COMMUNICATION: Who Wants Cell Service At Sea???

[Grumpy1]

I'm with Doug, Jim and Vic.

 

 

 

And these restrictions will be enforced the same as "No diapered babies in the pool" is enforced. :rolleyes:

Let's introduce a new poolside game... the diapered babies can dive for the cellphones that have been yanked away from obnoxious passengers and tossed in the pool.:D

[hammybee]

wow!!!!! has this taken off? it will be interesting how many pages this takes to resolve...

 

resolve? This will replace chair hogs.

[hammybee]

if you have lived without it this far? why would it make a big difference?

 

People will, because they can. Build it/have it and they will come. The rates however, as Grumpy said, will help curtail it.

[gizmo]

I am in total agreement with jhanna's post.

 

:)

[lawyerrose]

I'm against it, not that it'll matter. The people who say they "need" to stay in touch, well, it just makes me wonder HOW in heaven people EVER used to take cruises or other vacations where telephones were not real handy?? I'm sure there are (and were "back in the days) people who truly did "need" to stay in touch (brain surgeons perhaps??). People think that constant access to communication is a "need" today simply because the technology is here and they're used to the plethora of cell phones. Yes, I take mine aboard so that I can call my ride when the cruise is over. Otherwise, it stays locked in the safe. I vacation to get away and NOT be in constant touch. I want to relax and truly "be there" where I am.

I'm sounding older and more curmudgeonier (is that a word) every day. Oh dear!

[Vic The Parrot]

I was gonna add something else, but Rose beat me to it.

 

Think I'll keep my mouth shut before I get into trouble .....

 

 

 

 

:rolleyes:

[sail7seas]

Let's introduce a new poolside game... the diapered babies can dive for the cellphones that have been yanked away from obnoxious passengers and tossed in the pool.:D

 

 

:D You totally cracked me up. I needed a good laugh!!!

A new poolside Game@#@#@@@#@# Gotta love it!!!

[HeatherInFlorida]

I can't begin to express how I detest that this is coming so soon. I can see no necessity whatsoever for cellphones at sea and I could care less whether it encourages more people to cruise.

 

Nothing else ever mentioned on this board could ever ruin a cruise for me, but I have a sense that this will.

 

Hopefully it won't be in place for our next cruise but clearly it will for our 2007 cruise.

 

All I can envision is people walking the outside decks, finger in one ear, bellowing into their bluetooths "CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?????"

 

My gut tells me I'm gone.

 

:(

[sail7seas]

I certainly knew this thread would grab attention but I think this may, so far, be a new record.

 

I cannot remember another thread where almost everyone who read it, posted to it.

 

When I just clicked on the thread, the thread list indicated there had been 31 views and 30 posts.

 

I don't ever remember a thread that had almost no 'lurkers' and almost 100% posters.

 

[lawyerrose]

It will drive me to drink even more: why can't people learn to relax and leave work, family, friends, etc behind. Our first cruise was in the early 80s. We had no TVs, no phones and the news consisted of a printed out sheet each morning we could pick up and find out what was happening at home. At the time my husband happened to be working in the White House (actually in the old Executive offices) did he think he was indespensable for 9 days? Nope, he left his work in the hands of others and took advantage of the much needed vacation. We survived quite nicely. I think cell phones are great inventions, used properly; when everyone starts walking around on deck, carriy on one conversation after another I hope the phone goes overboard; not the user, well maybe them also. NMnita

 

Amen! Exactly the point I was trying to make. No wonder we're all so stressed. I remember those cruises back then with no TV's no phones, etc. Nice, wasn't it?

[kryos]

And these restrictions will be enforced the same as "No diapered babies in the pool" is enforced. :rolleyes:

Nothing to enforce. There simply isn't a repeater station in the "off limits" areas. Kind of hard to use your cell phone if you can't get a signal, right?

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[kryos]

Critically ill family members? What are you going to do if you get a call halfway across the Atlantic or halfway to Hawaii? Seriously. Once you get to the first port of call, use a phone card and check up back home. Then, if you need to abandon ship, you'll have air transportation at hand to get back home. If the family member is critically ill or at risk, perhaps another time would be better for you to take a cruise.

