Will we need to carry phones everywhere ?

[JBare]

Some of the recent comments on here are becoming a little judgy and away from the OP.
I'm a recently retired IT manager from a large international company. I specified, ordered and installed computers, servers and smartphones. I have written software, created web pages and designed control equipment for the factory floor. I have used smartphones via a VPN to control malfunctioning factory equipment whilst onboard a ship and even a ski lift.

 

Modern smartphones are remarkable pieces of technology that can do so many things.
However, when on board ship mine stays in the safe, I do not have an addiction to social media, games or whatever else some people get pleasure from, thats their life and their business.

 

I am not a techno phobe and think smartphones are amazing but I find the expectation for everyone to use one distasteful and some of the remarks in this thread have not been well informed.
I fully understand people who feel they would not be able to use a smartphone (as stated because of their size) not wanting to invest in the expense of one.

 

I understand from my experience specifying equipment and from experience with my own mother that not everyone can use a smartphone even though they are able to use a desktop.
A smartphone is in no way compatable to a desktop computer in literally any shape or form, only in function.  I would suggest that people who think so, tape all their fingers and thumb together on both hands and then come out with some careless sarcastic remarks after attempting to use a smartphone. Thats what reality is like for many with a real disability like rheumatoid arthritis, people
who can barely even hold the phone let alone pinch or type on one.  Look it up, its a real disability.
I have no idea if anyone is trolling or not or their personal circumstances but I know whose comments I find the most offensive.

 

I sailed on the Edge just before the World changed and although I played with the features on the phone for a while I got bored with it and locked it in the safe. I found the light switch was just as able to turn the lights off as the phone. We had daily schedules delivered to our room on paper and in every way the cruise was the same as any other Celebrity cruise without the need for a phone.

The smartphone does make some things easier and I use off ship for navigation and emergency contacts, but its certainly not necessary onboard.

[Charles4515]

5 minutes ago, JBare said:

 

I sailed on the Edge just before the World changed and although I played with the features on the phone for a while I got bored with it and locked it in the safe. I found the light switch was just as able to turn the lights off as the phone. We had daily schedules delivered to our room on paper and in every way the cruise was the same as any other Celebrity cruise without the need for a phone.

The smartphone does make some things easier and I use off ship for navigation and emergency contacts, but its certainly not necessary onboard.

 

But will they continue delivering daily schedules to the room? I remember when they delievered news to the room every day. The mainstream cruise lines are about cutting costs and crew. Bean counters run cruise lines like Celebrity. Everyone using a smart phone will allow them to cut crew. Also less employees at the excursion desk and guest  relations desk too. Yes, they would be offloading expenses on passengers but that would be something they would do without batting an eye. Most people have smartphones. So you could lock your smartphone in the safe but those that do might be standing on lines and suffering othe inconveniences. Many things will return to similar to before the world changed but we should expect changes. 

[Fouremco]

11 hours ago, iamaqt2 said:

I use this setup to secure all my electronics at any resort.  Cord around locked in area of chair, lock through two zipper loops and boom.. locked to chair.

A word of caution, especially if your electronics have any significant dollar value or their contents would be hard or impossible to replace, such as photos on a camera or cell phone. While that setup is fine in protecting your bag from a casual opportunist attempting a quick grab and run, it would barely slow down a dedicated thief with a small pair of cable cutters. Or with just a small knife to slash open the pack.

[TeeRick]

11 hours ago, LGW59 said:

Please Den, stop it, I’m trying to watch the Brady Bunch.  And it is the color TV episode!

 

You might need to adjust the rabbit ears for best reception.

 

Also if people do not want to use a smart phone in 2021 then their choice I guess.  My MIL and FIL (early 90's) just upgraded their old flip phones to smart phones and we taught them everything they needed to know in a few hours.  True story!  Now they love them!   If I had to guess, maybe HAL will be the cruise line for the Flip Phone crowd 🙂.

[TeeRick]

13 hours ago, iamaqt2 said:

I use this setup to secure all my electronics at any resort.  Cord around locked in area of chair, lock through two zipper loops and boom.. locked to chair.

 

We use AquaVault gear on vacation to secure valuables on the beach while on vacations or cruises.

https://theaquavault.com/

[LGW59]

23 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

 

You might need to adjust the rabbit ears for best reception.

 

Also if people do not want to use a smart phone in 2021 then their choice I guess.  My MIL and FIL (early 90's) just upgraded their old flip phones to smart phones and we taught them everything they needed to know in a few hours.  True story!  Now they love them!   If I had to guess, maybe HAL will be the cruise line for the Flip Phone crowd 🙂.

