I get my unit.

[+Johnnie Stalkers]

Headed to Playa Del Carmen.