Carnival Corp Introduces Interactive Guest Experience

Carnival Corporation, the world's largest leisure travel company with 10 global cruise line brands, has revealed it has developed the world's first interactive guest experience platform capable of transforming vacation travel into a highly personalized and elevated level of customized service for millions of guests.

The company unveiled the Ocean Medallion™, a first-of-its-kind wearable device that enables a personal concierge by bridging the physical and digital worlds to deliver a new level of personalized service not previously considered possible, including sophisticated wayfinding, food and beverage on demand, an array of interactive gaming, personalized entertainment experiences and more. The quarter-sized, 1.8-ounce disc can be accessorized with jewelry, clips, key chains, and bands or simply carried in a pocket or pocketbook. The Ocean Medallion goes well beyond the growing number of wearables used by theme parks and other vacation companies by leaving behind the required action of "tap" and ushering in a new paradigm for guest interactions.

Some of its benefits will:

• streamline and expedite the port embarkation and disembarkation process
• allow guests to access their staterooms as they approach the door (no keycard required)
• locate friends and family around the cruise ship
• enable guests to purchase merchandise without any transaction, cards or paper
• deliver enhanced dining experiences based on food and beverage preferences
• power an array of interactive gaming and immersive entertainment experiences
• significantly enhance interactions with crew members and guests.

The Ocean Medallion is the only accessory needed to elevate the guest experience before, during, and after each cruise in what the company is calling Ocean Medallion Class™. The Ocean Medallion pairs with an optional personalized digital concierge called the Ocean Compass™, a digital experience portal available online, on smart devices, on kiosks in home ports, on stateroom TVs, on interactive surfaces located throughout the cruise ship and on devices carried by all guest service hosts.

The new guest experience platform will debut on Princess Cruises' Regal Princess in November 2017, followed by Royal Princess and Caribbean Princess in 2018. The new Medallion Class on Princess Cruises will be rolled out over multiple years on the entire Princess Cruises fleet.

Throughout each guest's vacation, the Ocean Medallion will enable ease and simplicity, while also creating special moments to delight guests in unexpected ways, creating an entirely new level of service that will elevate the vacation experience. Examples of never-before-possible service innovations include:

• Ocean Ready™: Streamlined and expedited port embarkation and disembarkation processes. For instance, at the terminal, Ocean Medallion-carrying guests can board the ship, engage with crew members and begin their vacation at their leisure as they already have the "key" to their stateroom (no check-in required).
• Easy Access to Everything: Allows guests to browse and purchase products (utilizing Medallion Pay™) such as retail merchandise, photos, spa services and destination excursions both intuitively and conveniently from any Ocean Compass (mobile device, browser, stateroom, public) at anytime (before, during or after cruise).
• Seamless Navigation: Enables point-to-point wayfinding across the ship thanks to an intelligent navigation assistant–similar to a car or phone GPS app.
• Personalized Dining: Facilitates ordering, menu exploration and delivery of food and beverage services. Guests can even place orders and view the whereabouts of their food and beverage, as well as place future orders and have them delivered wherever they plan to be at a designated time.
• Anytime-Anywhere Entertainment and Gaming: Expands gaming options to include new digital games guests can play independently or with others, for fun or based on casino rules of the house, inside or outside of the casino including poolside, in staterooms or in any other ship location.
• Enhanced Crew Interactions: Takes personalized service to a new level because crew members are equipped with a Crew Compass that empowers personalized guest interactions. For example, when guests arrive at the airport, guest service hosts will be able to provide personalized greetings and guest services.
• Easy Payment: Enables guests to conveniently and securely make payment for experiences using their Ocean Medallion. Guests can associate any number of credit cards, reward cards, gift cards and advanced payment services with Medallion Pay.

Carnival Corporation will demonstrate its Experience Innovation Operating System today at the company's invitation-only Experience Center at CES in Las Vegas, including in-depth and interactive displays of the new technology.