Similar story with my mom.  For her 75th I got her a smart phone and said oh dear I can never learn to use this, I like my flip phone.  My daughter was with me and said Gram let me show you.  The rest is technological history!

[JBare]

2 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

 

But will they continue delivering daily schedules to the room?

 

I believe they will if requested and almost certainly for those people who suffer such a painful crippling disabilty as rheumatoid arthritis. It isn't a question of learning to use a smartphone, its physically being incapable.

Edited June 2, 2021 by JBare
spelling

[Charles4515]

28 minutes ago, JBare said:

 

I believe they will if requested and almost certainly for those people who suffer such a painful crippling disabilty as rheumatoid arthritis. It isn't a question of learning to use a smartphone, its physically being incapable.

 

Smartphones have many accessibility features for people with disabilities. Many people with  disablities buy smartphones because of  those features. Apple just announced a bunch of new ones coming later this year and I expect Android will match them.

 

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/05/apple-previews-powerful-software-updates-designed-for-people-with-disabilities/

[LGW59]

3 hours ago, JBare said:

Some of the recent comments on here are becoming a little judgy and away from the OP.
I'm a recently retired IT manager from a large international company. I specified, ordered and installed computers, servers and smartphones. I have written software, created web pages and designed control equipment for the factory floor. I have used smartphones via a VPN to control malfunctioning factory equipment whilst onboard a ship and even a ski lift.

 

Modern smartphones are remarkable pieces of technology that can do so many things.
However, when on board ship mine stays in the safe, I do not have an addiction to social media, games or whatever else some people get pleasure from, thats their life and their business.

 

I am not a techno phobe and think smartphones are amazing but I find the expectation for everyone to use one distasteful and some of the remarks in this thread have not been well informed.
I fully understand people who feel they would not be able to use a smartphone (as stated because of their size) not wanting to invest in the expense of one.

 

I understand from my experience specifying equipment and from experience with my own mother that not everyone can use a smartphone even though they are able to use a desktop.
A smartphone is in no way compatable to a desktop computer in literally any shape or form, only in function.  I would suggest that people who think so, tape all their fingers and thumb together on both hands and then come out with some careless sarcastic remarks after attempting to use a smartphone. Thats what reality is like for many with a real disability like rheumatoid arthritis, people
who can barely even hold the phone let alone pinch or type on one.  Look it up, its a real disability.
I have no idea if anyone is trolling or not or their personal circumstances but I know whose comments I find the most offensive.

 

I sailed on the Edge just before the World changed and although I played with the features on the phone for a while I got bored with it and locked it in the safe. I found the light switch was just as able to turn the lights off as the phone. We had daily schedules delivered to our room on paper and in every way the cruise was the same as any other Celebrity cruise without the need for a phone.

The smartphone does make some things easier and I use off ship for navigation and emergency contacts, but its certainly not necessary onboard.

With all due respect, your concern for people with a disability is very admirable.  However, unless I missed it (I may have) I did not see anyone here make a comment about technology and disabled persons ability to use.  "I have no idea if anyone is trolling or not or their personal circumstances but I know whose comments I find the most offensive"  IMO,  you have inferred that this about something it is most definitely NOT.  As a person with disabilities, covered under ADA, and having a great employer who have made many accommodation's for me, at their expense, I know from whence I speak.  All the best

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

2 hours ago, Fouremco said:

A word of caution, especially if your electronics have any significant dollar value or their contents would be hard or impossible to replace, such as photos on a camera or cell phone. While that setup is fine in protecting your bag from a casual opportunist attempting a quick grab and run, it would barely slow down a dedicated thief with a small pair of cable cutters. Or with just a small knife to slash open the pack.

 

Or they could just grab the chair and operate on it later at their leisure.

[Denny01]

It does not matter why you want the Daily brought to your SR, the steward will do that. You don’t need to have a reason, an excuse, a rationale, a ‘disability’, a dislike of digital devices, a love of digital devices but not on vacation, a dislike of carrying a device or a holder or a purse or a manpurse for a device, a………. They Will deliver one to you. 

 

How do I know? They did it. I use an iPhone but I like a printout and got one on the Edge prior to the shutdown. 

 

Den

Edited June 2, 2021 by Denny01

[JBare]

7 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

 However, unless I missed it (I may have) I did not see anyone here make a comment about technology and disabled persons ability to use.

 

No you didn't but there were in my opinion some rather snide remarks along the lines of if you can use a desktop you can use a smartphone which is simply not true because of certain disabilites.

