Innovating the Cruise Industry with Precision and Personalization
Princess Cruise Lines, a global cruise industry leader, partnered with Renesas to integrate the DA14697 multi-core Bluetooth® SoC with Wireless Ranging (WiRa™) technology into their Medallions, which provide passengers with the revolutionary MedallionClass® experience. The Medallions enhance the guest experience and operational efficiency across Princess Cruise Lines' luxury fleet of ships.
The Challenge: Scaling Personalization Across a "Floating City"
Princess faced the daunting task of managing and personalizing experiences for thousands of passengers and crew members aboard a large cruise ship, which operated like a "floating city", to monitor and manage real-time interactions across vast spaces, Princess needed a robust and precise system that could overcome the wireless signal interference caused by the steel floors, ceilings, and walls of the ships. Moreover, the global COVID-19 pandemic imposed new safety requirements, such as accurate proximity tracking to protect passengers and crew.
A pivotal moment came when the Diamond Princess was docked in Tokyo harbor during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. With passengers trapped onboard, it became clear that the existing RSSI-based ranging technology lacked the precision needed for effective contact tracing. This emergency led to Princess adopting Renesas' WiRa technology, known for its superior accuracy in challenging environments. This technology enabled the company to meet new safety demands and proved accuracy and confidence in passenger service delivery.
The Solution: WiRa-Enabled MedallionClass Experience
Princess Cruise Lines chose Renesas' DA14697 Bluetooth® LE SoC with WiRa™ technology to power its OceanMedallion™ wearable devices, the core of the MedallionClass® experience. WiRa technology uses fine-grain, phase-based ranging to deliver superior accuracy and resilience in challenging environments, where multi-path reflections and signal attenuation (from blocking objects, such as other passengers) can affect wireless performance.
The MedallionClass experience, enabled by Renesas' technology, connects every passenger and crew member into a sophisticated Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem. The system tracks 4,000 Wi-Fi access points, 2,000 crew devices, and 8,000 sensors in real-time, ensuring seamless communication and service delivery. The Medallion™ device offers key features such as touchless embarkation and disembarkation, frictionless commerce, keyless stateroom entry, dynamic way-finding, and personalized service on demand.
But the story doesn’t stop at WiRa. After assessing and rejecting the latest market offerings of Angle of Arrival (AoA) technology, Princess funded Renesas' ATLAS project, which resulted in the world's largest deployment of AoA technology aboard the Sun Princess, sailing since February 2024. Working with its partner IOSEA, Renesas' ATLAS solution delivers a range of benefits, including consistently high accuracy (even demonstrating UWB-equivalence but with lower power and lower cost), very attractive Capex and Opex costs and ease of deployment and commissioning. With this groundbreaking AoA deployment, Renesas has further cemented its position as a leader in this market.
The Impact: Enhanced Precision, Safety, and Guest Satisfaction
By integrating Renesas' WiRa and ALTAS technologies, Princess Cruise Lines has created a new standard of excellence for the cruise experience. The precise location tracking enables Princess to deliver personalized services to passengers more effectively and reliably, enhancing their delight and loyalty. The technology’s superior accuracy, even in a cruise ship’s challenging environment, also provides a vital layer of protection for passenger and crew safety in a future pandemic.
Princess Cruise Lines has successfully scaled this personalized service across its global fleet, turning every ship into a "smart city" on water. The deployment of Renesas' advanced locationing technologies has not only boosted guest satisfaction but also increased operational efficiency, allowing the crew to better manage resources and deliver services with unprecedented precision.
Looking Ahead: A Continued Partnership for Innovation
John Padgett, CEO of Princess Cruise Lines, emphasized the significance of this partnership, stating, "Renesas' locationing technology has given us the precision and confidence to deliver services like never before. In the cruise industry, personalization at scale is essential, and Renesas has been a crucial partner in helping us achieve this."
