Steve Jobs has Ruined Cruising

[yorky]

It’s the world we now live in, people go to fancy restaurants and ignore each other while playing on their phones.

[farawayatsea]

4 hours ago, farmermd said:

Just back from our first Edge cruise and one of my observations is the now prolific use of phones throughout the ship.  I sat at the Martini Bar one afternoon and observed 4 people in a row at the bar with their noses buried in their phone, oblivious of me taking pictures of them. I observed a person on the pool deck on a sea day having a FaceTime conversation with his grandkid. Numerous times I heard the sounds of incoming text messages and emails.  All of this will only get worse as internet access on ships gets faster and cheaper, especially when it is offered as a “free” perk, and as cruise lines encourage the use of their app while onboard to get the latest schedule of activities and “chat” with fellow cruisers. As a CC Elite member, I get 90 free internet minutes. I used a total of 7 minutes on my seven day cruise, and that was only to check in for my early flight. 
 

Part of the allure of cruising used to be a total disconnect from the world and having new conversations with different people. The allure is quickly fading...

 

"Wow! My wife and I have always said when we start complaining about stuff like this on a cruise we will stop cruising. Some people.... Life is too short to sweat the little stuff."

 

The above is  something you said in a posting in September. Just let it go!!!

[Xport]

2 hours ago, Germancruiser said:

Ah- i take it on board Edge they are no longer providing the daily paper with all the going ons?

 

Edge publishes the daily...  It's still provided nightly at turn-down...

Edited January 21, 2020 by Xport

[Xport]

5 minutes ago, Xport said:

 

Edge publishes the daily...  It's still provided nightly at turn-down...

 

Sorry for the error!

Edited January 21, 2020 by Xport

[chemmo]

3 hours ago, Dunmore2 said:

People relax in a lot of different ways. As long as it’s legal, I’m not going to judge anyone. Life is too short to get offended by someone who chooses to relax in a way that is different than my way.  

 

Agree...I am too busy enjoying myself with family to bother about anyone else...

 

I think most people doing FaceTime do tend to choose a ‘quieter’ corner and I have seen many people at bars answer a phone but then move some distance before starting their conversation proper. Most guests are sensitive to the impact their activities may have on the peace and quiet of others.

 

Not everyone does have the luxury of ‘switching’ off totally on a cruise...Self employed, those with dependent relatives and many others simply need to keep in touch. Then there are others for whom sharing their daily cruise adventures with family is part of their pleasure...

 

Each to his own!

[jean87510]

I agree about face timing at bar or restaurant. It is a little annoying especially when Im trying to read something on my phone.

I love when people criticize for anyone using a phone on vacation. Its my vacation and I like to read current events, amazon kindle books and of course cruise critic.  Plus I have it available for family issues. People really need to mind their business about the phone use on a ship. You want to keep yours in a cabin? Thats fine if it works for you. It doesnt work for me. 

[Miaminice]

Sadly this is not limited to cruise ships. You can see people sitting in restaurants not even exchanging a single word but constantly texting. Even if they do it in silence - I think it´s sad. 

 

As to minding one´s own business... sure. As long as others are quiet about their business. But please understand that people playing videos at full volume in a dining room or lounge does bother other people. Face timing at full volume and shouting back into the phone does bother people around you. Playing games with the sound turned on is annoying to other people...
 

Edited January 21, 2020 by Miaminice

[terrydtx]

We have smart phones,  smart tablets and even smart watches and using them in public is just a sign of the times. As long as they do not interfere with my space and enjoyment of my cruise, I could care less if other use their devises. I see kids sitting quietly at restaurants with their noses buried in their smart devises and I much prefer that to screaming kids running wild while I try to enjoy my meal. To each their own.

[rotoal]

We walked into the relaxation lounge on a cruise last summer, looking for a warm quiet place.   There was only one person in the lounge, he had a phone and an ear piece, I assumed that he was listening to relaxing music.   DH and I used sign language to pick a spot to sit, we didn't want to bother the gentleman.   As we were about to sit down, he started speaking very loudly into the mic attached to the phone.   He was conducting a business call in the quiet relaxation lounge, we just walked out.   

 

Face-timing with grandchildren at the loud pool is one thing, conducting a business call in the pieceful quiet of the relaxation lounge is totally inappropriate.

Edited January 21, 2020 by rotoal
typo

[farawayatsea]

IMHO I think it's very rude to take a phone out at a shared dinner table - it shows a lot of disrespect to the people you are dining with.  We do not want our kids doing it so we should follow the same rules. 

