South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
TIME TO CRUISE ON THE CHEAP
Ships repositioning to Europe in the spring offer substantial savings to cruisers who don’t mind a long and laid-back trans-Atlantic voyage.
People who work on cruises often describe ships as “cities at sea,” but cities usually have speedy Wi-Fi, food delivery services you can summon on your phone, and homes with voice-activated assistants such as Alexa, Siri and Google to answer questions and provide information.
Now, cruise companies are getting in the tech game.
In October, Carnival Corp. unveiled the Sky
Princess, the first ship built specifically to support the company’s Ocean Medallion technology. The medallion is a pendant, the size of a quarter, that guests on ships like the Sky Princess can wear as a bracelet or necklace, or keep in a pocket. The medallion doesn’t need to be charged. It can unlock a stateroom door and guests can use the medallion to pay for meals and settle bills through an app downloaded to their phones. The medallion’s Ocean Compass lets people track friends and family on their phones.
The Celebrity Edge’s new app lets guests upload a selfie, and the company’s facial recognition software will automatically check them into the cruise. The app also allows passengers to see entertainment and dining options. These functions will also be available on the Apex, a Celebrity ship setting sail in April.
Check-in via selfie is also available on the app for Celebrity’s parent company, Royal Caribbean.
Royal Caribbean says the function allows guests to get from “car to bar” in 10 minutes. On Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas, guests can use an in-app remote for their TVs and use the app to unlock their stateroom doors.
People attached to voice apps such as Google, Siri and Alexa who book a cruise on MSC’s newest ships, the Bellissima and the Grandiosa, can ask an onboard voice-activated system called Zoe for all sorts of guidance.