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CASE STUDY:

Carnival Corp Leverages Docker Enterprise to Create Unique Guest Experiences on Its Cruise Ships

Creating unique guest experiences for Carnival cruises


The following excerpt is from a post originally published in 2019 on the Docker blog.

Carnival Corporation’s MedallionClass Experience

We are rolling out the MedallionClass experience which is powered by a wearable OceanMedallion that gives the guests more ways to engage with us and receive personalized service on demand at any time on the ship.

For example, traditionally you think on a cruise ship if you’re sitting by the swimming pool you have people walking by you and you can order a drink. But what if you’re somewhere else? Perhaps you’re sharing an intimate moment with someone at the back of the ship and you want to order a bottle of champagne. The Medallion allows the crew to find your location and deliver it to you.

We also have gamification built into the platform, “find your shipmates,” room entry and dozens of other services tied to MedallionClass. All of that allows us to provide very personalized interactions with our guests.

The Technology Behind MedallionClass

The MedallionClass program is based on a micro strategy architecture with over 300 services deployed. All of these services work together to create very distinct experiences for our guests. Each ship has about 120 containers running across two shipboard data centers. That gives us high availability in a very small footprint to make sure our guest services are always available.

As part of MedallionClass, we use a hybrid cloud based architecture where we use Docker Enterprise in all of our lower environments and also deploy it on the ships to run our services that provide these experiences for our guests.

How Docker Enterprise Makes MedallionClass Possible

Docker Enterprise plays a very critical role in our digital transformation with the MedallionClass. Cruise ships are essentially mobile cities that provide everything that a guest could need or want, including food and beverage, recreation, accommodations, transportation, telecommunications, gaming and more. And what Docker Enterprise gives us is the unique ability to control the entire guest experience by connecting all these elements together.

Docker Enterprise lets us be very agile so our developers are more productive. As we develop and create highly innovative new personalized guest experiences we can get those to market quickly for our guests.

Docker Enterprise has also allowed us to reduce our overall infrastructure footprint on the ship, and it helps drive standardization as we continue to roll out MedallionClass experiences to our fleet of ships.

Creating a Customized Cruise Ship Experience with Docker Enterprise

Challenge

Carnival Corp wanted to create a personalized, streamlined vacation experience to offer guests “the fun that fits them best” but needed a technology platform that could work seamlessly across development, corporate and on-board environments.

Solution

Carnival Corp leveraged Docker Enterprise to build and deploy their MedallionClass—a system that incorporates access to over 300 onboard services into a single wearable medallion for guests.

Results

Carnival Corp can now quickly add or update guest services, and intends to expand MedallionClass to all of its 110 ships and 15 resorts in the near future.

Carnival Corporation by the Numbers

<100

Containers needed for Onboard Services to Run

300+

Services Offered by MedallionClass

11.5M

Guests Served Annually

“With Docker Enterprise, our developers are more productive and can get new capabilities to our guests faster. It also reduces the overall infrastructure footprint on each ship.”

— Todd Heard

Vice President of Technology, Carnival Corporation

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