Is high tech making a new class system ,I think so .

[davecttr]

Cruise lines may have to make provision for those who have difficulty in using smart phones for medical reasons. I have a smartphone but handling the small touch screen is frustrating because of my ancient athritic hands so I only use it for accessing my online NHS  account via WiFi. I have a 'dumb' phone for voice calls and texts. It has large real buttons and I can use that with no problem. I have a cruise next month and the phones will stay in the cabin safe as the ship has a number of easy to use 'portals' which are very large touch screens activated by scanning your cruise card and provide the same service as the 'app'. They also still provide a printed daily schedule as well.

 

edit - press reports indicate that dumb phones are becoming more popular, even among the young.

[davecttr]

4 hours ago, Elaine5715 said:

I disagree that phone boarding passes are faster.  Nothing worse than when one parent has everyone's boarding pass on one phone, displays times out or set too low.  One second to scan my paper pass

Over here we have to show our Covid vaccination history as part of the boarding process. This is available via your online NHS app. Always print out a paper copy as there are those with smart phones that decide not to work at the critical moment, slowing down the queue

 

Edited October 28, 2022 by davecttr

[BruceMuzz]

When the first Transcontinental Railroad was introduced in America in the 1800’s, there was a rather large and vocal percentage of the population that refused to ride on the new-fangled train. They claimed that God had never intended for humans to travel faster than 13 miles per hour. That train was the new “Technology” of the day. Some people just couldn’t accept it.

The same thing happened when electricity was first available to be installed in homes. Many people refused- claiming that the electrical waves caused all kinds of illnesses in humans.

Paper Bank Checks? Enjoy using them in the USA. But if you try to use them in just about any other country, you will be disappointed to learn that most developed countries will no longer accept them.

[Mary229]

7 hours ago, Elaine5715 said:

I disagree that phone boarding passes are faster.  Nothing worse than when one parent has everyone's boarding pass on one phone, displays times out or set too low.  One second to scan my paper pass

One pass, one person.   I prefer to manage myself and no one else

[Markanddonna]

On our last cruise. In May, RCL gave paper dailies to everyone over 65. We try hard to stay on top of technology because those who don't become more dependent and isolated. We download the cruise and airline apps.

[Mary229]

3 minutes ago, Markanddonna said:

On our last cruise. In May, RCL gave paper dailies to everyone over 65. We try hard to stay on top of technology because those who don't become more dependent and isolated. We download the cruise and airline apps.

Really, they singled out older people as technologically ignorant or was it by request.  I prefer technology, don’t like the paper avalanche and would be a bit offended by the assumption that because of my age I need special assistance.

 

I was on tour this summer and became quite irritated with the constant barrage of paper.  It was wasteful and cumbersome.  

[cruisemom42]

3 hours ago, davecttr said:

I have a smartphone but handling the small touch screen is frustrating because of my ancient athritic hands so I only use it for accessing my online NHS  account via WiFi.

 

Isn't that what tablets are for?  😆

[cruisemom42]

3 hours ago, BruceMuzz said:

When the first Transcontinental Railroad was introduced in America in the 1800’s, there was a rather large and vocal percentage of the population that refused to ride on the new-fangled train. They claimed that God had never intended for humans to travel faster than 13 miles per hour. That train was the new “Technology” of the day. Some people just couldn’t accept it.

The same thing happened when electricity was first available to be installed in homes. Many people refused- claiming that the electrical waves caused all kinds of illnesses in humans.

Paper Bank Checks? Enjoy using them in the USA. But if you try to use them in just about any other country, you will be disappointed to learn that most developed countries will no longer accept them.

 

I've used a similar example many times with regard to e-Readers. Some here would undoubtedly still be singing the praises of stone tablets or scrolls for reading....

 

[cruisemom42]

Smart phone usage and apps while cruising are becoming more widespread because the tipping point has been reached -- more and more people are recognizing their usefulness while traveling. 

