Tablets in the DR: order your own food

[sapper1]

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

 

I think they both recognise a good thing when they see it. :D

[Irish Eyes Are Sailing]

I think they both recognise a good thing when they see it. :D

 

Yes, they may not know how to operate a computer, but they have good taste in women.....they are smart like that!:)

[1of4]

A few thoughts on this issue...and yes, once again I am late to the table (excuse the pun):

 

My first thought was noro and how they don't allow people to serve themselves in the lido until 1 or 2 days (I can't rembember) have passed. They even removed the trays for that specific reason (or so they said). So I wondered how this would work with an IPad on my dining room table (or 4, 6, 8 or 10 of them) with the possibility of the thing touching my utencils?

 

Yes, I use the menus AND I carry Purell or other such brand with me and all 4 of us use it after we order and before we eat. Paroinoid...perhaps, but after sitting for days in a hospital watching my son 5 times in 6 years and wondering if he would make it through this time....we do it. I also wipe down the tables in restaurants without cloths...you should see the black that comes off on my tissue!:eek::mad:

 

My next issue, if it comes to be ... where do you put the blasted thing so you can eat? :confused: The tables aren't roomy to start with. The menus are taken away after ordering. Will the IPads also be stacked somewhere secure so they don't walk away or get knocked over?

 

Finaly a note on technology. I just turned 51 a few weeks ago and I can hardly use my cell phone. :rolleyes: In fact I try not too. I work, I have a younger family and I choose to use my time in other ways than trying to figure out how to use new devices...I have two children who tell me how to work it for me or just do it themselves (and 12 and 9). I hope when I can retire I too will be able to figure it out. But now, no. With 4 to 6 hours sleep a night I don't want to spend any more time on electronic devices as I have too. Give my brain a break! No insult to older or younger intended - this is just the way it is for me. :o My sister is 2 years older and she doesn't have email and no cell phone so I don't see where age has anything to do with it. It is time and mindset.

 

If I could vote, I would want the menu anyday. But that is just me. Like someone else said, I would worry about returned orders and wastage that way as I can't eat cream so no sauces and no "fluffy" desserts.

[srlafleur]

(I haven't read all the posts, so forgive me if someone has mentioned it.)

 

In the interest of saving paper and/or being more efficient, I think it's more likely the wait staff would be issued tablets, rather than writing orders or committing them to memory.

I doubt very much that they would hand out tablets at each table.

However, I can see something like this working in the buffet or other take-away venues. Like the kiosk some grocery stores have at the deli, place your order, get a slip and pick it up a little later. (you'd just have to rely on the server's idea of a serving size, unless you could specify by weight or piece.)

[3rdGenCunarder]

A few thoughts on this issue...and yes, once again I am late to the table (excuse the pun):

 

(snip)

 

My next issue, if it comes to be ... where do you put the blasted thing so you can eat? :confused: The tables aren't roomy to start with. The menus are taken away after ordering. Will the IPads also be stacked somewhere secure so they don't walk away or get knocked over?

 

(snip)

 

I think they'll be collected after you order. I can't imagine HAL providing one per person in the dining room and leaving them on the table. That would cost far too much. Maybe one or two per table, so you order and pass the tablet to the next person, much as the waiter takes your order and then goes to the next person.

 

You're right, if the tablets are taken away after you order, there must be a place to keep them. And not at the waiters' stations, where something could be spilled on them.

 

I think equipping the waiters with ordering tablets makes sense, putting them on the table doesn't.

 

Another problem--that's a lot of devices that someone has to remember to charge.

[AlohaPride]

Something else, what happens if/when the ship has technical difficulties? The wireless service goes down? The internet on HAL ships is already sooooo slooooooow, can you imagine adding hundreds of tablets to the system?

 

Further, if it's so much cheaper for HAL to do this, WHY do they charge an arm and a leg for internet use?

 

A big reason I love dining on cruise ships is that we get to meet other passengers. The pre-dinner conversation is usually fascinating. Using tablets to place our orders and get the food to us faster just cuts that gem from our experience. That makes me sad.

[Maryandi]

I think it's a great idea - they could take it another step farther,

 

we can have interactive TV sets, which some lines have for seeing

 

your bill, various items being planned for the next day, you could

 

sign up for, also if any shore excursions change or open up, we

 

could book them.

 

Ordering a meal for a certain shipboard restaurant and time - would

 

be one extra service they could do.

 

There will always be a percentage that wouldn't know how to

 

navigate the process but they can be taught or order things all

 

at once and be done with the daily choices.

[AlohaPride]

Oh, and I'm only 30, but my 31 year old husband chooses not to use the computer. He knows how to access youtube on the iPad, but that's about it. He's an electrician, and very very handy and just has zero interest in electronics. Our three kids (5,4, and 2.5) know how to use the iPad better than he does LOL:D

[3rdGenCunarder]

Something else, what happens if/when the ship has technical difficulties? The wireless service goes down? The internet on HAL ships is already sooooo slooooooow, can you imagine adding hundreds of tablets to the system?

 

Further, if it's so much cheaper for HAL to do this, WHY do they charge an arm and a leg for internet use?

 

They'd have to put in antennas on a different system connecting directly to a master computer in the kitchens. If they went through the existing wireless, your order might not reach the kitchen computer until the dining room is closed! :eek:

[HamOp]

Try not to be too offended. We've all seen the commercials for Jitterbug cell phones and Life Alert "one touch of a button". Some of us probably also remember the commercials of that internet access device that hooked up to the TV....because computers were just too complex for older people. Generalizations probably, but there is a reason for it.

