For Better or Worse…. Communication

I remember thinking of dire consequences when cell phones became mainstream and how their effect may affect the staid, laid-back lifestyle of Days at Sea on a Cruise. I envisioned loud talking passengers, convinced that they were the only ones aboard, having raucous Facebook conversations with friends and family back on the mainland, thus disturbing that sphere of solitude that had, at one time, enveloped a ship at sea.

                        I was wrong.

                        Nobody does this.

                        I have to admit that now that I am retired and my phone is not blowing up every day with Important Calls, that I enjoy all of the other benefits of keeping my phone with me. I am CONSTANTLY looking up things that I want to know more about, I derive intense pleasure from deleting unwanted emails and the like, and I do enjoy random communications with my friends, kids, and grandkids. Yes, my oldest grandchild, Andy, who calls me on an almost daily basis while I’m home, thinks nothing of picking up his phone and calling me to fill me in on the latest tool that he has procured for his future Aviation Mechanic’s toolbox. This was particularly amusing on the World Cruise because sometimes the time difference was incredibly substantial!

                        So, now all of this (and more!) is available to anyone that cruises, particularly on Princess. I cannot speak to other Cruise Lines as I have not had any recent experience on them that would be germane to this issue. Princess has developed (along with a big tech company I am sure) some rather effective technology in this area. The system uses a combination of both high and low orbit satellites to stay connected and the service is rather good! I probably use this more than most because I routinely upload/download significant photo files that are used for this Blog and for our annual photo-remembrance books that I put together. The service is particularly effective during the early morning hours that I do most of the processing because everyone else is asleep and even though the bandwidth is quite substantial at all times, it is particularly ample when no one else is using it!

            In the previous paragraph I mentioned that there was Even More than all of the usual applications of a cell phone available to us. This again, is a Princess application and it’s really quite nifty!

            Practically everything that one can accomplish running around the ship, can now be done via this Princess App on a phone, for example:

                        I want to order an Umbrella Drink and piece of Chocolate Cake and have it delivered to me whilst sitting (in the shade) by the pool. All I need to do is open the App scroll to Service, choose my items and click the selection that is already there (my Princess Medallion which is hanging around my neck has me located already – more on that in a minute.) then click:

Deliver to Lido Deck, Poolside, Starboard, Aft

            The server gathers my items, walks to the poolside that I am located on, zeros in for further preciseness, (then looks at his device which has my ID Photo on it) and delivers said Important Snack to me!

            But how did he find you Donny?

I’m glad you asked that Sherlock!

This is one of the best parts of this procedure. Every Princess ship has been retrofitted (the newer ones have obviously had this installed at birth) with a system that can pinpoint a person’s location kind of like GPS does in your car. All around the ship there are ‘sensors’ that look like smoke alarms. They are spaced out accordingly and with great precision, can ‘locate’ a person easily. This feature is available to any passenger on board to help them find a person (that has agreed to be found) that they are seeking.

                        For example:

            Paula is finished with playing Bridge in the Library with her new-found Bridge Mates and is seeking Donny who said that he would be “around somewhere” when she got finished. Paula gets her phone out, opens the Princess App, chooses “Shipmates” and picks Don from the list of others (who agreed to be ‘found’) and sees that he is again, down by the International Café on Deck 5, where the Good Snacks are located. Paula hastily bolts for his location before he secretly gobbles down yet another Chocolate Delicacy. Paula finds Donny but alas, it is too late to save the Snack from being devoured.

            There is also serious side to this technological advancement and that has to do with safety. Let’s say for example there needs to be a time when all hands need to be evacuated. Now all the Bridge needs to do is scan the ship and find if anyone is still left anywhere on board. They can obviously track the whereabouts of the passengers and instead of waiting for checklists to be completed, can hurry this procedure along with this newly incorporated technology.

This is also used when going ashore and returning. We simply place our Medallions on a ‘Detector Pad’, and it logs us either ‘Out’ or when returning, back ‘In’. These little devices are also used in the Shops on board for charging our accounts and even ashore with participating Local Vendors (which also give us a discount)

            Another cool aspect of this is when you approach let’s say, the Bar. The server glances down at one his large Order Enty Pads that are strategically stationed around, sees us walk up, glances down at his pad where our ID photos popup, and can say, “Hello Sir Donald and Madam Paula, what can I get for you today?” You get instant recognition with random folks that would not necessarily know your name!

There is a myriad of other information available also, Ship’s Daily Activities, the Itinerary for the voyage, checking Bookings for Shore Excursions, examining your Folio Account of transactions aboard, and going back to those Ship’s Activities (which number close to 150 every day) you can ‘bookmark’ any of them and create a Personal Activity List that is quite convenient to scan and use to remind you of what it was, and when it was, that you wanted to attend!

            So Donny, what happens if I don’t want to use my phone, iPad, or whatever, what do I do then, just ramble about, hoping to stumble into something I’d like to attend?

Once again Debbie Downer, I’m glad that you asked that!

Positioned all around the Ship are these very large Information Panels that contain everything that you may want, or need, to know without having to use any other Devices. And by the way, one need not purchase an Internet Plan if you do not want to. The Princess App works just by getting on to the local Princess Ship’s Wi-Fi which is free to use with that App.

So, Phone or No Phone, you can see that there is no hinderance either way. Now that I’ve written this I am sure that sometime today I will be subjected to that raucous Facetime issue that I’ve been dreading for years…. but if this proves true, I can also rest assured that, by the Law of Averages, it will be years until I have to endure the next one. At that time, I will retreat to the International Café and drown my sorrows in a Snack of Magnificentness.