 

I am not "on my phone" all the time, but I would no longer want to travel without my Smart phone. I just returned from 3 weeks in Europe and during that period I was able to:

 

• Use my airline's app to monitor for such things as gate and boarding time changes, see when my bag was loaded onboard, and of course to check in and to use as my boarding pass when I didn't want to have to seek out a printer.
• Keep track of expenditures on my credit card of choice for travel by choosing to receive a notification each time my card was used, verifying that it was actually me making the purchase. That alone is invaluable to me.
• Use an app to correspond with private tour and transfer providers without any charge to me, just in case there were any delays in docking, uncertainties about where to meet (happened once) and so on.
• Use cruise line app to see onboard schedule of activities -- Celebrity still provides a paper copy to everyone but for the first time, I found myself using the app more. I'd look at the paper copy in the evening before bed, but left it in my cabin next day since I would have my phone with me.
• Take and share photos.
• Check not only my own emails but work emails -- three weeks is a long time to be gone without some sort of touch-base when you're still working.
• Finally, I usually have done advance planning and mapping of what I want to do onshore, but every once in a while (including once on this trip), I go astray and need a bit of help finding my way back or finding an out-of-the-way destination. Or a guide will mention a place that I wasn't aware of and I'll want to find it on the spur of the moment. My phone is a good emergency back-up for that. 

 

In short, I'm not using it to yammer away to folks back home or post endlessly on social media. But it does have some super helpful uses...

 

[Joebucks]

It will certainly make it a lot harder for people to jump into threads and boast "I disconnect" or "I leave my phone in the room". Never fear, your phone in airplane mode is still disconnected from the outside world. 

 

There is nothing more convenient about making reservations in person and by phone call vs a phone app.

[Markanddonna]

2 hours ago, Mary229 said:

Really, they singled out older people as technologically ignorant or was it by request.  

It was automatic.  Our dining companions were under 65 and didn't have paper copies. We didn't request them (we're over 65) but used our phones onboard.  We certainly appreciated the paper copies, though. I enjoy looking at those in the evening to prepare. 

[Mary229]

28 minutes ago, Markanddonna said:

It was automatic.  Our dining companions were under 65 and didn't have paper copies. We didn't request them (we're over 65) but used our phones onboard.  We certainly appreciated the paper copies, though. I enjoy looking at those in the evening to prepare. 

DH likes his paper copy too.  I just find it odd that they single out those over 65, it seems a bit judgey. 

[2wheelin]

6 hours ago, davecttr said:

Over here we have to show our Covid vaccination history as part of the boarding process. This is available via your online NHS app. Always print out a paper copy as there are those with smart phones that decide not to work at the critical moment, slowing down the queue

 

Sometimes the technology saves time and sometimes it just makes more work, such as having to also have a paper copy—just in case. And yes some people have found that to be a necessity.

I hate having to download ANOTHER app for just about anything I want to do. I don’t want all those useless apps cluttering up my phone. Some have their place if you’ll use them several times.(dinner reservations) but every ship bar I go into expects me to download their menu which is a great waste of my space and time. I can scan a large paper menu much faster than scrolling through something on my phone.

I recently entered a fast food restaurant for a cup of coffee. I stood at the cash register for a few minutes and then was approached by a worker who informed me I HAD to order at the kiosk. I asked him if I could pay in cash that way and he then told me I had to order on the kiosk (no simple matter getting through all the mandatory screen questions (are you sure you don’t want something else?) and then come find him and go to the register to pay. After ordering I went to the register and he asked what I ordered in order for me to pay. Took over 5 minutes just to order a cup of coffee.

[ontheweb]

42 minutes ago, 2wheelin said:

Sometimes the technology saves time and sometimes it just makes more work, such as having to also have a paper copy—just in case. And yes some people have found that to be a necessity.

I hate having to download ANOTHER app for just about anything I want to do. I don’t want all those useless apps cluttering up my phone. Some have their place if you’ll use them several times.(dinner reservations) but every ship bar I go into expects me to download their menu which is a great waste of my space and time. I can scan a large paper menu much faster than scrolling through something on my phone.

