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WOW bands


41m33

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On our last sailing on Anthem we were in a Jr suite and all guests were given a free WOW band. On our upcoming sailing we are in a Boardwalk balcony. Were the WOW bands a suite perk? Can we purchase WOW bands? I found them very convenient for onboard purchasing!

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Suite perk, available for purchase for $5 each for non-suite cabins.  

There was a time when you could swap your old Wow! bands on the next cruise for free.    In my experience that was only allowed if the muster station printed on them matched and was the same.  Doesn't hurt to try if you still have the old Wow! bands.

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Dan was so bummed when he found out that Allure didn't use the Wow band.  He had brought his from our Harmony cruise.  Personally, I don't like them but he does.  The one Dan has from our Harmony cruise (he should have 3...don't ask me where the other 2 went !!) does not have a muster station on it.  I guess he would be able to use it again if we go on a ship that uses them.

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2 hours ago, 41m33 said:

So am I understanding this right? There are no WOW bands on Allure? From what I remember on Anthem, we used them to unlock our stateroom. This was handy for the kids. So this means they'll have to carry a card key?

Correct.  Allure does not use WOW bands.  At least, they didn't last week.

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2 hours ago, 41m33 said:

So am I understanding this right? There are no WOW bands on Allure? From what I remember on Anthem, we used them to unlock our stateroom. This was handy for the kids. So this means they'll have to carry a card key?

Correct

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When we cruised aboard the Symphony of the Seas on the Pre-Inaugural cruise (31MAR) they had WOW bands available (I believe $5); however, they didn't have the muster station information printed on them.  We could have traded our Harmony WOW bands, but they said that all 'WOW band ships' in the future will convert to the clean version (no-muster station information).  With that knowledge, we kept our Harmony bands and they uploaded our Symphony data onto them for free.  Unlocking the cabin door is what I use it for.  Here's hoping that they'll expand its uses in the future. 

They still have the same four colors available; Blue, Black, White & Yellow.

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10 hours ago, psakid said:

When we cruised aboard the Symphony of the Seas on the Pre-Inaugural cruise (31MAR) they had WOW bands available (I believe $5); however, they didn't have the muster station information printed on them.  We could have traded our Harmony WOW bands, but they said that all 'WOW band ships' in the future will convert to the clean version (no-muster station information).  With that knowledge, we kept our Harmony bands and they uploaded our Symphony data onto them for free.  Unlocking the cabin door is what I use it for.  Here's hoping that they'll expand its uses in the future. 

They still have the same four colors available; Blue, Black, White & Yellow.

Great info, thanks!

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On 4/20/2018 at 6:11 AM, 41m33 said:

On our last sailing on Anthem we were in a Jr suite and all guests were given a free WOW band. On our upcoming sailing we are in a Boardwalk balcony. Were the WOW bands a suite perk? Can we purchase WOW bands? I found them very convenient for onboard purchasing!

What's a WOW band?????

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31 minutes ago, Lindsay said:

What's a WOW band?????

It's like the Magic Bands at Disney.  You wear it on your wrist and it can get you into your stateroom and you can use it to purchase things.  You still need your seapass card to get off the ship though.  Personally for me, I find the wow bands to be finicky.  My kids and hubby love them but I still leave mine behind and use my card.

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1 hour ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

It's like the Magic Bands at Disney.  You wear it on your wrist and it can get you into your stateroom and you can use it to purchase things.  You still need your seapass card to get off the ship though.  Personally for me, I find the wow bands to be finicky.  My kids and hubby love them but I still leave mine behind and use my card.

Me too.  Dan loves them, I hate them.

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  • 3 months later...
3 minutes ago, Jess said:

I have a sailing coming up in December with my mom on Oasis in a Jr suite and I’m wondering if the wow bands will be available on oasis. If wowbands are available on oasis would I have to purchase the wow bands or will they be in the suite when we arrive?

I could be wrong but I don't think WOW bands are available on Oasis. They are only on Harmony, and Quantum class ships, and maybe Symphony.

