Royal Caribbean's Splendour of the Seas will feature an iPad in every cabin
The cruise line recently announced to USA Today that the 1,804-passenger ship will feature an Apple iPad in every cabin by mid-February of 2012. The iPads will not be permanently affixed in the cabins, meaning passengers will be able to carry their tablet around the ship with them.
Royal Caribbean reportedly plans to add iPads to five more of its 22 ships within the next two years after the ships are dry-docked for renovations. Those ships are the Legend of the Seas, Grandeur of the Seas, Rhapsody of the Seas, Enchantment of the Seas and Vision of the Seas.
"Royal Caribbean says the iPads will be programmed to let passengers access the ship's daily listing of events and activities and to see a personal daily itinerary including shore excursions," author Gene Sloan wrote. The onboard system will also offer access to the Internet, movies, room service and restaurant menus.
The Splendour of the Seas is one of six "Vision class" ships from Royal Caribbean. It features a seven-story lobby, rock-climbing wall, and a 12-hole miniature golf course, and has been in service since March of 1996.
The ship shares time between the coastlines of Europe and South America. Royal Caribbean recently completed a round of renovations on the ship that added the Giovanni's Table Italian restaurant, a poolside movie screen, and a nursery for children.
In early 2010, Celebrity began adding "iLounges" to its line of cruise ships, where the cruise line features a miniature Apple Store. There, vacationers can buy Apple products including MacBooks, iPhones and iPods, as well as take courses on iPhoto and iMovie.
53 Comments
Great idea for both companies.... (Need to sale them in the gift shop)
Just took a cruise aboard the Celebrity Eclipse and it had a Mac Mini in every room controlling the entertainment system as well as delivering all manner of shipboard information. When you turned on the TV in your stateroom, there would be a brief "Powered by Apple" message that would pop up on the screen. Of course, you couldn't use the Mac Mini for anything else as it was hidden away and was running a proprietary front end, but it was cool nonetheless. In addition, they had an Apple store (of sorts) on board where you could buy iPods and MacBook Pros and take some basic computer courses (cause that's what we all want to do on a Caribbean cruise, take computer classes).
WIkipedia states the passenger capacity is 2,074. From past experience of using Wiki to research cruise ships details and the fact the number of staterooms, 902, was not included, a value that directly states the minimum number of iPads they'll be buying to fill the rooms, I have to assume that USA Today is likely incorrect on the details.
WIkipedia states the passenger capacity is 2,074. From past experience of using Wiki to research cruise ships details and the fact the number of staterooms, 902, was not included, a value that directly states the minimum number of iPads they'll be buying to fill the rooms, I have to assume that USA Today is likely incorrect on the details.
Has Solipsism been re-written from the ground up to be true 64-bit and to take full advantage of multi-core architectures?
I wonder if there will be a security deposit required just in case a few iPads "fall overboard" or accidentally make it into a passenger's bag with the complementary towels.