It seems that modern cruise ships are placing as much emphasis on Internet access as any other area of the ship.
Call me old-fashioned but I always thought most people wanted to go to sea to get away from it all, not take it with them via a mobile communicator.
Like many cruise lines, Celebrity Cruises have new fish to catch: the millions of potential passengers around the world who cannot bear to be parted from their daily access to the World Wide Web.
I guess some people need to stay in touch to continue to make enough money to pay for the cruise, on which they think they are taking a break.
Fair enough.
The fact is many cruise ships already offer Internet access – for an extra charge.
Introducing the Celebrity iLounge
Information junkies don’t have far to look: when Celebrity Cruises launches their new ship, Celebrity Eclipse, next month, passengers on the maiden voyage will find the first Celebrity iLounge on-board.
They’ll be able to cruise on the surf while they surf on the cruise, and vice versa.
Celebrity Cruises tells me their iLounge has been designed to offer what their passengers said they wanted most in an Internet café:
- easy access to the Internet,
- inspiring classes,
- and “new products”.
Staying on touch, on a cruise
The Celebrity iLounge will have three main areas:
- 26 workstations where passengers can check their email (‘Wish you were here, in Surbiton’),
- a retail area offering surf and sea cruisers the opportunity to see and try out the latest MacBooks®, iPods® and accessories,
- and an “enrichment centre” where well-trained cruise ship staff will offer passengers tips on Mac or iPod usage.
It will also offer a series of new on-board courses, including do-it-yourself photo books, movie editing and web design.
Located on deck six on the new ship, the Celebrity iLounge will house 26 MacBook Pro’s, a classroom and retail area, plus display pods, a 56-inch flat-screen TV for use during classes, and an accessible workstation.
I bet some of you techno-freaks are salivating already. Personally, as much as I love my laptop, it’s the cruise ship’s food that usually makes me drool.
In case you are wondering, I am not a complete Luddite and understand that many 21st century cruise ship passengers want to take their world with them, everywhere they go.
All I’m saying is that perhaps Internet surfers on a cruise should go outside now and then for a lungful of bracing sea air, and an unfettered, non-electronic, non-Wi-Fi-linked holiday.
There you go, I’ve said my peace. It’s your cruise, your money and your choice.
But I have to admit that if it was a slow day on a cruise and the weather was bad I’d probably join you at the terminal.
Tell us about your cruise
If you really must surf the Net on a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean, then you might as well check out the Virgin Holidays Cruises blogs. And send us some comments about the cruise, and some photos.
As for me, once I’ve written my weekly blog, I’m out the door.
By the way, they now make computers that can respond to the human voice. Wish I could get a human telephone operator to do it.
And did you hear of the two PCs who got married and had a baby? The first word it said was “Data.”
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8 Comments
Mar 12 2010
13:12
Last year I lost my iPod in an iLounge in iBiza. I felt a right iDiot.
Mar 12 2010
17:02
is milton a poet?
when on holiday -leave the rest behind-+ i love the web-email etc!
Mar 12 2010
21:31
James, an ilounge – what a brilliant idea. Could i get the iwaiter to get me an igin&tonic and an iclub sandwich, before my imassage and my itan. Then i will be very hippy.
icheers Brian
Mar 13 2010
12:33
Another great blog James. Talking of Hi Tech and working/cruising. I’ve just been watching Richard Branson and the Virgin Racing team at Barhain. I am of course talking about Formula One ‘F1′, which kicked of the season this weekend. Like everything else these days, it seems that F1 is still at the sharp end of Hi Tech and to see Richard Branson smiling as though he is thoroughly enjoying himself makes me think he has no barriers between work and play. Keep on blogging James, we need your particular style and humour to keep us all going.
Apr 06 2010
0:05
James, you seem to forget that there are vast numbers of us with small businesses that have little choice but to deal with email and customer support issues regardless of where we are. This is one of the reasons so many small business owners never take holidays at all. Round the clock affordable access on board ships would make cruising much more accessible to an entire segment of the population. Hunting down an internet cafe at each port of call (assuming you have one each day) is a huge pain. The first cruise line that offers unlimited internet for a reasonable daily cost (similar to upscale hotels) will make a killing.
Apr 06 2010
9:28
Jerome, I am also the owner of a small business known as: James Leavey, freelance journalist. And I never take vacations for I am a travel writer and it would be like a busman’s holiday. Plus I like being home with the wife on the Isle of Wight. Despite the rumours, most freelance journalists (and travel writers) don’t have an endless supply of funds. My editors rarely cough up for any kind of expenses – although the BBC has paid for my trips on their behalf. Just like you and all the other SMEs, I have to watch every penny. Yes, I know I can claim communications expenses etc on my tax bill at the end of the year but as I by no means rich I have always resented paying inflated charges for responding to my customers (i.e. editors) on the Net or by phone from a ship or posh hotel. The point I was making in this blog is that if people CAN afford to take a cruise then they should consider leaving all their work and cares behind – otherwise there’s no point going. I would love the cruise lines to offer unlimited free comms to their passengers but I can’t see it happening in the near future.
Apr 06 2010
9:43
By the way, Jerome, I do understand that SMEs need to stay in constant communication for otherwise they can lose existing or potential work. Don’t know why I threw in the word ‘free’ on front of communications from cruise ships – like you I’d be happy if they they just made the comms charges affordable.
Apr 06 2010
14:27
James, it seems popular these days to make apologies. Politicians and religious leaders have been at it for things that happened centuries ago. And I’d like to join a certain golf star in making an apology of my own for something more recent…
I run a small firm promoting business communications and my confession is that I spent several years promoting phones and Internet access on aircraft, hence the cry “Hello, I’m on the plane” that one hears when the stewardess is trying to explain how to pump up your life jacket and use the whistle.
I agree with Jerome that technology should be available, accessible and affordable to everyone, everywhere but it should be confined. I don’t propose something like the fug-boxes that they inflicted on passengers at airports (before they banned smoking altogether) but a high-tech, sound-proof booth, preferably situated somewhere between the engine room and the bilges, should suffice. Cruises are designed for pleasure, not work!