[Oceangoer2]

I'm surprised that NOT ONE person replying here has mentioned 'technology etiquette', which is a real thing and being taught to our children.  Use your phone, use your ear buds, text not talk if you have a choice, take your device when speaking/enjoying your movie/etc, away from those enjoying their OWN private time around you.   Be considerate...that's all anyone asks.

[Oceangoer2]

1 hour ago, terrydtx said:

We have smart phones,  smart tablets and even smart watches and using them in public is just a sign of the times. As long as they do not interfere with my space and enjoyment of my cruise, I could care less if other use their devises. I see kids sitting quietly at restaurants with their noses buried in their smart devises and I much prefer that to screaming kids running wild while I try to enjoy my meal. To each their own.

OMG...it seems that's what parenting has come to.  You prefer the kids to be anti social and not learning how to behave in a public restaurant by involving them in conversation, educating and disciplining when necessary?  They don't HAVE to run wild if their parents are doing their job.  I've seen young families engaging with their children, having a good time with them and I've seen others ignoring their kids while they have fun with the other adult(s) at the table.  The kids become bored and obviously not part of the family...so they resort to their screens or RUN WILD. 

[dogs4fun]

9 hours ago, Wine-O said:

I could care less if people play with their phones.  What annoys me is people talking/facetiming LOUDLY in the public areas.  For gosh sake, take it to your stateroom.  🍷

Exactly my sentiments!

[Globehoppers]

Princess is taking this to the extreme.  Their "Medallion" cruises provide you with an RFID device that unlocks your cabin door and also tracks you as you travel around the ship.  It is synch'd to your smart device (Phone, iPad) so you can order drinks, "art," dinner, from anywhere on the ship.  It also offers gambling on your smart device which is likely the profit reason Princess is looking to install it on all their ships.  Don't leave home without your smart device!

[Caribbean Chris]

I don’t have a problem with people staring at their phones/iPads on ships or in any other public place.They aren’t obligated to engage with complete strangers, and unless you have been in a coma for ten years, this is hardly unusual. 
 

It could be considered rude if it affects other people (as in the noise examples mentioned). For example to pull out a phone in the dining room, stop eating, and leave everyone else at your table hung up waiting for you to stop and finish eating so the waiters could serve the next course. Or looking at your phone in a dark theater, disturbing people seated nearby. 
 

I used to be shocked ten years ago when supposedly mature adults (ages 60s or 70s) I knew did not put their devices away. One example was taking a call in the middle of a Thanksgiving dinner and disappearing -  so rude to our hostess. Or watching a football game on an iPad at the table in a restaurant’s private room between courses in full view of the 100 year-old birthday girl and her host family. 
 

Just common courtesy, which of course is now uncommon.

Edited January 21, 2020 by Caribbean Chris

[shipshape sam]

11 hours ago, farmermd said:

Just back from our first Edge cruise and one of my observations is the now prolific use of phones throughout the ship.  I sat at the Martini Bar one afternoon and observed 4 people in a row at the bar with their noses buried in their phone, oblivious of me taking pictures of them. I observed a person on the pool deck on a sea day having a FaceTime conversation with his grandkid. Numerous times I heard the sounds of incoming text messages and emails.  All of this will only get worse as internet access on ships gets faster and cheaper, especially when it is offered as a “free” perk, and as cruise lines encourage the use of their app while onboard to get the latest schedule of activities and “chat” with fellow cruisers. As a CC Elite member, I get 90 free internet minutes. I used a total of 7 minutes on my seven day cruise, and that was only to check in for my early flight. 
 

Part of the allure of cruising used to be a total disconnect from the world and having new conversations with different people. The allure is quickly fading...

We still subscribe to 'disconnecting concept', but I can tell you when I was early in my business career, we did not take long vacations like a week or longer,  as I was running a couple of businesses.

 

Beyond your observations, don't let it effect your own 'disconnect'.  I don't!

[terrydtx]

44 minutes ago, oceangoer2 said:

OMG...it seems that's what parenting has come to.  You prefer the kids to be anti social and not learning how to behave in a public restaurant by involving them in conversation, educating and disciplining when necessary?  They don't HAVE to run wild if their parents are doing their job.  I've seen young families engaging with their children, having a good time with them and I've seen others ignoring their kids while they have fun with the other adult(s) at the table.  The kids become bored and obviously not part of the family...so they resort to their screens or RUN WILD. 

I never said I condone this, but as we all know too many parents today do not believe in child discipline and have the attitude of let little Johnny do what ever he wants, he is just being Johnny. So yes if a phone keep a child occupied over running wild and doesn't annoy me let them do it. Like I said it is a sign of the times we now live in and it will only get worse. 

