Latest news with #cruisers
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Royal Caribbean explains massive tech glitch, app problems
Royal Caribbean explains massive tech glitch, app problems originally appeared on Come Cruise With Me. Many cruisers depend on mobile apps for cruise planning before setting foot on the ship. Passengers also use cruise apps throughout their voyage to continue to manage their vacation and see important notifications about their sailing. Cruise line apps allow passengers to book shows, make dining reservations, and purchase excursions or drink the app also contains essential information such as the cruise itinerary and deck maps that help cruisers find venues on the ship. They can also view their onboard account/charges in the app. Cruisers tend to opt to leave on notifications from cruising apps because they want to know about any changes, deals, and announcements. Yet it could be a bit unsettling if the app is not working smoothly. On the App Store, Royal Caribbean's app earned 4.8 out of 5 stars with close to one million ratings. The app is not immune to errors, however, as customers experienced on May 29, 2025. Cruisers woke up to a surprise from Royal Caribbean — and not the kind the cruise marketing team intended. On the morning of May 29, Royal Caribbean's mobile app began inundating users with a series of push notifications containing nothing but placeholder text like 'test segment.' Instead of useful cruise updates, passengers saw a rapid-fire stream of nonsensical alerts. The bizarre glitch quickly had thousands of loyal cruisers buzzing on social media and message boards, turning a routine day into a viral moment for the cruise line. What happened? According to Royal Caribbean, an internal testing error caused numerous dummy notifications to hit the live app. From early morning into midday, many users on X, Facebook, and Royal Caribbean's community on Reddit reported receiving anywhere from 15 to 40 repetitive alerts in just a few in the day, Royal Caribbean International's CEO, Michael Bayley, personally apologized for the mishap and shed more light on the cause. He explained that the company implements 'endless upgrades and small changes made to the app on a constant basis. Normally the changes are placed in a test mode and when signed off by the engineers as ok, they are 'migrated' in the actual app.' In this case however, Bayley wrote: 'One of our team accidentally migrated a test message into the live app," likening the rogue alerts to digital 'gremlins' making mischief. He even posted a funny image on Facebook featuring gremlin characters using computer keyboards to hijack the technology. Social media responses to Royal Caribbean's app glitch expressed mostly humorous sentiments but also ranged from confused to opportunistic tones. One Reddit member, CaptGoodvibesNMS, said, 'I thought I was going crazy. Now I know it's RCI losing their marbles.'One Facebook user responded to the CEO's apology jokingly: 'I figured y'all let Rover & Sailor into the IT app department." Rover and Sailor have been appointed Chief Dog Officers for Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas and its soon-to-debut sister ship, Star of the Seas. respectively. By owning up to the mistake and clarifying the cause of the problem, the CEO seemed to reassure customers that the glitch was not a breach or major tech failure, just human error. One Facebook user responded with relief to Bayley's post: 'Glad it was a mistake on Royal's part rather than a hacker getting to all of us with the app.'The apology from the top underscores how seriously Royal Caribbean International takes even small blunders in its digital infrastructure. But some cruisers half-jokingly wondered if they will get compensated for this blip. 'I think we each deserve 5 extra points added to our account,' one person responded to the CEO's apology. 'I ran and looked for the $18 drink packages again,' another Facebook user joked, which referred to a drink package offered in 2019 that was mistakenly priced at a much lower price than the usual $55-$65 per person, per day. At the moment, the apology from the CEO seems to have appeased most cruisers. As one Facebook user put it, 'Cute post and love how you 'own it' — even when things go wrong." (The Arena Group will earn a commission if you book a cruise.) , or email Amy Post at or call or text her at 386-383-2472. This story was originally reported by Come Cruise With Me on May 31, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Carnival Cruise Line cruisers debate controversial elevator issue
Carnival Cruise Line cruisers debate controversial elevator issue originally appeared on Come Cruise With Me. 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 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. 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 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 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.' More Carnival cruise news: Carnival Cruise Line plans to bring back popular app feature Carnival Cruise Line sounds the alarm on new scam Carnival Cruise Line shares strict bathroom warning 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. (The Arena Group will earn a commission if you book a cruise.) , or email Amy Post at or call or text her at 386-383-2472. This story was originally reported by Come Cruise With Me on May 23, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Carnival and Royal Caribbean both have this surprising extra charge
Carnival and Royal Caribbean both have this surprising extra charge originally appeared on Come Cruise With Me. No matter which cruise line you sail, there's no shortage of food included in your fare. Passenger meals are unlimited in most onboard dining venues and cruisers can typically find food available at all it comes to snacking, cruisers can hit up the onboard buffet as often as they like, and enjoy unlimited soft-serve ice cream cones poolside, too. Not every food served on board is included, however. Certain meals, snacks, and desserts are available for an extra charge on a cruise, but most of those are upgrades like specialty dining experiences and gourmet treats. With so much food included in a standard cruise fare, many cruisers are surprised to find out that one popular snack that costs very little to make will cost you extra on some cruise lines' ships. The seemingly unnecessary charge for this snack leaves a bad taste in the mouths of some cruisers, often leading to accusations of cruise line popcorn was once offered at no additional cost during Carnival Cruise Line's Dive-In Movies under the stars, passengers now have to pay $4 to enjoy popcorn with their poolside movie. Similarly, on Royal Caribbean cruises, popcorn that's offered for shows and events on board costs around $3.50. Even on Disney Cruise Line, which doesn't even charge extra for sodas like other lines do, popcorn isn't Disney Cruise Line ships, popcorn is available for purchase at a snack bar located outside of the main theater as well as the onboard movie theater. A regular cup of popcorn costs around $4. Disney Cruise Line also offers souvenir popcorn buckets, which usually range in price from $8 to $25, depending on their design. Popcorn bucket refills cost around $ Cruise Line Brand Ambassador John Heald regularly receives questions and complaints about the cruise line's popcorn charge on his popular Facebook page, where he responds to hundreds of questions and concerns from passengers every day. 'I remember the good old days on Carnival when there wasn't an up-charge for every little thing,' Penny Kinder Strate recently wrote to the brand ambassador. 'I actually got the 2 cups of popcorn in the little bags while watching the outdoor movie for free. Now it is a ridiculous $4.00.' Although Heald could choose to ignore comments like this, he and his colleague Jacinta endeavor to respond to every cruiser who comments on a dedicated Facebook post that the brand ambassador opens for questions and requests each day. 'Thank you, well hopefully you won't base your cruise experience on popcorn, and I mean that with the greatest respect,' Heald replied. 'You don't have to buy it and there is so much complimentary food, especially [in the Lido] deck area.' More Carnival cruise news:Heald also explained why the cruise line began charging for popcorn some time ago. 'And the reason we charge is when it was free, it became a mess with people grabbing so much and wasting most of it,' Heald noted. Whether on the Lido deck or in a theater, popcorn can easily create big messes, especially when it's served to kids. Royal Caribbean and Disney Cruise Line haven't publicly explained why they charge for popcorn like Carnival has, but some passengers speculate that it's for a similar reason. (The Arena Group will earn a commission if you book a cruise.) , or email Amy Post at or call or text her at 386-383-2472. This story was originally reported by Come Cruise With Me on May 26, 2025, where it first appeared.
CTV News
19-05-2025
- CTV News
Woman charged after trying to avoid RIDE checkpoint: Aylmer police
Aylmer police cruisers are seen on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020. (Bryan Bicknell / CTV News)
