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Using the Elevators on Horizon and Vista


mketting
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Just off 8 day Horizon cruise.

 

Have read and then also heard a lot of complaining about the new elevator system on board the Vista and Horizon. My take is that If used correctly it works Fine.

 

The very best example was when we did self disembarking at the end of the cruise. In the past when we have tried to get off the ship with our luggage it had been a nightmare to get elevator to fit ourselves and our luggage. With this system we waited a bit but when elevator arrived it had room for all of us and our luggage instead of being full of people already and took us right to the floor we needed.

 

How to Use:

When you walk up to the elevator choose the floor you are wanting to go to. Tap the button once for each person in the group that needs to get on elevator. In other words if there are 4 of you on Deck 3 and you want to go to deck 9, tap the screen toactivate it, then tap floor 9 option 4 times. A letter will appear each time to tell you Which elevator to board.

*be patient. Since you are not able to see where the elevators are you have no sense of how long until your designated elevator arrives. This adds to sense of longer waiting time but when it arrives it will take you to where you want to go. If it is a really busy time your wait will be longer. Just like any other ship.

*do not get impatient and just hop on the next elevator to arrive if it’s not the letter you were directed to. This is one reason why the elevators are full sometimes when they stop to pick people up, and the system then doesn’t work correctly.

*again push the button for each person in the group. That is the only way the elevator knows there could be 7 people all waiting for same floor. If you punch it just once an elevator may stop that doesnt have room for all.

 

It’s not perfect but it does work.

Edited by mketting
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The heading says Vista and Horizon elevators. I don't recall Vista having the same elevator setup as Horizon. Am I wrong or did something change?

 

BTW, we didn't have any issues with Horizon's elevators.

i think the forward section has this system that carnival been testing/tweaking on the vista

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Just off 8 day Horizon cruise.

 

Have read and then also heard a lot of complaining about the new elevator system on board the Vista and Horizon. My take is that If used correctly it works Fine.

 

The very best example was when we did self disembarking at the end of the cruise. In the past when we have tried to get off the ship with our luggage it had been a nightmare to get elevator to fit ourselves and our luggage. With this system we waited a bit but when elevator arrived it had room for all of us and our luggage instead of being full of people already and took us right to the floor we needed.

 

How to Use:

When you walk up to the elevator choose the floor you are wanting to go to. Tap the button once for each person in the group that needs to get on elevator. In other words if there are 4 of you on Deck 3 and you want to go to deck 9, tap the screen toactivate it, then tap floor 9 option 4 times. A letter will appear each time to tell you Which elevator to board.

*be patient. Since you are not able to see where the elevators are you have no sense of how long until your designated elevator arrives. This adds to sense of longer waiting time but when it arrives it will take you to where you want to go. If it is a really busy time your wait will be longer. Just like any other ship.

*do not get impatient and just hop on the next elevator to arrive if it’s not the letter you were directed to. This is one reason why the elevators are full sometimes when they stop to pick people up, and the system then doesn’t work correctly.

*again push the button for each person in the group. That is the only way the elevator knows there could be 7 people all waiting for same floor. If you punch it just once an elevator may stop that doesnt have room for all.

 

It’s not perfect but it does work.

 

We were on the Horizon's April 1 voyage. We really liked the system. How many times have you gotten on a ship's elevator and discovered someone had punched buttons for every deck? I tis not possible with this system. Many office building are not using this method. BIG improvement.

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The heading says Vista and Horizon elevators. I don't recall Vista having the same elevator setup as Horizon. Am I wrong or did something change?

 

BTW, we didn't have any issues with Horizon's elevators.

 

i think the forward section has this system that carnival been testing/tweaking on the vista

 

The "new" elevator system was piloted on Vista's forward elevator bank just prior to our cruise last October. We liked it, but it was quite a mess on embark day, to the point where a crew member had to ride in the elevators and manually press floor buttons using a normally-locked panel.

The new system was removed, according to CruiseCritic posts, within a few weeks after our sailing.

As far as I know, Vista has not had the system reinstalled.

