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Celebrity apps for onboard?


firsttimeRach
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Does anyone know if Celebrity has any apps that can be used onboard to communicate with fellow travelers? I'm not planning to purchase the internet package, but am wondering about texting my family members while on the ship. How do you keep track of one another and plan out the day (especially with teens!)? Do we really need to resort to post-its, and the "old fashioned way"?;p;pclear.png?emoji-winktongue-1704

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Even Holland America offers free chat on their ships without an internet package purchase, so Edge (much more cutting-edge design) will, without a doubt, provide free chat around the ship.

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Even Holland America offers free chat on their ships without an internet package purchase, so Edge (much more cutting-edge design) will, without a doubt, provide free chat around the ship.

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There will be all new interactive technology for EDGE, which Royal Caribbean is working on now for both the Celebrity and Royal Caribbean brands. There should be an all new app with some major new capabilities. Stay tuned.

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Does anyone know if Celebrity has any apps that can be used onboard to communicate with fellow travelers? I'm not planning to purchase the internet package, but am wondering about texting my family members while on the ship. How do you keep track of one another and plan out the day (especially with teens!)? Do we really need to resort to post-its, and the "old fashioned way"?;p;pclear.png?emoji-winktongue-1704

 

Not yet, but generally when we travel within a group everyone sees each other at some point during the day and have a quick chat about meeting at some venue at some time.

 

Your teens may be in the Teen Center or Game area or Pool area for the most part, so you know generally where they are and they should know where you plan to be generally so if they need to get in touch there are a few places to check.

 

Then there is always 'meet me back at the cabin or pool or bar or bingo or OVC at xx time' and continue planning the day from there.

 

Unless you know your children will run like crazy as many do on the mega mass market ships, nothing to worry about at all. You can relax.

 

bon voyage

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I understand the need for folks to keep in touch, but hope the ship will not become a place where everyone is tapping away on their devices....esp at dining venues...

 

 

I confess I'm one of those people that has turned to the dark side, and I carry my smart phone with me pretty much always even onboard ship. I never used to do this. The primary reasons are that it's also my camera and has all my music. I do always keep it on silent and try not to look at it during shows or dinner. I know how annoying that is. With the new affordable unlimited internet plans it also makes it easy to always stay connected, just like if I were at home.

 

Like it or not, smart phones are becoming more and more integral to the cruise experience. Carnival Corp. has developed the Ocean Medallion program which is currently testing on Princess, MSC has the MSC For Me interactive app technology, NCL has new technology under development, and Royal Caribbean/Celebrity are developing Excalibur, their new interactive onboard technology. Instead of a wearable device like the Ocean Medallion, Excalibur will all be from your smartphone. Order a drink anywhere on the ship and have it delivered, purchase items from the gift shop right from your phone, even open and lock your cabin door. This is all whats coming and I think EDGE might be the first ship to have it fully implemented. Of course the ultimate goal of developing all this technology is increased revenue. Cruise lines hope passengers will spend more if they make it easier for them to do so. We shall see!

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Guess dh and I will be the odd folks on board...tech is fun and sometimes a necessity but not always. Nice to turn it off once in awhile.

 

We bring our camera on cruises, lock our phones on the off setting in the cabin safe, and I use the tablet to read pre loaded books and check at home every so often. We print our boarding passes at the computer center.

 

Just as easy to use a key card to unlock my door without carrying a phone, and we can make dining res in person or by calling. And we generally prefer to see and try on items. In a store.

 

Celeb is not very good at tech so it will be interesting to see if they finally succeed.. Many cruisers want the tech stuff so I understand they will focus on this area to be competitive.

 

EDGE will no doubt have lots of tech!

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Guess dh and I will be the odd folks on board...tech is fun and sometimes a necessity but not always. Nice to turn it off once in awhile.

 

 

EDGE will no doubt have lots of tech!

You won’t be completely alone. DH and I have spent our adult lives in the IT field. When we finally get away from work, we want a lot of connection free time. We certainly don’t want to remain available to work, family and friends 24/7 while on holiday!

 

I agree. I can’t imagine that Celebrity will suddenly excel technologically, so I shudder to think what we will find on Edge next April. I envision some embarrassing errors if they don’t get some of their new “smart” technology working properly before the inaugural cruise:o

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Agreed! And regardless of how we’re meant to control the Infinite Veranda, I hope it stays where we want it, open, closed or somewhere in between.

 

I loathe the idea of controlling my cabin door, thermostat etcetera with my smartphone. I guess LLP has forgotten, or perhaps never understood, the reason for “cashless” cruising. I enjoy being free to roam around the ship with only my key card and lip balm in my pocket. Womens’ clothes rarely have pockets suitable for smartphones. But perhaps LLP has an assistant to carry hers:rolleyes:

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I would venture to guess, that like the Princess Ocean Medallion technology, that anything X implements will be entirely optional and that if you choose to continue carrying a keycard and lipbalm only it will still allow you to have a marvelous vacation :)

 

Any new tech will only be a optional "enhancement" for those that prefer gadgets and gizmos

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I would venture to guess, that like the Princess Ocean Medallion technology, that anything X implements will be entirely optional and that if you choose to continue carrying a keycard and lipbalm only it will still allow you to have a marvelous vacation :)

 

Any new tech will only be a optional "enhancement" for those that prefer gadgets and gizmos

 

 

 

Absolutely. They won’t be forcing anyone to use it. Completely optional. Everyone wins.

