Hello, I will be taking a 12-day Mediterranean cruise in Sep starting in Barcelona and ending in Venice. I am by no means a photographer, but enjoy taking a lot of photos. I am trying to avoid bringing my laptop to download my photos to each day. I really don't want to buy a ton of memory cards for my camera, either. I am trying to figure out a solution to NOT bringing my laptop (although this wouldn't be the end of the world) and would appreciate any feedback. Thanks!

Hi Jinxy - if you don't want to do a laptop or additional memory cards, you can do a PSD (Portable Storage Device). You can get them in various sizes (40gb, 80gb, 160gb, etc.) for between $80-$400 depending on what you want.

Epson, Panasonic, Wolverine, Sanho are some of the manufacturers.

Some allow you to view the images, some are simply for storage only. Some take all the different memory cards, some take only 1 or 2 types and require a separate reader for the other types. They range in size between an iPod and a thick paperback book. Most use an internal battery.

I have a Sanho Hyperdrive HD80, bought it a few years ago, and it's been great. I bought it with a 40gb harddrive, but upgraded to a 120gb drive about a year ago. It doesn't have a viewer, but when I'm on vacation I don't want to spend my days looking at the photos I've already taken... instead I'm off taking new photos and filling the harddrive.

Or you can look for an Internet cafe or photo shop on one of your port stops and have the photos dumped to CD.

how about just buying a few 4MB cards and that way you've only spent about $50 and that should be enough room for at least 4000 pics..
then there's no extra stuff to carry around and the flash cards are small and compact. enjoy your trip.

Thank you all for the ideas. I found some pretty inexpensive memory cards online and think I will just go with that option!

Just a note on the 4MB cards, those are usually high capacity cards that only work with HC or high capacity cameras. Pre-HC cameras max out with a 2GB card, and if you try to use a 4GB HC card, it will say "format not recognized" or "cannot read file". I get about 1800 photos out of a 2GB card, which is plenty for me because I usually take about 1200 photos and some video which takes up more space.