Edited June 2, 2021 by JBare

[Fouremco]

3 minutes ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

 

Or they could just grab the chair and operate on it later at their leisure.

LOL. I guess that the blatantly obvious approach might work when their skills at operating surreptitiously fail. But after lugging that lounger all the way home, it's such a disappointment to find nothing more than the owner's stale lunch sandwich and a warm beer! 😊

[PTC DAWG]

2 hours ago, LGW59 said:

Similar story with my mom.  For her 75th I got her a smart phone and said oh dear I can never learn to use this, I like my flip phone.  My daughter was with me and said Gram let me show you.  The rest is technological history!

Using mine is not any issue...just the "want to" while on vacation.  I think folks should govern themselves accordingly.  🙂

[Bellfree Bat]

On 5/30/2021 at 11:13 PM, Germancruiser said:

Thanks so much Shadow 9612- it was pleasure doing so- and they have been my first " Live from" reports. Maybe I will do another one when I board the brand new Apex in two weeks for the Maiden Voyage.

Please do! And go see my friend Helio in the liquor shop on board. He is a great guy! We are not sailing APEX until December and are a little envious. You are lucky to be sailing with only 300 guests!

[Denny01]

Many of the posts have been about how to Not use the Celebrity App and concern over being forced to. I’d hope that after 65+ posts, that we all understand that isn’t the case.

 

For those that Do wish to utilize the Celebrity App, here is what I found on the iPhone App loader on the App. I used it in 2019 Edge cruises and it worked OK, but was still being developed. The one thing they added that should be of interest in those traveling with family and friends is you can text each other using this App free of charge. Here is what the app provides:

 

 

Edited June 2, 2021 by Denny01

[jg51]

8 hours ago, JBare said:

Some of the recent comments on here are becoming a little judgy and away from the OP.
I'm a recently retired IT manager from a large international company. I specified, ordered and installed computers, servers and smartphones. I have written software, created web pages and designed control equipment for the factory floor. I have used smartphones via a VPN to control malfunctioning factory equipment whilst onboard a ship and even a ski lift.

 

Modern smartphones are remarkable pieces of technology that can do so many things.
However, when on board ship mine stays in the safe, I do not have an addiction to social media, games or whatever else some people get pleasure from, thats their life and their business.

 

I am not a techno phobe and think smartphones are amazing but I find the expectation for everyone to use one distasteful and some of the remarks in this thread have not been well informed.
I fully understand people who feel they would not be able to use a smartphone (as stated because of their size) not wanting to invest in the expense of one.

 

I understand from my experience specifying equipment and from experience with my own mother that not everyone can use a smartphone even though they are able to use a desktop.
A smartphone is in no way compatable to a desktop computer in literally any shape or form, only in function.  I would suggest that people who think so, tape all their fingers and thumb together on both hands and then come out with some careless sarcastic remarks after attempting to use a smartphone. Thats what reality is like for many with a real disability like rheumatoid arthritis, people
who can barely even hold the phone let alone pinch or type on one.  Look it up, its a real disability.
I have no idea if anyone is trolling or not or their personal circumstances but I know whose comments I find the most offensive.

 

I sailed on the Edge just before the World changed and although I played with the features on the phone for a while I got bored with it and locked it in the safe. I found the light switch was just as able to turn the lights off as the phone. We had daily schedules delivered to our room on paper and in every way the cruise was the same as any other Celebrity cruise without the need for a phone.

The smartphone does make some things easier and I use off ship for navigation and emergency contacts, but its certainly not necessary onboard.

.

Thank you, "JBare," for your extremely supportive, and (we hope) convincing, comments.

 

We wish to add only these few more words, especially for anyone who was offended or shocked by what we wrote previously:

~~ We have never "trolled."

~~ We are dealing with cataracts and a neurological condition that causes unsteadiness of hands.  These small handicaps would make the use of a smartphone very difficult or impossible, which helps to explain why we know so little about this technology.  Clearly, we have not even bothered to look into it.  Nevertheless, we said, in an earlier post, that we would be willing to try to use a borrowed phone, if we could get a bit of training.  We don't know if we could succeed, but we would be willing to try.

 

Finally ...

It has been possible (for at least a decade, we think) to quote multiple posts here at CrCr.  Here's how:

Just to the left of the word, "Quote" (under each post), there is a plus sign (+).  If you just point at it ("hovering"), you will cause the word, "MultiQuote," to appear.  You should click on all the plus signs below the posts that you wish to quote.  As you do this, a little box will appear, at the lower right of your screen, telling you how many posts you will be quoting.  When you are fully ready to reply, simply click on that little box (at lower right), and you will get a normal-looking reply area containing all of the quoted posts -- with one blank line between each pair of quotes (plus some blank space after the last one).  This will allow you to insert a response to each quoted post.  We hope that you will enjoy using this feature as much as we do.

