CASE STUDY
Reimagining guest experiences on the high seas
Carnival Corporation connects high-touch technology and the human touch to create hyper-relevant experiences for thousands of guests at a time.
Challenge
It’s no wonder that Carnival Corporation’s CEO Arnold Donald calls today “the golden age of cruising.” Forbes predicts that 27 million people will take a cruise this year, with $65 billion in ships on order over the next decade.
As the industry grows, so does competition, and cruise lines need to deliver personalized, cost-effective experiences to keep passengers coming back to sea on their ships. However, customers feel this is an area where travel providers struggle. According to Accenture Global Consumer Pulse Research in 2018, three out of four travelers feel only a handful of travel companies really excel in relevance.
As the premier innovation partner for Carnival Corporation’s Global Experience & Innovation team, Accenture is helping to elevate and transform the cruise experience by scaling made-for-me experiences for thousands of passengers at a time. Discover how an innovation partner tapped into all five of its businesses – Digital, Technology, Strategy, Consulting and Operations - to provide Carnival guests with the best experience on the seven seas.
"The OceanMedallion™ is the apex in travel as it relates to delivering personalized experiences… because it facilitates the guest staying engaged in the experience and not seeing the world through a three-by-five screen."
– JOHN PADGETT, Chief Experience and Innovation Officer – Carnival Corporation
Strategy and solution
Carnival Corp. selected Accenture as its premiere innovation partner to help design the Ocean® guest experience platform.
The approach was to embed smart digital technologies into the physical environment of ships that could sense and respond to guests’ needs. The technology could also empower the crew to build one-on-one relationships with each of the thousands of passengers on board, allowing them to create moments of surprise and delight.
Ocean® is an integrated guest experience platform with a secure Experience Internet of Things (xIoT™) network and streaming analytics currently on board MedallionClass™ ships from Princess Cruises.
All of this centers around the OceanMedallion™ - a wearable device that every guest sailing MedallionClass™ receives for free. It holds each guest’s unique digital identity and connects them to an ecosystem of services and experiences powered by the platform. The Medallion helps crew easily and precisely identify guests for bespoke recommendations and seamless cabin access, while linking to interactive portals and other digital experiences through the ship. The OceanMedallion™ enables everything from frictionless payments to streamlined embarkation, creating a whole new way for guests to enjoy their time onboard.
Accenture Interactive played a key role in reinventing the guest experience, working alongside Fjord, the design and innovation arm of Accenture Interactive, and MATTER, a design firm since acquired by Accenture.
High-tech, high-touch personalization by Accenture Interactive
Accenture Interactive’s role helps bring the vision to life. The cross-disciplinary collaboration fueled consistency and efficiency and reinforced the central role of the guest experience.
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Connecting every guest to personalized experiences
Each guest receives a free Medallion. The light, quarter-sized disc enables frictionless payment, keyless stateroom access, accelerated embarkation and much more.
Enabling guest-to-guest wayfinding
The Medallion allows guests to seamlessly find their next location and easily locate friends and family onboard. Crew also know where passengers are to serve them as they move about the ship.
Learning as we go
Data captured on board—including movement patterns, guest behaviors and more—allows Carnival to create new services and experiences. It also allows them to manage operations and design future ships.
Transformation
With the help of Accenture Technology, The Ocean® guest experience is a fully functioning future-ready system — made for continuous change, high transaction volumes, resiliency, and most importantly, interconnectivity. It is a “living” system, built up of applications, infrastructure, processes and people.
Already, The Ocean® guest experience platform is transforming the end-to-end cruise experience for guests sailing with Princess Cruises.
90%
Instead of bringing documentation and waiting in long lines to board, guests can get OceanReady® to complete most pre-departure steps online—reducing wait times by 90%, from 10 minutes to 30 seconds.
40M
Carnival Corp. installs 7,000+ sensors on MedallionClass™ ships to enable the enhanced guest experience, generating up to 40 million intelligence events per ship every day.
10-12
The number of days it takes to outfit a ship with the Ocean® guest experience platform to enable the MedallionClass™ experience for guests.
Transforming into a Living Business
By putting guests at the center and adapting everything around their dynamic needs, wants and desires, MedallionClass™ is positioning Carnival Corp. to operate like a Living Business that is constantly learning, adapting and evolving along with customer desires.
Seeing an Ocean of Possibility
The MedallionClass™ experience positions Carnival Corporation as the travel industry’s foremost guest experience innovator. The initiative will continue to evolve, fed by a raft of newfound Experience Intelligence™ as well as by Carnival Corp.’s commitment to exceed guest expectations and support continuous innovation.
To find out more about a MedallionClass™ vacation visit PrincessCruises.com.
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