Client story Cruise Line Initiates Digital Transformation With Apple Devices
A major cruise line quickly transformed its operations model to provide touchless service with Insight and Apple products.
By Insight Editor / 22 Mar 2021 / Topics: Devices
Facts at a glance
Client industry:
Travel and leisure
Size of company:
30,000 employees; 29 ships
Challenge:
A major brand in the cruise industry needed to continue providing top-flight service to passengers while maintaining safe, socially distanced operations according to CDC guidelines.
Solution:
We implemented 420+ Apple devices in staterooms and throughout the ship to enable contactless ordering and other service-related activities for guests.
Results:
- Guests still receive personalized care and attention while the staff maintains safe and CDC-compliant operations.
- The company is ready to resume sailing as soon as it’s deemed safe by public health officials.
- An ongoing partnership with Insight streamlines the roll-out of this program to other ships in the future.
Responding to Public Health Challenges With Apple Devices
An award-winning and well-known brand in the cruise industry is known for providing consistently superior cruise vacations and exceeding customer expectations. When the COVID-19 pandemic completely halted operations for all 29 ships in the fleet, the company quickly realized that it would need to reimagine its guest services model to resume safe sailing as soon as possible.
The company wanted to find a way to continue delivering highly personalized and attentive customer service while also protecting guests and crew members’ health and safety.
Embracing digital innovation on the high seas
With ships docked worldwide and voyages suspended indefinitely in most countries, many people believed that COVID-19 would crush the cruise industry. The company, however, believed the pause in operations offered an opportunity to innovate and embrace digital transformation.
The cruise line reached out to Insight for digital technology solutions that would help it meet public health recommendations and government guidelines without sacrificing its exceptional attention to detail and service.
With ships docked worldwide and voyages suspended indefinitely in most countries, the company believed the pause in operations offered an opportunity to innovate and embrace digital transformation.
Apple devices enable personalized passenger services without sacrificing safety.
After reaching out to the Center of Disease Control (CDC) for guidance, and consulting public health experts, the client came to Insight with an idea of how it would need to pivot its service model to successfully resume sailing.
After looking at the client’s objectives and considering the constraints posed by the ship, our team suggested deploying iPad and iPod devices in passenger staterooms and key areas, like restaurants and cafes, to enable guests to place orders for food, drinks and services without getting too close to crewmembers.
The devices also allow guests to check their folio balances, request additional services, change reservations or alert crew of problems or concerns — all activities typically handled though in-person interactions.
Since the client didn’t expect to resume full operations for all 29 ships in the fleet immediately, we helped them procure more than 420 Apple devices to outfit four of its ships in the interim.
Once the CDC clears the cruise industry to resume passenger voyages, the client will build upon its trusted partnership with Insight to expand the program across the entire fleet and continue to rollout shipboard digital initiatives to improve the cruise experiences for guests.
Our team suggested deploying Apple iPad and iPod devices in passenger staterooms and key areas, like restaurants and cafes, to enable guests to place orders for food, drinks and services without getting too close to crewmembers.