I recently entered a fast food restaurant for a cup of coffee. I stood at the cash register for a few minutes and then was approached by a worker who informed me I HAD to order at the kiosk. I asked him if I could pay in cash that way and he then told me I had to order on the kiosk (no simple matter getting through all the mandatory screen questions (are you sure you don’t want something else?) and then come find him and go to the register to pay. After ordering I went to the register and he asked what I ordered in order for me to pay. Took over 5 minutes just to order a cup of coffee.

Here is an even worse example of restaurants and the new technology.

 

We like to dine by water on our anniversary. We went to a restaurant where we could eat on a deck by flowing water. We had been at that restaurant before it had moved there and liked it and had been on that deck at a previous restaurant that had been there.

 

We asked for and were seated on the deck. We placed our order which instead of writing on a paper check as waiter and waitresses have done forever the waitress used some new fangled technology that looked like a smartphone. We soon received our salads. And then we WAITED, AND WAITED, AND WAITED. I went into the main section of the restaurant that had been nearly empty when we arrived and saw that there were now several table of people who came after us and had been served. I complained and found out our order had never been put in. I don't know if the waitress was at fault not hitting whatever she had to do to send it in or it was a glitch of some sort. A manager came out and apologized and said we would get our dinners soon. After another wait, we were getting up to leave in disgust when the food finally came, and the manager apologized again and said our meals would be comped. She said they were still working out the kinks in their new system (even though they had been at the new location for about 6-7 months.)

 

Has anyone ever had their order lost when the server wrote in down on PAPER? There is an old saying, if it ain't broke, don't fix it! The next time we ate at a diner was when we were away staying at a motel with a park and ride to the airport so we could catch our morning flight to our cruise. I said to the waitress, I hope you are writing this and told her the story. She just laughed at the absurdity of the new technology. She got a nice extra tip from me.

[Charles4515]

45 minutes ago, 2wheelin said:

I recently entered a fast food restaurant for a cup of coffee. I stood at the cash register for a few minutes and then was approached by a worker who informed me I HAD to order at the kiosk. I asked him if I could pay in cash that way and he then told me I had to order on the kiosk (no simple matter getting through all the mandatory screen questions (are you sure you don’t want something else?) and then come find him and go to the register to pay. After ordering I went to the register and he asked what I ordered in order for me to pay. Took over 5 minutes just to order a cup of coffee.

One of the mysteries of life  to me was when I moved from the DC area to Texas about year ago was that almost  every restaurant here had a QR code on the table that I had to use and access the menu on my smartphone. (that has lightened up a lot lately)  It  did take me a couple weeks to adjust as we get into routines but I did.  Maybe I have brain fog  but I don't recall QR code menues in DC. I had known my phone camera read QR codes but I gad never used it. Now it is second nature. Also in the DC area there were regulations that restaurants had to accept cash. The idea being that not everyone had a credit card or debit card. Here there are quite a number of cashless places. 

[Charles4515]

7 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Has anyone ever had their order lost when the server wrote in down on PAPER? There is an old saying, if it ain't broke, don't fix it! The next time we ate at a diner was when we were away staying at a motel with a park and ride to the airport so we could catch our morning flight to our cruise. I said to the waitress, I hope you are writing this and told her the story. She just laughed at the absurdity of the new technology. She got a nice extra tip from me.

Many places now the server goes straight to a tablet station and enters the orders which gets sent to the kitchen. The server does not write them down. 

[ontheweb]

3 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

Many places now the server goes straight to a tablet station and enters the orders which gets sent to the kitchen. The server does not write them down. 

Write it down on paper, turn it in, and the customer gets their food.

 

Do it on the tablet, and maybe the customer gets their food, or maybe not. Since we were on a deck with maybe one other table occupied, our waitress did not notice us. I don't know how many other orders were ignored, but noticed by the serving staff as there were lots of tables inside.

 

I will repeat. IF IT AIN'T BROKE, DON'T FIX IT!

[sanger727]

12 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Write it down on paper, turn it in, and the customer gets their food.

 

Do it on the tablet, and maybe the customer gets their food, or maybe not. Since we were on a deck with maybe one other table occupied, our waitress did not notice us. I don't know how many other orders were ignored, but noticed by the serving staff as there were lots of tables inside.

