No booking needed in MDR on future Iona cruise

[Megabear2]

9 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Yes

 

I used to have issue them to my staff

 

Cost me a fortune and we used to lose them and have to replace on a monthly basis

 

Now they all use their phones and it's real time traffic finding the best route as they travel

 

Absolute godsend

 

I drive a BMW which has an intelligent satnav built in linking with other BMW drivers etc but still nowhere near as reliable and intelligent as googlemaps. So I just use Googlemaps on my phone now unless I don't mind making a few mistakes with my journey and I have time 

 

But I imagine we must still have people in the UK who buy road maps. Probably a lot of them like to go on cruise holidays! Lol

I've just bought a new Tom Tom, an upgrade.  I drive a 19 year old car and my phone won't work in a lot of places I drive in - Norfolk, Suffolk, north Cornwall. No internet, no traffic directions.  Tom Tom no problems always gets me there.

[Interestedcruisefan]

1 minute ago, Megabear2 said:

I've just bought a new Tom Tom, an upgrade.  I drive a 19 year old car and my phone won't work in a lot of places I drive in - Norfolk, Suffolk, north Cornwall. No internet, no traffic directions.  Tom Tom no problems always gets me there.

They still actually make them?

[Eglesbrech]

4 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

On the rare occasions the app goes down

 

Compared to every night being compromised by trying to operate different rules for different people to try and make everybody happy and then compromising everybody

 

As selbourne points out above

 

Has anyone cruised on a Japan cruises lately. I bet theyve got it nailed and everybody using modern tech together ? And I bet it works great?

 

Japan got rid of pagers several years ago now from life in general full stop

It was not a rare occasion on my cruise on Iona, it was most days. And while I am older I am more than happy to embrace new technology (or at least OH has a good grip on it).

 

Consequently pagers are not obsolete. They are a useful contingency planning tool and still used on a very regular basis by necessity.

 

 

 

[Megabear2]

1 minute ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

They still actually make them?

They most certainly do.  Lots of new ones for all types of vehicles including motorcycles.  Mine is worldwide as well which means no roaming costs abroad.

[Interestedcruisefan]

3 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

They most certainly do.  Lots of new ones for all types of vehicles including motorcycles.  Mine is worldwide as well which means no roaming costs abroad.

Well I never

 

Found this: (down but not out clearly) 

 

I just assumed they would have gone bust. 

 

Luckily we don't send staff to Cornwall (however I think once you start a journey with googlemaps it handles losing phone signal quite well now. Could be wrong. But ive often lost phone signal but not lost navigation noticeably?)

 

"After releasing the world’s first mass-market ‘personal navigation device’ in 2004, TomTom took off, hitting $65/share in 2007. But when Google released its Maps app in 2007, it turned every smartphone into a ‘personal navigation device.’ 

In just 2 years, TomTom’s stock fell below $3 per share."

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 2, 2023 by Interestedcruisefan

[Presto2]

1 hour ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Because pagers are obsolete, outdated and entirely anti eco and environmentally unfriendly in the world we now live in?

 

They need charging with electricity on an ongoing basis and/or batteries replacing.  And need disposing of in an environmentally friendly way at the end of their life cycle

 

They are bulky versions of basic text messaging which is basically a single yes or no message at the end of a wait you receive no information about and cannot reply back to

 

Like I say if P and O revert back to physical queues and pagers for bookings for MDR full stop its such a backward step in so many ways it's untrue

 

Keep them for the people who really want them for old time sake etc but not for the entire cruise

 

And don't deny the people who want to pre plan and pre book their dining the opportunity to do so

 

I shouldn't worry as there's no way they will take the backward step of doing this

 

I'm sure the message is just to appease the cruisers who prefer the old ways and booking the 21st century way is still an option for all who want to

Ouch ... as some one married to an IT Technician that made me cringe. Am sure you didn't mean to come across as being condescending to older more experienced cruisers as I've agreed with many of your posts on other topics. Having grey hair doesn't mean that people have no intelligence... just more experience and wisdom 

[carlanthony24]

1 hour ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Because pagers are obsolete, outdated and entirely anti eco and environmentally unfriendly in the world we now live in?

 

They need charging with electricity on an ongoing basis and/or batteries replacing.  And need disposing of in an environmentally friendly way at the end of their life cycle

 

They are bulky versions of basic text messaging which is basically a single yes or no message at the end of a wait you receive no information about and cannot reply back to

 

Like I say if P and O revert back to physical queues and pagers for bookings for MDR full stop its such a backward step in so many ways it's untrue

 

Keep them for the people who really want them for old time sake etc but not for the entire cruise

 

And don't deny the people who want to pre plan and pre book their dining the opportunity to do so

 

I shouldn't worry as there's no way they will take the backward step of doing this

 

I'm sure the message is just to appease the cruisers who prefer the old ways and booking the 21st century way is still an option for all who want to

Personally never found a problem with using the pagers. Easier than using the "app" Nowadays we just let the restaurant manager know the time we go each day 7:30PM we would like this table each day possible end up with a pager for 5mins sometimes. 