And then I have to go nuts rushing around getting packed, letting the purser's desk know I need to leave the ship, etc., etc. It would be much easier in an emergency to have advance notice and then be able to go down to the purser's desk and make orderly arrangements to leave the ship. Maybe they can even help me arrange a flight home. Remember, when you're upset, you don't think clearly. You want all the help you can get in that situation.

 

Fine, if people don't like the idea of cell service being available in the common areas of the ship, restrict it to the cabins. I'm fine with that. But I tend to think such a strategy will be more expensive since I would guess that you'd need repeaters in every individual cabin. So, I tend to think the cell service will be in certain areas, just like WiFi service is ... maybe in the atrium, the back deck, etc.

 

And as for good managers being able to go on vacation and not be missed ... where do you work? True, I rarely get phone calls when I'm on vacation, but that's just the nature of my particular job. We are a 24 x 7 "shop," and we all do pretty much the same jobs. While I happen to be a supervisor who does do some special stuff, I have a cohort with the same job description working on the second shift. We back each other up when we are away, and can never be away at the same time. So, in my case, I think only once (many years ago and not on a cruise) I had to be contacted while on vacation. But I have a lot of friends who are not so lucky.

 

I have no doubt this cell service can be instituted without it having an adverse effect on anyone's cruise. The question is only if HAL has the good sense to come up with a smart strategy that will make everyone happy?

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[Copper10-8]

No way!:cool:

[kryos]

Excuse me, Rita, but in my post that you quoted, I did not express an opinion as to whether I like it or not so please do not address your argument to me as though I expressed displeasure.

 

Maybe I'm happy about it?

Maybe I'm not?

Maybe I'm not sure?

I never said you expressed an opinion one way or the other.

 

I addressed my argument to you because you started the thread, right?

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[HeatherInFlorida]

I certainly knew this thread would grab attention but I think this may, so far, be a new record.

 

I cannot remember another thread where almost everyone who read it, posted to it.

 

When I just clicked on the thread, the thread list indicated there had been 31 views and 30 posts.

 

I don't ever remember a thread that had almost no 'lurkers' and almost 100% posters.

 

 

What a difference 45 minutes makes!!!:D Now there are 195 views. The lurkers have landed!:D

[serendipity1499]

I'm not sure how I feel about this:confused: ..We hardly ever use our cell phone which remains in the ships safe the entire time..Yes, we all knew it was coming..

 

We only keep one cell phone in my car for emergencies..I feel safer with it..

 

Whenever we're on a cruise, we leave the ships telephone Number with family members & friends just for emergencies..But shore to ship service v.v is very expensive..:eek:

 

However there have been times I've had to use my cell phone for an emergency..One time our car broke down on the way to the port & we rented a car to get to the ship..Later we called friends on our cell phone to have our mechanic pick up our car & fix it...

 

Another case in Point was when we spent 5 months on our boat with only a ship's radio.. I would call home once or twice a week, when I was able to get to a public phone that worked...;) We were anchored at Block Island, when my Son received word that my 89 year old Mother, who had been in a Nursing Home for 10 years, had passed away..Our Son, BIL & several friends tried to reach us...The Coast Guard tried in vain to reach us & apparently could not.. I have no idea why, as we kept our radio on when we were in the boat & our friends who were anchored next to us kept their radio on.. I only learned of my Mothers death when we got into Rhode Island four days later & called home..If we had a cell phone they would have been able to reach us much sooner..

 

Yes, know there is a ships phone, but after making the initial phone call on the ship's line it would be advantageous if we had our own cell phone for follow up calls just for such an emergency..Of course Cell phone use should be restricted to the privacy of our cabins..Or perhaps they could set up a couple of phone booths in an out of the way place, that one could duck into & close the door as they have in many elegant hotels..

 

Happy cruising everyone..:).Betty

 

P.S. I have no idea how to send a Text message:o

[MarshDwellers]

This is fair notice to passengers on Prinsendam Dec 22, 2006. If any of you interrupt my cruise by engaging in any cell phone conservation that invades my and my wife's privacy, you will have a 6 foot, 250 lb irate pasenger in your face. We are on a pleasure cruise, if you are not, please stay home.

