An End-to-End Cruise
Communications Strategy:
Reimagining the Guest Experience
Revolutionise your guest experience with a digital comms solution built for travel – beyond booking and billing.
Revolutionise your guest experience with a digital comms solution built for travel – beyond booking and billing.
A cruise is an experience like no other – and more people than ever are ready to set sail.
But it’s not just the guest count rising – expectations are too. One key takeaway from recent years? Clear, timely communication makes all the difference. When things go to plan, it enhances the journey. When disruption hits, it becomes essential.
In this article, we explore the five key stages of the guest journey – post-booking, embarkation, on-board, disembarkation, and post-voyage – and how powerful communications can elevate every moment, ease stress, and deliver a smoother, more memorable cruise experience.
Building post-booking excitement
Recent research has shown that travellers experience the biggest “travel high” at the point of booking. With that in mind, it’s imperative for any travel operator finds a way to extend this feeling through the sometimes lengthy period between booking and travel.
Excitement can be woven into informational communications. By using TravelComms to send informational emails that evoke your brand’s quality – packed with inspirational photography and highly personalised to your guest – you can cut through the background noise. By prompting guests to book on-board experiences and on-shore excursions, you are helping them ride that “travel high” through a completely immersive communications journey.
Post-Booking - Guest Concerns and Simple Solutions
How can I get the best our of my cruise experience?
Where’s the best place to go to get answers to my questions?
Share recent and relevant guest feedback.
Provide factual and timely updates to any guest questions.
Expediting embarkation
Embarkation – whether by air or sea – often conjures images of queues, checkpoints, and rising stress levels. From passports to security, the process can feel inefficient at best and overwhelming at worst.
Enter the digital embarkation pack. While airlines have long embraced digital passes, cruise lines are just beginning to unlock their potential. With TravelComms, each guest receives a personalised pack with their digital boarding pass, embarkation details, and required documents – everything they need, right at their fingertips.
It streamlines the process, reduces delays, and sets a positive tone from the start – for both guests and crew. Add track-and-trace capabilities and location-triggered updates, and your guests are not only ready to board, but also better prepared for every on-shore adventure.
Embarkation - Guest Concerns and Simple Solutions
Are there any specific embarkation procedures?
What will be required for embarkation?
Confirm embarkation times and process.
Provide electronic embarkation passes.
Maintaining smooth sailing on-board
Once guests are on board, digital signage keeps them informed in real time – from journey updates to dining and entertainment options. In-cabin TVs, welcome packs, and signage continue the experience with timely, relevant prompts.
Connected to your ship’s PMS, TravelComms can deliver confirmations, reminders, and updates via email, SMS, push notifications, or even in-cabin screens – using the best channel for each guest.
From restaurant bookings to spa appointments, proactive, personalised messaging helps guests avoid queues and enjoy a smoother, more relaxing cruise experience.
On-Board - Guest Concerns and Simple Solutions
What happens with my on-board bookings?
What happens with my shore excursions?
Confirm on-board bookings, timings and location details.
Confirm shore excursion bookings, timings and arrangements.
Drama-free disembarkation
With disembarkation being the final stage of the guest’s voyage its importance is critical. Having guests leave the ship happy can mean a rebooking within days (or hours!) of disembarkation, while a recommendation to others is worth its weight in marketing gold.
Like the embarkation stage, TravelComms can issue the required digital passes and notify each guest (or party) of their disembarkation to manage the process in a controlled way. Guests will therefore be able to pack more leisurely and enjoy their final time on-board without unnecessary stress and worry.
Disembarkation - Guest Concerns and Simple Solutions
What are the embarkation procedures?
What will be required for embarkation?
Confirm disembarkation times and process.
Provide electronic disembarkation passes.
Capturing post-voyage feedback
Customer communication shouldn’t end when the voyage does – your journey with the guest continues.
TravelComms handles the entire follow-up, sending personalised Welcome Home emails with Customer Service Questionnaires (CSQs) to effortlessly capture feedback and track Net Promoter Scores (NPS). Positive responses are stored for future use, while negative feedback is instantly routed to your Customer Service team for action.
Closing the loop, TravelComms helps you leverage this feedback to win new cruisers – sharing relevant, real guest reviews that resonate, like a parent praising the kids club sent to a new customer with children.
Post-Voyage - Guest Concerns and Simple Solutions
How could the experience be improved?
Will my feedback be shared with others?
Capture guest experience feedback.
Gain approval to reuse guest feedback.
The bottom line
Keeping your guests informed with updated, accurate information doesn’t need to be complicated. To excite and inform your guests with automated and fully personalised communications, contact our team for a customised demonstration.
Ready to imagine your guest experience?
Contact our team for a free demo tailored and branded for your business.