GPS on a Cruise Ship

[+MsAnner]

Can I use a GPS while on an airline?

 

This question seems to come up weekly. The basic answer is yes, no, and maybe. First off, there is no restriction against possessing a GPS, any more than a cell phone.

 

As to whether or not you can operate it while in flight, that varies from airline to airline. These rules are usually spelled out in the seat pocket passenger instructions, or sometimes inside the in-flight magazine. However, the flight captain is ultimately in charge. If the instructions say "no", you can always ask a flight attendant if the captain will allow its use. Often they will.

 

There are many, many forum threads already on this topic. A search for "airline" or "airplane" will give you a good size list.

I went on a gambling cruise this past weekend with my GPS. Shortly into the trip I was approached by security to hand it over. He said with all the homeland security issues that the captain didn't want me to have it. They locked it in the safe and returned it at the end of the trip.

 

I've read that the GPS doesn't give off any signal to my location, but maybe they were afraid I was going to call in our coordinates on a cell phone, or maybe he thought I might be with the FBI making sure they were far enough out to sea before the gambling started. Either way I didn't care. At least I got it back.

 

My first post...

MsAnner

[Keystone]

I split this post out into its own topic. It had been posted to the "Frequently Asked Questions" thread, and it quotes a different post from that thread. Since GPS on a cruise ship hasn't been a frequently asked question, I'm moving it here so that anyone interested in discussing this subject can add their comments.

[+Enspyer]

I've never been on a cruise, but perhaps they don't want you to know exactly where you are. If they take the same route frequently (which I imagine they do), they might not want just anyone to know where they are. I also think the gambling at a certain distance out to see would be a plausible idea.

[+VegasCacheHounds]

Huh, thats odd. I have read posts in the past where someone used a GPS on a cruise ship to "map" the ship. A search of the forums might turn this up.

Once again, different rules enforced by the individuals in charge (or that at least THINK that they're in charge).

[+Ocean Archer]

I travelled recently via Cruise Ship out of New Orleans. The cruise covered the western Caribbean. I personally know of three different GPSr's on that cruise, and nobody was approached concerning their equipment, or the use of it during the time the ship was at sea.

[+BilboB]

That is ridiculous. What did they think you were going to do? Call in an airstrike?

[+CompuCash]

I took a cruise to Alaska last year - there were several on the boat - I picked oneup at our first stop at a Wal Mart - had a ball with it and that is the start of my Geocaching -

[+Blaidd-Drwg]

I carried two on my Alaska cruise and my wife and I hit several caches in each port. I'm going on a cruise this fall to Panama and I've already started looking for caches in the ports. What cruise line and what ship were you on, when they confiscated your GPSr?

[+Latitude 26]

Sounds like a paranoid excuse to me...

 

I've brought mine along on 2 cruises (Royal Caribbean) and on the most recent one, the captain looked at it and thought it was pretty cool...

 

JB

[+JohnnyVegas]

Julie and I took a GPS on a crusie last fall, we had no problems and found a couple of caches while we were on our cruise.

 

I went on a gambling cruise this past weekend with my GPS. Shortly into the trip I was approached by security to hand it over

 

Does not sound like a real cruise in which customer service was a concern.

[+CompuCash]

I carried two on my Alaska cruise and my wife and I hit several caches in each port.  I'm going on a cruise this fall to Panama and I've already started looking for caches in the ports.  What cruise line and what ship were you on, when they confiscated your GPSr?

 

We were on Celebrity Cruises - several of us spent hours (most of our on ship ti;me!) up there in the observation area up high in the bow. Would have been bored on board without it. Loved knowing exactly where we were and the map sold on the ship had Lon/Lat lines on it. There was a large marine map on an easel with LORAN stations and all with the cruise plotted on it, and there was a gps like display on one of the TV's in one of the side lounges on all the time. AND, we could tune to that GPS display in our cabins. The TV actually defaulted to that station.

 

please tell us so we can avoid that line.

