I can’t wait to go on our next Royal Caribbean cruise. This has nothing to do with cost, ports of call, departure time, departure place, length of cruise, shore excursions, luck at the casino or entertainment on board. It has everything to do with not getting lost.
With the arrival of the Oasis of the Seas last year, Royal Caribbean introduced what is called its ground-breaking “wayfinding system.” It’s for people like me, who are always heading for the front of the ship when they mean to be going back. This was a bitter pill to swallow when, on our last cruise, it was Nancy who had to spin me around and point me in the right direction.
Not just when it was dark outside…and not just once or twice, but many times.
A day!
Nancy, you see, is left-handed and for most (all) of our years together I have used that as the reason why she gets lost…er, turned around. It’s one of those things we righties have (unjustifiably) waved as a finger of superiority, even though it didn’t really work.
So, after smugly inferring that GPS systems are really intended for southpaws, here I was lost at sea onboard the Celebrity Millennium. Dinner tonight at the portside restaurant near the bow…I mean, the starboardside restaurant aft. Which way is our stateroom anyway?
It was humiliating, or at least embarrassing. Now here comes Royal Caribbean with plasma and LCD touch screens in prominent places on the ship, featuring not just onboard activities, real-time routing and factoids, which are much better for you than steroids, but the thing that makes it all worthwhile — customized directions! Forget about finding my way from A to B, just touch LCD. That’ll be my motto.
Originally only on the Oasis, the system will be finding its way onto the Freedom of the Seas, and Liberty of the Seas (above). Of course, it will be on the new Allure of the Seas when it arrives in December, since Oasis and Allure are siblings, and It’s only a matter of time until Royal Caribbean installs it on all 22 ships in the fleet. Eventually, it’ll find its way onto a ship carrying us.
It gives me a whole new meaning to Lost & Found.