“Royal Caribbean this week announced it would have an iPad in every cabin of the 1,804-passenger Splendour of the Seas by mid-February in what it’s billing as an industry first, and it’ll add the Apple devices to the cabins of five more of its 22 ships within two years,” Gene Sloan reports for USA Today.
“Royal Caribbean says the iPads will be programmed to let passengers access the ship’s daily listing of events and activities and to see a personal daily itinerary including shore excursions,” Sloan reports. “Passengers will be able to use the devices to monitor their onboard account, order room service, view restaurant menus, access the Internet and watch movies.”
Sloan reports, “The five additional Royal Caribbean ships scheduled to get iPads in every cabin are all part of the line’s Vision Class series and include Legend of the Seas, Grandeur of the Seas, Rhapsody of the Seas, Enchantment of the Seas and Vision of the Seas.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Dan K.” and “Sarah” for the heads up.]
I’m not surprised. iPads just work, no question about it. I was on a 5-star cruise with a sea facing balconied suite that had a television system that was centrally controlled by Microsoft Server 2008. It served up movies, news and shipboard activities through a centralized data network. It only worked for the first day of my 5 day cruise. The rest of the time I got a blue screen of death on the TV screen and literally the entire shipboard TV system was crippled by the BSOD because no matter where you were on deck all you saw was a BSOD on screen.
I think cruise liners are wising up to the fact that while Ford Motor Company doesn’t mind being screwed by Microsoft, passengers on cruise liners are more discerning than Ford owners.
So who pays when your iPad is dropped or stolen on an off-shore excursion?
With Find my iPad, I’m sure a quick inventory can be taken when you check out of your suite upon departure and an appropriate charge can be made against your credit card for unaccounted for iPads.
They will sell you insurance. Seriously, this will provide exposure to future iPad buyers – senior who haven’t had the hands on Ipad experience. My guess is that 10 per cent of the new to iPad users will buy one after the cruise. Incrementally not a lot – but when it spreads to all the cruise ships, it will mount up. Now just have to make a must have for the airlines.
Carry around the ship doesn’t mean off the ship.
Deploying that many iPads, they’re not going to use Find my iPad for that. They won’t want to manage a bunch of Apple IDs. They’ll be using a Mobile Device Management server. I’m sure if it’s gone when your stay is over, you’ll be charged for it. And, they’ll probably have it set up so if it goes off the ship or a predefined area, it’ll get wiped.
My wife, kids and I have been on two Royal Caribbean cruises and thoroughly enjoyed them. Out two cruises on Carnival were good but there were more adults on RCI. We highly recommend them and hopefully wi-fi is in all cabins, not just the “internet cafe.”