Edited March 1, 2005 by CompuCash

[+Blaidd-Drwg]

I'm starting to get bummed and I haven't started packing for my trip this fall. We're scheduled to go on Celebrity's Galaxy and if they take my GPSr I'll be very upset. Where was the tour you were on originate from and go to? How did they know you even had a GPSr? Would they give it back to you when you went ashore? And finally, WAS THIS A WRITTEN POLICY?

[+AtoZ]

It is just up to the captian of the ship. He was probable over paranoid. If you have a question call the cruise line and ask if they have a policy but even if they do or don't the captian has the final say for what ever reason.

cheers

[+Team GPSaxophone]

Huh, thats odd. I have read posts in the past where someone used a GPS on a cruise ship to "map" the ship. A search of the forums might turn this up.

Once again, different rules enforced by the individuals in charge (or that at least THINK that they're in charge).

How can you make a map of moving ship with a GPS? The best you're gonna get is the path the ship took. You can only "map" the ship when it's stopped.

 

Back to the security thing, I would have offered to turn it off and put it away if it was a concern. That way I could still go caching with it when we landed.

[+VegasCacheHounds]

I don't really know, it wasn't me

I do think that the poster who did this did it while the ship was not moving.

[+Eswau]

Here I go ASSuming again, but I wonder if MsAnner is talking about one of these 1/2 day gambling cruises. We have a few next door in SC. Small businesses, that take you just over the line to international waters and you gamble for a few hours then return the same day.

 

Might have been the first time they had experienced someone with a GPS.

 

Maybe not-

 

E

[+greende]

Here I go ASSuming again, but I wonder if MsAnner is talking about one of these 1/2 day gambling cruises. We have a few next door in SC. Small businesses, that take you just over the line to international waters and you gamble for a few hours then return the same day.

 

Might have been the first time they had experienced someone with a GPS.

 

Maybe not-

 

E

Perhaps they wanted to make sure no one knew if they were truly in international waters or not.

[+Right Wing Wacko]

Here I go ASSuming again, but I wonder if MsAnner is talking about one of these 1/2 day gambling cruises. We have a few next door in SC. Small businesses, that take you just over the line to international waters and you gamble for a few hours then return the same day.

 

Might have been the first time they had experienced someone with a GPS.

 

Maybe not-

 

E

Then they need to confiscate every cell phone on the ship and put them in the safe also. Most newer cell phones have a basic GPS chip in them now... however unlike a regular GPS, the cell phone can actually be tracked!

[+JohnnyVegas]

It is just up to the captian of the ship. He was probable over paranoid. If you have a question call the cruise line and ask if they have a policy but even if they do or don't the captian has the final say for what ever reason.

cheers

It is just up to the captian of the ship. He was probable over paranoid. If you have a question call the cruise line and ask if they have a policy but even if they do or don't the captian has the final say for what ever reason.

cheers

 

And if they do not have a polociy, asking them if they have a GPS policy may be all it takes to motivate them to start one. lots of cachers take GPSr on cruice ships.

Don't ask Don't tell--go caching

[+Road Rabbit]

Sounds like the only "security" they were concerned with was keeping anyone from knowing whether or not they were in international waters when the gambling was going on. At the amounts they net per minute of gambling, they tend to shave the boundary VERY thin at times.

 

Not that I'm familiar with gambling ships at all.

[+radioguy949]

My uncle was able to take his eMap on a flight from Salt Lake City to somewhere in Florida and back... I got jealous because his max speed now reads 200 some-odd mph and mine only reads 80! anyway... I don't know that he encountered any trouble... or maybe he just had it in his carry-on... hmmm?

[+Kai Team]

Sounds like the only "security" they were concerned with was keeping anyone from knowing whether or not they were in international waters when the gambling was going on.  At the amounts they net per minute of gambling, they tend to shave the boundary VERY thin at times.

 

Not that I'm familiar with gambling ships at all. 

