Carnival cruisers weigh in on a controversial onboard issue
One feature designed to improve convenience is loved by many, but not all, Carnival guests.
If you haven’t sailed on a cruise ship equipped with an advanced elevator system, you might not be aware that not all elevators are the traditional push-button variety.
It’s a clear industry trend for smart elevators to be installed on newer cruise ships. In Carnival’s fleet, they have been added to a handful of ships, including the Carnival Horizon, Carnival Vista, and a few others.
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Smart elevators are designed to reduce congestion in the elevator lobbies and reduce wait times. Instead of getting on an elevator and then hitting the button for the desired floor, smart elevators have no buttons whatsoever.
The basic idea is that you’ll use a touchscreen in the elevator lobby to input your desired floor and the number of people in your party. The screen will then assign you an elevator, and if you get on that elevator when it arrives, it will take you to your destination. Image source: Carnival Cruise Line
There are some obvious benefits to this. At least once per cruise on ships with traditional elevators, I encounter a situation where I get on an elevator, only to find out that someone has hit all of the buttons and it will be stopping at every floor (to be fair, at times it has been my young children who have done that). Smart elevators eliminate this problem.
On the other hand, there are some pain points. As one example, let’s say that you request an elevator to the lido deck, and once you get on, you remember you’re meeting your party on the promenade deck. You can’t simply hit the correct button – you have to get off, use the touchscreen again, and wait for another elevator. There can also be a learning curve, as getting on the wrong car or failing to select the correct number of passengers can be an inconvenient mistake.
Do cruisers love or hate smart elevators?
It seems like there really is no middle ground. Cruisers either love the smart elevator systems on cruise ships or absolutely detest them.
Carnival Brand Ambassador recently received a comment from one of his Facebook followers, stating “Put the smart elevators on every ship. They are awesome. They really do work and take the annoyance away from ship elevators. Put them on every ship.”
As Heald often does, he used this comment to conduct a poll among his followers to determine whether cruisers agree with the comment. After about 54,000 votes, the result was clear – although many cruisers haven’t yet been on a ship equipped with smart elevators, of those who have, cruisers agreed that they should be on all Carnival cruise ships – and by a three-to-one margin.
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The biggest issue isn't the elevators themselves
From the comments on Heald’s poll, it sounds like the technology is well-received, but the biggest obstacle is educating the passengers on how to use them properly.
As one example, Heald follower Don DeMarte said “It’s not the elevators that are annoying. It’s the passengers that refuse to learn them that are the issue. Walking up with four or five in your party and requesting only one spot kills the whole system.”
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Kate Hanson agreed. “The smart elevators are amazing, but rarely do people know how to use them correctly. Maybe at muster, the crew members should mention that they have smart elevators and people have to push it number of times for the number of people. Because they aren't doing it!” And Donna Speaks Meade said, “Smart elevators are great once you learn how to use lol. They seem to disperse crowd[s] faster.”
To be fair, as smart elevators start to become more of a standard feature on cruise ships and not just something you’ll find on a handful of vessels, more cruisers will become accustomed to how they are designed to be used. But even for now, it sounds like they are a clear improvement over traditional elevator technology.
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