Disturbing New Things on Two Carnival Ships Now Cruising

[Boatdrill]

8 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Please take this as a friendly post from a 5 Star Mariner (so I obviously enjoy HAL) and frequent international traveler.  My topic is in response to several posts (in this blog) from folks who do not have Smartphones. 

Thank you for your insight, it was very helpful and thought provoking. 

I don't own a Smartphone simply because I don't need a computer with me at all times. 

My flip phone works well for my needs - having a telephone on hand- and its 4.5" x 2" size fits in my pocket or small purse. My international cell phone is slightly larger. 

If I'm in a hotel and need access to email, I use their business center.  

If a ship requires a Smartphone to order dinner, we can be sure many waiters will be asked to recite the menu by those without a smartphone.  This will be quite time consuming, mostly because of the follow up questions that are sure to come. 

 

I've found that asking for a paper copy,  either in person, or by email, hasn't been a problem, whether its  menus, airline boarding passes, or even my NFL season tickets. 

 

Please know I take your comments and observations seriously,  and will keep your advice in mind.  

 

Edited July 6, 2021 by Boatdrill

[Roz]

Coincidentally, today several business journals carried articles about how some restaurants are coping with the labor shortage by having customers order using apps or QR codes. 

 

1 hour ago, Boatdrill said:

If a ship requires a Smartphone to order dinner, we can be sure many waiters will be asked to recite the menu by those without a smartphone.  This will be quite time consuming, mostly because of the follow up questions that are sure to come. 

 

Rather than slow down service in the MDR while waiters recite a litany of dining selections over and over again, I'm sure disposable paper menus will be available.  

[Hlitner]

1 hour ago, Boatdrill said:

Thank you for your insight, it was very helpful and thought provoking. 

I don't own a Smartphone simply because I don't need a computer with me at all times. 

My flip phone works well for my needs - having a telephone on hand- and its 4.5" x 2" size fits in my pocket or small purse. My international cell phone is slightly larger. 

If I'm in a hotel and need access to email, I use their business center.  

If a ship requires a Smartphone to order dinner, we can be sure many waiters will be asked to recite the menu by those without a smartphone.  This will be quite time consuming, mostly because of the follow up questions that are sure to come. 

 

I've found that asking for a paper copy,  either in person, or by email, hasn't been a problem, whether its  menus, airline boarding passes, or even my NFL season tickets. 

 

Please know I take your comments and observations seriously,  and will keep your advice in mind.  

 

When you are waiting for your necessary e-mail from the Greek government (which is sent out after midnight Greek time on the day of your scheduled arrival in Greece) and are in an airport where most lounges (assuming you have access to lounges) and business centers are still closed (because of COVID) I am wondering where you will go to have somebody access your private e-mail account, read through your e-mails looking for the one from Greece, and then printing it out?  That is our world as it currently exists.   You may want to gamble that you can find somebody, somewhere, to get your e-mail and we do wish you luck.   But most folks already have enough anxiety dealing with all these very tight timeframes much less trying to find a business center that is open and easily accessible while you are waiting for your flight.

 

Speaking of hotel business centers (you mentioned this in your post) we were just in a Washington DC hotel last night whose Business Center (just off the lobby) remained closed because of COVID restrictions.  It makes no sense to me, but it is what it is.

 

Hank

[AKJonesy]

13 hours ago, Boatdrill said:

Please know I take your comments and observations seriously,  and will keep your advice in mind.  

All "helpful" posts are welcome.  Some people want to beat a topic to death, and still put the nail in the coffin.  Just saying.  :)

Edited July 6, 2021 by AKJonesy

[Horizon chaser 1957]

The ship will have paper menus on request. Those of us with dietary restrictions are given a no frills photocopy of the next nights menu and a pencil before the end of dinner. You mark it with your name, cabin number, dietary issue, and mark your choices so the galley has time to alter and substitute your selections. The next night you receive your preordered courses without fuss or drama.

So yes, they have paper menus on request.

[latserrof]

22 hours ago, Hlitner said:

 For those who live in the USA, T-Mobile has a pretty good deal for Seniors (I think over 50).

 

Hank

Thanks for all the info, good post. T-Mobile is 55+

 

I was among the first civilians in the US to have a cellphone, working for CNN in 1981. I was on call 24/7, and grew to hate the phone, more so now because of the distractions it provides others. We are now "safety users", flip phones, $5/mo. w/ Verizon for 25 minutes that pile up. We have hundreds of unused minutes. I do have several LG android smartphones, none activated,  and they are great for listening to library books and music and FM radio. Also wi-fi. Even unactivated, I can still call 911 (a requirement for all cell phones sold in the US, I believe.) But, yeah, an activated smartphone may become a necessity someday.

