Carnival Cruise Line Provides Insight on New Elevator Usage

Elevators can be the scenes of much drama onboard a cruise ship, but Carnival Cruise Line is seeking to help guests better understand the new smart elevators onboard updated ships with video tutorials.

The new elevators are intended to smooth floor-to-floor operations by assigning the appropriate elevators to different parties, ensuring enough space and faster service.

Smart Elevator Instructions

Smart elevators are equipped with touchscreens and smart apps to specifically schedule different cars to different floors based on capacity. Instead of operating simply with up and down buttons accompanied by buttons for each floor, these elevators have more intelligent plans to keep crowds moving more smoothly.

Because of confusion with the introduction of smart elevators, Carnival Cruise Line has created instructional videos near the elevators to help guests learn how to use them properly.

Furthermore, the cruise line’s Brand Ambassador, John Heald, has posted a real-life demonstration video to help guests see the new elevator operation in action.

“It really works when used properly,” Heald said. “I thought this might help.”

Heald demonstrates using the smart elevator aboard Carnival Horizon at the conclusion of his recent FFS cruise, showing just how the process works to get the exact elevator you need.

In each elevator lobby, a touchscreen next to the elevators shows the available decks the cars can reach. Guests use that touchscreen to indicate the deck they want to go to. The deck guests are currently on is not displayed, as there would be no need to use the elevator on the same deck.

It is important that guests press the floor indicator one time for each passenger, so there will be enough room in the indicated car to accommodate everyone. If just one guest needs the elevator, they will indicate the deck just one time, twice for two guests, three times for three guests, and so on.

The touchscreen will then show the letter of the elevator car that will be able to accommodate the passengers and take them to the appropriate floor. The car assignment – A, B, C, D, etc. – is also announced audibly to be sure the process is accessible to all passengers.

Elevator car letters are prominently displayed above each set of elevator doors.

Once the appropriate elevator car arrives, the doors automatically open and guests can board. There are no floor indicator buttons inside the elevator car, as the smart elevator has already been programmed with the requested floors and will proceed automatically to the correct floor.

Which Ships Have Smart Elevators?

Smart elevators are the latest in upgrades being added to Carnival cruise ships, and are now present aboard Carnival Vista, Carnival Horizon, and Carnival Panorama, as well as Carnival Venezia.

Interestingly enough, smart elevators have not been introduced aboard the fleet’s newest ships, the Excel-class vessels – Mardi Gras, Carnival Celebration, and the newly christened Carnival Jubilee.

It is possible the new technology will be added to more ships as they enter dry dock for upgrades and updates, depending on how easy it is to retool the existing elevators with the smart system.

Avoiding the Biggest Problems With Smart Elevators

Unfortunately, there is a learning curve with the transition to smart elevators, but travelers can easily avoid the biggest problems that continue to cause delays and traffic jams when using the elevators.

First and foremost, guests must indicate how many passengers will be boarding the elevator by touching the screen one time for each person. If three people are going from Deck 4 to Deck 9, for example, the Deck 9 indicator must be pushed three times on the touchscreen on Deck 4.

If this is not done, the elevator system may not select the appropriate elevator car with enough space to accommodate everyone, causing frustration and confusion.

Second, guests must be sure to board the appropriate elevator car as assigned. The touchscreen will indicate the proper car letter after the floor indicators are touched, and the elevator car numbers are displayed above each set of doors.

Read Also: Carnival Cruise Line Addresses the Idea of Reserved Elevators

If passengers board the wrong elevator car, there are no buttons inside the car to indicate the desired floor and the elevator will not necessarily stop where guests hope to get off.

Furthermore, using the wrong car will remove space planned for other guests, overcrowding the elevators and making it harder for each passenger to get where they wish to go.

It is also important for guests to remember that they always need to use the touchscreen to indicate their elevator needs, rather than doing the quickstep rush to get on an elevator that has just arrived. While it can be tempting, that elevator car does not necessarily have the assigned space for each guest, nor does it know which floor to reach.

Have you used the new smart elevators? Share your experiences on the Cruise Hive boards!