Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why Cruise Ships are My Favorite Remote Work Location

tynan.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

171–180 of 322 posts

Re: Why Cruise Ships are My Favorite Remote Work Location

#171

Post by erichocean »

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…

2) Internet is expensive, slow, and charges by the minute).

I worked remotely from a cruise ship that went around Hawaii for a week in 2007 (long story). I had a small Verizon cellular router that I set up in my room. It worked well enough, and I didn't have to use the ship's (presumably) crappy wi-fi, or pay by the minute or whatever.

Plus, when I'm coding, my bandwidth needs aren't that great.

I'd assume that using your phone as a hotspot today would work equally well in that scenario.

Re: Why Cruise Ships are My Favorite Remote Work Location

#172

Post by byoung2 »

cylinder wrote: post #166
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…

A better option, in my opinion, is an all-inclusive resort. My preference is Mexico. After going recently, my main takeaway was how nice life would be if everything were always taken care of for me -- cleaning, food, etc. It's going to cost more than a cruise, but cruises have all sorts of hidden/surprise fees that you don't have at a good all-inclusive resort. Our resort was calm, peaceful and full of couples, no ro…

Our resort was calm, peaceful and full of couples, no rowdy partiers.

That reminds me of a funny experience I had in Cancun a few years back in Cancun. My wife booked a room at the all-inclusive Temptation resort because it had the best rate. When we got there, we were surprised to find that it was basically clothing optional. Be sure to check out the hotel website first if you want to avoid distractions!

Re: Why Cruise Ships are My Favorite Remote Work Location

#173

Post by Dewie »

DanBC wrote: post #21
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…

I'm gently surprised SO hasn't done a 6 month torrent of a stand-alone locally searchable SO. They could possibly do a monthly subscription download? That'd help the people wanting to turn off the Internet. EDIT: And, if you really need it, you can get Internet on a ship. It's hideously expensive, but that's okay. You just need to think before going online.

It would be really nice to be able to easily download whole (or parts) websites for offline use. One thing is SO, but maybe you also want the API of some specific library or language, some specific Wikipedia articles or whole topics on Wikipedia... does something like this exist?

Re: Why Cruise Ships are My Favorite Remote Work Location

#174

Post by triangleman »

MattBearman wrote: post #117
triangleman wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I've not read RDPD, but unless I'm mistaken isn't it a self help type book? (in the vein of 4HWW). Where as The Game a novel, you can't really learn to pick up women from reading it, so not sure they can be compared.

They are both self-help books disguised as pseudobiographies. They both make overt and covert attempts to direct the reader to buying more of the author's products, or at least buy into the author's bullshit. They are both filled with the kind of empty rhetoric that, in the wrong hands, are capable of ruining someone's life. They have both found the bottom of my trash bin. Perhaps I'm just bitter, but still, readers beware!

Re: Why Cruise Ships are My Favorite Remote Work Location

#175

Post by jotm »

cylinder wrote: post #166
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…

A better option, in my opinion, is an all-inclusive resort. My preference is Mexico. After going recently, my main takeaway was how nice life would be if everything were always taken care of for me -- cleaning, food, etc. It's going to cost more than a cruise, but cruises have all sorts of hidden/surprise fees that you don't have at a good all-inclusive resort. Our resort was calm, peaceful and full of couples, no ro…

Add to that Turkey and Greece.

Re: Why Cruise Ships are My Favorite Remote Work Location

#176

Post by mildavw »

mehmehshoe wrote: post #101
brador wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I worked on a cruise ship as an entertainer and can confirm this. Except for the gun part. We had lifeboat assignments and had drills each cycle before the passengers arrived. We were trained on getting people in, not what to do once in the water.

Re: Why Cruise Ships are My Favorite Remote Work Location

#177

Post by Zoomla »

jscheel wrote: post #85

This guys is enjoying life while making money and seeing the world. Who am I to argue :) I'm not sure what I would do without internet for that long (especially since I listen to internet radio all the time), but if you can get past that, more power to you.

Internet on cruise ships is fairly cheap

Re: Why Cruise Ships are My Favorite Remote Work Location

#178

Post by specialist »

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 ... are paid ridiculously low wages

The service staff work for tips. No wages. No benefits.

I was shocked when I first heard this. I asked around, a lot. Everyone confirmed.

I personally hate the cruise ship experience. The master/servant dynamic makes me very uncomfortable.

Re: Why Cruise Ships are My Favorite Remote Work Location

#179

Post by VikingCoder »

lifeformed wrote: post #162
VikingCoder wrote: post #40

I can't wait for a Google Driverless Car to essentially be the same thing for me. I order one with my cell phone, it shows up, I hop in, type my destination, and then I can ignore the world while I'm getting stuff done. Or sleeping. I get to see interesting places, but get stuff done.

Not for me: I get horribly carsick if I try to read inside of a moving car.

If I could SLEEP in a Google Driverless Car that would be awesome. And there's no real reason it should feel like car seats, if there's a more comfortable design.

On a Friday night, I could order a car from my phone, hop in, fall asleep, wake up in destination city on Saturday morning. On Sunday evening, I go home, waking up on Monday morning right outside my office. It'd be awesome.

Re: Why Cruise Ships are My Favorite Remote Work Location

#180

Post by monksy »

sanskritabelt wrote: post #142
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…

He says room service is "free", which suggests that he's not tipping. Someone pointed out down thread that this guy's a pickup artist ( http://www.pualingo.com/pua-profiles/herbal-tynan/ ), which is empirically correlated with "asshole", which in turn is correlated with "does not tip".

The fact that he is/was [if you read his blog .. thats "was"] a PUA invalidates his experience/findings/credibility?
Post reply on HN