Remember the olden days, when going to a bank meant talking to a teller, and checking in at the airport meant dealing with a gate agent?
Many hotel chains now have the option of checking in online or at a kiosk. Now cruise lines are headed further down the self-service path. Several lines already have gone to “e documents,” which means instead of them sending out the documents, passengers or travel agents must print them out themselves.
And now after they’ve printed their documents, passengers may just start checking themselves in at the pier too. Costa Cruises has been testing kiosks since last year, and now Carnival Cruise Lines will try them out in Miami.
There will still be an live person check-in option, for now at least, with no additional charge. And the cruise line will still have staff to transport large bags to passengers’ cabins. In time, Carnival hopes to expand the experiment to other ports.
If the kiosks speed up the boarding process, many passengers will welcome them. But boarding a cruise is not quite as simple as boarding a flight. For example, how will Carnival verify discount eligibility such as residency requirements? And what will happen with potential cabin upgrades? Especially if an additional charge is involved.
The kiosks will also apparently be able to accept cash deposits for setting up onboard accounts. And presumably, there will be provisions for associating credit cards with the accounts, and even designating who in the cabin can use the credit card or deposit. Although remembering the lines already at the purser’s desk the day before disembarkation with people with account issues, I cannot imagine this will make those lines any shorter.
While the traveling public is getting more computer savvy, I routinely get complaints from clients who claim they misunderstood an airline kiosk message, and were charged for things like bonus miles or upgrade certificates. In addition, cruisers, while younger than they used to be, still include a large proportion of older travelers.
Finally, what kind of staffing reduction will kiosks entail at the pier? And what’s the backup plan when the computers go down?
Cruise lines are more limited than airlines in what they can change to self-serve. In fact, the norovirus scares mean that more personnel are required to serve at buffets. Although in theory I suppose that some cruise line could try an automat concept (remember those) for food delivery? And certainly vending machines are an option.
No major cruise line has yet started a “make your own bed” option either, but you get the sense that somewhere that and other ideas are being tossed around. One thing is for sure, they’re not moving in the direction of more customer service.
Janice Hough is a California-based travel agent a travel blogger and a part-time comedy writer. A frequent flier herself, she’s been doing battle with airlines, hotels, and other travel companies for over three decades. Besides writing for Travelers United, Janice has a humor blog at Leftcoastsportsbabe.com (Warning, the political and sports humor therein does not represent the views of anyone but herself.)