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I would venture to guess, that like the Princess Ocean Medallion technology, that anything X implements will be entirely optional and that if you choose to continue carrying a keycard and lipbalm only it will still allow you to have a marvelous vacation :)

 

Any new tech will only be a optional "enhancement" for those that prefer gadgets and gizmos

I’ve never sailed Princess, so their technology is unfamiliar to me, but I’m happy to contemplate your scenario. DH and I are both unrepentant gadget happy geeks, but as I mentioned, womens’ clothing has a dearth of appropriate pockets for gadgets. A ship is the only place I can jettison the handbag or messenger bag for at least some of the time:). It’s a win/win. DH can control everything outside the stateroom with his smartphone (carried in those handy pockets that festoon guys’ clothing) and I can control everything within the stateroom with mine:evilsmile:

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Just off the Reflection on March 12. All the stateroom doors have been replaced and there are key card “readers” now. You tap your seapass card on the device and the door unlocks.

The same when you get on/off the ship, you just touch your card on a reader. Faster and easier! All X ships will have this technology installed in the near future.

If you carry your seapass in a lanyard holder, or small card holder, you don’t even have to remove them for the readers.

 

The gift shops on Reflection also had a new card reader system where you place your seapass card on the device and it charges your purchases to your account. No more swiping! They may have had these devices at the bars already, but I never saw them.

These new card readers are really nice and so convenient, since we will not be carrying our cell phones around the Edge either.

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Just off the Reflection on March 12. All the stateroom doors have been replaced and there are key card “readers” now. You tap your seapass card on the device and the door unlocks.

The same when you get on/off the ship, you just touch your card on a reader. Faster and easier! All X ships will have this technology installed in the near future.

If you carry your seapass in a lanyard holder, or small card holder, you don’t even have to remove them for the readers.

 

The gift shops on Reflection also had a new card reader system where you place your seapass card on the device and it charges your purchases to your account. No more swiping! They may have had these devices at the bars already, but I never saw them.

These new card readers are really nice and so convenient, since we will not be carrying our cell phones around the Edge either.

 

 

This is the way it is on many new ships. Disney Cruise Line has actually had it for a while. Just got off the new MSC Seaside and they have it too. You just tap your card for everything. They have RFID technology in the cards (and wristbands).

 

EDGE will take it all a step further.

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Chuckling as I recall a cruise on Inf or Connie...where many cards were de- authorized at the first port..It was some system issue..Before we could get off the ship we had to wait in a very long line where each card was manually re done...Hope new system works better....

 

Also hope the "readers" are not too sensitive that they read a card as you pass by...glad many of the new phone enhancements will be optional.

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Just off the Reflection on March 12. All the stateroom doors have been replaced and there are key card “readers” now. You tap your seapass card on the device and the door unlocks.

The same when you get on/off the ship, you just touch your card on a reader. Faster and easier! All X ships will have this technology installed in the near future.

If you carry your seapass in a lanyard holder, or small card holder, you don’t even have to remove them for the readers.

 

The gift shops on Reflection also had a new card reader system where you place your seapass card on the device and it charges your purchases to your account. No more swiping! They may have had these devices at the bars already, but I never saw them.

These new card readers are really nice and so convenient, since we will not be carrying our cell phones around the Edge either.

 

I like the idea of wearing and tapping the key cards to open the cabin door. It will help with my morning routine of carrying two coffee's back from Cafe Al Baccio and fumbling to open the door!

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We stay at hotels in the Hilton chain frequently, and they are gradually moving from the room doors where you insert your card to this new system where you simply place it against the reader. In our experience these cards are much more reliable than the old ones -- so far we haven't gotten de-activated. IMHO this is a more efficient technology than a phone app [especially since my iPhone claims I am wearing the wrong finger half the time :mad:]

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Chuckling as I recall a cruise on Inf or Connie...where many cards were de- authorized at the first port..It was some system issue..Before we could get off the ship we had to wait in a very long line where each card was manually re done...Hope new system works better....

 

Also hope the "readers" are not too sensitive that they read a card as you pass by...glad many of the new phone enhancements will be optional.

 

No, the readers are not that “sensitive”.

Your seapass card has to actually make contact with the reader to initiate a transaction. 😊

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No, the readers are not that “sensitive”.

Your seapass card has to actually make contact with the reader to initiate a transaction. 😊

 

 

With the Ocean Medallion on Princess, it actually unlocks your cabin door as you approach so it's unlocked just before you get to it. Now the system is smart enough to know the difference between your cabin door and a scanner to get on and off the ship, or to make any purchases. I'm guessing this is what Royal Caribbean/Celebrity are aiming for as well, but with smartphones instead of a medallion or wristband. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out, but one thing is for sure it's coming. You can embrace it or try to make do without it as long as possible.

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Celebrity have just released a new app which currently only works on 3 ships. Eventually they will roll out accross the fleet and add the option to do the chat.

 

The app will work by connecting to ship's wi fi - but wi fi package purchase is not required to use the Celebrity app on board. ( You will of course need a package for internet browsing and facebook and other social media)

 

The app should be in full swing come Edge launch.

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