Seabourn Source App - Anyone Tried This?

[FromMyDeckChair]

From what I can deduce, the Seabourn Source app should be a useful tool both before sailing and especially while onboard.  However, the reviews I've read say the app is technically a dud with tons of glitches rendering it beyond frustrating.  Does anyone have any feedback if you've tried the app?

[twochromic]

You pretty much have to use the Source app on board. That's where everything is done. Even the daily calendar of events (you can get a paper one if you prefer).

They want you to load up the app before boarding, and complete your check-in there. That's where the glitches are. Sometimes it won't take your input. On our boarding day in November the app just failed to work for several hours.

And then, when we got to the boarding, they ignored it completely and did everything manually.

"Work in Progress".

[crickette]

On a laptop it is cumbersome.  First you have to connect to wifi onboard.  Then you have to login with email and password.  Then you need to click on the word "connect" on the bottom ribbon, then click internet and select a package.  No hotel in the industry has anything as multi-step as this.

[florisdekort]

The app works fine for online check in, boarding passes and once onboard, but then again we’re of the generation that grew up with internet and apps. Given the queues at the Square each time after boarding of people with WiFi, iPhone and laptop issues, clearly it’s not as self-explanatory to others. 
 

[cruising kirby]

Just spent 2 weeks on the Odyssey using the app. It works just fine. Every morning I would look at the days schedule, check out the dining options and my booked shore excursions and even pre ordered my morning coffee from Seabourn Square ( not that there was ever a queue but I am a technology convert). Embrace the change!  It takes a little getting used to and some were still complaining about it after 16 days but I found it easy and useful. Could it do with some tweaking - yes!  However we do everything on our phones these days so why not give this a go. 

[frantic36]

I agree with @cruising kirby and @florisdekort. We used it on our July/August cruise and it only took a bit of adjustment. It came in handy when we tested positive for Covid on our third day and ended up in quarantine for 10 days. 

[2SailingNomads]

Problem is the on-board folks don't always bother to update the data the app uses. On our last cruise in November the day we embarked it had the prior night's menu's.  And that was not uncommon, glad to know the people who disembarked when I boarded had the choice of X Y and Z but no use to me knowing where we want to dine.   Multiple days the menus were not updated.  Some days the app simply did not work.  Also the internet was up and down despite us being in the Caribbean, not a distant location.   

[Flamin_June]

18 hours ago, cruising kirby said:

 However we do everything on our phones these days so why not give this a go. 

Rant Alert

Not all of us do everyting on our phones. I prefer to interact with real people and I resent my every step, purchase and interest being monitored, recorded and analysed, in order to advertise things I already have. In my working life I am at my desk dealing with emails, software, datasets  electronic forms, apps digital resources zoom meetings and all the rest of it. When I go on holiday I don't want to have anything to do with it. I don't want to be coerced into constantly monitoring my phone, scrolling up and down and tapping away at icons, waiting for pings, sending smiley faces. I was an early adopter of the worldwide web (as it was then known), back in the 1990s, and although it is invaluable in many ways, especially in terms of productivity and spending time on fora (I was forced to study Latin as a child), frankly I am sick and tired of its invasive, controlling aspects and its increasing use as a barrier between people and as a scapegoat for things not being done properly ("sorry, we have a software issue; sorry, we have a conectivity issue; sorry, our network is a little slow today; sorry that was a predictive text error; etc. etc.).

Rant over, thankyou.

Edited December 21, 2022 by Flamin_June

[Mr Luxury]

38 minutes ago, Flamin_June said:

Rant Alert

Not all of us do everyting on our phones. I prefer to interact with real people and I resent my every step, purchase and interest being monitored, recorded and analysed, in order to advertise things I already have. In my working life I am at my desk dealing with emails, software, datasets  electronic forms, apps digital resources zoom meetings and all the rest of it. When I go on holiday I don't want to have anything to do with it. I don't want to be coerced into constantly monitoring my phone, scrolling up and down and tapping away at icons, waiting for pings, sending smiley faces. I was an early adopter of the worldwide web (as it was then known), back in the 1990s, and although it is invaluable in many ways, especially in terms of productivity and spending time on fora (I was forced to study Latin as a child), frankly I am sick and tired of its invasive, controlling aspects and its increasing use as a barrier between people and as a scapegoat for things not being done properly ("sorry, we have a software issue; sorry, we have a conectivity issue; sorry, our network is a little slow today; sorry that was a predictive text error; etc. etc.).

Rant over, thankyou.

Have you considered holidaying in a French Gite?

[Flamin_June]

2 hours ago, Mr Luxury said:

Have you considered holidaying in a French Gite?

No, not at all; never, why?

Are they rural, isolated, free of wifi with very poor phone signals? Have that at home, by and large.

We prefer to holiday on a small ship, with plenty of sea days,  around the tropics, preferably east of the Bay of Bengal, as far away from  the UK as possible. Cruising around Micronesia a few years ago was close to my idea of perfection, with some small islands where almost no one had a mobile phone.

[SLSD]

3 hours ago, Flamin_June said:

When I go on holiday I don't want to have anything to do with it. I don't want to be coerced into constantly monitoring my phone, scrolling up and down and tapping away at icons, waiting for pings, sending smiley faces. 

This is exactly how I feel.  Who wants to go on a cruise and see everyone consumed with their phones?  We usually use ours only as a camera while onboard SB.  

[Mr Luxury]

1 hour ago, SLSD said:

This is exactly how I feel.  Who wants to go on a cruise and see everyone consumed with their phones?  We usually use ours only as a camera while onboard SB.  

I lock my phone in the safe once on board.

[JPH814]

On 12/19/2022 at 7:25 PM, FromMyDeckChair said:

From what I can deduce, the Seabourn Source app should be a useful tool both before sailing and especially while onboard.  However, the reviews I've read say the app is technically a dud with tons of glitches rendering it beyond frustrating.  Does anyone have any feedback if you've tried the app?

Is it perfect. No.  Is it intuitive to use. No. And it relies on a very inconsistent Wi-Fi system on board. 
 

But it has many more pluses than minuses. I love no paper.  One place to see daily activities and menus.  Constantly updating availability of excursions.  
 

if you are the least bit experienced using apps, you will be fine.  The problem is older folks - who make up a good percentage of Seabourne customers- are less likely to have that experience.