A cruise line is a commercial company that operates a fleet of passenger ships used to offer voyage-based leisure experiences. Acting simultaneously as transportation provider, accommodation provider, and entertainment provider, a cruise line is responsible for orchestrating all aspects of the maritime journey, involving floating resorts that transport guests between specific ports of call while delivering comprehensive onboard hospitality services.
From a structural perspective, a cruise line is unique to the travel industry because it merges the operational requirements of three different sectors: hospitality (accommodation and dining), transportation (logistics and routing), and events/attractions (entertainment and excursions).
This leads to an incredibly complex model of inventory. Unlike a hotel that does not move around, a cruise line is responsible for floating inventory.
Cruise technology differs from standard hotel technology because of one major limitation — connectivity.
Ships spend a lot of time out at sea, with off-and-on access to expensive or intermittent satellite internet. Therefore, cruise lines depend on a Shipboard Property Management System (SPMS).
Unlike a cloud-native hotel PMS, which is always on, an SPMS must work offline in a localized server environment on the ship to handle point-of-sale (POS) transactions, door locks, and guest billing. It then carries out data synchronization (replication) with the shoreside Headquarters (HQ) whenever connectivity is available. This ship-to-shore synchronization is the critical lifeline in reporting revenue and inventory data back to the corporate office.
Cruise lines are currently the pioneers of the Internet of Things (IoT) in travel. A reason for that is that they control the entire physical environment of the ship, lines like Princess Cruises (with the Ocean Medallion) or MSC have implemented wearable tech. These devices replace the use of keycards and provide:
Cruise products are complex. With different deck plans, dining seatings, cabin types, and differing visa requirements for multiple countries, the look-to-book ratio is high. Consumers often need a human expert (agent) to guide them, which means that automation in cruise lines lags behind that of airlines.
In cruise pricing, the fare is often divided up. NCFs (or Port Charges/Taxes) constitute the portion of the ticket price that covers port fees and operational costs. Cruise lines do not pay agents a commission on this portion, just on the base fare.
This is an example of an inventory management strategy. A guaranteed category is booked at a lower price, and it is assured that they will get at least the category, but not in a specific room number until just before sailing. This affords the cruise line the flexibility to move the inventory around to maximize occupancy.
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