MSC Joins The Race To Wearable Technology At Sea
by Daniel McCarthy /
MSC Cruises is joining the wearable technology trend that is sweeping the travel industry with its “MSC for Me” program.
At the heart of the program is a new wearable that will link to guests’ mobile phones, so they can make and keep track of dinner reservations, show tickets and shore excursions in real time. The wearables also will help them navigate the ship and offer up the daily program of events and itinerary.
In all, the ships will offer 130 smart features linked to 16,000 points of connectivity, 700 digital access points and 114 interactive screens.
Parents can use the bracelets to keep track of their kids on the new 1,000+-foot-long vessels, or interact with crew members, concierge services and fellow guests. They can use the new virtual-reality system to preview shore excursions before purchasing, or a gallery of photos and videos from their cruise.
In all, the ships will offer 130 smart features linked to 16,000 points of connectivity, 700 digital access points and 114 interactive screens.
In the works for the past three years, the program will debut on MSC Meraviglia when it enters service in June and on MSC Seaside when it launches in November. The entire MSC fleet, including 11 new megaships over the next decade, will be equipped with the touchless technology developed in partnership with Samsung, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Deloitte Digital.
“Technology at the service of the guest experience is advancing at a rapid pace and that is why we’ve already invested about $21 million in the first two ships alone,” executive chairman Pierfrancesco Vago said in a statement. It’s all about “connecting guests to their desired vacation experience through cutting-edge technology that is specially engineered to meet their every need. We aren’t just planning ships and experiences relevant to our cruise guests in the next few years, but to those we will welcome on board as far out as 2030 and beyond.”
Carnival Corp. in January announced that wearable Ocean Medallions, which allow guests to open their stateroom door and make onboard purchases, will debut on its Princess Cruises brand later this year.