Experience elevation at sea

This company is a global cruise operator with annual revenues exceeding $14 billion and a fleet of more than 60 ships across three brands. 

Our client was looking for a B2C solution that would enable guests to purchase on- and off-ship offerings, from dining and spa packages to shore excursions.

Previously, guests could only book these offerings before their trip or when the ship was in port. That limitation negatively impacted customer satisfaction, sales and the company’s own ability to adapt quickly.

To remedy this, our client needed both shoreside and shipside architecture to ensure a seamless guest experience — even in remote locations with poor internet access.

They turned to Valtech to develop a system that would exceed guest expectations and improve efficiency.    

Our experts overcame complex technical challenges to deliver a sustainable commerce solution that could work both on and offshore. This included architecting a floating data center for all ships, enabling all live onshore data to be supported at sea.

This sophisticated solution utilizes a range of technology, including:

• SAP Commerce for product management, inventory management and order management.

• Adobe Experience Manager integrated into SAP Commerce as a headless solution, using SAP Omni Commerce Connect (OCC) web services.

• Open Data Protocol (ODATA) web services to support ship-to-shore data transfer and outbound data synchronization.

We were able to accelerate successful transformation for this global organization where others had failed in the past.

This was down to our truly consultative partnership and willingness to push boundaries. We were able to identify key challenges and obstacles while also mapping out creative solutions and pathways to success. We championed bold action and challenged legacy thinking to drive meaningful results.

Stakeholders recognized the value in our approach. Our team quickly grew from three to 75.

Although this experience may feel seamless to guests, it brings together and manages complex data and experiences.

For example, cruise excursions are run by different operators in every port, and they can change quickly due to bad weather or a shifted course.

Our solution brings together siloed data and complex purchase types to provide a connected, up-to-date and meaningful experience for guests — both before they leave on their trip and while they are on board.

We’ve achieved this by combining a mix of local (US) and offshore commerce development resources.