Prior to its redevelopment, the P&O’s Cruise Control function was reduced to simply verifying passengers details for their upcoming cruise and communicating basic administrative updates about check-in and departure time.

Driven by last minute deals and increasing price parity across platforms, most forms of tourism booking have seen lead times reduced over recent years. Cruising has bucked this trend, often seeing many passengers book travel months in advance.

Working with P&O, we capitalised on the opportunity to drive and leverage passengers’ collective enthusiasm for their upcoming cruise and channel this towards revenue growth in the lead up to their departure.

To ensure we built the best possible product, we conducted extensive user research, both qualitative and quantitative, to uncover customers’ latent needs in the run-up to their departure.

Allowing the user to login via social authentication starts to build a picture of the greater audience undertaking the cruise, as well as allowing customers to link their Cruise Control to other existing friends. The tool still contains elements of core utility, such as scheduled check-in information, but it also speaks to the passenger’s sense of anticipation on an emotional level.

The tool also starts to surface available Shore Tours, allowing the customers to book and pay for touring options at each port, well in advance. This not only drives incremental revenue for P&O but also allows for better scheduling of suitable resource for the company at each port. These bookings are then saved to a virtual calendar, allowing the customer to share their itinerary socially, and drive further bookings and interaction.