Initial Thoughts on Today's Reveal?

[Cruising89143]

I'm on the maiden crossing so I'll let you know how it goes.

 

Looking forward to your review and photos. They are always outstanding.

[Cruising89143]

I agree!

I'm also of the mindset where I don't want to carry around my phone. I don't want to be contacted about work, or even have the opportunity to read my email.

I'm one of those people that's always connected, and the idea of carrying around a device that's always going to tell me that I got an email will take away from my R&R. I won't be able to ignore them.

Maybe i'll remove my email client from my tablet and leave my phone in the room. This way, I can only do things like make reservations and the annoying reminders about work won't keep popping up.

For those that don't like technology, there's always an option to get the paper cruise compass.

I just like the idea that I can make reservations on the fly, if they're available.

 

But there are more and more people who need to stay in contact with work. I recently was on a cruise and was gone for 16 days. While I had someone to handle any issues that may have come up while I was gone it was nice to be able to check emails on my tablet. Just another option or choice for those that wish to use it.

Edited August 25, 2014 by cruisingator2

[Cruising89143]

Again my point is within their own industry, they are not playing catch up at all but are actually the industry leader when it comes to technology. They may be playing catch-up to existing land based technology but at sea it is a different story and it's not always an apples to apples comparison. The logistics of certain land based technologies are simply far more challenging on ship. If you think Royal Caribbean is playing catch up, I can only imagine how you feel about Carnival and other lines which trail Royal Caribbean quite substantially in most areas when it comes to onboard technology.

 

I quite enjoyed the big reveal, and I felt the upgraded internet technology which incorporates expanded band width greater than every other cruise ship in the world combined was worthy of its own reveal. It's an industry first for sure. Everything else was icing on the cake.

 

Agree. I don't think Princess has added the in cabin access to ones on board account. The fact that RCI has been able to offer high speed internet is great and a huge investment. The WOW bands are still a very much new technology.

Disney rolled it out but have had a heck of a time getting it to work correctly.

[eroller]

But there are more and more people who need to stay in contact with work. I recently was on a cruise and was gone for 16 days. While I had someone to handle any issues that may have come up while I was gone it was nice to be able to check emails on my tablet. Just another option or choice for those that wish to use it.

 

 

Exactly. It's available for those that want it, and for those that don't they can simply ignore it.

 

Cruising today on the big mass-market lines is all about options, choice, and co-branding. The more options you offer the broader market you appeal to and the more successful you become. Throw those well known successful brands into the mix and even better.

[eroller]

The WOW bands are still a very much new technology.

Disney rolled it out but have had a heck of a time getting it to work correctly.

 

 

I'm a huge Disney fanatic (sailing on the newly reimagined DISNEY MAGIC next month) and was also one of the first to test out the Magic Bands at Disney World. We are annual pass holders and go often. No question Disney encountered plenty of issues with the Magic Bands and to be honest they are still working out the kinks. I think the project was more complex than they ever anticipated. The difference is the technology infrastructure that the Magic Bands had to replace and integrate with was massive, especially when compared to a single cruise ship. We are talking about everything from retail outlets across four theme parks to over 25 resorts, countless restaurants, main entry gates, Fastpass options, etc. The entire Disney infrastructure had to be reworked and it had to be extremely safe since credit card and personal information is tied into the Magic Bands.

 

The bands on QUANTUM are essentially the same idea, but the scope is so much smaller. I don't anticipate the level of challenge that Disney encountered.

[negc]

Agree. I don't think Princess has added the in cabin access to ones on board account. .

 

When I asked about the lack of that feature on Princess ships, I was told by someone who should know, that the reason was that they had done a study which indicated that when guests could check their account on their stateroom television, they tended to spend less money. Not sure that any Princess executives would admit to that but I thought it a bit worrisome that they would actually keep their passengers in the dark in order to increase their revenue.

[DEIx15x8]

I'm a huge Disney fanatic (sailing on the newly reimagined DISNEY MAGIC next month) and was also one of the first to test out the Magic Bands at Disney World. We are annual pass holders and go often. No question Disney encountered plenty of issues with the Magic Bands and to be honest they are still working out the kinks. I think the project was more complex than they ever anticipated. The difference is the technology infrastructure that the Magic Bands had to replace and integrate with was massive, especially when compared to a single cruise ship. We are talking about everything from retail outlets across four theme parks to over 25 resorts, countless restaurants, main entry gates, Fastpass options, etc. The entire Disney infrastructure had to be reworked and it had to be extremely safe since credit card and personal information is tied into the Magic Bands.

 

The bands on QUANTUM are essentially the same idea, but the scope is so much smaller. I don't anticipate the level of challenge that Disney encountered.

 

Yep, that's a big difference. Used the Magic Bands last October and loved it, so convenient but MyMagic+ was useless. Heard they improved it now. They had to change norms and inject new technology into a massive existing infrastructure. Royal Caribbean is entering this with a clean slate where they can integrate with everything from the ground up and have no backwards compatibility or cross over time to really worry about. The challenges should be much smaller and things should go much smoother...as long as the Dynamic Dining people were the B team and not involved.

[eroller]

...as long as the Dynamic Dining people were the B team and not involved.

 

 

Agreed! Lets hope things go better than the Dynamic Dining roll out. Hopefully the systems and those responsible for developing the program are different.