Announcements

[hoffman1]

We always seem to miss the announcements. If we are in our stateroom and hear the tone, we immediately get the remote and try to get to the correct channel but most of the time we are too late.
Does anyone else have this problem?

If I remember right, on RCL the announcements come through speakers in the rooms. There is a knob on the desk you can turn on/off. That was so much easier!

 

[Bear3412]

Oh No! Announcement.

A lot of ours came into the cabin. 10/27/12.

This was the first announcement when the ship listed and items went flying aboard, in most locations. IIRC this came about 12:30am after the first set of rogues.

Still trying to recover.

ETA; Commodore Tom has improved his communication skills after that sailing.
After that announcement our family was looking at each other like, ship OK? , what about us? lol. Shorty thereafter he came back on and reassured the pax, that they too are safe.

I could imagine the discussion on the bridge. Other officers saying "Captain you have to say more and reassure the pax." lol. 5 minutes later he did. lol.

 

[MickeyEarrings]

I know they have the ability to make announcements into the passengers' staterooms because a Bright Star was announced last month on our first night when we were all falling asleep. The cruise director usually makes a daily announcement at noon, but other than that...the fastest way to hear those extra announcements is to open your stateroom door.

 

[dclpluto]

Oh No! Announcement.

A lot of ours came into the cabin. 10/27/12.

This was the first announcement when the ship listed and items went flying aboard, in most locations. IIRC this came about 12:30am after the first set of rogues.

Still trying to recover.

ETA; Commodore Tom has improved his communication skills after that sailing.
After that announcement our family was looking at each other like, ship OK? , what about us? lol. Shorty thereafter he came back on and reassured the pax, that they too are safe.

I could imagine the discussion on the bridge. Other officers saying "Captain you have to say more and reassure the pax." lol. 5 minutes later he did. lol.

You think when there is a important message like that you will think the captain will go first than have someone that speaks clear English come on after him and say what he said. Also Spanish and other languages

 

[C6PT7]

You think when there is a important message like that you will think the captain will go first than have someone that speaks clear English come on after him and say what he said. Also Spanish and other languages

Personally i could understand him. He obviously was not reading from a script but making an announcement and why it was with pauses and not following.
Could the cruise director have made a better announcement? Most likely. Would that have carried as much gravitas? I think it would not.
As for other languages, the last thing i would want at 2am is the same announcement in spanish, french, german, mandarin, italian.... It was not an emergency announcement, just information. Those that cannot understand english could call customer services if needed. If I went on an Aida cruise I wouldn't expect all of the announcements to be made more than one time in german, english....
In a true emergency, I doubt the message to go to muster stations would be repeated in other languages either. That I think is the responsibility of the passenger to learn those in english before they cruise on a line that is english speaking.

 

[kylaura]

When it's an "important" announcement, it will come on the speaker in your room. When Commodore Tom came on to tell us we were going around a hurricane on the Fantasy last week, he came on the speaker in our room. And another time when we were going to be late into port and he apologized for intruding into our rooms.

 

[jdb in AZ]

Personally i could understand him. He obviously was not reading from a script but making an announcement and why it was with pauses and not following.
Could the cruise director have made a better announcement? Most likely. Would that have carried as much gravitas? I think it would not.
As for other languages, the last thing i would want at 2am is the same announcement in spanish, french, german, mandarin, italian.... It was not an emergency announcement, just information. Those that cannot understand english could call customer services if needed. If I went on an Aida cruise I wouldn't expect all of the announcements to be made more than one time in german, english....
In a true emergency, I doubt the message to go to muster stations would be repeated in other languages either. That I think is the responsibility of the passenger to learn those in english before they cruise on a line that is english speaking.

We were on a European cruise where the muster drill was given in 13 languages. Basically it was close-captioned in several of the languages, urging the passengers to listen in their language on the t.v. in their stateroom. If the passengers knew they could get important information in their language via their t.v., it would save a lot of time and stress trying to get the word to everyone.

 

[C6PT7]

We were on a European cruise where the muster drill was given in 13 languages. Basically it was close-captioned in several of the languages, urging the passengers to listen in their language on the t.v. in their stateroom. If the passengers knew they could get important information in their language via their t.v., it would save a lot of time and stress trying to get the word to everyone.

True. Pre recording information that is standardized and having it translated is easy and a quick way to deliver it to passengers.
But it would be nearly impossible for the crew in the middle of the night to do so! Get the captain to write down what he is going to say, get crew to translate it into many different languages, then have the tv system technicians display that on the tv screens? Sure they could have messages like keep calm, the ship is safe. Would you if you were in a state of panic believe that?
Much easier for the very few passengers that do not speak english to call the passenger services desk and ask for them to tell them in their own language what was said don't you think?

 

[C6PT7]

Sorry, but the international language for a vessel is english, and you should have at least someone in your party that can understand basic english and them be in charge.
If you can afford to cruise, you can afford to learn basic english or have someone with you who does.
Offering menus in a range of languages is a complementary service. Understanding basic english or the language of the majority of the ship should be on the passenger. From the Costa Concordia disaster videos, I heard both english and Italian commands to abandon ship. Whilst all that combustion was going on, should there be a person who can translate into 10 or 12 languages also be making them or who that confuse the passengers even more?
English is the language spoken on disney ships, and you should make the effort to learn basic english if you cruise with them.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

When we heard the chimes for announcements, we simply just opened our stateroom door. The announcements can be heard in the hall. Basically, when you turn on your TV, Channel 2 (the one with the map on it) comes up and the announcements are on that channel.

 

[SuperDry]

We always seem to miss the announcements. If we are in our stateroom and hear the tone, we immediately get the remote and try to get to the correct channel but most of the time we are too late.
Does anyone else have this problem?

