Tablets in the DR: order your own food

[serendipity1499]

I'm really beginning to seriously question some of their management decisions....:rolleyes:

 

Truly...that is one of the most ridiculous ideas I've ever heard. Can you imagine going into an upscale restaurant and being handed a tablet and stylus and instructed to make your choices?

 

Guess you realize by now that HAL was not considering this as was erroneously reported..

Agree with you, I would not be happy if I were handed a tablet & stylus to order dinner..:eek::eek:

 

Cheers..Betty

[TheEmerson]

Now there will be ordering classes "Powered my Micro$oft" on board. HAL will get a few hundred million dollars worth of unsold Surface Tablets from Microsoft.

[Scrapnana]

Just stick a couple of golden arches in place of the funnel and make all service fast food style and be done with it!:eek: I expect more of a grand experience when I dine on a cruise. I think giving a tablet to the server would be great but I don't want to sit at the table as we pass the tablet from person to person (and that has nothing to do with germs).

[Jemima]

I'd prefer it. It would be wonderful if HAL went to this method of ordering.

[regnig]

To save paper my a--! On any given cruise those menus do not change on a weekly basis. Just do a B2B and you will find the same ones reused. The only thing this would save the cruise lines is money for wages as it might eventually reduce the number of waiters necessary in the dining room. Programming an ipad to allow for all the "exceptions" a dinner might want to request would be a challenge not easily accomplished.

[Irish Eyes Are Sailing]

This thread brings to mind the "self-serve" checkouts in supermarkets and big box stores.........I refuse to use them. I feel it puts people out of work, and there is enough unemployment in this country as it is. Some person out there in Indonesia (or other country) needs that job to put food on his family's table at home. Why make passengers do it by themselves? Waiters and Bar Staff need jobs too. To me, the "do-it-yourself" ordering system, although trendy, is just a way to cut back on staff. No thanks.

[Irish Eyes Are Sailing]

I am 72, my husband is 82, a friend is 89 and none of us have trouble with technology. I know people in their 40's who have trouble. Please do not stereotype "elderly" as being technophobes.

 

What you say is true, but there are still older folks out there who just plain refuse to use computers/new technology, or refuse to learn it. My DH is one of them, I am embarrassed to say. :o If he didn't have me, I don't know what he would do.....too many things today require computer access/knowledge. They would still have to provide service for those people who are not computer literate.

[Sea42]

As Captain Albert has recently returned from the Senior Management conference, I wouldn't be "amazed" if this were more than idle speculation on his part.

[babyher]

I am 72, my husband is 82, a friend is 89 and none of us have trouble with technology. I know people in their 40's who have trouble. Please do not stereotype "elderly" as being technophobes.

 

 

 

 

Of course there are many exceptions .

 

 

My mom on the other hand at 86, holds up a crucifix when she sees anything too technical. She would still be walking around with one of those old Motorola brick flip phones if my sisters and I didn't get her up to date and get her up and running. And trust me it is no easy task.

 

 

On the flip side, a lot of the kids today (and again there are many exceptions there too) do not have a clue to anything mechanical. Everything is so disposable today they can't fix anything or what used to be called "tinkering"

 

My dad and uncles were all jack of all trades kind of guys. Who had the money to call a repairman for every little thing back then? They could fix or build anything. I learned a lot from them, and can do a little car work, plumbing, electrical, carpentry etc.

 

 

My kids and their friends (with the exception of on son who is a plumber) Forget about it.

 

They can get a computer up and running in 3 keystrokes, but change a faucet, fix a hole in wall or ceiling, put in a light fixture ? No can do.

 

I replaced the three shower knobs in DDs shower about a month ago. You thought I parted the Red Sea and cured the sick. *LOL*

[SilvertoGold]

This is what Capt Albert wrote:

 

"More of these improvements will follow and I would not be amazed if we will see Electronic Tablets appearing in the dining room instead of the paper menus. Instead of your dining room waiter taking your order, he/she will now be there to advise you and to serve; You tap in your choice yourself. It might take a few years but will appear on the cruise ships eventually."

