New "Navigators"

[PrincessShmoo]

I have never seen an art auction on a DCL ship... but that's just me.

They used to have art auctions (like many other cruise lines), but now they just have prices on the art around the ship that you can buy it.

I would disagree the "everyone" already has digital devices. Most people, yes, but I still know people that don't have cell phones, and some the have non-smart flip phones.

This. I only got rid of my flip phone about 2 years ago, and my son just got his first smart phone (mostly because he needed it to talk to his new car). But both of us would be perfectly happy with just a phone. No fancy stuff, just a phone.

 

[closetmickey]

Yes and they remove them and likely those will never return either.

Pre-covid you could also get Navigators printed at request. So these seem to go hand in hand.

They didn’t exactly go “hand in hand”. Though you could grab one from the desk in limited quantities, daily stateroom Navigators were taken away well before Covid…the paper advertisements were still being left in all staterooms daily. And I believe there was even a short period where the navigators were not available at guest services. It took a bit of an uproar to bring them back in that capacity.

 

[Keyser]

Yes.. And it's also hilarious there are people that think Disney getting rid of the navigators is because
of "the environment"...no it's not.
Those that sailed DCL know very well about the huge amount of overall waste... but just the navigators get the axe.

Very true. It's laughable that anyone would claim that the elimination of the paper navigators makes any meaningful impact on the environment. At best, you could say it's virtue signaling - doing something apparently virtuous but practically meaningless. If they (or passengers) really cared about the environment that much, there is much more they could do, like not cruise at all. The paper navigators are barely noise in the environmental impact that simply running a cruise line generates.

I will say that there's quite possibly more than just $ as a reason to get rid of paper navigators, though. You can imagine lots of reasons, in theory, why Disney forcing everyone to access activities/events through a single portal could be beneficial (both for Disney and for guests), and this seems part of a push to get people going that way. And though Disney's IT development leaves something to be desired, there are some things the app already gives you that weren't available (e.g. more details of events, menus at restaurants, communication options). Unfortunately, it doesn't provide the same quality of information visualization that the paper navigator used to, but they evidently calculate that it's worth guests paying that price for the other benefits (for the company and for the guests). Plus, in the future the app can gradually improve, we hope, and maybe get to a point where it's at least as good...

Keeping on the environmental theme, to use an analogy, it's like when the government forced people to move away from incandescent lightbulbs. At the time this meant more expensive (and environmentally worse) lightbulbs with worse lighting for many people, but in the longer-run it helped ramp-up manufacturing/competition in LED bulb manufacturing, to the point where we're now at more reasonably-priced options with good lighting at much greater energy efficiency.

Plus, there probably was a bit of labor involved in printing/distributing them daily (which is also $), making sure they had the printing capacity in place and maintained (space on board is precious, and you can't call the copier company to come fix your machine in an hour), etc.

 

[WB1971]

Virtue signaling?

I personally can care less if people know (I never tell people). I would prefer single use products/packaging be avoided as much as possible. I am simply stating why I personally will not support bringing back mass printing of navigators.

Additionally from Disney's view paper has been on the out for a while (along with many other companies). There has been a general push to remove single use where ever possible and everyone already has digital devices and they will be serving all information up digitally regardless.

The big issue right now is the UI/UX designers for DCL are not the greatest. If they produced a more digestible app there would be even fewer people complaining.

Luxury in my mind means they should be even more capable of removing as much waste and pollution as possible. Heck DCL is built on the concept these days that it is more environmentally friendly than other cruise lines.

I say virtue signaling referring to Disney, not fellow cruisers. You have your preference, why can’t those of us who prefer paper? Luxury in my mind means having little things that make the overall experience more enjoyable for me. Forced participation in an arguably negligible environmental initiative rubs some of us the wrong way especially given it just so happens to save Disney money. I am very conscious of being wasteful, Just don’t consider a daily “newspaper “ on my vacation an excess.

 

[Snowwhyt]

I must sadly admit here, I have strayed and sailed with Royal Caribbean. Having said that, my number one problem trying to adjust to Royal Caribbean was using the App. I had several problems.
• The app in the paper did not match.
• My parents had one phone and
A) usually together. Ugh
B) occasionally struggle to use it.
C) occasionally forgot phone.
• I would finish one event, realize there was something fun that I could make in the next 15 minutes…BUT what I don’t realize… it would NOT END before the thing I really wanted to not miss before dinner. We would never find a seat together if I go late or find my parents in the crowd. Of course I often realize this midway through and don’t want appear rude and walk out of somebody’s program.

Without the paper it makes it more difficult for diverging interests. Without the paper(color-coded highlighters of yellow, orange, green for different people) it was so disappointing because we kept missing stuff for someone. There’s no easy long-range view on the phone. And forgot about color coding for different people. And sometimes you need to read description…ugh, how do I get back to that last screen? Hold on it’s still downloading…

 

[cmash95]

You can disagree but its an expectation and its a very high percentage. At this point if you are going to WDW or DCL you need a smartphone. Don't want a smartphone at home? Thats fine you can get cheap ones from Amazon or you can borrow one from a friend/family likely.