[Interestedcruisefan]

23 minutes ago, Presto2 said:

Ouch ... as some one married to an IT Technician that made me cringe. Am sure you didn't mean to come across as being condescending to older more experienced cruisers as I've agreed with many of your posts on other topics. Having grey hair doesn't mean that people have no intelligence... just more experience and wisdom 

No disrespect intended to fellow cruisers

 

I am disrespecting the role of pagers though in the modern world. Not the people who are stil given them to use

 

And that's from someone who used to like pagers when at the time they weren't obsolete and offered an improvement on what we had before

 

They were fun. Now they are old hat and so limited they are a step backwards

 

And a compromise as I've said

[lancashire_cruisers]

Well if it does turn out to be pagers when we board in a few weeks, we won’t use the MDR at all and will just use specialty dining instead!

[Selbourne]

1 hour ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

On the rare occasions the app goes down

 

Compared to every night trying to operate different rules for different people to try and make everybody happy and then compromising everybody together into a bodge job of how to book

 

As selbourne points out above

 

Has anyone cruised on a Japan cruises lately. I bet theyve got it nailed and everybody using modern tech together ? And I bet it works great?

 

Japan got rid of pagers several years ago now from life in general full stop

To be clear. The app didn’t ‘go down’ due to a fault on Britannia, it was a conscious decision to set it to ‘Queue Full’ because they couldn’t cope with several different systems conflicting with one another. The restaurant team took the view that it was far harder to turn away people who were physically stood in front of them than it was to just ignore those of us who were queueing virtually (or attempting to).
 

I was determined to use the app throughout our cruise to see how it worked, as I had speculated previously that it wouldn’t work with other systems working alongside it. Sadly, I was right. People that we spoke to thought we were mad by using the app because they were just turning up when they liked and mostly walking straight in. 
 

On Iona the app worked far better, but I put that down to the fact that two thirds of the passengers were newbies so were using the app as requested because they knew no different. On Britannia, the mix was the other way around (two thirds were previous P&O cruisers) and large numbers of people were refusing to use the app. 
 

Whilst I liked using the app and, when it worked well, it was far better than turning up and hoping that you’d get in or having to take a pager. However, because the current situation of having several systems conflicting results in a buggers muddle (to use a technical term 😂) it has unfortunately put us off Freedom Dining, which is a great shame as we used it enthusiastically since it’s launch. On our next 2 P&O cruises we’ve switched to Club (fixed) to alleviate the hassle. 

[bobstheboy]

I am quite happy to use any technology, as long as I can name a table and time, 1930, which I did with staff last week.

[zap99]

40 minutes ago, Presto2 said:

Ouch ... as some one married to an IT Technician that made me cringe. Am sure you didn't mean to come across as being condescending to older more experienced cruisers as I've agreed with many of your posts on other topics. Having grey hair doesn't mean that people have no intelligence... just more experience and wisdom 

Our TUI app said leave the baggage hall, turn left and go to transfer bus No2. After about 20 minutes.....some 20 year old....is there anybody here who hasn't checked in with the rep....yes us...you should have.ch.......I did what the app said....then how do we know you are on the bus.....ask the all singing, all dancing app. Shall we get on now, before the app tells you off.

[Presto2]

17 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

No disrespect intended to fellow cruisers

 

I am disrespecting the role of pagers though in the modern world. Not the people who are stil given them to use

 

And that's from someone who used to like pagers when at the time they weren't obsolete and offered an improvement on what we had before

 

They were fun. Now they are old hat and so limited they are a step backwards

 

And a compromise as I've said

I suppose it all comes down to the experiences we have had with the dreaded app. Nightmare for us and almost led to us cancelling out cruise in January. A 90 minute and 3 hour wait was no fun.

If I thought I had to rely on the app system again I may jump overboard.

I wonder if the app idea works better on some ships than others hence the fact that some of us love it and some hate it. 

[zap99]

1 hour ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Yes

 

I used to have issue them to my staff

 

Cost me a fortune and we used to lose them and have to replace on a monthly basis

 

Now they all use their phones and it's real time traffic finding the best route as they travel

 

Absolute godsend

 

I drive a BMW which has an intelligent satnav built in linking with other BMW drivers etc but still nowhere near as reliable and intelligent as googlemaps. So I just use Googlemaps on my phone now unless I don't mind making a few mistakes with my journey and I have time 

 

But I imagine we must still have people in the UK who buy road maps. Probably a lot of them like to go on cruise holidays! Lol

Some like to look at old maps.  Some folk like BMW's. Funny old world.🤣

[Fionboard]

56 minutes ago, Presto2 said:

Ouch ... as some one married to an IT Technician that made me cringe. Am sure you didn't mean to come across as being condescending to older more experienced cruisers as I've agreed with many of your posts on other topics. Having grey hair doesn't mean that people have no intelligence... just more experience and wisdom 

Spot on!

[zap99]

3 minutes ago, Fionboard said:

Spot on!

