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Why Cruise Ships are My Favorite Remote Work Location

tynan.com

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Re: Why Cruise Ships are My Favorite Remote Work Location

#101

Post by mehmehshoe »

brador wrote: post #29
xradionut wrote: post #18

In my humble opinion, this is a shitty idea. There are other quiet places with decent enough bandwidth that don't have the costs or risks of a cruise ship. My favorite one is the study section of the local library. I've also gone out to a cabin in the woods that only had a satellite link. My neighbor has soundproof walk-in closet. As for the risks of a cruise ship, if something goes wrong, your options are limited. I…

What things can go wrong on a cruise ship that are very bad for people onboard? Isn't a life boat just a short run away?

I thought I'd share an interesting segment from Tina Fey's book regarding her honeymoon cruise when a fire broke out on the boat.

"In the event of an emergency, it is the entertainers who are in charge of the lifeboats. Because the rest of the crew has actual nautical duties, the kids from Fiesta Caliente are trained to man the lifeboats. If you ever have to get on a lifeboat, the person in charge of your safety will likely be a nineteen-year-old dancer from Tampa who just had a fight with his boyfriend about the new Rihanna video. James also told me that each lifeboat has a gun on it and that once a lifeboat is in the water, the performer–lifeboat captain is trained to shoot anyone who is disruptive. This is apparently legal in accordance with maritime law."

Re: Why Cruise Ships are My Favorite Remote Work Location

#102

Post by triangleman »

MattBearman wrote: post #9

Wow, I don't think this would have ever occurred to me, but it's genius! I can go from London to San Juan in 14 days, for about £32 / day. That's cheaper than life at home. Think I'm gonna book myself a cruise soon Edit: Just exploring this guy's blog, and it turns out he's Herbal from "The Game" - an excellent book if you've not read it.

That was a terrible book! You might as well read Rich Dad, Poor Dad.

Re: Why Cruise Ships are My Favorite Remote Work Location

#104

Post by mkramlich »

slg wrote: post #45
mkramlich wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costa_Concordia or if you're of a different age: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Titanic

Things can also go wrong sleeping in your bed at night. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_fransisco_earthquake

read the comment to which I replied. it will put it in context.

Re: Why Cruise Ships are My Favorite Remote Work Location

#105

Post by peteretep »

MattBearman wrote: post #9

Wow, I don't think this would have ever occurred to me, but it's genius! I can go from London to San Juan in 14 days, for about £32 / day. That's cheaper than life at home. Think I'm gonna book myself a cruise soon Edit: Just exploring this guy's blog, and it turns out he's Herbal from "The Game" - an excellent book if you've not read it.

Tynan is an all-round bad-ass, and most of what he writes is worth reading.

Re: Why Cruise Ships are My Favorite Remote Work Location

#106

Post by brador »

na85 wrote: post #98
kronholm wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't mind doing that, but not what sure you mean with "wifi hotspot functionality"?

I took it to mean "put it on your phone and let the phone serve it"

Yep, this. So I hit a button in the app, fire up the laptop and enter a url like 146.162.0.9:2020 to browse the offline stackoverflow.

An example of similar hotspotting would be the ftp app on f-droid.

Re: Why Cruise Ships are My Favorite Remote Work Location

#107

Post by mherdeg »

AlexMuir wrote: post #5

I too work from a lot of different places, but I find that I absolutely need internet to be productive. Pulling a Gem for instance, or checking Stack Overflow. My favourite places to work are all-inclusive holiday resorts. Lanzarote and the Algarve most recently. Being all inclusive means there is no thought process in eating or drinking. Nor any need to shop, clean, cook. The most difficult thing is finding out what…

Can I ask how you spend per day in Lanzarote? We were just there for a weekend and "splurged" on an €88/night property, but it seemed like we could have done just fine at €30–40/night. What an interesting place.

Re: Why Cruise Ships are My Favorite Remote Work Location

#109

Post by chimeracoder »

ssharp wrote: post #54

Having been of a few cruises, I'd like to point out a few things: 1) Listed prices generally DO NOT include gratuities. Low level cruise employees like the cleaning crew, cabin stewards, waiters, cooks, etc. are paid ridiculously low wages, because cruise ships are registered to countries like Panama and the companies do not need to adhere to U.S. standards. I don't recall offhand, but for a 7-day cruise the "automat…

> Low level cruise employees like the cleaning crew, cabin stewards, waiters, cooks, etc. are paid ridiculously low wages, because cruise ships are registered to countries like Panama and the companies do not need to adhere to U.S. standards.

On most major lines, the cleaning, etc. staff get reprimanded if they receive reviews from their passengers that are less than 5 stars. Even if it's only 4/5 (or the equivalent), they are expected to keep "perfect" ratings and are punished if they don't.

Cruises end up being a convenient way for my family to take vacations for a number of reasons (not the least being that my grandmother has limited mobility and cannot enjoy other vacation destinations as easily), but I always feel very guilty every time I go, because I see firsthand how badly the staff are exploited.

(Also, if you never want to go on a cruise line again, read the chapter in Tina Fey's "Bossypants" about her experience the one and only time she took a cruise.)

As for the (lack of) connectivity, I actually like this feature. When I go on a vacation, I enjoy being completely disconnected from the "real world". I find that, after a week of this, I wind up completely refreshed and come back to work more productive than if my attention had been split. But YMMV.

Re: Why Cruise Ships are My Favorite Remote Work Location

#110

Post by badman_ting »

noarchy wrote: post #80

Posts like this seem self-congratulatory, to me. Working in this field, we're well-compensated, and in a position of relative privilege based on that alone. Add to that the flexibility (when we have it) to not be tied down to a daily commute or an office/cube-farm, and we're living in another world entirely. We shouldn't forget this.

There is no honor in acting like you aren't privileged when you are. But moreover, cruises have a generally more glamorous image than the reality. You can often get on a cruise ship essentially for free, because they want you to spend money shopping and eating on the ship.
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