Tablets set sail on cruise ships

Cruise liners have turned to tablet computers to reinvigorate the industry and add a new level of technology to enhance vacationers' travel experiences, a report from Mashable's TabTimes says.

According to the news provider, companies have added tablets to their restaurants, are offering virtual tours through the devices and are encouraging their overall use aboard ships. Much of that is being supported by the fact that many cruise lines now offer ship-wide WiFi connectivity.

Eric Merz, the director of guest technology for Carnival Cruise Line, says tablets are now also used to help run and coordinate on-board entertainment.

"Tablets are lightweight, relatively inexpensive and very versatile with respect to the features that they can provide. The app market continues to grow, and often times we find that available tablet applications will satisfy our needs without the need for costly custom software development," he tells TabTimes.

Market research firm Ovum notes that robust, applications are key to enterprise tablet adoption and use. Overall, Ovum's researchers predict there to be 235 million tablets in circulation by 2016.