Ernie

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Source: Cruise Industry News

Splendour of the Seas Gets iPads in all Staterooms
Tuesday, 22 November 2011
Royal Caribbean International will mark another industry first with the introduction of iPad mobile digital devices in every stateroom onboard the newly revitalized Splendour of the Seas.

The tablet empowers guests with an additional medium by which to receive, retrieve and use information on their cruise vacation.

With a touch of the screen, guests will be able to access the daily Cruise Compass of events and activities; personal daily itineraries, including shore excursions; monitor their onboard account; order room service; view restaurant menus; access the internet; and watch movies.

The iPads will be available beginning mid-February 2012 on Splendour of the Seas before being extended to all Vision-class ships when each undergoes revitalization in the following two years.

“Based on consumer research, we added the iPads to greatly enhance guest communication, interactivity and to continue to offer industry leading technology that helps enhance the guest experience,” said Lisa Bauer, senior vice president, Hotel Operations, Royal Caribbean International. “This is just one of the many exciting ways that Royal Caribbean continues to provide our guests with the ultimate cruise experience.”

The iPads, which will feature English and Portuguese when they debut on Splendour of the Seas, will offer guests the opportunity to access all of their information not only from the comfort of their staterooms, but through the pervasive WIFI also being installed throughout the ship, will enable guests to enjoy the iPads wherever they go onboard.

In addition to the iPads, Splendour of the Seas, which emerges from dry dock on Nov. 25, 2011, also will have an array of new stateroom amenities such as flat screen televisions, new bathrooms, and completely remodeled interiors, including luxurious new linens and furniture, as well as an additional 124 balconies. The ship also will be outfitted with the award-winning digital wayfinding technology that can be found on the line’s acclaimed Oasis-class ships.

The newly revitalized Splendour also will debut new dining options including the Asian Izumi restaurant; the line’s signature steakhouse, Chops Grille; the Boardwalk Dog House hotdog counter; the Park Café deli-style restaurant; and the exclusive Chef’s Table dining experience. Royal Caribbean also will introduce a new à la carte menu in the Viking Crown Lounge that will offer guests the opportunity to enjoy bite sized portions of their favorite classics. Additional Royal Caribbean signature innovations debuting on the ship will be the Royal Babies and Tots Nursery, a Diamond lounge, a Concierge Lounge, a Britto Gallery featuring works from Brazilian pop-artist Romero Britto, the new R-Bar as well as a reinvented Centrum experience.

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Originally posted by Ernst:
A smart move. It's 'very hip' (at leat now) and one avoids installing equipment that will be outdated soon. This way it's MUCH easier to keep the hardware up-to-date. Frankly, I don't know why more airlines aren't doing that and instead stay with these built in entertainment systems.

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I think these iPads and things like interactive TV's pay for themselves, as they present new revenue opportunities as well as passenger convenience. Royal Caribbean and Celebrity already have a pretty sophisticated interactive TV system, and iPads have been used as menus in certain specialty restaurants and wine bars. It seems only natural they would eventually make their way into each cabin.

At Delta we use iPads extensively for interactive training, and it's in the works that all pilots and flight attendants will eventually carry one in place of our very thick onboard manuals, which require constant updating with revisions. How nice it would be to just connect our iPad to a wireless network and receive all revisions and any updates the company wants to inform us of.

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will offer guests the opportunity to access all of their information not only from the comfort of their staterooms, but through the pervasive WIFI also being installed throughout the ship, will enable guests to enjoy the iPads wherever they go onboard.

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iPads will be great but does this mean you take your cabin iPad about ship or will it be a case of using any iPad anywhere and logging on, rather than an individual one set for each cabin? Only having used them in passing and not having one of my own, I am wondering if they would be able to scan ones key card and enable you to use it that way where ever you were? If you had to take the cabin one every where they would get left about, lost etc. Someone has to keep them all charged up and make sure none go 'walkabout'.

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Originally posted by PamM:

iPads will be great but does this mean you take your cabin iPad about ship or will it be a case of using any iPad anywhere and logging on, rather than an individual one set for each cabin? Only having used them in passing and not having one of my own, I am wondering if they would be able to scan ones key card and enable you to use it that way where ever you were? If you had to take the cabin one every where they would get left about, lost etc. Someone has to keep them all charged up and make sure none go 'walkabout'.

Pam

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Good questions Pam and I'm not really sure of the answers. I think one iPad is assigned to each cabin, and it's yours to use for the cruise ... and no doubt of course you are ultimately responsible for it. I also think it can be removed from the cabin and is portable, but I have no idea how it will be tracked and what the consequences are should it be lost, stolen, or damaged. I'm sure the folks at Royal Caribbean have spent many hours coming up with the solutions ... or what are hopefully solutions!

Then there are all the usual hardware issues regarding maintenance, breakage, and so on.

(I speak as an enthusiastic iPad user, btw: I've had an iPad mk1 for over a year and I wouldn't be without it, but there are things I don't do on it, e.g. use it to access on-line banking.)

[ 11-23-2011: Message edited by: Tom Burke ]

[ 11-23-2011: Message edited by: Tom Burke ]

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Originally posted by jsea:
As Ernst mentions, no doubt Royal Caribbean is doing this as a cheaper alternative to implementing a full-scale interactive TV system.
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Generally speaking, Royal Caribbean doesn't do things half ass or "on the cheap" like some lines. I really don't see this as a cost cutting measure, and it's quite possible SPLENDOR already has an Interactive TV system which is pretty much standard on the Royal Caribbean fleet.

I see this more as a test model to see how well received the iPads are by passengers, how well they are managed by staff onboard, what the loss rate may be, and if they enhance onboard revenue. It's likely Royal Caribbean is testing them out for possible use on Project Sunshine.

In my experience, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity have the best interactive TV's in the industry. You can even create your own music playlist which is pretty cool. QM2 used to have something similar, but Cunard/Carnival decided to deactivate as it was deemed too expensive to maintain. Too bad.

If you get on a cruise ship that has iPads, then you have one of three choices:

- use it
- take a class to learn how to use it
- or don't use it.

It's just that simple.

And seriously, there won't be a thousand people walking around corridors and public spaces glued to their iPads stumbling into everyone else or falling over the side of the ship.

My new Toshiba Netbook didn't come with a full fledged operators manual either. I can go online at the manufacturers website, and print it out.

iPads on SOTS will be idiot proof with just touch buttons for different things I expect. No knowledge needed apart from switching on/off.

Technology has found a way into all of our lives. You can fight it or embrace it. It's much more difficult to fight it and it's not going away. It will only get more and more prevalent in all aspects of our society. Those that fight it will find it much more difficult to function in everyday life. Just look at the banking industry as an example.

I can't imagine boycotting an entire cruise line just because they will offer iPads in staterooms on one ship in their fleet. Go figure.

There is always Holland America!

An exampe I am young and grew up with all these things coming into my life when I was at school.

I just have one big problem with the new mobile phones and similar devices. The buttons are too small and in my line of work it is a major waste of time. I liked the old Nokia 5110, 6210 type phones that were large and had buttons easy to push.

One problem with technology these days is that it is getting too small.

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Originally posted by Frosty 4:
[...]
It's like Big Brother is watching you.
Scarey!!!
Frosty 4

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