DCL Navigator App - Tech for the sake of tech?

[DIS_MIKE]

We were on the May 18th sailing of the Fantasy.

MJ

I was on the 5/11 cruise (Fantasy) and I had to go to the desk each evening after dinner and ask for the navigator. Of course, it wasn't until I returned home that I learned you could ask your host/hostess to leave one in your room.

The app would not even recognize my reservation so I didn't do any texting during the cruise, but many were complaning about it not working properly. I was going to inquire about it but it wasn't a priority. I also tend to use Nextel's in Direct Talk mode.

 

[ember1205]

iMessage is essentially a text messaging app that "steps up" the functionality to something different when the person on the other end is also using the iMessage app. It basically combines together standard SMS (text messaging) and a dedicated messaging app (like WhatsApp) and seamlessly switches between the two when required to.

When there are discussions about testing iMessage in the ships, the SMS portion is not included as that uses standard cellular VOICE service while the messaging app piece of it uses DATA service.

"Whatever Google uses" is standard text messaging, period. There is no data-based component to any of their messaging platform unless you want to count the Voice app (but that's a slightly different animal). Their Hangouts app is dead as all of their other light ventures into messaging territory. Google has no interest in building back-end infrastructure like Apple did for iMessage, so they instead lobbied cell carriers to support enhancements to standard SMS. This new functionality is slowly rolling out now and is generally referred to as RCS. While it will provide some of the same kinds of features you get with iMessage, it works very differently and isn't going to work without a cellular voice network for your device to connect to. This also means it will never work on devices like the iPod touch it WiFi only iPads because they can't connect to a cellular voice network. So, even though RCS is now extensible than iMessage, it won't do anything to displace it.

 

[darnheather]

The phones cost either $200 or $250 if you lose or damage it.

What's the point in NOT carrying the phone if the kid's club can't reach you through the app? There's no calling in the app, and notifications of messages is not reliable.

Don't get me wrong - I understand your point about not wanting to carry the phone. But, the app is not a suitable replacement is all I'm saying. I feel that they rolled out the app "because they could" and then passed it off as a way to replace the paper Navigators even though there is so much wrong with the app.

My kids have never had a problem finding me. I don't see what is wrong with the app except the push notifications. Just remember to check it now and then if you are super worried about your kids.

 

[ember1205]

My kids have never had a problem finding me. I don't see what is wrong with the app except the push notifications. Just remember to check it now and then if you are super worried about your kids.

I can appreciate how you're seeing this, but the fact is that A) the app does not do what it's advertised to do with alerting you to new messages and B) it doesn't always even RECEIVE the messages being sent to you (which would negate the "just check it frequently" approach).

I stand by my assessment that the app was implemented because they "could" and then they leaned on it as the way to discontinue the paper Navigators. Just because you CAN drive in a screw with a hammer doesn't mean you should...

 

[BuzzLightyearInTampa]

On our upcoming Fantasy cruise I will be requesting the paper Navigator and use it exclusively while onboard. My phone will remain off and in the safe like always. But I still get a newspaper to delivered to my house every day, so I am a bit of a dinosaur, even though I am a Software Engineer by trade.

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

I do not like using the navigator on the app. I like being able to see the whole day at one time like you can on a sheet of paper.

The texting on the app has never worked properly for us. Unless we had the app open on our phone (like with the screen lit up and everything), text messages would not come through until you did open the app. And then they'd all show up at once with a time stamp of that moment when you turned on the app. So if my kid sent me a text at 10am, but I was not actively using the app at that moment, I didn't know I had a text. then say at noon I finally open the app, NOW I get the text and it says my kid sent it at noon. That is not at all helpful for anything. Leaving paper notes in the room works better.

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

I love that you can message other people on the ship and it actually buzzes like a regular text message would.

It does not buzz to alert you that you have a text message unless you happen to be actively using the app at the moment the text is sent. This is my biggest complaint about it. Useless for getting in touch with people. Kid sends me text--"we're going to lunch; come meet us." I don't happen to have the app open so I get no message. When I finally open the app, I can't even tell when they sent that message.

 

[bjt]

Disney openly acknowledges problems with message notifications which are likely due in large part to how Apple clamps down the operating system.

Trialing access to iMessage makes no sense unless they are planning on providing iOS devices in place of the phones. An iPod touch would work well for this.

