I just got home from a cruise last weekend – it was my first one, and it definitely won’t be my last. We departed from Fort Lauderdale and went on a Caribbean adventure, stopping in the Bahamas, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel.
Cruise ships carry thousands of people looking to enjoy their vacation, buy some pricey souvenirs, and experience the boat and excursions to the fullest. Although I was on vacation, I couldn’t help but notice the extremely large potential for mobile computing solutions on cruise ships. So how can a cruise ship maximize their operations with mobile computers? Let’s take a look at their bar services:
At the casino, at the pool, in the theater – pretty much everywhere on the ship, crew members are asking passengers if they’d like a drink. Watching them, the bartenders would write down a drink order, bring it to the bar, make the drink, write the receipt, carry the receipt and drink to the customer, have them sign it, and then give the passenger the drink. I can’t imagine that balancing a tray of drinks while shuffling through receipts to find the right one is an easy task.
Now picture this: the bar service uses a mobile computer (such as a Honeywell Dolphin 99EX) and selects a drink from the bar’s application, which sends the order directly over to the bar. Before going back to the bar, the bartender turns the mobile computer to the passenger, who signs the screen and receives their receipt on the spot from a mobile printer attached to the bartender’s hip. In the meantime, the bartenders behind the counter have already begun making the drinks, which are nearly ready to be delivered as the bar service gets back to the desk.
By replacing the pen and paper with a mobile computer and printer, the bartender would be able to order drinks more accurately, spend less time waiting for drinks to be made, and deliver drinks to passengers much faster. Helloooooo margaritas!
Chances are you don’t work on a cruise ship as a bartender. However, you may have gone on a cruise before and experienced this headache from a passenger’s perspective. How’s the bar service been for you on your cruise? Could it have been better with a mobile computer? Let us know with #CruiseService on Twitter, @LTronCorp.
About the author
Jason Shanley is a member of L-Tron’s content creation team. His background in communication and technology provides him the deep knowledge base required for the articles he authors. Jason can be reached at info@L-Tron.com or (800) 830-9523.