MSC Cruises Introduces Digital Personal Assistant

   May 28, 2018 ,   Cruise Industry

MSC Cruises announced that the name of its industry-first digital personal assistant will be Zoe. Line's CEO Gianni Onorato revealed the name at the 12th annual CLIA Conference held in Southampton UK.

Southampton is where MSC Cruises will officially name its MSC Bellissima, on which the innovative tool will first be introduced. This latest innovation creates connected cruise experience which puts the passenger in control of the cruise, tailoring the way they receive information.

The introduction of the new Digital Personal Assistant marked a new phase in the evolution of the digital innovation program MSC For Me, first introduced in 2017 via the launch of MSC Meraviglia. The connected cruise experience is now available on MSC Splendida and MSC Seaside, and will also be introduced on MSC Seaview when she comes into service on June 10.

MSC Meraviglia cruise ship

Zoe is developed via partnership with HARMAN International (wholly-owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics), experts in voice-enabled technology that developed audio solutions for technology leaders like Amazon, Google, Microsoft. 

A bespoke device is designed for use in the staterooms onboard and will be available in 7 languages: English, Italian, Spanish, German, French, Portuguese, Brazilian and Mandarin. The primary objective of the digital service is to provide the passenger with a simple way to find out information which traditionally is asked in person at ship's Guest Relations desk.

The next innovations will include a more personalized customer engagement powered by Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, smart cabin. The Digital Assistant is the first step of it, along with robotic entertainment.