why cant you hear announcements in cabins?

[luckyinpa]

royal, princess, NCL are lines i've been on. never have heard any announcements in the cabin unless it was super urgent kind of stuff. why isnt there a button to turn on the speaker in your cabin so you can hear them if you want to. how hard is this technologically? on love boat episodes they have it where you can turn up the intercom to hear music in your cabin so why in this century cant we develop a simple way to hear announcements in the cabins?

 

or do you consider opening the cabin door and sticking your ear out in the hall simple 🙂

[mom says]

I thought you could just turn on the TV to the bridge channel to hear announcements. Or is that cruise line specific? Or maybe not simple enough?

[susi_q]

Royal has always had a speaker that you can adjust the volume on … we always turn it off !! (At least the ones we’ve been in) 

[luckyinpa]

Just now, susi_q said:

Royal has always had a speaker that you can adjust the volume on … we always turn it off !! (At least the ones we’ve been in) 

 what cabins? ive only been on oasis..crown loft and aquatheaters, didnt see any extra dials on the walls. regarding tv. if you dont have the tv on it takes a bit to boot up then find the right channel...if it's even on there. all i remember is a forward facing camera channel and a map. heck id be happy with a transcript on the app lol. something!

[susi_q]

1 minute ago, luckyinpa said:

 what cabins? ive only been on oasis..crown loft and aquatheaters, didnt see any extra dials on the walls. regarding tv. if you dont have the tv on it takes a bit to boot up then find the right channel...if it's even on there. all i remember is a forward facing camera channel and a map. heck id be happy with a transcript on the app lol. something!

Usually around the in room mirror/desk … but we haven’t been on newer ships … so maybe not anymore?? 

[lenquixote66]

I have been cruising since 1973 and have never been in a cabin where an announcement could be heard.I have cruised on 6 different lines.

[luckyinpa]

5 minutes ago, lenquixote66 said:

I have been cruising since 1973 and have never been in a cabin where an announcement could be heard.I have cruised on 6 different lines.

 

with all these billion dollar ships youd think running one more switch or wire wouldnt cost that much but it does. plus, not that i want this. but some of the promo things would actually maybe make some sales from people in the cabins.  heck i wonder if on virtual interior cabins then can run ads now 🙂

[babs135]

We did a Northern Lights cruise on the Queen Victoria in October and the captain told us to put the TV on the bridge cam channel (usually no sound) so that if he thought that the Lights would make an appearance he would broadcast an announcement into the cabin. At 2.30am the announcement did come and woke us up!!!!!

[57redbird]

On Holland,  I think it's on the Bridge Cam channel on the tv.

[Ashland]

Have been on many RCI ships and that announcement dial has never worked. The only time you can hear in cabin announcements is the first day instructing you to do your muster drill. I for one would like to be able to listen to the Captains daily announcements with out sticking my head out the cabin door and missing the first part of it. Nice if RCI would give this option but doubtful after all these years it's gonna happen.

[Flatbush Flyer]

3 hours ago, luckyinpa said:

royal, princess, NCL are lines i've been on. never have heard any announcements in the cabin unless it was super urgent kind of stuff. why isnt there a button to turn on the speaker in your cabin so you can hear them if you want to. how hard is this technologically? on love boat episodes they have it where you can turn up the intercom to hear music in your cabin so why in this century cant we develop a simple way to hear announcements in the cabins?

 

or do you consider opening the cabin door and sticking your ear out in the hall simple 🙂

Bridge channel on the TV.

[Charles4515]

2 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

I have been cruising since 1973 and have never been in a cabin where an announcement could be heard.I have cruised on 6 different lines.

Royal Caribbean used to have a switch to turn it on or off. Celebrity never did and considered that a feature, 

[lenquixote66]

13 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

Royal Caribbean used to have a switch to turn it on or off. Celebrity never did and considered that a feature, 

I have been on many RCI ships and do not recall a switch but perhaps I was too busy doing other things.

[gerryuk]

Why on earth would you want to hear announcements in your cabin? Is there not enough noise outside your cabin with the piped music and announcements? On many cruise ships the only place to escape the noise is your cabin. 

