Virgin Voyages Provides One thing Royal Caribbean, Carnival Do not Supply
Virgin Voyages desires to disrupt the cruise trade.
The Richard Branson-owned firm has performed this most notably by making its cruises adults-only. You should be 18 to board its ships, which permits the cruise line to totally cater its expertise to adults.
Whereas Carnival Cruise Line (CCL) and Royal Caribbean (RCL) , which additionally operates the Movie star model, commit area on their ships to children and youngsters, Virgin doesn’t do that. Nor does Virgin have to make its leisure choices family-friendly, permitting for racier choices and a ship that is at all times kind of a celebration.
Virgin has additionally tried in significant methods to make its experiences completely different from what its rivals provide. That features not having a fundamental eating room and having its lineup of specialty eating places included in your primary cruise fare.
And in maybe its most controversial selection, Virgin Voyages removed a cruise line staple: the buffet, changing it with a meals courtroom that includes quite a lot of eateries.
It is an expertise designed to repair what the upstart cruise line’s creators noticed as issues with the standard cruising expertise.
Now, as Virgin Voyages evolves, it is enhancing its expertise to ship experiences that Carnival and Royal Caribbean do not provide.
Picture supply: Daniel Kline/TheStreet
Virgin Voyages Borrows an Thought From Domino’s
Virgin offers every passenger a bracelet that works to open your cabin door and to pay for alcoholic drinks and specialty espresso (different drinks are included).
The app additionally can be utilized to plan and observe your actions, together with controlling most of the features in your cabin.
You may as well use the Virgin Voyages app to do quite a few different issues powered by the DeCurtis Expertise Platform.
“From the time a Sailor books their journey or makes use of cell ticketing, all onboard experiences, from departure to the top of their journey, are enhanced by expertise,” stated Virgin Voyages Expertise Vice President Frank Farro, utilizing the cruise line’s reference to passengers as Sailors.
Scroll to Proceed
“A favourite luxurious indulgence for Sailors is our distinctive ‘Shake for Champagne’ characteristic. By merely shaking their cellphone with the Virgin Voyages app open, and urgent a button, crew is alerted to ship chilled champagne to the Sailor wherever they’re on the ship.”
That is somewhat foolish, after all, and at finest a gentle comfort. However using that expertise has been used to allow a broader “supply wherever” service.
“The identical functionality is prolonged to different providers corresponding to Ship Eats, to ensure high-touch service to every Sailor’s onboard expertise,” Farro added.
That implies that if a passenger is on the pool deck or resting on a lounge chair within the solar, they will order meals to that location.
Neither Royal Caribbean nor Carnival gives something like that expertise, which has similarities to what Domino’s (DPZ) makes use of on land to ship your pizza to the park, seashore, or wherever else.
Virgin Provides an All-Digital Cruise Expertise
Virgin Voyages desires to ship a frictionless, all-digital expertise beginning when passengers add any required paperwork earlier than their cruises.
Having all the pieces in digital type permits the cruise line to confirm paperwork earlier than you cruise, which makes for a quicker, smoother boarding expertise.
The digital expertise additionally extends to what crew can do with their very own app-based experiences. This contains the power to create upkeep tickets, assist passengers make or change eating reservations, and facilitate the required muster drill with the choice to look at the demonstration video on private units or on the cabin TV.
Virgin Voyages has additionally used the expertise to create a digital queuing system in order that passengers haven’t got to attend in lengthy traces.
“As a substitute, the Virgin Voyages app sends an alert when it’s their flip to board the ship, head to dinner, attend a present or disembark at a port of name,” the corporate stated.
“This deal with a frictionless expertise permits Sailors to calm down and benefit from the facilities, and the expertise driving these experiences creates a five-star expertise wherever onboard.”