The amounts they net per minute of gambling may have been exactly why they were paranoid - they may have thought a GPSr could be used to locate the ship for a robbery (another ship of heavily armed robbers pulls up alongside after you let them know where you are, tell them where all the security is on board, release knock out gas in the ship's ventilation system...).

 

It may be paranoid, but people who are responsible for large sums of money tend to want to cover all their bases! I suspect that there wouldn't be a problem on a cruise that isn't a floating casino.

[+CompuCash]

I'm starting to get bummed and I haven't started packing for my trip this fall. We're scheduled to go on Celebrity's Galaxy and if they take my GPSr I'll be very upset. Where was the tour you were on originate from and go to? How did they know you even had a GPSr? Would they give it back to you when you went ashore? And finally, WAS THIS A WRITTEN POLICY?

 

go back and read the post just above yours -

[+Milbank]

I'm starting to get bummed and I haven't started packing for my trip this fall. We're scheduled to go on Celebrity's Galaxy and if they take my GPSr I'll be very upset. Where was the tour you were on originate from and go to? How did they know you even had a GPSr? Would they give it back to you when you went ashore? And finally, WAS THIS A WRITTEN POLICY?

Bring two just encase one gets taken away.

[+AtoZ]

This is a funny topic to argue over as the final say comes back to the captian. If you really want to speculate I would say they didnt care about it being a GPS but that it was an UNKNOWN electronic device, even if you could show them it had GPS functionality they didn't care but it could have been believed to be some deivice to jam or maniipulate the slot machines. If you want a SWAG then that is more like then they suspected you were seeing if they were out of STATE water. There is no Federal law against gambling just state restriction so if they are out of the state boundry, 3 miles, then you can gamble all you want. That is why Indian reservations can have gambling.

cheers

[+rockey_f_squirrell]

as for GPS on an airplane? I have thought about that myself, wondered stuff like what cities I would pass over, or how fast I would be moving, but then I asked my self. WOULD A GPS GET RECEPTION IN AN AIRPLANE - I have a hard enough time geting it in a car.

[+Renegade Knight]

Sounds like the only "security" they were concerned with was keeping anyone from knowing whether or not they were in international waters when the gambling was going on.  At the amounts they net per minute of gambling, they tend to shave the boundary VERY thin at times.

 

Not that I'm familiar with gambling ships at all. 

The amounts they net per minute of gambling may have been exactly why they were paranoid - they may have thought a GPSr could be used to locate the ship for a robbery (another ship of heavily armed robbers pulls up alongside after you let them know where you are, tell them where all the security is on board, release knock out gas in the ship's ventilation system...).

 

It may be paranoid, but people who are responsible for large sums of money tend to want to cover all their bases! I suspect that there wouldn't be a problem on a cruise that isn't a floating casino.

I'll jump on this bandwagon. It's logical and plausable and it would be a valid concern for any corporation looking out for #1. Homeland security just gave them a better excuse than they would of had otherwise.

[+BalkanSabranje]

Most newer cell phones have a basic GPS chip in them now... however unlike a regular GPS, the cell phone can actually be tracked!

Well, cell phones simply don't receive signals 12 miles off shore or vice versa (full stop).

 

BS/2

Edited March 5, 2005 by BalkanSabranje

[Cape Cod Cacher]

 

QUOTE]

The amounts they net per minute of gambling may have been exactly why they were paranoid - they may have thought a GPSr could be used to locate the ship for a robbery (another ship of heavily armed robbers pulls up alongside after you let them know where you are, tell them where all the security is on board, release knock out gas in the ship's ventilation system...). 

 

Best reply I've seen in a while ! But I think that the Joker, Penguin, Riddler etal are in the Gotham Asylum for the Criminally Insane right now. The 'henchmen' don't have the organizational skills and are doing hard time, since they can't afford good lawyers to get them insanity pleas...

I bring my GPS on the ferries around here all the time and get to go to the pilot house to chat with the captain. Never a problem with them, kinda fun to check out the similarities/differences between 1997 bouy lists on a GPS 48 and a ship's system.