[frantic36]

I agree with gerry. On our last cruise we had a new to the cruise line Captain. He previously had sailed on HAL. He started doing his daily announcements into the cabin. This proved to me how annoying and intrusive it was as I would prefer the choice of listening or not. It isn't that hard to turn on the television, or open the door, or make sure you are in a public area if you want to hear the announcement.

[Charles4515]

1 hour ago, gerryuk said:

Why on earth would you want to hear announcements in your cabin? Is there not enough noise outside your cabin with the piped music and announcements? On many cruise ships the only place to escape the noise is your cabin. 

I don’t want to generally hear them in my cabin either. The only announcement I would want to hear in my cabin is an emergency announcement. 

[Ashland]

It's nice to have the "option". If you don't want to hear the Captains daily announcements...easy...turn that dial "off".

[Charles4515]

31 minutes ago, frantic36 said:

oor, or make sure you are in a public area if you want to hear the announcement.

That is what I do. I want to hear the Captain’s announcement so I make sure I am in a public area. They are usually the same time every day. I don’t want to hear the cruise directors announcement and everything the CD announces will be on the schedule.

[ontheweb]

9 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

I don’t want to generally hear them in my cabin either. The only announcement I would want to hear in my cabin is an emergency announcement. 

Well I for one hope to never have to hear an emergency announcement!

[Heidi13]

Since all areas of the ship must be able to receive emergency announcements, the P/A system should not have the ability to isolate specific speakers. Emergency announcements must be able to be heard in the cabin, hence the reason you cannot turn off the speaker on new ships.

 

The P/A system has multiple zones, which can be selected from any of the control heads. Prior to making a P/A announcement, you select the zones, which can include - crew, public spaces, outer decks, dining areas, pax cabins, etc.

 

Standing orders clearly state what type of announcement can be made in pax cabins, most of which require Master's approval. If an officer selects the wrong zone(s) and puts a non-essential announcement through pax cabins, the Purser's Office is immediately bombarded with complaints and said officer is researching new employment.

 

OP - you may want to hear them on the cabin speaker, but from having worked on ships, most pax do not. As others mentioned, they are available on the TV.

 

[Ashland]

2 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

That is what I do. I want to hear the Captain’s announcement so I make sure I am in a public area. They are usually the same time every day. I don’t want to hear the cruise directors announcement and everything the CD announces will be on the schedule.

The problem when in a public space is the loud chatter and I'm sure not going to say "Shh" in todays world that can be a problem 😬

 

And as far as some of those that suggest the TV, turning it on and getting the right channel you can easily miss most of the announcement.

[Charles4515]

10 minutes ago, Ashland said:

The problem when in a public space is the loud chatter and I'm sure not going to say "Shh" in todays world that can be a problem 😬

 

And as far as some of those that suggest the TV, turning it on and getting the right channel you can easily miss most of the announcement.

Ask a crew member or call guest relations if you can't hear the announcement.

 

As far as the TV I have never been able to get it turned on in time to hear the announcement. I run to the door and open it to hear the announcement. 

[Flatbush Flyer]

3 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

Ask a crew member or call guest relations if you can't hear the announcement.

 

As far as the TV I have never been able to get it turned on in time to hear the announcement. I run to the door and open it to hear the announcement. 

This is an excellent point. Whoever makes these announcements should delay the actual items 5-10 seconds after signaling a non-emergency PA announcement.

[capriccio]

10 hours ago, mom says said:

I thought you could just turn on the TV to the bridge channel to hear announcements. Or is that cruise line specific? Or maybe not simple enough?

If you happen to be walking down a Princess hallway when an announcement comes on the public address system, you will see lots of heads pop out of cabins trying to hear it. 

 

Announcements can be heard on the TV's bridge channel but Princess does a poor job of informing passengers about that option.  Not to mention, if it is a short announcement it may be over and done by the time I get the TV turned on to the correct channel.

[gerryuk]

Lets not forget many people will sleep in late, many will have a afternoon snooze and the last thing they want is to be bombarded with the latest sales on the PA system. Leave the cabins well alone.