Do you want to live in a smart city? So go on a cruise!
Today, tourist activities seem to be the closest option for us to experience the advantages of future smart cities. In fact, there are already hotels where an iPhone can act as a key and where the receptionists are robots.
Nevertheless, Currently, the technological experience can be even greater on board a cruise ship: These floating cities have become true smart cities. Were the amusement, theme and water parks, those who served, more than five years ago, of pioneering experiences.
Currently, in fact, using a smart and waterproof bracelet to pay for our purchases inside one of these enclosures is more than usual. And the jump to the high seas has something to do with the empire of Walt Disney
Anything can happen at Disney World, even skipping lines with a wristband.
It was in 2013 when the entertainment giant launched its MagicBand at Disney World, its theme park in Orlando, United States.
That smart bracelet, still used today in the company's parks, not only does it allow you to pay for purchases without having to carry cash or a card with you: with it you can also enter your hotel room, skip the lines at previously selected attractions and even link it to the Disney PhotoPass service so that all the photos you make us in the park appear associated with the profile of each visitor.
all thanks to a wearables what includes radio frequency identification technology (RFID), Bluetooth and NFC.
The Disney MagicBand bracelet allows you to pay without cash to open the door of your hotel room.
THE JUMP INTO THE SEA
How did the technology developed from the Mickey Mouse company come to influence the cruise industry?
Via John Padgett: whoever was the brains behind MagicBand changed his position at Walt Disney to that of head of innovation at Carnival Corporation, the largest cruise operator in the world.
In addition to the idea of a wearable with which to turn cruise ships into true smart cities in the middle of the sea, Padgett came to Carnival with part of the team that developed Disney's MagicBand.
That is how the ** Ocean Medallion was born, a device the size of a watch face ** that passengers on some of Carnival's cruise ships can wear as a bracelet, pendant or simply in their pocket.
This little wearable is, in fact, much more than a wallet with which to pay for purchases on board or a key with which to open the cabin: It is, in the words of the company itself, a "personal concierge".
The Ocean Medallion can be worn as a bracelet, pendant or in your pocket.
Not in vain, thanks to artificial intelligence, the Ocean Medallion learns from travelers' preferences to suggest new activities on board the cruise ship.
Depending on where they are on the ship, what time it is and what activities they have previously done, the wearable proposes in real time what may be the next event on your agenda.
In addition, and for the help to be even more efficient, the device itself is used to reserve a place in these activities or even save a table in the chosen restaurant.
The device also allows travelers to use their mobile device or, on the contrary, completely disconnect from the smartphone during the cruise. different readers spread throughout the ship They make the Ocean Medallion experience compatible with those cruise passengers who prefer to do without their mobile.
Immersive experience on a Royal Caribbean cruise thanks to the WOWBand, the mobile and virtual reality glasses.
OTHER BRACELETS
However, Carnival is not the only case in which a company's high-end cruise ships have become smart ships thanks to the use of a wearable.
Since 2014, without going any further, ** Royal Caribbean ** uses its ** WOWBands ** to make the travel experience of its guests more comfortable (and technological).
Available in multiple colors, this wristband features RFID technology so cruise passengers can pay on board, open their cabins, and also Live immersive experiences thanks to the combination of the WOWBand, your mobile and virtual reality glasses.
“The WOWBand is ideal for checking in, closing doors and paying; can get wet if you are in the pool and It doesn't require carrying a phone, but in our integrated approach, using it with a phone makes more sense." explains in an interview with Digital Trends the company's head of innovation, Joey Hasty.
Not in vain, from Royal Caribbean they defend that the mobile is the only thing that passengers never forget to take with them.
In addition, thanks to the company's app, the smart bracelet and virtual reality, travelers can see how are the experiences offered on board before deciding on one or the other.
Even its augmented reality allows you to see every corner of the cruise. Just point the camera of your phone and on the screen you will see what is on the other side of the wall, as if it were an ** X-ray machine **. This includes areas restricted to the public, such as the engine room or the bridge. An immersive experience in which, with the technology on board, everything is within reach of cruise passengers.
Royal Caribbean intends to go even further. The company expects to end 2018 with 30% of its fleet prepared to offer these experiences, while working on a facial recognition system that allows speeding up certain processes, such as boarding.
This system could also be used to find lost passengers in the immensity of cruise ships **(especially interesting in the case of smaller crew members) ** and, ultimately, shows that technology can not only make stay of the cruise passengers, but also helps the companies themselves to carry out a more efficient management of their ships.
On Royal Caribbean cruise ships, some waiters are robots.
Games with augmented reality on board will be other technological incentives made available to Royal Caribbean passengers, which will now have another competitor when it comes to designing smart ships: MSC Cruises has also recently opted for the creation of wearables with which to make the stay more comfortable for its customers.
NFC, cashless payments or geolocation are the main bets of the big cruise companies and, as a whole, They allow us to imagine a future on solid ground in which neither keys nor coins are present in our pockets.
While we continue to imagine what the smart cities of the future will look like, today's cruise ships already offer a technological landscape unthinkable a few decades ago. Although it sounds like science fiction, it is as real as a vacation on the high seas.