Cruises, work and connectivity

It used to be that a cruise was the perfect way to ‘get away from it all’ – no cooking, no cleaning and – best of all – apart from ship to shore radio (used on in emergencies) no way for the office to get hold of you. Sadly or happily, this is changing. Almost every ship now has a internet café, although the prices for logging on can be steep and many are adding stateroom or even shipwide wi-fi to allow people to remain connected to those back at home. Holland America are even running free classes in how to send your holiday movies to your friends via the internet or set up a holiday blog. The downside though, is the ability of work to catch up with you – now all they need to do is send you an email and it lands right in your cabin, in the middle of your holiday. Or they can get you via your mobile on many ships that now offer satellite mobile connectivity.