A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch
I’ve been cruising again! I checked my article index and found that it has been only a year since I wrote about “cruising technology”. Normally, I probably wouldn’t again address the topic so quickly, but I had some new and unique experiences this trip. Some things have gotten better and others are worse. Unfortunately, the worse column is much bigger than the better.
Most things haven’t changed much since I last wrote a cruising article (February 2017). This trip I brought my cell phone, a seven inch tablet, an eleven inch convertible tablet and my laptop. On my last cruise, the internet was slow, but adequate. I foolishly thought I would get some website redesign completed. So far this trip, the satellite service has been slow and inadequate. I’m not sure of the reason, but I think it is partially due to many more people using the WIFI network to access the “Carnival Hub”.
The Carnival Hub is the cruise line’s app that connects to the ship’s WIFI to allow passengers to do several things:
• View the weather for each day of sailing
• View dining menus
• Search for family and friends on board
• View and purchase shore excursions
• Chat with family and friends on board (five dollar activation fee)
• Day by day schedule of on board events
• “Favorites” feature with a reminder for upcoming events
• Searchable deck plans with key areas highlighted
• Real time information on current account balance
• Much more
This application has been greatly improved since the last time I sailed. It is free to use, but it seems that satellite internet traffic has been much slower this time. I can’t know for sure. I do know that it is faster early in the day before most people are awake.
When you purchase the cruise line internet plan, you are only allowed to log on with one device at a time. I had successfully used my seven and eleven inch tablets, my cell phone, my wife’s tablet and cell phone. On the second day of the cruise, I was going to do some editing on the club newsletter. I booted my laptop, but it refused to connect to the internet. Finally, I was frustrated enough to go to the service desk and ask. The girl that was working there said that several people were having the same problem. She said that it was some kind of DNS problem. I told her thanks and changed my settings to “Obtain DNS server address automatically”. I had been using Google DNS servers as they are usually a little faster. She was amazed and had me show her what to do. After griping about the ship’s tech support, she jokingly (I think) asked me to apply for a job.
Other things haven’t changed too much. Most people are still doing their book reading on Kindles, iPads, Android tablets or large screen smart phones. It does seem that fewer people are reading, but I am sure that is just a bad observation on my part. I won’t be taking the “Behind the Scenes” tour this time so the only shipboard technology I’ve seen is the retail sales system and the bingo playing software. Of course, there is a lot of other technology at the casino.
Sounds like we’re coming back next January. I guess I could be talked into it.
Thanks for reading.