Don't laugh but...?

I have never been on a cruise so I have a million questions. I am a woman who likes to be organized and prepared. So, I am going on a company cruise this friday. Carnival - Fascination, newly renovated if anyone has gone on this ship yet any wordsof wisdom would be great. But I am wondering if they have electrical outlets in the interior state rooms. Sorry if that sounds like a silly question, but I don't know. So I ask. Also I am bringing a digital camera so I was thinking of bringing the dock (charger/printer) also but I don't know if I can and that also leads me to the electrical outlet question. I figure I can print and recharge my battery from there. I assume it would be ok, but I've never been so I don't want to bring it for no reason. AND if I use their computer lounge, how much do they charge and do they have printers for pictures their already? Help, I don't know what to pack and not pack.

Don't worry, these are common questions. No one should be laughing at them.

Fascination is one of Carnival's older ships. However, that doesn't mean it won't still be great. After their tour of duty in New Orleans, several of Carnival's older ships got major renovations and facelifts, modernizing them. I'm not entirely positive whether fascination was among them, but it should have had a relatively recent makeover regardless.

All cabins aboard this ship should have at least one "American" outlet. It's not a silly question at all, and can be quite important. In the past, outlets used to be in the bathroom (i suppose for razors and the like...) though at least for the past decade they've been placed in convenient places throughout staterooms (particularly the desk area). On some ships, the outlet may be found at the base of a lamp on the desk itself. Others may have full-blown 4-outlet sockets. It varies, but you should be able to find at least one.

While you certainly can bring the camera's printer, I'd avoid it. Try to pack as light as possible in regards to extra things like that. Plus, are you really going to print photos on the ship? Chances are, you'll only be in your stateroom to sleep and change (these days, there is so much to do on a ship that pretty much every minute is packed with a different activity). If possible, just bring the charger (though if the charger and printer are inseperable, bring both; you WILL want to take photos...i've definitely kicked myself for not remembering my camera on a cruise).

Computer lounges aboard cruise ships, however, tend to not be the most economical way of going about things. Some ships have charges that range from $0.50 per minute to $2.00 per minute, depending on where the ship is. Generally,you should be able to send whatever you need when you get back home. However, keep in mind that most ships don't have computers enabled for camera/USB use. They're mostly intended for people who absolutely positively must definitely check their e-mail or something to that effect. Printers will likely be barely surviving inkjets and lasers. Not the best for photo printing, but perfect for document printing (again, the e-mail thing...)

Several new ships, and even a couple old ones, however, have started installing those "digital to print" machines, where you insert your digital camera's memory card, pay a set amount per photo and have the printed photos delivered to your stateroom. Fees for these tend to be higher than on land.

In terms of packing, follow the cruise line's suggested packing list, which can usually be found on their website. If not there, just check on one of the other cruiseline's websites; they tend to be similar if not identical. You probably won't wind up using everything they tell you to pack, but being prepared, especially for a company cruise can be important. Use common sense though, when packing. If you're going to Canada, chances are you're not going to need that giant straw Sun Hat you'd need if you're going to the Caribbean. Likewise, if you're going to the Caribbean, you can leave most of your sweaters at home.

Good luck, and have fun!

I can't answer about the electrical outlets but I can give you some advice on the printer dock. If you can charge the camera another way, leave the dock at home. I've tried a couple of times to travel with the dock, and the rollers and ink always gets out of alignment. It takes a while to realign them and you waste a lot of paper and ink that way. If you're going to be using the computer lounge, you can always stock up on computer flash drives and put the pictures on there, then give them to your companions. Everyone leaves with the photos you want to share and they can print them out when they get home.

All staterooms have electrical outlets, but you will want to call carnival and verify that they use the US 110V and not teh EU 220V. If they use EU then you need a converter.

They do have outlets, there are computer lounges but I don't think they have printers specifically for printing pictures from digital cameras. I'm pretty sure they're just regular printers for printing out documents and stuff, you know. I don't remember how much it costs to use the internet, but you can prepay a certain amount of time or you can pay-as-you-go. It's not horribly expensive, plus you don't want to go on vacation and spend a lot of time at a computer anyways! HAVE FUN!

You might be able to print pictures from your digital camera in the photo gallery on the ship. I think there is a special computer that you put memory cards into, kind of like the ones they have at future shop.

Join www.cruisecritic.com its an awesome community that you can learn from excursion to tips on what to bring. I love just going thru it to learn new stuff. That's where i learned about downy sprinkle releaser for the first time and now its a regular thing at home. Good luck!

The interior staterooms have electrical outlets but if you have a wall charger for your battery I would take that and just leave hte dock at home so you can print your pictures when you get home, and everything and they charge you a pretty hefty price to use the ocmputers on the ship its not outrageous but its expensive so I would stalk up on memory cards for your digital camera and take your laptop if you have one that way you dont to pay thsoe fees and that way you jsut upload the pictures to your computer from your disks when you get home so thats what I would recommend bon voyage.