Navigator Debate is in the survey

[pixiedustedme]

We got a survey after our cruise two weeks ago, but it focused on ports and itineraries, and never mentioned the Navigators. I did mention missing paper Navigator delivery on our comment card, though.

 

[bcwife76]

That seemed to be the primary focus of our questionnaire...strange!! Maybe they only asked random people and you aren't random enough...work on that!! Ha!

I'll try

 

[Intr3pid]

Eventually all paper should be done away with. Like already with your invoices, your itineraries, your calendar, your credit card statements, and so on.

Let's not mow down trees just so we can have something to pass time with at the dining table.

 

[go oilers go]

My teen and tween are in the minority, but they don’t have phones, so we love the paper copies! I don’t consider my kids wanting to find activities that they enjoy “mowing down trees or passing time at the dining table”. We are not with them all the time, and they like their freedom to make decisions as the day goes on with a paper copy of the navigator in hand. I like the idea of both versions

 

[scgustafson]

Eventually all paper should be done away with. Like already with your invoices, your itineraries, your calendar, your credit card statements, and so on.

Let's not mow down trees just so we can have something to pass time with at the dining table.

I still have paper itineraries, calendar, credit card statements, and so on. Every time one of these entities has tried to switch me to online billing, I politely decline and tell them to continue to send me the paper invoices and statements. I have had too many hard drives crash over the years to trust them to hold my financial data, and I am most definitely not letting it reside in an unprotected cloud.

 

[Snowwhyt]

I found that it was much harder to work/view/arranging the overlapping items like kids doing one thing, I’m doing mine, husband just wants food or tasting. I kept missing stuff planned on paper but somehow missed on the app.
Thought I had more time than I did or never registered in my mind that what I found in the app was the adult thing I wanted to attend instead of the kids craft I thought it was on the app. Or I went to a kids craft that I thought was for adults(that’s when I usually miss out on what I was interested in)

I do like the app for the hearts but need colors. I keep missing stuff with that method. And I need to know where family is

I do like the Navigators “adult” “family” “clubs” all in one straight line. I easily see the colorful spaces that are Shows, the time bingo cards are sold and when it starts. I want to plan around it so I can be on time, early even!

Also I can’t be the only one who thought it would be fun to see {{{}}} movie in the theater only to find out it was a nighttime Funnel vision and if I was going to sit side-by-side with family I should have come earlier. Maybe if it was the theater we would have gotten seats together.

If they had to go electric only, I would just need it bigger. Like bigger than an oversized phone but no larger than 1/2 sheet of paper. (But now I’m gonna leave the thing in the room because it’s too big to lug around) Make it just like the paper version for it to be useful though.

I follow the adult lines, then fill in with family next. Then after that’s set up, let me check out the hearts screen! Where my family has a separate color for each person. And of course while I’m asking for the moon, could they just color code those hearts for me?

If the list version was easier for everyone that’s what would have been on the paper Navigator from the beginning. But Disney found a way to make it easier to Navigate. (See what I did there?) Sorry, I’ll see myself out.

 

[Intr3pid]

I still have paper itineraries, calendar, credit card statements, and so on. Every time one of these entities has tried to switch me to online billing, I politely decline and tell them to continue to send me the paper invoices and statements. I have had too many hard drives crash over the years to trust them to hold my financial data, and I am most definitely not letting it reside in an unprotected cloud.

I find paper to be the most inefficient and unreliable form of record storage. I do keep paper versions of the documents that must be kept in their original form, but that would be the extent.

The chances of a random fire burning down your home is about 1 in 3,000 (http://www.freeby50.com/2012/04/how-common-are-house-fires.html). The odds of multiple hard drives failing simultaneously, on the other hand, are 1 in millions (http://americandigest.org/mt-archives/bad_americans/what_are_the_odds_these_a.php). The paper copy from your financial services provider is out of date the moment it is printed. The only real-time record - that kept by your bank or IRS or your employer - is on a disk somewhere.

Regardless, security of paper records isn't the reason why DCL navigators are printed. If you don't have a device, sure, work with a paper copy. Otherwise, consider the impact that full-color print will have on something beyond a moment of convenience.

 

[cadien]

Eventually all paper should be done away with. Like already with your invoices, your itineraries, your calendar, your credit card statements, and so on.

Let's not mow down trees just so we can have something to pass time with at the dining table.

We were on the verge of "paperless offices" in 1993. I've stopped buying it. And at this point their app is an inadequate substitute. I'm fine with using my phone on the ship. It's my camera after all. But they have to provide a decent replacement.

I agree full color is unnecessary.

 

[Lisa F]

We got a survey after our cruise two weeks ago, but it focused on ports and itineraries, and never mentioned the Navigators. I did mention missing paper Navigator delivery on our comment card, though.

feedback like that is probably why it made it to the survey.

 

[Mikamarii]

They might do so but you may also have to accept that the guest feedback may be the opposite of what you want. Presumably why they're doing a survey.

I completely agree with this. I am an indifferent when it comes to the app vs paper version as I like both. Either one they give me I will use. If I had to choose I'd likely pick the app. There is a whole generation coming in that have had everything they've ever needed on their phone or expect everything to be on their phone. There may be a mixed bag right now but losing the paper navigators is an eventual reality whether it's delayed now or not. I don't like every change at Disney but I do accept that my opinion isn't all that matters and they are looking to satisfy the majority of guests.