 

We were never officially told about the "press button once for each member of our party" feature, which might have made a difference. If the OP was officially told, then that's an improvement. :)

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Sounds complicated.
Sounds uncomplicated to me. If I am on deck 5 and two of us want to go to deck 10, I just press deck 10 on the keypad twice and the system will then tell me which elevator will get us to deck 10 in the most efficient way. There will be no more take the elevator down to go up nonsense or kids hitting every button as they enter the elevator.
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Sounds uncomplicated to me. If I am on deck 5 and two of us want to go to deck 10, I just press deck 10 on the keypad twice and the system will then tell me which elevator will get us to deck 10 in the most efficient way. There will be no more take the elevator down to go up nonsense or kids hitting every button as they enter the elevator.

 

Agreed. It's super easy IMO. It's also very common in large conference-center type hotels and high rises. When I worked in the World Trade Center back in the 90s, the elevators were set up almost just like this. They didn't have this set up on the Vista. At least not last August.

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The "new" elevator system was piloted on Vista's forward elevator bank just prior to our cruise last October. We liked it, but it was quite a mess on embark day, to the point where a crew member had to ride in the elevators and manually press floor buttons using a normally-locked panel.

The new system was removed, according to CruiseCritic posts, within a few weeks after our sailing.

As far as I know, Vista has not had the system reinstalled.

 

We were never officially told about the "press button once for each member of our party" feature, which might have made a difference. If the OP was officially told, then that's an improvement. :)

I didn't see them in May. Is that the reason for the huge pillars in front of the elevators that waste space?

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On 30+ cruises I've never been in an elevator where kids pushed all the buttons. Just lucky I guess and for the last 12 years I've cruised only prime-kid times. BUT - it seems that if kids are pushing buttons it could be worse with this new system. Couldn't they just push the button for each floor and any number of people? The elevators wouldn't stop on every floor but every elevator would head for the floor where they did this. Or am I missing something? I only ask because so many people mention kids pushing all buttons as a good reason for this new system. IF that is really a problem I don't think this solves it.

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It's actually very common in large buildings in big cities these days. You see it all the time in downtown Chicago, for example.

 

 

 

Experienced the at the Marriott on Times Square. Several times we had to wait for several elevators to get to our floor.

 

Do the call buttons take into account how many pax are being serviced? Does each person have to call the elevator or only one for a party (no matter how large)?

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Another poster had said that the crew told them to press the keypad once for each person in the group. So that the elevators know whether they have enough capacity. This is consistent with my experience using these types of elevators.

 

It's a super easy system. I live in a hi rise condo building and we have used this system for 3 years now. My office building is the same. It's so much faster. I can't imagine why anyone would think it complicated.

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Disembarking the Horizon today, we found the elevators to be one of the worst aspects of this new ship. Long queues, long waits, one elevator coming for 10 people only to be full when it arrived that we saw. After a few try's, we bailed. We're fit and the stairs were fine for us.

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Another poster had said that the crew told them to press the keypad once for each person in the group. So that the elevators know whether they have enough capacity. This is consistent with my experience using these types of elevators.

 

It's a super easy system. I live in a hi rise condo building and we have used this system for 3 years now. My office building is the same. It's so much faster. I can't imagine why anyone would think it complicated.

 

Maybe it was just the way it was explained that seemed complicated.

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Got off last Thursday and don't see where this process helps on the ship, agree in buildings with 20+ floors and minimal people. If you are able to handle stairs and could press wait a few moments then use stairs it wasn't noticeable. My parents are unable to use stairs unless in an emergency, would take 10-15 mins longer to get where we were going bc of the wait, even longer during high use times(dinner).

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I was not a fan of the elevators on Horizon. You can not change your mind once your in it, if say you remember you needed to stop at guest services on your way to Lido. Also, wait times were extremely long as you are waiting for 1 elevator to arrive as opposed to the random arrival of all of them. It was irritating to see the doors open on another one and not be able to hop on. Used the stairs more than ever this time, which isn't a bad thing.

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  • 2 weeks later...
There will be no more take the elevator down to go up nonsense
We simply don’t take elevators that are going in the opposite direction we want to. One DING for up, two DINGS for down. Listen for the one you want to always get on one headed in the right direction.
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