 

Mike & Jo Ann

[sail7seas]

:) Heather....... I saw that.

 

That is why I qualified with "so far". ;)

 

[Grumpy1]

When they first put phones on the seatbacks in airplanes there were lots of dire predictions about the mayhem that would result when irate seatmates started reacting to the obnoxious boor next to him chattering away for the entire flight. I just read recently that the service is being discontinued. Not enough users to be profitable. The price was about $4 per minute if I recall.

 

If the cost stays above a dollar a minute, usage will probably be limited, but there will be some people that will carry their phones everywhere and suddenly there will be that obnoxious ringtone.

 

Since the service has been available for some time now on Volendam, as well as a couple of Carnival ships, most RCCL ships and some NCL, it would be interesting to hear from people that have been on those ships about any problems they have observed.

 

I think we tend to imagine the worst possible scenario and assume that will become the norm. For the most part, I suspect that the ones that are glued to their phones 24/7 and being obnoxious with them in public places are not your typical HAL cruisers.

[Grumpy1]

This is fair notice to passengers on Prinsendam Dec 22, 2006. If any of you interrupt my cruise by engaging in any cell phone conservation that invades my and my wife's privacy, you will have a 6 foot, 250 lb irate pasenger in your face. We are on a pleasure cruise, if you are not, please stay home.

 

Mike & Jo Ann

Are you also going to get in the cruise director's face for coming on the speaker to tell you about the afternoon's activities while you are trying to carry on a conversation on the Lido? Based on the tone of your first post here on CC, I'm not sure you are someone I'm looking forward to meeting.

[hammybee]

 

..Or perhaps they could set up a couple of phone booths in an out of the way place, that one could duck into & close the door as they have in many elegant hotels..Betty:o

 

Betty: Cell phone booths. Love it. Great idea.

[hammybee]

 

 

I think we tend to imagine the worst possible scenario and assume that will become the norm. For the most part, I suspect that the ones that are glued to their phones 24/7 and being obnoxious with them in public places are not your typical HAL cruisers.

 

Oh yeah....just like you to be reasonable:)

[fcorey]

I think that part of the attraction of a cruise was that my wife could separate me from my blackberry cell phone and work for a whole week. I think that if I glance at the screen once during the trip I may see her toss it overboard :rolleyes:

[Tricia724]

Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a big fan of cell phones....or rather people who use cell phones incessantly....while driving, in restaurants, in public places where people are trying to socialize, etc.

 

The main problem I have with cell phones is that everyone seems to raise their voice to a volume suitable for hog calling. That "can you hear me now" commercial wasn't far off the mark.

 

I have a mental picture of trying to have a nice relaxing breakfast in the Lido and have someone next to me yelling into a cell phone. "Yes, we're on the ship now....we just had breakfast.....the sun is shining....we're going to stop at somespecialplace tomorrow.....we're having a good time"....blah, blah, blah. One of the reasons I take cruises is to get away from the craziness of the "real" world.

 

As far as limiting use to their cabin, I'm not sure that's even a good solution. If the guy next to me is sitting on his balcony yakking on the phone while I'm trying to read my book and relax, I'm not a happy camper.

 

As far as cost goes, there are people to whom cost is no object. I know people who have cell phones for every member of their family and pay hundreds of dollars a month for telephone service.

 

Yes, I do believe cell phones have a purpose. Yes, I think they do come in handy in a pinch. Yes, I understand the need to stay in contact with family and work from time to time. But many people use them irresponsibly, with flagrant disregard for others.

 

This latest "innovation" for HAL cruisers is not good news to me.

[Copper10-8]

There is no need for it plus I think it's a bad idea! There are currently ways to get a hold of pax in case of an emergency. The only people IMO that should be wearing cell phones on a ship are certain members of the crew (those in key positions and first responders) and they don't even do it. They're still wearing pagers

OT but we're finally getting a mandatory "hands off" cell phone law while driving vehicles here in Calif. effective JUL 07. It's going to cut back on a lot of traffic collisions!