princess

A reimagined Princess Caribbean cruise experience.

Problem Analysis

Connectivity while on board a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean is an expensive and largely unsolved problem. The cost of internet access is passed to guests through expensive WiFi connections while all of the internet traffic on board the ship is routed through a single satallite signal leading to sluggish and spotty connections.

Most of the guests' needs for internet could be satisfied by offering a local network onboard the ship- including location tracking and mapping, social interactivity, and access to many other services or activities on board the ship itself. In addition to the problem with connectivity, the demographic among guests was aging and updating the experience would attract younger passengers. Cruising was getting stale and it was ripe for reinvigoration.

Solution

Carnival Cruiselines assembled a very large team of engineers, builders, hardware experts, and software developers to undertake this very ambitious project. I personally was involved in the guests' social interaction and communication in Ocean Chat. This was a pivotal role in the success of the product as it solved one of the largest needs for WiFi service- staying in touch with other members of their travel party.

I knew that by creating a simple and intuitive interface that would be somewhat familiar to them through other messaging apps, that I would have a good base to form the UI of the messaging app from. The challenging part of my assignment was integrating less traditional sharing options to the app as well as group voice and video calling. In addition to the app being quite featureful, it also needed to be supported on three very different screen sizes- a 55" vertial touch screen portal, a 24" touch screen monitor, as well as all mobile screens. Keeping design simple proved quite a challenge.

Result

The result is familiar and intuitive yet fresh and full of all the features you can expect from another messaging app. Plus it offers other unexpected features such as event and location sharing made possible by the ship's onboard local network.

Carnival Cruiselines has since integrated Ocean Compass into all of their Caribbean Princess cruises under their MedaillionClass service.