When civilisation come to an end, my map will still work. Super dooper smart phone won't.

[Winifred 22]

Hospitals still use  pagers well at least the one where my daughter works does. Hers is constantly in use.

[zap99]

3 minutes ago, Winifred 22 said:

Hospitals still use  pagers well at least the one where my daughter works does. Hers is constantly in use.

I think the RNLI still use them. Perhaps the NHS and RNLI need to be more ' on trend '🤣

[terrierjohn]

52 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

To be clear. The app didn’t ‘go down’ due to a fault on Britannia, it was a conscious decision to set it to ‘Queue Full’ because they couldn’t cope with several different systems conflicting with one another. The restaurant team took the view that it was far harder to turn away people who were physically stood in front of them than it was to just ignore those of us who were queueing virtually (or attempting to).
 

I was determined to use the app throughout our cruise to see how it worked, as I had speculated previously that it wouldn’t work with other systems working alongside it. Sadly, I was right. People that we spoke to thought we were mad by using the app because they were just turning up when they liked and mostly walking straight in. 
 

On Iona the app worked far better, but I put that down to the fact that two thirds of the passengers were newbies so were using the app as requested because they knew no different. On Britannia, the mix was the other way around (two thirds were previous P&O cruisers) and large numbers of people were refusing to use the app. 
 

Whilst I liked using the app and, when it worked well, it was far better than turning up and hoping that you’d get in or having to take a pager. However, because the current situation of having several systems conflicting results in a buggers muddle (to use a technical term 😂) it has unfortunately put us off Freedom Dining, which is a great shame as we used it enthusiastically since it’s launch. On our next 2 P&O cruises we’ve switched to Club (fixed) to alleviate the hassle. 

I also quite like the virtual queuing on the app. however with a limited number of tables in the MDR and also allowing pre booking means that many tables are left unused for lengthy periods, this reduces the throughput and exacerbates the queuing delays that no one wants.

Many passengers like this pre booking facility, especially since it allows them to enjoy the certainty that fixed dining gives them, but enables them to decide their own start time and not be restricted to the rigid early and late start times.

I don't know how to square this particular circle, but IMO these 2 incompatible features cannot be allowed to continue.

[Megabear2]

2 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I also quite like the virtual queuing on the app. however with a limited number of tables in the MDR and also allowing pre booking means that many tables are left unused for lengthy periods, this reduces the throughput and exacerbates the queuing delays that no one wants.

Many passengers like this pre booking facility, especially since it allows them to enjoy the certainty that fixed dining gives them, but enables them to decide their own start time and not be restricted to the rigid early and late start times.

I don't know how to square this particular circle, but IMO these 2 incompatible features cannot be allowed to continue.

I've no problem with a virtual queue if it gives me an idea how long I'm expected to be in it.  At least if I'm given a pager they give a rough estimate of how long they think it will be.  

[zap99]

2 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

I've just bought a new Tom Tom, an upgrade.  I drive a 19 year old car and my phone won't work in a lot of places I drive in - Norfolk, Suffolk, north Cornwall. No internet, no traffic directions.  Tom Tom no problems always gets me there.

Mine is built in, but still not talking. I took the A30 to Cricket St Thomas to Avoid the A303. As soon as safe turn right. Turn right. Turn right.....OK suit yourself. As soon as I get anywhere near Wiltshire,  it shuts up until I get to Devon.

 

 

[Selbourne]

20 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I also quite like the virtual queuing on the app. however with a limited number of tables in the MDR and also allowing pre booking means that many tables are left unused for lengthy periods, this reduces the throughput and exacerbates the queuing delays that no one wants.

Many passengers like this pre booking facility, especially since it allows them to enjoy the certainty that fixed dining gives them, but enables them to decide their own start time and not be restricted to the rigid early and late start times.

I don't know how to square this particular circle, but IMO these 2 incompatible features cannot be allowed to continue.

I agree and that is exactly what we witnessed on Britannia. Quite inefficient compared to first come first served. Great when it works but it falls over when it gets very busy. 

[yorkshirephil]

If the app is working as designed then fine, if not do what we have done for years, isn't choice great?. 

[cublet]

Hello,

 

Every Friday my sister, sister-in-law and I meet for coffee in a Waitrose cafe (other supermarkets and cafes are available).

 

If one of us wants something that is either heated or cooked the person taking the order (and payment) simply takes a pager out of a pool and inputs its number (no more than two digits) on the order that is sent electronically to the kitchen and the pager handed to us.

 

In the fullness of time the kitchen 'pages' the number, we collect our food and drop the 'used' pager into a tray wherefrom it is recycled.

 

No-one can or will convince me that using a mobile phone to fulfil this function will be more efficient.

 

Regards,

 

Cublet

[Selbourne]

54 minutes ago, yorkshirephil said:

If the app is working as designed then fine, if not do what we have done for years, isn't choice great?. 

No, because the fact that so many people are doing what they have always done is precisely the reason why the app isn’t working as designed!