Roughly 85% of the US owns a smartphone and up over 10% in the last 5 years. Additionally you have 93% ownership by college graduates and 97% ownership by those who make $75k+ per year.

own it and using it on vacation are two different things. and it's not saving disney any money because as was posted earlier you still get all the annoying flyers. but I know my family doesn't want to have to carry around their phones attached to huge batteries so they don't die out. the wav phones were bad enough. I kept worrying that someone would lose one of then. having the navigator was a way to keep track of everyone's activities at once. I can't make notes on the tv about where one kid might want to be while another wants to be somewhere else and DH wants to be a thirdbut i can on the naviagor.

 

[DisneYE]

I say virtue signaling referring to Disney, not fellow cruisers. You have your preference, why can’t those of us who prefer paper? Luxury in my mind means having little things that make the overall experience more enjoyable for me. Forced participation in an arguably negligible environmental initiative rubs some of us the wrong way especially given it just so happens to save Disney money. I am very conscious of being wasteful, Just don’t consider a daily “newspaper “ on my vacation an excess.

Exactly. Why not compromise with those that prefer the paper navigator?
I liked how for a brief time navigators were only available on request with your SR attendant or thru GS... I thought that was a reasonable measure.
Cruisers aren't stupid... we know it's not about the environment... So why not print 1/3 of the usual numbers and have them available?... heck even charge for them... I'd happily pay $1-$5 a day or put an additional upcharge of x dollars pre cruise to have them...until they get rid of all water/soda bottles, paper cups, etc, I will never believe DCL they eliminated the navigators because of the environment.

 

[MomOTwins]

Exactly. Why not compromise with those that prefer the paper navigator?
I liked how for a brief time navigators were only available on request with your SR attendant or thru GS... I thought that was a reasonable measure.
Cruisers aren't stupid... we know it's not about the environment... So why not print 1/3 of the usual numbers and have them available?... heck even charge for them... I'd happily pay $1-$5 a day or put an additional upcharge of x dollars pre cruise to have them...until they get rid of all water/soda bottles, paper cups, etc, I will never believe DCL they eliminated the navigators because of the environment.

Agree the GS option was the best of both worlds—no wasting paper on people who don’t need or want it, but there if you do.

That said, I would be totally fine with the app if they would simply provide a pdf in the same format as the paper navigator—so I could see a birds eye view of the events rather than the scrolling format and then go back to the scrolling page to “favorite” what I want. Why they have not thought to offer this makes no sense.

 

[sethschroeder]

you still get all the annoying flyers.

Except you don't unless its just recently changed back. Where did you see they started leaving them in the room again? They eliminated the paper flyers from everything I have come across (even latest videos). Hopefully they stay gone as well.

I would be totally fine with the app if they would simply provide a pdf in the same format as the paper navigator—so I could see a birds eye view of the events rather than the scrolling format and then go back to the scrolling page to “favorite” what I want. Why they have not thought to offer this makes no sense.

Which is what NCL has (well they printed theirs as well) but PDF download is their normal format they use on paper.

 

[DisneYE]

Agree the GS option was the best of both worlds—no wasting paper on people who don’t need or want it, but there if you do.

That said, I would be totally fine with the app if they would simply provide a pdf in the same format as the paper navigator—so I could see a birds eye view of the events rather than the scrolling format and then go back to the scrolling page to “favorite” what I want. Why they have not thought to offer this makes no sense.

A pdf would kind of work but for me the reason I like the paper is the fact that is more portable and helps me avoid using electronic devices. Cruising is literally the only time I have where I can somehow avoid using the phone all day.. even when vacationing inland I carry my phones for gps, messages, email, calls... when on a ship I have a chance to be free of electronic devices for a few hours a day (I still take my phones, laptop & hotspot hub - but use them only for urgent work & emergencies) - I hate being so dependent on phones and computers all the time - I relish the time on the cruise where I can spend all day relaxing away from devices and only checking emails and urgent stuff once a day.. since it's clear it's not about the environment (just look at the water bottles consumption) and it's more about $, give people the option of buying the paper version.

 

[MomOTwins]

A pdf would kind of work but for me the reason I like the paper is the fact that is more portable and helps me avoid using electronic devices. Cruising is literally the only time I have where I can somehow avoid using the phone all day.. even when vacationing inland I carry my phones for gps, messages, email, calls... when on a ship I have a chance to be free of electronic devices for a few hours a day (I still take my phones, laptop & hotspot hub - but use them only for urgent work & emergencies) - I hate being so dependent on phones and computers all the time - I relish the time on the cruise where I can spend all day relaxing away from devices and only checking emails and urgent stuff once a day.. since it's clear it's not about the environment (just look at the water bottles consumption) and it's more about $, give people the option of buying the paper version.

I know this doesn't solve the issue entirely, but you put your phone in airplane mode with wifi enabled, and don't log in to the data plan (i.e., no internet access), your phone will really only function for the DCL app and you won't be getting tons of notifications (facebook, email etc.) because you won't be online.

 

[wideeyedwonder]

No more bringing a yellow highlighter, I guess. I like technology when it's done well, with good, easy to use user interfaces and no glitches. When. Oh well, first world problems...

