Hi everyone,

I have just returned from a 15 day Royal Carribean  cruise, and cutting to the chase, got my drone on board. Many of the  previous posts suggested Royal Carribean would confinscate it...NO. I  just put the spark on a small carry on bag and went through the pre  board x-ray, and boom...no problem.
Here is a City by City  account of using my drone:

Paris  - I was foolish and flew it near the Eifell tower, and then across the  road to the Ministry of Defence!!.. idiot, nearly got arrested and if  only apologizing profusely did i  get away with it....
Arhuus Denmark, no problems, even flew it from acroos the road from the Princess Mary's country house
Tallin, Estonia - got some great footage, no problem
St Petersburg & Moscow Russia - NO NO NO, did not even try...
Helsinki Finland - They have great tolerance for drones and again no problem
Stockholm Sweden - Absolutely beautiful
Rostock Germany - No Problem
Copenhagen - Wonderful footage
Amsterdam - Very busy in the city, didnt try
Budapest - Fantastic
Prague - No Dramas

What i want to say is i did not keep the Spark in the air more than 2 miniutes, which was still enough to get some great footage.
So if you are planning a ship cruise, dont be afraid to take it on board, you wont regret it

Thank you for the Good Information.

Good to know   

Awesome!! Sounds like a fun cruise too! I can’t wait to see what you got

Weibring Posted at 2018-6-22 16:17
https://youtu.be/QjURvYMn0ws

OH MY!

How long have you been flying???
Seems like you have some experience there!

Weibring Posted at 2018-6-22 16:17
https://youtu.be/QjURvYMn0ws

I can see you at 1min56seconds ! The People were all relaxed at the Cafeteria and enjoying it ! Thats how Civilised People should be, not crying around like kids about their Privacy, they should appreciate the Pilots Capabilities and Admire Techonology !

You are a Really Good Mate !

Aussies Rocks !

Outstanding photography! thanks for sharing. What kind of camera settings did you use and post video editing?

pmshop Posted at 2018-6-22 16:30
OH MY!

How long have you been flying???

Since January, i have had a flyaway in that time, and was lucky enough to find it 4 days later...it has helped me check everything before flying, which is what i would do religiously in Europe.

DMX_MT Posted at 2018-6-22 16:54
I can see you at 1min56seconds !  The People were all relaxed at the Cafeteria and enjoying it ! Thats how Civilised People should be, not crying around like kids about their Privacy, they should appreciate the Pilots Capabilities and Admire Techonology !

You are a Really Good Mate !

Thank you so much DMX... actually i didn't come across anyone who was upset with me flying. Obviously i respected my boundaries and didn't fly near people, which i what we all strive to do..fly responsibly

stuka75 Posted at 2018-6-22 18:15
Outstanding photography! thanks for sharing. What kind of camera settings did you use and post video editing?

Actually, i just put it quickly together with movie maker and all settings were normal..I am doing a longer and more detailed video with Da Vinci Resolve, so i am interested to see how that turns out.
i just didn't have time to adjust settings on the go, as i wanted to get the shots and land so that i wasn't up there for a long time. The only thing i found frustrating during the whole time i flew, was the wi fi signal was very weak. This was a common occurrence through out Europe, it meant i couldn't fly more than 100 metres away...was just very worried about a GPS disconnection

Weibring Posted at 2018-6-22 18:49
Actually, i just put it quickly together with movie maker and all settings were normal..I am doing a longer and more detailed video with Da Vinci Resolve, so i am interested to see how that turns out.
i just didn't have time to adjust settings on the go, as i wanted to get the shots and land so that i wasn't up there for a long time. The only thing i found frustrating during the whole time i flew, was the wi fi signal was very weak. This was a common occurrence through out Europe, it meant i couldn't fly more than 100 metres away...was just very worried about a GPS disconnection

GPS was weak as most of the time you where flying in Urban Areas with lots of Interference.

Also Satellites HDOP (horizontal dilution of precision) may be compromised inside Cities due to High Buildings / Structures. That may effect the GPS Signal too.

In Europe we use CE Mode which has much less power than FCC Mode. In Australia do you use FCC Mode ?

DMX_MT Posted at 2018-6-23 03:37
GPS was weak as most of the time you where flying in Urban Areas with lots of Interference.

Also Satellites HDOP (horizontal dilution of precision) may be compromised inside Cities due to High Buildings / Structures. That may effect the GPS Signal too.

Not sure , but your explanation sounds right... every flight i couldnt go more than 50 metres without a warning that my signal was weak...didnt matter where i was in Europe

Weibring Posted at 2018-6-23 21:17
Not sure , but your explanation sounds right... every flight i couldnt go more than 50 metres without a warning that my signal was weak...didnt matter where i was in Europe

Also remember that in Europe - CE Mode - the 5.8GHz is practically usually, almost have the Power of that in FCC Mode.

Have a look for yourself, in one of my posts let me paste the info -


I read that in FCC mode there isnt so much difference between 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz.

In EC mode there is a lot although the db Power Gap seems small its actually about x4 as much more in FCC.

DJI Spark range settings (taken from the DJI website):

2.412 – 2.462 GHz (unobstructed, free of interference)
FCC: 1.2 mi (2 km); CE: 0.3 mi (500 m)

5.745 – 5.825 GHz (unobstructed, free of interference)
FCC: 1.2 mi (2 km); CE: 0.18 mi (300 m)

If you have 1-13 Channels you are EC, if you have 1-11 Channels you are FCC mode. These are the 2.4GHz.

I read also -

2.4GHz best for long distance as Wave is LONG WAVE (Long Distance Eg. Repeaters)
5.8GHz best for short distance as Wave is SHORT WAVE (Under 200m Range Eg. Indoor Wifi)

The other problem we have in EU is that 2.4GHz has a lot of traffic and the 5.8GHz is not supported a lot like in the US.

Technically I am not an expert, and sometimes these things make it a bit complicated for Beginners like me.

Also this may help you -

The transmitter power is the same for both. Antennas and encoding make the difference.

The specs say: Spark:

Transmitter Power (EIRP)        

2.4 GHz
FCC: ≤26 dBm; CE: ≤18 dBm; SRCC: ≤18 dBm; MIC: ≤18 dBm

5.8 GHz
FCC: ≤28 dBm; CE: ≤14 dBm; SRCC: ≤26 dBm; MIC: -

The dBm in CE is ridiculous !
The dBm between FCC and CE at 2.4GHz is 8dBm that makes a difference from EC - 500m to FCC - 2000m range.
The dBm between FCC and CE at 5.8GHz is 14dBm that makes a difference from EC - 300m to FCC -  2000m range.

DMX_MT Posted at 2018-6-24 05:42
Also remember that in Europe - CE Mode - the 5.8GHz is practically usually, almost have the Power of that in FCC Mode.

Have a look for yourself, in one of my posts let me paste the info -

We are on 5.8 in Aus. I can get over 600 metres easily on a clear day and without being near house. longest distance was 2.1km...although i must admit i haven't let it out of my sight lately

Weibring Posted at 2018-6-26 05:07
We are on 5.8 in Aus. I can get over 600 metres easily on a clear day and without being near house. longest distance was 2.1km...although i must admit i haven't let it out of my sight lately

5.8GHz in FCC or CE Mode Weibring ? As it makes a lot of difference is you are in FCC Mode.

Wish someday I have the chance to come to Australia ! Had my best friend from there, we grew up together !

The Land of Down Under, he used to say, like that Song.

Very nice vid.  Did you cruise on a river boat or the sea going ships?  I'm leaving in a month for a Europe river cruise and plan to take a few drones.