News

Good overview of the platform that my team has built at Princess to drive our guest experience.

With a complex system for migrating data to and from ships causing new challenges every day, Princess Cruises sought support from digital experience firm Acquia to ensure the process of using Drupal to build its onboard digital platform went smoothly.

The open-source content management platform was chosen for its flexibility and ability to create customised content. Nine months later, the [Princess@Sea](http://www.princess.com/learn/onboard/activities/princess-at-sea/) app was fully developed and accessible on any device, from mobile phones to desktop computers.

More quoting myself:

With other cruise lines, ones even within the Carnival Corporation family, offering mobile apps specifically for iOS and Android devices, it may at first seem peculiar that the Princess equivalent is not a native app, but Craddock explains, “I think one of the big differentiators for us, in thinking about that mobile experience, was that we really wanted to provide this foundation for the guest experience first and then look at the platform as something we then can use to expand how we do our offerings onboard.” That means it is also accessible from traditional internet cafe terminals, laptops and tablets and can be inexpensively updated more frequently.

Some notes from a talk I gave recently at Acquia Engage 2015. Short talk, but a great group.

The Princess@Sea app first launched on one ship in 2013, the Royal Princess, and will be available on all 17 ships in the Princess fleet by the end of the year, said Nate Craddock, project lead and architect for Princess@Sea product team, speaking at Acquia Engage in Boston last week.

A pretty fun webcast we did with Lingotek and the Drupal Association.  Mainly focuses on one aspect of the platform, mainly the onboard evaluations and their instant translation workflow through Drupal and Lingotek .

I was fortunate to be able to host a session at DrupalCon Los Angeles.  Great showcase for our product, but also a peak behind the curtain at how we're able to make a platform like Princess@Sea on Drupal and how to rethink what you're building and who your team is.

"Princess Cruises is a very forward-thinking company. Mario's team is comprised of truly innovative and creative thinkers," stated Rob Vandenberg, President and CEO of Lingotek. "Lingotek is proud to be a major part of the Princess Cruises 'Translation at Sea' solution and looks forward to working with them on continued projects."

A video we made with our friends at Acquia to feature the use case that we have at Princess with Drupal.

Another benefit of having a web based platform - no need to download an app and not limited to a small selection of platforms.

Guest who do not download the app will still be able to send messages to other passengers using Princess@Sea, the award winning app that debuted on the Royal Princess.  Princess@Sea allows guests to view the day’s events and activities, their stateroom account, restaurant menus, and other information about their cruise from any smartphone, tablet, or computer.

Fun discussion about Content Management, what we're doing at Princess with Drupal and so on.  I also do sing karaoke...

Nate Craddock (nate_craddock) Subbu Hariharan (subru77), and Hillary Neaf (nektir) from Princess Cruises join Ted Bowman and Mike Anello to talk about Princess Cruises’ use of Drupal both on and off-shore. We also cover five stories, five picks of the week, and five questions!

Congrats to my team!

Princess Cruises 

Princess@Sea    Cruise - Overall - Mobile App    Santa Clartia, CA