The Mac Versus PC Debate at Sea
It’s our age’s greatest debate: Mac vs. PC.
(Okay, there are surely more important things worthy of an intelligent volley, but this is easily one that predominates the minds of nerds like me.)
It just so happens that the debate also rages on at sea thanks to Celebrity Cruises and Holland America Line’s respective partnerships with Apple and Microsoft.
I should disclose I’m squarely in the Mac camp, but this piece will remain objective.
Deal Alert: Free Airfare to the Galapagos
See Norwegian’s Cuba-bound Norwegian Sky
Less is Truly More on Viking Ocean Cruises
I’ll never forget being on Celebrity Cruises’ Celebrity Solstice in the Mediterranean when I heard the news that Steve Jobs had passed away. I was shocked and saddened beyond belief, as I’m sure many of us were. For me, it hit a tad more personally because I had the rare opportunity to have met the tech genius briefly at Disneyland, conveying to him my admiration for his products and their positive influence on my life.
At the time, I was actually reporting on Celebrity’s iLounge and its means of representing an Apple Store at sea.
Rather than the Millennium- and Solstice-class ships simply having an internet cafe, they feature a space that appears much like the equivalent venue would on land. The products sit out ready to be sampled and used for browsing (you can still surf and print your boarding passes) but also for learning. Meanwhile, backlit translucent panels showcase photos of the products as well.
Scheduled seminars instruct guests at MacBook Pro and iMac workstations as certified staff guide them in learning about macOS to iOS, as well as the iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and MacBook Pro itself. The newest in audio and video products are among the specifically taught subjects.
READ MORE: New Ideas Upgrade Cruise Ship Internet
Of course, like any venue resembling an Apple Store, it also sells a number of the products.
As the first authorized Apple reseller at sea, guests can conveniently buy some of the showcased items while on their vacation.
Alternatively, Holland America Line, itself a direct competitor of Celebrity, appropriately features Apple’s main rival in a very similar fashion. The Digital Workshop Powered by Windows and its free courses are available on every ship in the fleet. They too are presented by trained Digital Workshop Hosts in a Windows-branded space surrounded by vibrant purple walls.
Rows of Microsoft’s PCs invite guests to learn Windows 10, digital photography, video editing and more. Each class is available multiple times during a voyage for ease of planning, and QA sessions are also scheduled.
READ MORE: The Shopping Mall and Its Premium Brands at Sea
Products may not be available to purchase onboard, but classroom handouts are ready in PDF from to download and print to review back at home. You can even download them directly from the Holland America Line website to get a sense for what classes are available ahead of your cruise.
Specific topics include Cortana, OneDrive, Office, Outlook and even Skype.
Regardless of which platform you prefer, I think we’d all agree that we live in an amazing time when it comes to computer technology. The things we now have the power to do and capture are remarkable compared to even a decade ago.
Both the iLounge and Digital Workshop help make guests more proficient as digital photo archivists and vacation videographers, which inevitably enhances the overall cruise travel experience.
Celebrity Cruises and Holland America Line are also smart to know that the better passengers are at sharing their memories, the better they are at promoting the cruise experience and their brands in particular.
It’s not just a win for Apple and Microsoft but the cruise companies as well.
Leave a Reply