 

I will repeat. IF IT AIN'T BROKE, DON'T FIX IT!

 

Most restaurants use an electronic POS system for orders. Even if they write it on paper at your table, they go back to an electronic station to enter the order for the kitchen. It's far easier to misplace a piece of paper in the chaos of a kitchen than the electronic order that popped up on the screen. Also, those systems can separate out appetizers from mains and color codes them so the kitchen can quickly realize when they are behind. It's really the responsibility of your server to know what you ordered, keep an eye on the screen and see where your order is, and notice if something is wrong. 

[klfrodo]

Yep, new technology is just horrible.

Back in the day, when taking orders on paper, I remember when the dang pencil broke, or the pen ran out of ink, or the paper got wet somehow and my order was wrong. Why couldn't these people just memorize my order like back in the day.

Technology and progress has got to go!

[ldubs]

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

Here is an even worse example of restaurants and the new technology.

 

We like to dine by water on our anniversary. We went to a restaurant where we could eat on a deck by flowing water. We had been at that restaurant before it had moved there and liked it and had been on that deck at a previous restaurant that had been there.

 

We asked for and were seated on the deck. We placed our order which instead of writing on a paper check as waiter and waitresses have done forever the waitress used some new fangled technology that looked like a smartphone. We soon received our salads. And then we WAITED, AND WAITED, AND WAITED. I went into the main section of the restaurant that had been nearly empty when we arrived and saw that there were now several table of people who came after us and had been served. I complained and found out our order had never been put in. I don't know if the waitress was at fault not hitting whatever she had to do to send it in or it was a glitch of some sort. A manager came out and apologized and said we would get our dinners soon. After another wait, we were getting up to leave in disgust when the food finally came, and the manager apologized again and said our meals would be comped. She said they were still working out the kinks in their new system (even though they had been at the new location for about 6-7 months.)

 

Has anyone ever had their order lost when the server wrote in down on PAPER? There is an old saying, if it ain't broke, don't fix it! The next time we ate at a diner was when we were away staying at a motel with a park and ride to the airport so we could catch our morning flight to our cruise. I said to the waitress, I hope you are writing this and told her the story. She just laughed at the absurdity of the new technology. She got a nice extra tip from me.

 

I wouldn't shape my life based on a bad experience with a restaurant order.   I've had bad service with orders taken with pen & paper.  Proves absolutely nothing.   

[navybankerteacher]

If an establishment is interested in providing service as much as streamlining their operating system, they will continue to serve their customers the way very many of them want to be served.  The way I see it: they are in business to serve their customers more than their customers exist to facilitate their systems.

[klfrodo]

4 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

, they will continue to serve their customers the way very many of them want to be served.

I don't disagree with the concept. however, that breed is dying out and being replaced with the new breed

[Keksie]

I like to use my phone to call people, text people, share pictures and look up places and directions away from home and my laptop.  I don't enjoy using my phone to try to read email on the little screen.  I don't enjoy having to have an app for everything, trying to find and download the app and then trying to remember the password that goes with it.  I really dislike trying to read a menu on my phone.  On a cruise I want to leave it in the cabin.  I don't always have pockets or want to carry a pouch for the phone.   

[Charles4515]

24 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

If an establishment is interested in providing service as much as streamlining their operating system, they will continue to serve their customers the way very many of them want to be served.  The way I see it: they are in business to serve their customers more than their customers exist to facilitate their systems.

Mass market cruise lines are in business to satisfy their investors. As for how passengers want to be served many older passengers tend to have fixed ideas about how they want to be served. They don’t like change. I hope I never get like that! The cruise line’s future though is drawing in younger passengers and those who have never cruised. So there will be change. Cruise lines that don’t change will be outcompeted out of business. 

Edited October 28, 2022 by Charles4515

[cruisingguy007]

16 hours ago, ontheweb said:

The problem with your choice system is those of us who have not made your choice are looked down upon by those who have made your choice.

 

You don't like the result of your choice but you still have one nonetheless. Every choice has consequences, expecting the same outcome regardless of choice is simply wishful thinking.