[Roz]

This thread reminds me of when HAL introduced online check-in and after that, no more cruise documents mailed to your home.  We now print our own docs.  This was supposed to be the end of the world but now most of us don't give it a 2nd thought.  And your TA can still submit the info for you, print the docs, and either mail them to you or have you pick them up.

 

To quote the Bard, much ado about nothing.

[Horizon chaser 1957]

7 minutes ago, latserrof said:

Also wi-fi. Even unactivated, I can still call 911 (a requirement for all cell phones sold in the US, I believe.) But, yeah, an activated smartphone may become a necessity someday.

On board the ship, the Navigator app usage is free. It can be accessed without either a data plan or paid ships wifi. An unactivated smartphone is all you need. You should be good to go as is!

[ontheweb]

1 minute ago, Horizon chaser 1957 said:

On board the ship, the Navigator app usage is free. It can be accessed without either a data plan or paid ships wifi. An unactivated smartphone is all you need. You should be good to go as is!

And if you do not own a smartphone?????

[kazu]

Just now, ontheweb said:

And if you do not own a smartphone?????

An Ipad or tablet works as well 🙂 

[ontheweb]

2 minutes ago, kazu said:

An Ipad or tablet works as well 🙂 

Just a laptop at home.

[kazu]

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

Just a laptop at home.

 

Don’t know what type of laptop you have but mine can do apps (if I want).

 

I don’t want to travel with a bulky laptop.  Back in 2013, I bought my first Ipad which was supposed to be for “travel only”.  It’s since become my “go to” for most stuff except when I need my laptop.

I won’t travel without my Ipad.  I might be stupid on my smartphone, but the Ipad does everything needed 😉.  And more easily to me.

[Torquer]

I am a very high-tech person with lots of gadgets, and of course I have a smartphone.  My wife is not and has a flip phone.  But while we are in our house, our phones stay in a drawer where they are constantly being recharged.  I am married to my wife, not my phone, like seemingly some people you see.  They only come out of that drawer when we go out.

 

On all our many prior cruises, my phone has stayed in our cabin while aboard ship.  I do take it with me in port if I need directions or in case I would need to make an emergency call.

 

We did not go out to restaurants at all during the first 13 months of the covid pandemic.  However, since the problem has lessened for vaccinated people, in the last 3-4 months we have traveled in the US and been to over 25 different sit-down restaurants.  Every one of these restaurants offered us a printed menu, which we accepted.  Almost all of these menus are the kind that get reused by other diners.

 

I really do not see a problem with printed menus on cruise ships and it seems like they are using covid as an excuse to save money.  I always enjoy sitting down in the MDR and being surprised what will be on the menu the waiter gives us.  If we have to use smartphone menus on HAL for our two booked cruises in 2022, I will be very unhappy.  In the future, this would be a significant deciding point on which cruise line to travel.

[AncientWanderer]

It seems like we are very much in a transition period with regard to using technology to do away with paper.  I really think that eventually, at least in the U.S., this is going to fall under ADA rules.  Concessions have to be made for people who can't use "devices."  My DMIL travels extensively and is active and with it, but she literally cannot send a text.  Some kind of attention deficit disorder.  So we probably should be patient and kind about all this.  It's not like some people just are stubborn and don't want to change.

[igraf]

On 7/4/2021 at 12:55 PM, Mary229 said:

Maybe the vaccinations were checked prior to embarkation day.  

 

We have local restaurants that DH has to ask for a paper menu, it is like water in some locations, you need to ask as it is not automatically offered.

 

I told DH this morning that he is joining the rest of us and getting a smart phone  when we start traveling next year (I need a new one anyway, he will get my hand me down).  You can get a cheap tracphone smart phone or you can use a tablet.  You don't need to have a data plan on your phone to use the internet on HAL. I looked at Ting Mobile this morning and they offer an unlimited talk and text plan for $10 a month, I used Ting for years and was delighted that I have affordable service throughout most of the world.   PS.  Phone prices drop immensely in late September when Apple announces their latest model

 

A smartphone or tablet can be used for free with no phone plan at all.   All you need is data via wifi, which I believe will be provided on board au gratis for ship functions.  You can often send and receive email (but not texting) on shore for the price of a cup of coffee even if you have no phone plan.

 

Ask a family member for a discarded phone (but not too old...).  Again, no cost.

 

igraf

 

 

 

[cruisemom42]

On 7/5/2021 at 7:18 AM, ontheweb said:

And exactly how many cases of Covid have been traced back to printed menus? Has anyone heard that the scientific community has said that Covid spread is by aerosol, not by surface contact? 

 

Isn't norovirus also of concern?  I thought many would be happy to embrace a change that means no longer handling menus handled by (and possibly coughed or sneezed on) by many others...