.

Edited June 2, 2021 by jg51

[sanger727]

On 6/1/2021 at 4:27 PM, jg51 said:

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Life always remains basically the same.  We prefer not to "try to keep up with the Joneses."  Although we believe in being law-abiding citizens, we do whatever we can to prevent society, government, etc., to impose things on us!

.

smart phones are far from ‘keeping up with the Jones’s’. Yes, you can get the best and newest smart phone each year with unlimited data or you can purchase a refurbished off brand phone with a prepaid quite cheaply. I find it interesting that you point to vision issues as a reason against them. You can certainly make your smart phone text much larger than the text on the printed dailies. It’s your life and you can certainly do as you want.
 

I’ll never forget a family road trip we too where we ended up with not one,  but two flat tires over the course of the trip. This was pre-cell phone days. First flat tire took our spare. Second left is stranded on the desert trying to flag someone down to give us a ride into a town to get a tow truck. You will never find me on a trip without a cell phone. Smart phones have been an amazing innovation that has made traveling substantially easier.

 

for example, we took a trip to Japan a few years ago. Their subway system has many lines and is extremely complicated to navigate with very little translated to English. Luckily, there’s an app for that. Many people in Japan don’t speak English and when you go to businesses there are often no translations. Luckily, there’s an app for that. We would never have been able to navigate that trip without smart phones. and given that it takes up about the same amount of room as a camera, and in fact takes the place of carrying a camera. It’s really hard to justify that it’s too much work to carry. Just my 2 cents.

[luckybecky]

6 hours ago, Denny01 said:

 

 

 

 

Wait... what? Sorry, this is off topic, but one thing here caught my eye. "Complete the reimagined guest safety briefing..."

Does this mean we won't have to do the muster drill on a hot, crowded deck? Yee-haw!

[upwarduk]

1 hour ago, luckybecky said:

Does this mean we won't have to do the muster drill on a hot, crowded deck? Yee-haw!

From what I’ve read( but of course not yet experienced) Muster drill will be through your TV. You then have to report to a pre designated place to have your name ✅ off a list, as having completed the drill.

No gatherings due to COVID restrictions.

Edited June 3, 2021 by upwarduk

[happy cruzer]

You would assume that there are backup ways to do all the items that are provided in the App.  After all the APP will "break", people will misplace or break their phone,  etc.  How many times have you seen people in line to get a room card replacement?  I like the medallion on Princess because it is their equipment to maintain and replace 🙂  Everyone is different!

[lostchild]

1 hour ago, happy cruzer said:

You would assume that there are backup ways to do all the items that are provided in the App.  After all the APP will "break", people will misplace or break their phone,  etc.  How many times have you seen people in line to get a room card replacement?  I like the medallion on Princess because it is their equipment to maintain and replace 🙂  Everyone is different!

I am sure there will be alternative, but probably less convenient ones.   When I was taking 1st dose of vaccine, they required everyone to schedule the 2nd dose on their phone by scanning the code.   Not everyone has a phone or have data, so the nurse was coming around with a tablet to do it for them.   At most restaurants here, if you don't have a phone to scan the code for the menu, the waiter or waitress will read you the menu.   

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

13 hours ago, luckybecky said:

 

Wait... what? Sorry, this is off topic, but one thing here caught my eye. "Complete the reimagined guest safety briefing..."

Does this mean we won't have to do the muster drill on a hot, crowded deck? Yee-haw!

 

Celebrity hasn't done the muster drill on a hot, crowded deck for years.

[davekathy]

13 hours ago, upwarduk said:

From what I’ve read( but of course not yet experienced) Muster drill will be through your TV. You then have to report to a pre designated place to have your name ✅ off a list, as having completed the drill.

No gatherings due to COVID restrictions.

Hopefully this is going to be the new way of doing muster drills going forward and not just for when cruising first resumes. 

Edited June 3, 2021 by davekathy

[davekathy]

5 hours ago, lostchild said:

I am sure there will be alternative, but probably less convenient ones.   When I was taking 1st dose of vaccine, they required everyone to schedule the 2nd dose on their phone by scanning the code.   Not everyone has a phone or have data, so the nurse was coming around with a tablet to do it for them.   At most restaurants here, if you don't have a phone to scan the code for the menu, the waiter or waitress will read you the menu.   

Throw away menus (food and beverage) for the restaurant's we visit. 

Edited June 3, 2021 by davekathy