Cruise company Carnival gets personal with smarter concierge services
The cruise company has unveiled technology designed to help crew members anticipate and respond to passengers’ needs
What if your room on a cruise ship were to unlock automatically as you approach, or if the wait staff could bring your favourite cocktail before you even ask? Carnival, the operator of such cruise lines as Princess, Holland America and Carnival, wants to make that happen so it can get cosier with its guests and make cruises even more personalised.
Carnival is using the CES gadget show in Las Vegas on Wednesday to unveil new concierge technology designed to help crew members anticipate and respond to passengers’ needs. It will rely on sensors and wearable trackers, and is scheduled to debut on the Regal Princess cruise ship in November.
The leisure-cruise industry is playing catch-up with travel peers like hotels and airlines, which now let you unlock rooms with a smartwatch or fly with a boarding pass on your phone.
Personalization is important as cruise ships get bigger and come across as impersonal, said Mike Driscoll, editor-in-chief of Cruise Week, an industry publication. Personalization can also help cruise companies attract more first-timers, including tech-savvy millennials.
“It’s catching up to what life is like on the land,” Driscoll said.
Whether anticipating guests’ needs will feel useful or creepy remains to be seen. Those who might be spooked don’t have to use the medallion or can limit how much they want to participate, Carnival CEO Arnold Donald said.
“In the end, the guests will tell us,” Donald told The Associated Press. “If it doesn’t (resonate), it’s back to the drawing board.”
The linchpin of the system is a tracking medallion the size of a quarter. Cruise passengers wear it as a pendant, throw it into a purse or place it in a pocket. The medallion uses wireless technologies to communicate with sensors placed around the ship, cruise terminals and even airports, where staff can provide personalised greetings as passengers fly in.
Crew members armed with tablets can respond to any needs nearby. For example, a guest could be having a drink when a crew member comes by to remind him that a yoga class starts in five minutes. Or a waiter working poolside can ask whether a guest wants her usual gin and tonic.