 

[DisneYE]

I know this doesn't solve the issue entirely, but you put your phone in airplane mode with wifi enabled, and don't log in to the data plan (i.e., no internet access), your phone will really only function for the DCL app and you won't be getting tons of notifications (facebook, email etc.) because you won't be online.

It's not about being online. I just want to be away from the phone..in most of the cruises I've been to I made it a goal to use the phone as little as possible and it was just bliss to not have it near me for most of the day.. I'm attached to the phone/computer literally 90% of the time I'm awake on any given day... when cruising it's the opposite...If paper navigators don't come back I'll just rely on my DD or DW to drag me to whatever available activities..and from what I hear recently, ordering is now thru the app and not the kttw as before.. guess I won't be consuming anywhere near what I usually do at the bars/cove cafe/store.. I just refuse to be a slave to the phone when cruising.

 

[Cruising Engineer]

It's not about being online. I just want to be away from the phone..in most of the cruises I've been to I made it a goal to use the phone as little as possible and it was just bliss to not have it near me for most of the day.. I'm attached to the phone/computer literally 90% of the time I'm awake on any given day... when cruising it's the opposite...If paper navigators don't come back I'll just rely on my DD or DW to drag me to whatever available activities..and from what I hear recently, ordering is now thru the app and not the kttw as before.. guess I won't be consuming anywhere near what I usually do at the bars/cove cafe/store.. I just refuse to be a slave to the phone when cruising.

You stated exactly how I feel about vacation vs technology. As a graduate student, I am on the computer doing research, writing papers, or on zoom calls with others on the team all day long. I want to relax and pitch the smartphone into the safe.

 

[Ikaikalani]

I've saved my printed navigators from every day of my total of 4 cruises. I love pulling them out occassionally to look back on the fun that was had, or often referring to them for some info for a future cruise. I'm sorry to see my collecting will be forced out now. The other night we were all talking about a trip we took to Morocco years ago. I pulled out an old foto album and we had so much fun looking at all the pictures. I noticed that my photo albums that I'd put together over my 50 years had simply stopped. They stopped when fons came along. Now instead of a roll of 36 pictures, and now that I have a fon, all my thousands and thousands of pictures live in a cloud somewhere. Most folks never see them, including myself. Sure, every now and again I'll cast 'em to the tele, but it's not the same. The value of a single foto has been diminished (I come from the old days of "I only have 2 pictures left and I gotta save 'em for something really good!!"). I still prefer to curl up with an old fashioned library book over an E tablet. I prefer the pages and physical connection and knowing so many before me had taken the same ride. I know the old style is being phased out. Nothing wrong with that. It happened to all the generations before me, and will with all that follow as well. I just have one other observation. I'm also old fashioned in that the world I grew up in wasn't so divided. Nothing was simply black and white like so many things are today. So, one last request from my generation....why not both? Why not send a pdf Navigator to everyone, and let us print it out ourselves if we want it on paper, and you can have the scroll-y fon option as well? Different strokes for different folks!

 

[Starwind]

Agree the GS option was the best of both worlds—no wasting paper on people who don’t need or want it, but there if you do.

That said, I would be totally fine with the app if they would simply provide a pdf in the same format as the paper navigator—so I could see a birds eye view of the events rather than the scrolling format and then go back to the scrolling page to “favorite” what I want. Why they have not thought to offer this makes no sense.

We sailed in Dec 2019 when they had the "ask for the paper navigator at guest services" option. It worked well for us.

I would prefer that option. I would PAY a modest fee for that option [$1-5 per day] if I was guaranteed to get the navigator -- If I was paying for it, I would expect it delivered to my stateroom and I would expect to be able to get multiple copies... say # of people in room + upto 2 extra copies, which we would request in advance.

However, absent a paper copy, a PDF would work. Particularly if we can save it OUTSIDE THE APP. Because then I could save it on my device and use another app and mark it up with highlighting etc just like I do the paper version to my heart's content ! And I could share the marked up copy between my tablet and phone; and between mine and my companion's devices.

 

[Joe Brig]

Before Covid DCL limited the paper navigator, but kept the thick glossy port shopping brochures. Unless those are also gone forever, this has nothing to do with the environment.

 

[Snowwhyt]

Don’t you just hate putting your navigator in your pocket early in the morning and it runs out of battery just before dinner so you no longer know what’s going on in the evening?
Oh wait that was my phone….

 

[Cruising Engineer]

Before Covid DCL limited the paper navigator, but kept the thick glossy port shopping brochures. Unless those are also gone forever, this has nothing to do with the environment.

We won't know until we actually get to drop anchor at a shopping mega island. Looking forward to the craziness of port shopping in July (hopefully).

 

[jktmom]

Before Covid DCL limited the paper navigator, but kept the thick glossy port shopping brochures. Unless those are also gone forever, this has nothing to do with the environment.

Could not agree more. Besides loving the paper navigator they took something away that has real value to guests and impacts people's experience and left the junk mail that has no value. I do not believe it is for one second related to the environment. If anything it is related ot allowing them to make last minute changes to entertainment without having most people realize an experience got changed or cancelled.