 

Bill Gates calls me when he has a technical problem with his computer and I'm 60+:D:D:D

[OCruisers]

About passenger age and technology. I live in a community where at least one person in each house or apartment must be 62 or older. When we moved here a very small % or the residents had their own computer and a wonderful Computer Learning Center was developed. Management purchased the equipment, volunteer residents staff it daily. Now, a increasingly smaller number of residents use the center and almost all new residents are computer savvy at least in terms the internet and word processing.

 

:D On, Great! Now we are going to have to take special classes to learn how to order our food on cruise ships! :eek:

 

LuLu

~~~~

[OlsSalt]

If you can use a point and shoot camera, you will be able to use a tablet as a menu. In fact, it is even easier.

[Hlitner]

This is another case where HA is following an idea tried on Celebrity (like drink packages) where they use iPads for menu and ordering in their alternative restaurant called Qsine. Not sure its a practical idea in the MDR (especially on HA) since unless you had a tablet for each person it could be inconvenient and slow. In addition, many HA cruisers we have met would not have a clue as to how to use a tablet and I am sure there would be plenty of whining about "where is my normal menu."

 

Hank

[iancal]

..next they will be asking you to cook the food and then do the dishes.

[OlsSalt]

Goodness sakes, it looks like the name of the next HAL ship will be Aramgeddam. :cool:

[hattack]

The technology is in place, that while you are in your cabin dressing for dinner, you can order your selections on your tv screen, nice slow walk to your dining venue..swipe your S&S card when you enter the venue....when you are seated at your table, you swipe your S&S card and your selections will appear on your waiter's tablet...your waiter reconfirms or makes changes and presses "send" to the kitchen..it will also allow your waiter to know your specific "quirks" (i.e. ice tea, dressing on the side, what you are allergic to, special diet requirements, double order of your favorite dessert, special occassions (birthdays, anniversary)

 

Also you can use your tablet to request the wine steward

 

I see the technology as a win/win for everyone...like everything else, any change at first is resisted, but then embraced

[OlsSalt]

Remember when we could make coin-op juke box selections from our seats in the diner and they would be transmitted to the big Wurlitzer machine somewhere else in the room? Past is prologue. And we didn't think about sanitizing either the coins we used or the buttons we pushed before devouring hamburgers and fries with our fingers.

[Irish Eyes Are Sailing]

I think it's a great idea - they could take it another step farther,

 

we can have interactive TV sets, which some lines have for seeing

 

your bill, various items being planned for the next day, you could

 

sign up for, also if any shore excursions change or open up, we

 

could book them.

 

Ordering a meal for a certain shipboard restaurant and time - would

 

be one extra service they could do.

 

There will always be a percentage that wouldn't know how to

 

navigate the process but they can be taught or order things all

 

at once and be done with the daily choices.

 

And then maybe we could push a special button to find out if we are really having a good time.........;)

[nana51]

I like this idea. I am a picky eater and like to see what it looks like before I order it. They would be super easy to use. I bet they start with the waiter using one and "ease" us into it.

[AlohaPride]

Remember when we could make coin-op juke box selections from our seats in the diner and they would be transmitted to the big Wurlitzer machine somewhere else in the room? Past is prologue. And we didn't think about sanitizing either the coins we used or the buttons we pushed before devouring hamburgers and fries with our fingers.

 

2 completely different atmospheres. One is a burger joint, the other is supposed to be a "fine dining" experience.

[VioletHorse]

Based on my experience with iPad ordering on Celebrity in their specialty restaurant Qsine, there is no technical knowledge required aside from being able to read and have use of a finger. If not, your waiter can assist you.

 

Each diner gets their own tablet, just as everyone would get their own printed menu.

 

Tap the icon for appetizers/starters, and the choices with pretty pictures and descriptions of the food appears. Tap on the ones that you want. Swipe your finger across the screen, and soups/salads appear. Tap on your choices, swipe across the screen, and entrees appear. Tap on your choice, swipe across the screen, and desserts appear. Tap on your choice, and you're done. If at any point in this process you have a question, ask your waiter. If he/she isn't there, you can skip that section and go on to the next.

 

The waiter will ask if you have any questions/requests, and take the tablets away, He'll bring you any drinks that you may have already ordered, and quickly bring your first course.

 

The tablets run on the ship's intranet, not the internet. If the power goes out, the last thing I'd be worried about is ordering food.

[HamOp]

..next they will be asking you to cook the food and then do the dishes.

 

Been tried already with a great deal of success. It's called the U.S. NAVY!:D

[Irish Eyes Are Sailing]

2 completely different atmospheres. One is a burger joint, the other is supposed to be a "fine dining" experience.

 

I think you hit the nail on the head.......:)

[Boytjie]

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:

 

Certain posters already bring their own cleaning supplies! ;)

[pms4104]

If the tablet is left with the diners throughout the meal, this would be a great way for people to request more water or other beverages, more rolls, etc. ... or to request a real person to remove and replace a not very satisfactory dish.

 

This tablet process seems to deprive diners of the personalized and elegant service that should be a hallmark of a MDR experience. While Seattle spinmeisters might make it sound as though the company would be adopting a greener process and moving into the current century ... is it simply a thinly disguised attempt to cut MDR staff even more?