CelebrityCruises
Latest
The iPad as an art gallery tour guide on Celebrity Cruises
As a bona fide fan of cruise ships and iPads, I was happy to see a short note from CruiseInd.com today outlining what Celebrity Cruises is doing with the iPad on their Solstice Class ships. Starting tomorrow (August 15th), iPads will be available on the Celebrity Solstice, and the sister ships Eclipse and Equinox will see a group of iPads on board starting August 21st. Guests can launch a custom app to be able to view the collection of art on their particular ship. The Solstice class ships currently in service, Solstice, Equinox, and Eclipse, have a total of 14,000 original contemporary art works between them that decorate the various decks. Deck plans are displayed on the iPad, and guest can touch artworks represented on the plans to see the exact location, title, artist's name, medium, a description, and an image of the work. This isn't the first time that iPads have been used on Celebrity's ships -- the cruise line uses the devices to display the menu and wine list at the Qsine specialty restaurant on the Celebrity Eclipse. Celebrity also features the Mac-centric iLearn program on the Celebrity Solstice, Equinox, and Summit, a series of classes that mimic the One-to-One experience available in Apple retail stores. It's refreshing to see Celebrity embracing Apple technology on their ships, as most other cruise ships seem to feature old PCs running Windows XP in their Internet lounges.
Celebrity Eclipse 'iLounge' described as an 'Apple store at sea'
Ah, yes. The open sea, fine dining, relaxation, and an Apple-certified employee available to troubleshoot your iMovie problems. That's the case on the new Celebrity Eclipse cruise ship at least, which is set to make its maiden voyage this April complete with a "Celebrity iLounge" on board. Described as a "hip, modern lounge," the iLounge includes an internet cafe equipped with 26 workstations, a second retail space where guests can try out and buy various Apple products and accessories (yes, Celebrity is now an Authorized Apple Reseller), and a third "enrichment center" that will offer classes on the iLife suite of programs and other general topics. Of course, it's not a real Apple Store at sea. Floating cubes can be a bit tippy.