 

[Van Houten]

If I had to choose between the paper Navigator and the app, I would pick an app that has family planning capabilities (where anyone in the party can manage activities for anyone in the party, just like on the web site), and with ability to download an offline two page version of Navigator as a PDF.
Offline scheduling / reconciliation would also be a benefit, as I would like to be able to plan my evening while riding on an excursion bus during the day.

 

[g_ppetto]

I like paper, I want paper. I have had more hard drives die than fires. Re: paperless billing - the specifications for the email standards state messages will be transmitted on an best effort basis. There is no guarantee of email message delivery. Didn't get your bill? too bad, not our fault, pay the penalty. This is one reason the Fax is still in use. Another reason is how easy it is to forge an email.

I found I only used the app to see the menu for that nights' MDR, and to initially find my way around the ship. On the next cruise I'll try to remember to use the app to see the menus of the other MDRs. There is too little Navigator information, seen at once, to be useful to me for planning my day.

Hopefully, they will continue to have the Navigators available at GS. I'm ok with stopping by in the evening to pick up tomorrows' Navigator. Having the Navigator the evening before allowed us to plan our activities and highlight things that interested us. Also, it is tough to get highlighter off of a smart phone, almost as difficult as white-out.

Plant more trees. Bring back the Sahara Rain Forest.

 

[gotomu212]

They should give the paper one to all first time cruisers and then returning cruisers should mark whether they want paper or not when they sign in for the cruise.

I think the opposite is what they’re actually hoping for. If you’re a first time cruiser you don’t know what you’re missing. If you’re told to use the app you just assume that’s “the way”. It’s repeat cruisers that know how things used to be, and have developed routines around them, that want to continue to use the paper navigators.

With 3 new ships in the pipeline and the need to fill 7 ships I think they are thinking about an influx of new passengers and I doubt they want to show them options on things they want to eliminate.

 

[hoff41]

It's been there for a while, we got in January after our cruise #VIVALAPAPER!

 

[mcd2745]

If they are trying to reduce paper usage, I think they should just have a tray of the paper Navigators at Guest Services (and not make people wait in line) for those who want it. You don't have to deliver it to everyone's room.

And of course, also improve the functionality of the app to be able to filter (either by intended age group, venue, type of activity, etc) activities that would be in the paper version so people can become more reliant on the app and less on the paper version.

 

[g_ppetto]

If they are trying to reduce paper usage, I think they should just have a tray of the paper Navigators at Guest Services (and not make people wait in line) for those who want it.

They were available at the end of the GS counter on the Fantasy last September. You didn't have to wait in line to get one.

 

[BCV23]

They were available at the end of the GS counter on the Fantasy last September. You didn't have to wait in line to get one.

Yes, but didn't you still receive one in your cabin in September? We did in November on the Fantasy. It is reportedly a recent change that paper copies are not delivered to the cabins. Reports are that on the Fantasy, it is necessary to stand in the Guest Service line to receive a paper copy. Some have reported having Navigators delivered to their cabin on subsequent nights after standing in that line.

I wonder if it is possible to just ask the cabin attendant to deliver a copy each night? I will probably try that next cruise if this continues.

 

[Snowwhyt]

The Wonder and the Magic both have a short wall at the end of guest services with a stack of information. One of the items is the current navigator and I believe another is disembark information? Customs form?
I am the kind of person who can leave my purse behind, scarf behind, sweater behind... and most definitely the navigator which are usually try carry with me throughout the day.
Although now after organizing my day the night before with the navigator I seem to miss things when using the app. I didn’t enjoy that last cruise as much because I felt some disappointment. It wasn’t fun walking in to the lounge when everyone’s laughing really hard and we could not get a seat together in the midst of a show. Something I hadn’t encountered on a DCL cruise before.
Some people just aren’t wired for that kind of thing, (see how I did that...wired lol) 95% of the people have a cell phone and of those 77% of those people have a smart phone. How many of us have helped a friend or family member in that 77% fix a problem on their phone. All I’m really saying is that flexibility with both methods are good. Some people like chocolate, some people don’t. I can’t understand why people don’t like chocolate, but I’m not gonna keep trying to force my chocolate pie down their throat and change their mind either.

 

[mcd2745]

Of course the most curious aspect of this is that they haven't reduced the amount of paper being used for DVC, Adventures By Disney, Art Auctions, and other shopping brochures/advertisements. Not one person would have an issue if they eliminated all that paper.

 

[eva2015]

If they are trying to reduce paper usage, I think they should just have a tray of the paper Navigators at Guest Services (and not make people wait in line) for those who want it. You don't have to deliver it to everyone's room.

And of course, also improve the functionality of the app to be able to filter (either by intended age group, venue, type of activity, etc) activities that would be in the paper version so people can become more reliant on the app and less on the paper version.

This is already possible. There is the full day view or you can switch to Character meets, Youth Clubs, Movies etc and also filter. You can see activities for later in the cruise. The version of the current (as of last week, 3/23-3/30) is much improved over the app from our previous cruise, Jan 2018. It seems many people are complaining about something they have not yet experienced. I expected to pick up a paper copy every day but the app was very useful and didn't bother with the paper at all.