Technology makes life better as long as it works properly.
When it fails, however, you end up with tens of thousands of airline passengers stuck without a way to get to their destination. In that case, it wasn't like the airline could quickly employ a manual solution.
Air travel and managing planes and flights has become so complicated that it requires technology. That's true in many areas, but sometimes, technology is a choice.
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Nobody needs artificial intelligence (AI) to help their fast-food order, but a number of chains have been employing it. The same comes to making your meal, or your cup of coffee. Technology may be able to do it faster, or more precisely, but people rarely lose power and, in the case of the fast food industry, a virus won't stop them from having to go to work.
The cruise industry has added a lot of technology in order to make cruises safer and ships more efficient. Carnival Cruise Line, on its newest Excel-class ships, uses some controversial technology to make two key parts of your cruise easier.
Carnival Cruise Line uses facial recognition
Cruise lines have always asked passengers for permission to use a picture. It's important for the cruise line to know that the person getting off or on the ship is actually the person whose name is listed on the boarding pass or card being presented.
Traditionally, those cards are scanned and a member of the security team does a quick check to make sure the person matches the image. It's a similar system to the one used when you show your ID to get on a plane.
Carnival, however, has been using facial recognition technology on its latest ships, the Excel-class Mardi Gras, Jubilee, and Celebration. Brand Ambassador John Heald asked his Facebook followers whether that should continue on the new class of ships — its largest ever — that Carnival has ordered.
"Just a thought about the Excel class ships and the new ships on order. At embarkation and debarkation it is obvious that facial recognition is a brilliant advancement for getting on and off the ships," he wrote. "Do you agree?"
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Carnival passengers have mixed opinions
Passengers were very mixed on the issue and they basically shared two very different opinions."Yes, it makes the process much more efficient," Tiffany Burleson wrote.
Missi Brown took the contrarian approach.
"No. We need to leave things as they are. As a world in general we are relying to much on technology. The old way of signing in and out with the sail and sign card works great. As the saying goes if it's not broken don't fix it," she shared.
Over, 2,500 of Heald followers weighed in on the issue. Many of them decided to not focus on the question at hand, but criticize the cruise line for its decision to build three more very large ships.
"Bring back the smaller ships! Cruising is turning into a day at Disney World. Too many people and having to make reservations for everything. Taking the relaxation out of cruising. Fewer and fewer available ports too. Cruise lines are gonna cruise right out of their niche," Doug Suter posted.
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Others tied multiple issues together.
"I do like the facial recognition. How are these mega-ships going to sail Alaska? Or the Panama Canal? Alaska is a bucket list sailing for most, and these overly huge ships can not navigate the water around Alaska," Suzanne Jones wrote.
Related: Get the best cruise tips, deals, and news on the ships from our expert cruiser