Yes!

In my experience, a few years ago they used to make several announcements a day into the staterooms. It was convenient to be able to stay up to date. But starting a couple of years ago, they switched to a format where sometime on the first day (perhaps after the muster and before dinner/showtime), the cruise director makes a final in-cabin announcement, including a statement that explains that they will no longer intrude into the cabins with announcements, since they know that some people are taking naps during the day and they want people to be able to rest undisturbed.

When we heard the chimes for announcements, we simply just opened our stateroom door. The announcements can be heard in the hall. Basically, when you turn on your TV, Channel 2 (the one with the map on it) comes up and the announcements are on that channel.

My problem with that is that the only channel that has the announcements on the TV plays background music at other times. What would be really nice is if they had a channel that was silent, except for when an announcement was being made. That way, guests could tune into that channel to restore the previous functionality of having all announcements made in the cabin, without having to have music playing at all other times.

 

[C6PT7]

Yes!

In my experience, a few years ago they used to make several announcements a day into the staterooms. It was convenient to be able to stay up to date. But starting a couple of years ago, they switched to a format where sometime on the first day (perhaps after the muster and before dinner/showtime), the cruise director makes a final in-cabin announcement, including a statement that explains that they will no longer intrude into the cabins with announcements, since they know that some people are taking naps during the day and they want people to be able to rest undisturbed.



My problem with that is that the only channel that has the announcements on the TV plays background music at other times. What would be really nice is if they had a channel that was silent, except for when an announcement was being made. That way, guests could tune into that channel to restore the previous functionality of having all announcements made in the cabin, without having to have music playing at all other times.

The bridge view channel would be suitable IMO. No need for music on it.

 

[Bear3412]

I'm not sure where this thread is leading, but I have a suspicion it is not answering the OP.

Apologies to OP. I hijacked your thread OP. My bad. This action will result in an infraction.

I should be banned. lol.

Let's refocus on OP's question if possible. Remember.

OP's ?
We always seem to miss the announcements. If we are in our stateroom and hear the tone, we immediately get the remote and try to get to the correct channel but most of the time we are too late.
Does anyone else have this problem"

We have on some sailings. We just ran out in the hall to hear them. Not sure the other options, outside the TV channel.
But as pointed out it may take time to reach that channel, and you may miss important info, so , we run out to hall to hear.

I suppose you could always leave that channel on.

Although as noted the announcements, for us, are somewhat irrelevant / lame after the Sandy sailing Lol.

HTH and may you have calm seas.

 

[C6PT7]

I'm not sure where this thread is leading, but I have a suspicion it is not answering the OP.

Apologies to OP. I hijacked your thread OP. My bad. This action will result in an infraction.

I should be banned. lol.

Let's refocus on OP's question if possible. Remember.

OP's ?
We always seem to miss the announcements. If we are in our stateroom and hear the tone, we immediately get the remote and try to get to the correct channel but most of the time we are too late.
Does anyone else have this problem"

We have on some sailings. We just ran out in the hall to hear them. Not sure the other options, outside the TV channel.
But as pointed out it may take time to reach that channel, and you may miss important info, so , we run out to hall to hear.

I suppose you could always leave that channel on.

Although as noted the announcements, for us, are somewhat irrelevant / lame after the Sandy sailing Lol.

HTH and may you have calm seas.

Announcements that are made outside of the cabin are not important, and only reminders of what is in the daily news paper. Revenue generators mostly.
If it is important, it will be over your in cabin speaker!

 

[Bear3412]

Announcements that are made outside of the cabin are not important .....!

No @%$#. Thanks for the heads up.

Understood, .... obviously.

What's your point?

That is why most of ours were announced in cabin , after midnight, which many pax complained about ironically.
That's right. In those seas, some pax questioned the decision to announce "in cabin." Ironically.

Some didn't want to hear it. They knew it. They didn't need to hear it in cabin at 1am or 3am. They had kids.
Those annoncement may have awaken the kids, freaked them out and made it worse.

And guess what occured that night?

Exactly

Smooth Seas to All

It's all good. I'm on a rant tonight obviously.

 

[cats mom]

Announcements that are made outside of the cabin are not important, and only reminders of what is in the daily news paper. Revenue generators mostly.
If it is important, it will be over your in cabin speaker!

Yep, this.

When we had to turn around and go back to port for mechanical reasons the announcement came into the cabin. When they needed to locate people who hadn't presented themselves for customs clearance the announcement came into the cabin. If it's critical information they'll make sure everyone hears.

If the announcement doesn't come into the cabin the info is accessible elsewhere. I find the announcements often coincide with bingo card sales.

 

[C6PT7]

No @%$#. Thanks for the heads up.

Understood, .... obviously.

What's your point?

That is why most of ours were announced in cabin , after midnight, which many pax complained about ironically.
That's right. In those seas, some pax questioned the decision to announce "in cabin." Ironically.

Some didn't want to hear it. They knew it. They didn't need to hear it in cabin at 1am or 3am. They had kids.
Those annoncement may have awaken the kids, freaked them out and made it worse.

And guess what occured that night?

Exactly

Smooth Seas to All

It's all good. I'm on a rant tonight obviously.

Rant all you want!

I am sure the captain did not think just because i am up have to navigate this crappy weather I will make an announcement and wake everyone else up. They probably got a very large amount of calls to the front desk with people up worried and not expecting such rough weather or experienced in being at sea during a storm or hurricane.
If it woke their kids up, well, thats part of cruising. stuff happens at night and I back Com Tom's decision to make it, and those with kids asleep have to accept that happens for the welfare of the majority, not the few.

 

[Bear3412]

..... I find the announcements often coincide with bingo card sales.......

Exactly.