[Cyber Kat]

Not that you will catch me cruising on the Edge - it’s way too big for my taste, but you can add me to your list of people who annoy you, because I will be using my phone, or most likely my tablet, on my cruises.  Why how I choose to relax is any of your business, I don’t know.  Don’t look at me if it’s that much of a bother.  And just an FYI, I’m old according to the calendar, not thinking.  I look to the future, not the past.
 

Don’t understand why the late Steve Jobs is getting blamed for all this.  He wasn’t alone in bringing forth new technology.

[Crown Vic]

39 minutes ago, Globehoppers said:

Princess is taking this to the extreme.  Their "Medallion" cruises provide you with an RFID device that unlocks your cabin door and also tracks you as you travel around the ship.  It is synch'd to your smart device (Phone, iPad) so you can order drinks, "art," dinner, from anywhere on the ship.  It also offers gambling on your smart device which is likely the profit reason Princess is looking to install it on all their ships.  Don't leave home without your smart device!

Princess does ‘track’ passengers via their RFID Medallions. On a recent Princess Cruise, we left our medallions in the cabin as we had requested regular ‘sea pass’ cards. In one dining room, the maître d’ told us that “we weren’t there” as our medallions ‘said’ we were in our cabin. Invasion of privacy? Oh boy! 1984 in 2020. Big Brother and all that...you are ‘bring watched’...

[ECCruise]

Conducting Face Time conversations anywhere other than your cabin is rude. Loudly talking on the phone for more than 15 or 20 seconds (like when you need to answer an important call) is rude.

 

Sitting at the dining table, or the Martini bar, with SO, with friends, with whomever, and buried in your phone is not rude.  But damn it is sad.

[miched]

The problem is people using  their phone to face time or talk they tend to talk louder and have the speaker turned up loud.  

 

Otherwise it isn’t any different that them talking to the person next to them and depending where it is is annoying especially if they are loud talkers.  
 

if they want to look at their phone or electronic notebooks  it isn’t any different than reading a book or paper.  It is their time to do as they wish. 
 

if they want to text that is ok except if the  volume turned up and it makes a noise every time one is sent or received.

 

It s also annoying when they are playing a game with the sound effects at a high volume.  
 

Other than that Steve Jobs didn’t ruin cruising.  People do that stuff everywhere and not always on Apple Products.  
 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅   

Edited January 21, 2020 by miched

[K.T.B.]

12 hours ago, farmermd said:

Just back from our first Edge cruise and one of my observations is the now prolific use of phones throughout the ship.  I sat at the Martini Bar one afternoon and observed 4 people in a row at the bar with their noses buried in their phone, oblivious of me taking pictures of them. I observed a person on the pool deck on a sea day having a FaceTime conversation with his grandkid. Numerous times I heard the sounds of incoming text messages and emails.  All of this will only get worse as internet access on ships gets faster and cheaper, especially when it is offered as a “free” perk, and as cruise lines encourage the use of their app while onboard to get the latest schedule of activities and “chat” with fellow cruisers. As a CC Elite member, I get 90 free internet minutes. I used a total of 7 minutes on my seven day cruise, and that was only to check in for my early flight. 
 

Part of the allure of cruising used to be a total disconnect from the world and having new conversations with different people. The allure is quickly fading...

 

And I bet you used your phone to take the pictures....

[farmermd]

8 hours ago, farawayatsea said:

 

"Wow! My wife and I have always said when we start complaining about stuff like this on a cruise we will stop cruising. Some people.... Life is too short to sweat the little stuff."

 

The above is  something you said in a posting in September. Just let it go!!!

 

And this is a reason we have no future cruises booked, though if you read the OP, this was an observation, not a complaint.

[PTC DAWG]

8 hours ago, yorky said:

It’s the world we now live in, people go to fancy restaurants and ignore each other while playing on their phones.

YES,  this thread proves that many are just fine with it...sort of sad, IMHO. 

[farmermd]

1 hour ago, oceangoer2 said:

OMG...it seems that's what parenting has come to.  You prefer the kids to be anti social and not learning how to behave in a public restaurant by involving them in conversation, educating and disciplining when necessary?  They don't HAVE to run wild if their parents are doing their job.  I've seen young families engaging with their children, having a good time with them and I've seen others ignoring their kids while they have fun with the other adult(s) at the table.  The kids become bored and obviously not part of the family...so they resort to their screens or RUN WILD. 

 

^^ This right here ^^

 

My daughter was taught at an early age how to behave in a restaurant.  She was 5 days old when we took her out to dinner with us for the first time.  We never bought electronic devices to entertain her, whether in a car or a restaurant.  We talked, we observed, we taught.  She can read a map.  She can read a menu.  She can have a conversation.