 

Sorry if people (Serendipity1499 especially) on this thread misunderstand my intention in posting.

 

The last sentence of Captain Schooderbeek's HALBlog post is a clear, declarative sentence.

 

It will happen "on the cruise ships eventually". The pax will be doing the ordering.

[OlsSalt]

Having orders instantly transmitted to the kitchen would be a great time saver which would translate into get meals out faster and being able to better control what is "selling" that night.

 

I think it has wonderful potential when facing the large mass banquet style setting of a cruise ship main dining room. Being able to readily massage the dining choice data electronically would lead to inventory and planning efficiencies too.

 

This is a very small change in dining procedure - only a few minutes difference in a stylistic change, when seen in the context of the dinner itself which is the actual delivery and consumption of the meal itself.

[startwin]

I swear, if HAL announced that pax would be provided with cleaning materials so they can clean their own bathroom, certain posters would defend and support that decision, just because it's HAL:rolleyes:

[whogo]

I swear, if HAL announced that pax would be provided with cleaning materials so they can clean their own bathroom, certain posters would defend and support that decision, just because it's HAL:rolleyes:

Perfect!

 

Did you miss the toilet brush thread?

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

For several years I have wondered why the ship waiters do not have computers where they could punch in the orders like most restaurants have now. Sending the assistant with a little piece of paper seems kind of silly. Perhaps cruise lines would start with the waiter doing it before the rest of us. However, I agree with Ruth and KK's comments. And what's the point of having to do everything yourself. Might as well stay home.

[3rdGenCunarder]

This thread brings to mind the "self-serve" checkouts in supermarkets and big box stores.........I refuse to use them. I feel it puts people out of work, and there is enough unemployment in this country as it is. Some person out there in Indonesia (or other country) needs that job to put food on his family's table at home. Why make passengers do it by themselves? Waiters and Bar Staff need jobs too. To me, the "do-it-yourself" ordering system, although trendy, is just a way to cut back on staff. No thanks.

 

I feel the same way! I think it's ironic that I usually shop at a less-expensive supermarket, and they do NOT use the self-check, but more expensive stores (that could afford to hire people with what they charge!) are using the self-checks.

[OlsSalt]

I feel the same way! I think it's ironic that I usually shop at a less-expensive supermarket, and they do NOT use the self-check, but more expensive stores (that could afford to hire people with what they charge!) are using the self-checks.

 

Some of the less expensive stores like Walmart do not have employee unions which is why they are less likely to find electronic replacements for their workers. Electronic checkouts don't alway work that well, but when they do they are speedy and quick. No hassles. Employee costs tend to drive most conversions to automation.

[3rdGenCunarder]

Some of the less expensive stores like Walmart do not have employee unions which is why they are less likely to find electronic replacements for their workers. Electronic checkouts don't alway work that well, but when they do they are speedy and quick. No hassles. Employee costs tend to drive most conversions to automation.

 

My less-expensive supermarket has a union (retail clerks, I believe), and they're managing without electronic chekouts. When I was in college, a friend worked as a checker at A&P. They did not belong to the "retail clerks union." They belonged to the amalgamated meat-cutter's union--she wasn't a butcher, but she belonged to their union. I don't know if that's still the case.

[sapper1]

I guess you could say I am old. The government thinks so anyway because they send me what they call an Old Age Pension cheque every month.

 

I also have an iPad and iPhone, for both of which I would part with my right arm before giving up. I love them to death but I would be dismayed to see one sitting at a dining room table in place of a proper menu. In a hash house, no problem, but not for dining. It has nothing to do with being over 65 and not being tech savy.