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I absolutely loved the magic bands at Disney.  I even bought a couple that would do different cool lights and sounds when you would use them at certain rides or parks and ones that had cool characters on them.  The bad thing is they do eventually run out of internal battery and will stop working (according to Disney... Mine have continued to work).

   It seems like royal is really missing out on what could be a really good marketing thing.  They are convenient if you don't want to carry a card (except apparently for going on/off the ship).  I'm sure the cost to install on the doors is pricey but I have to believe they'd make it back if they offered more colors, boat designs on the bands, etc.  I guess for a company that struggles with tech issues it just isn't a priority.  Goodness knows Disney's website is not the best, but they managed though.  Anyway, it's interesting how people seem to really love or hate them!  Jane

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Updating over 2,700 cabin doors plus the computer upgrades to work with the new RFID locks, plus adding hundreds of POS terminals to read them is easily a million dollar investment for hardware alone.  The labor to retrofit a ship is probably another half that. 

You can't put $1.5M to $2M into a ship upgrade without increasing fares.  Wow bands aren't going to generate new revenue that didn't exist before, they are just 'cool'.  To recover the cost fares would have to go up.    

It's one thing to build new ships with new tech.  The incremental cost isn't that much.  Retrofitting existing ships to add them would require downtime.  Every minute of a dry dock is precious, extending a dry dock to perform a Wow band upgrade causes more money to be lost.   

I agree wow bands are cool tech but not so cool I am willing to pay more for the privilege.  

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1 hour ago, Kim&N8 said:

Couldn’t agree more! Awesome but not willing to pay more.

Havent had the opportunity to try Royal's WOW bands yet but I have used the Disney Magicbands extensively and bought the MSC version for our cruise on Seaside earlier this year.

For $5 I thought it was great value to not have to dig out my card all the time, worry about where to put the card when I jumped in the pool or on the water slide, etc.

My wife wasn't interested in having one .. probably because she is carrying a bag anyway ?

For a good implementation of WOW band I wouldn't have any issue with paying a few bucks for one (assuming I knew it was an add-on fee ahead of time).

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Don't you have to take them off when you purchase drinks and stuff, and hand them to the server or bartender?  I thought I read that somewhere and that to me sounds like a pain to take it off and on all the time.  If that is the case I might as well just have a sea pass card in a laminate around my neck. 

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Just now, JBC said:

Don't you have to take them off when you purchase drinks and stuff, and hand them to the server or bartender?  I thought I read that somewhere and that to me sounds like a pain to take it off and on all the time.  If that is the case I might as well just have a sea pass card in a laminate around my neck. 

The theory was the POS terminals at bars would have a long cord that could be extended to reach the guest.  Most of the time though, the cord wraps around bottles or other items like drink of the day displays so in the end, you do have to usually take it off and hand it to the bartender.

The terminals sometimes have issues.  On Anthem at the pool station it would never read my band for the whole cruise.  My card was in the room since I was going swimming so they had to key in my towel manually.  Took several minutes and quite a line developed while they fuddled with it.  

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I was under the impression that they were free on the newer ships.  Apparently not so.

I'll have to decide if I want to get them on the Symphony GC I guess.  I have used the Disney Overlord Trackers Magicbands and find them convenient and easy to use.  I can see them being convenient at the pool but otherwise no real difference if I use the card.

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Sure every ship in the fleet is going to eventually have the contact style doors and readers. Think one of the core features that the Royal app was going to be capable of was a card/band replacement while on the ship.

Personally I think the upcoming dry dock of Oasis will tell Royal's future.

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Extending some thoughts...

One of the biggest things that could be done to help along the adoption of bands would be the roaming bar staff. Give them a handheld point of sales system (tablet or "phone" size). Have the ability to enter the order and read a band or card at the time of ordering. Other thought could be having the signature either captured on device or old school with paper receipts.

The challenge is the willingness to invest in the hardware and competence to setup the software.

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Just now, CGTLH said:

Extending some thoughts...

One of the biggest things that could be done to help along the adoption of bands would be the roaming bar staff. Give them a handheld point of sales system (tablet or "phone" size). Have the ability to enter the order and read a band or card at the time of ordering. Other thought could be having the signature either captured on device or old school with paper receipts.