If they're planning on using an app for messaging, they need to be testing something that's cross platform (which iMessage will never be).

I doubt this is a iOS issue, but I can reach out to Disney and see what's up. Notifications are fairly open on iOS and this will most likely be an event driven model so background functionality at least in response to events should not be an issue. Perhaps this is a memory space or contention issue causing the app to be jettisoned from memory... I'll dig into it. Opening up to iMessaging is something many different transportation companies are looking at, such as Southwest Airlines. Optimizations on a lot of the backends are enabling this at a relatively low cost.

 

[jfeasel]

We are traveling with a large group on the June 30 sailing of the Fantasy. So what are the chances that iMessage will be available still? I'm disappointed to learn that the app doesn't notify you when you have a message.

 

[Deb T.]

We've had issues with the app, as well. Same as others here, one of our biggest complaints was that we wouldn't receive messages unless we happened to open the app. Since we rarely needed to look at the app, the chat/message function turned out to be useless for us. We don't have iPhones, so iMessage is not an option for us, either.

And, for all who listed "being able to look at menus" as a big plus to the app, know that prior to the app, all of the MDR's would place each day's menu in a frame outside the restaurant, including the children's menu. When just adults are cruising on a reservation, the app automatically will not show the children's menu. In the "old days," part of our afternoon routine would be walking to the three MDR's to look at the posted dinner menus.

 

[knewton64]

Ok.....from all these reviews if you will -


sounds like this person who likes "overlapping" events will continue to stick with the paper navigator and delete the APP -



T.T.F.N.
&
CHEERS Y'ALL

 

[gatordoc]

And, for all who listed "being able to look at menus" as a big plus to the app, know that prior to the app, all of the MDR's would place each day's menu in a frame outside the restaurant, including the children's menu. When just adults are cruising on a reservation, the app automatically will not show the children's menu. In the "old days," part of our afternoon routine would be walking to the three MDR's to look at the posted dinner menus.

I'm no fan of the app, but to be fair, you can look at menus from any night on the cruise in any of the MDRs. And we have never traveled with children, but can still see the children's menus, which is really important as I need to know which night they're serving corn dogs so I can get mine

 

[Starwind]

We've had issues with the app, as well. Same as others here, one of our biggest complaints was that we wouldn't receive messages unless we happened to open the app. Since we rarely needed to look at the app, the chat/message function turned out to be useless for us. We don't have iPhones, so iMessage is not an option for us, either.

And, for all who listed "being able to look at menus" as a big plus to the app, know that prior to the app, all of the MDR's would place each day's menu in a frame outside the restaurant, including the children's menu. When just adults are cruising on a reservation, the app automatically will not show the children's menu. In the "old days," part of our afternoon routine would be walking to the three MDR's to look at the posted dinner menus.

As someone with food allergies, each night at dinner we pre-order our meals for the next day. Before the app, this meant that at dinner our server or the head server would show us the menus for the next night's dinner and either the MDR menus for breakfast and lunch or just ask us what we wanted for breakfast and lunch. This took up a lot of their time and our time, though they were happy to do it [getting through a cruise with no reactions is a good thing for everyone concerned!].

Now, with the app, early in the cruise I browse all the menus for the whole cruise, getting a rough idea of what I may want. Then, each day, I browse the menus for the next day and decide what I will likely pre-order. At dinner, all we have to do is quickly glance at the provided paper menus, have a quick conversation with the server about substitutions/options, and then confirm/place the order. It makes the entire process MUCH MUCH faster and easier. I know our servers were happy to learn we had already read the menus on the app so only needed to be confirming things. Since we have late dining, staying less late is even better !

I realize those of us with special dietary needs are a small proportion of cruisers, but for us at least the app and its menus is a big deal. Another aspect that helps is letting us plan which MDRs are open for breakfast and lunch and their hours relative to other activities, since almost all our B and L is done in an MDR -- we can't eat from the buffet, so although we can eat in Cabanas, the food comes from the kitchen not the buffet and takes as long as eating in an MDR. Likewise, we don't eat off ship during port adventures, so being able to plan meals before and after, even if we have to do the pool QS locations, is helpful -- and the app lets us know those hours days in advance instead of the evening before with the paper navigators.

That said, I love the paper navigators and we plan to get them each day on our cruises [our next is a B2B2B on the Dream]. I too like the snapshot grid view. And we keep them as a souvenir and for scrapbooking the trip.

SW