 

My husband is another matter but that is why he has me. If I went away for a week the whole house would shut down. I just call it job security. ;)

[localady]

This new "idea" sounds scarily close to the reasoning that was apparently used to add the stylish wadding pool to the back of the Veendam. Honestly, some ideas don't translate very well from a land-based resort to a ship. The "poolettes" was an idea derived from a land-based resort and the intent was to modernize and "keep up with the Jones" (or Hiltons in that case). :rolleyes:

Some of the trendy resort modernization ideas work on a ship, others, not so much. I would definitely feel like the MDR had just become a big cafeteria if I was seated and handed a tablet to select my meal. It might be trendy to some, but it seems a bit like my college cafeteria experience. Perhaps, they will have us bus our own dishes on the way out too, that would also be novel! :rolleyes:

I would suggest that their computerization start with catching up with other lines and offering TV accessible services and billing in the staterooms first!

[OlsSalt]

......I would suggest that their computerization start with catching up with other lines and offering TV accessible services and billing in the staterooms first![/color][/size][/font]

 

This is a good and oft-made suggestion that may well be part of a package to digitalize more customer services onboard. Maybe harder on these older ships to offer these due to inherent infrastructure limitations, but I don't know.

[Tarpeian Rock]

There's another ecological issue here: the "carbon footprint" (gawd how I hate that term) of this whole deal. Recently in the news was the "fact" that - allegedly - an iPod uses more power than your refrigerator. Turns out that this is only theoretically true if one factors-in all the power, carbon, etc. costs needed to MANUFACTURE the thing. So: what has the bigger ecological footprint: paper for the (infrequently changed) menus, or the manufacturing footprint of a fleet full of iPads?

[Tampa Girl]

I guess you could say I am old. The government thinks so anyway because they send me what they call an Old Age Pension cheque every month.

 

I also have an iPad and iPhone, for both of which I would part with my right arm before giving up. I love them to death but I would be dismayed to see one sitting at a dining room table in place of a proper menu. In a hash house, no problem, but not for dining. It has nothing to do with being over 65 and not being tech savy.

 

My husband is another matter but that is why he has me. If I went away for a week the whole house would shut down. I just call it job security. ;)

 

 

Well said. I spend all day at the computer. I am d....nd if I am going out to dinner and look at an i-pad. It has nothing to do with being technologically savvy. It has everything to do with enjoying a low-keyed and refined dining experience. And punching an i-pad does not, IMO, fit into that category. The cruise lines might just as well convert to a buffet-line MDR.

[OlsSalt]

I suspect the iPad-type menus would take only a very simple entry point indication of your choices. No technical skills required.

 

They would act like a "chalkboard" where you merely mark what you want. They don't even need to be iPads - only dumb terminals that transmit this limited information wirelessly to the kitchen.

 

Watching the transformation to e-readers over the past few years onboard ships now has been nothing short of revolutionary. The menus would be more like e-readers than a fully functioning and squirrelly iPad.

 

The other iPad revolution going on now is their use by passengers as cameras. When traveling on shore excursions when a group meets a photo op, up come dozens of iPad cameras held overhead effectively blocking the sight lines of everyone else behind them.

 

At this point it is a surprise to see this change; but it is also an annoyance to everyone behind the iPad camera users so I hope some courtesies evolve, just like the overly intrusive misuse of cell phone conversations in public places seems to have slowed down from the early days.

[Irish Eyes Are Sailing]

My husband is another matter but that is why he has me. If I went away for a week the whole house would shut down. I just call it job security. ;)

 

Sapper, you and I must be sharing the same husband!!!;):D

[Irish Eyes Are Sailing]

 

I replaced the three shower knobs in DDs shower about a month ago. You thought I parted the Red Sea and cured the sick. *LOL*

 

You are correct.....being "handy" today is a true gift, and has been elevated (in my mind) as an art form! I am glad my DH is handy, for sure. And it is not only the young that may not be handy (don't want to make a generalized statement, because there are exceptions).....there are an awful lot of older people that are challenged in that department as well.

 

I remember before I retired, we had typewriters in our office for processing some mundane tasks (yes, this was a Fortune 500 company no less) and when one of them needed a ribbon change or had sticking keys or whatever ailed the poor, tired, machine, everybody, young especially, and some older ones too would yell, "LINDA!!! Can you come over here and fix this thing?". I was the only soul in that office of 60 people that knew how to fix a typewriter. Talk about feeling like an old dinosaur....:eek:!