The challenge is the willingness to invest in the hardware and competence to setup the software.

This is brilliant. I'm actually a big fan of this idea. Like on the Promenade during events so you aren't fighting your way to a bar! 

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Just now, KLA said:

This is brilliant. I'm actually a big fan of this idea. Like on the Promenade during events so you aren't fighting your way to a bar! 

Still have to find that bar server... Only thing my thought really does it stop the need to hand over a card or band.

 

One of the future features of the new app was ordering from a mobile device.

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1 hour ago, CGTLH said:

Extending some thoughts...

One of the biggest things that could be done to help along the adoption of bands would be the roaming bar staff. Give them a handheld point of sales system (tablet or "phone" size). Have the ability to enter the order and read a band or card at the time of ordering. Other thought could be having the signature either captured on device or old school with paper receipts.

The challenge is the willingness to invest in the hardware and competence to setup the software.

Is this not how it works by the pool?  What is the point of it if they have to take your band in the back to charge it.

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1 hour ago, CGTLH said:

Extending some thoughts...

One of the biggest things that could be done to help along the adoption of bands would be the roaming bar staff. Give them a handheld point of sales system (tablet or "phone" size). Have the ability to enter the order and read a band or card at the time of ordering. Other thought could be having the signature either captured on device or old school with paper receipts.

The challenge is the willingness to invest in the hardware and competence to setup the software.

I agree, but they also should improve the quality of the WOW bands, they look cheap. Compared to any standard Disney Magic Bands they look like trash (and the Magic Bands are free if you're staying at a WDW hotel).

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3 hours ago, JBC said:

Don't you have to take them off when you purchase drinks and stuff, and hand them to the server or bartender?  I thought I read that somewhere and that to me sounds like a pain to take it off and on all the time.  If that is the case I might as well just have a sea pass card in a laminate around my neck. 

So this sounds like my qualifying statement of "For a good implementation of WOW band" ... again cant speak to Royal but Disney and MSC versions I have never had to take them off, just tap and hold for a moment and you are good to go.

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Royal's future is smartphones.  Use an app on a device you provide.  

Wow bands aren't cheap.  Even in bulk they add up when you consider many of them will never be used again or not for a long time and if they were free there would be tens of thousands every week going into landfill .  The future is an app.  All major hotel chains are going with apps.

They may update some of the fleet to have app enabled cabin locks but I don't see the whole fleet going there.  Perhaps the "AMP" enabled ships might be upgraded but even that is still a huge investment to replace every cabin lock and this investment introduces zero revenue.  Radiance class and below I predict will never see app-enabled locks on the doors.  Possibly Voyager class too.  Like Mariner the AMP will bring enough WOW! without updating cabin decor or cabin locks.

I'd much rather see decor updated before cabin locks.

Making it easy to order a drink on your phone without leaving your chair does make it easier to spend money which increases revenue.  The future is the smartphone and an app.

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42 minutes ago, twangster said:

this investment introduces zero revenue

Not really, it can have the potential to create revenue (outside of "accessory" sales). Placing readers throughout the ship they could gather various metrics of guests. Get better insight who they might be spending time with. How much time they are spending in various areas.

Yes, I know this can also be done with wireless device tracking.

 

Now on the subject of accessory sales. I'm sure you could find upper tier members of the CAS willing to buy a premium version of a WOW band that might indicate status.

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26 minutes ago, CGTLH said:

Now on the subject of accessory sales. I'm sure you could find upper tier members of the CAS willing to buy a premium version of a WOW band that might indicate status.

Upper members of the CAS expect everything for free, especially if it denotes status.  An RFID enabled Pinnacle badge?  

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1 hour ago, twangster said:

Wow bands aren't cheap.  Even in bulk they add up when you consider many of them will never be used again or not for a long time and if they were free there would be tens of thousands every week going into landfill .  The future is an app.  All major hotel chains are going with apps.

I didn't mean the were cheap. They surely look like they're made from cheap material and if you compare them with a magic band they look even worse.  

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