[T8NCruise]

This seems to be much ado about nothing. Most restaurants still have the option of printed menus.  Even pre-Covid we always carried our little bottle of sanitizer to the MDR and used it after perusing the menu.  How hard is that?

[Mary229]

40 minutes ago, igraf said:

 

A smartphone or tablet can be used for free with no phone plan at all.   All you need is data via wifi, which I believe will be provided on board au gratis for ship functions.  You can often send and receive email (but not texting) on shore for the price of a cup of coffee even if you have no phone plan.

 

Ask a family member for a discarded phone (but not too old...).  Again, no cost.

 

igraf

 

 

 

For us he just needs to get onboard.  I am tired of taking his messages because they can find me and not him.  $10 a month is perfect for him

[Horizon chaser 1957]

2 hours ago, ontheweb said:

And if you do not own a smartphone?????

The person I replied to said they owned a smartphone but it wasn’t activated. I took the liberty of assuming they owned a smartphone, but it wasn’t activated.

[ontheweb]

48 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Isn't norovirus also of concern?  I thought many would be happy to embrace a change that means no longer handling menus handled by (and possibly coughed or sneezed on) by many others...

Yes, of course it is. But is that the reason first the CDC said no self serve buffet, and then changed it to recommended no self serve buffet?

[zgscl]

I would wait to panic until we hear from the first HAL sailing. While both are owned by the same parent company they have very different client bases and onboard experiences. I have a hard time believing HAL would not at the very least have paper copies of everything available given their client profile. 

[Florida_gal_50]

1 hour ago, Torquer said:

I am a very high-tech person with lots of gadgets, and of course I have a smartphone.  My wife is not and has a flip phone.  But while we are in our house, our phones stay in a drawer where they are constantly being recharged.  I am married to my wife, not my phone, like seemingly some people you see.  They only come out of that drawer when we go out.

 

On all our many prior cruises, my phone has stayed in our cabin while aboard ship.  I do take it with me in port if I need directions or in case I would need to make an emergency call.

 

We did not go out to restaurants at all during the first 13 months of the covid pandemic.  However, since the problem has lessened for vaccinated people, in the last 3-4 months we have traveled in the US and been to over 25 different sit-down restaurants.  Every one of these restaurants offered us a printed menu, which we accepted.  Almost all of these menus are the kind that get reused by other diners.

 

I really do not see a problem with printed menus on cruise ships and it seems like they are using covid as an excuse to save money.  I always enjoy sitting down in the MDR and being surprised what will be on the menu the waiter gives us.  If we have to use smartphone menus on HAL for our two booked cruises in 2022, I will be very unhappy.  In the future, this would be a significant deciding point on which cruise line to travel.

Suppose all lines do this?  I can see this being the way of the future. 

Edited July 6, 2021 by Florida_gal_50

[Florida_gal_50]

28 minutes ago, zgscl said:

I would wait to panic until we hear from the first HAL sailing. While both are owned by the same parent company they have very different client bases and onboard experiences. I have a hard time believing HAL would not at the very least have paper copies of everything available given their client profile. 

Totally agree.  I think Hal would have to know some of their clientele are very resistant to change.

[drowelf]

I surely hope that printed menus will be available, if needed. I don't like reading anything more than short emails or news articles on my phone. I just find the screens to be too small. I don't carry my phone around with me on the ship, and I sure don't want to drag a tablet into the MDR just to order my dinner. 

 

I've two very good arguments for the fact that printed menus will still have to be available. 

 

1) ADA 

2) People with food allergies who need to do the next nights markup

 

I'm all for reduction of paper use on the ship and the spa/sales/shop/auctions paperwork that gets delivered to every cabin is a far greater source of paper reduction that MDR menus can ever be. On one 7 day cruise, I kept every piece of that junk stuff we received and by the end had a stack of paper over 1" thick, which greatly exceeded the size of 7 days worth of MDR menus. 

[iancal]

We travel with an ipad and a smartphone.

 

Our intention is usually to buy a sim card at our destination since we typically stay in a country for 2 weeks, often a month or more.  It has been that way for the past nine years of frequent  spontaneous international  travel. 

 

So far, we have never even bothered to buy a sim card.   Never needed the smartphone data capability so we did not bother with it.  It has wifi but we greatly prefer the ipad.  The ipad has always been fine for everything, including call home.  Cannot imagine traveling  without it.  

 

If we do get to Greece and possibly Cyprus this fall I suspect that we will have to tune up the smartphone/get with the data program in order to ensure that we can accomplish the entry formalities.

 

On board....the old fashioned way will suit us.  Read the menu on our tv screen, refresh our memory with the menu posted outside the DR....and we are ready to place our order. We do not find that to be challenging.

Edited July 6, 2021 by iancal