Carnival Cruises
Design Lead . UX . UI . Vision
Transforming cruise experiences with user-centric design
Our collaboration with Carnival Cruises was a 6 week design sprint that enabled us to reimagine the pre, during and post-cruise experience for Cunard and P&O customers. To transform the cruise experience, we focused on deep customer insight, stakeholder alignment and user-centric design. Through comprehensive customer research and collaborative workshops, we developed a personalised customer journey map and informed their product delivery roadmap to meet Carnival’s strategic initiatives.
The personalised journey is designed to enhance guest discovery, increase spend, satisfaction and customer lifetime value.
SERVICES DELIVERED
Carnival Cruises engaged our team to spearhead their digital transformation. I led the design vision and user experience, driving the discovery phase, crafting the vision and strategy, and developing high-fidelity prototypes. We initiated a new design system, mapped end-to-end customer journeys, and created a comprehensive roadmap to guide their transformation. Throughout the project, I collaborated with my colleagues to conduct in-depth customer research, ensuring our designs decisions were informed by user needs and outcomes.
CHALLENGE
The primary design challenge for this project was to create a cohesive and personalised cruise experience that spans the entire customer journey—from product discovery and decision making to booking, pre-cruise planning, onboard engagement, and post-cruise follow-up. We also needed to ensure that each touchpoint was intuitive, engaging, and reflective of individual preferences and needs.
Additionally, we aimed to maximise guest spend at every stage of the journey by strategically incorporating upsell opportunities and personalised recommendations. Aligning all stakeholders around a unified vision was key to achieving these goals.
COLLABORATORS
As the Lead Product Designer, I collaborated closely with key stakeholders and the wider team at Carnival Cruises.
With the 6-week timeline, we worked at pace to understand, ideate, collaborate, and inspire each other. We worked in the open and our direct reporting line included Emma Smith, Vice President of Digital at Carnival Cruises and Sarah Curtis, Digital Director for P&O Cruises, and Bernadette Thomason, Digital Product Manager at Carnival UK .
STAKEHOLDER ALIGNMENT
Our strategy aligned closely with Carnival’s business objectives, involving regular feedback loops with the C-suite to allow for necessary adjustments. This open and engaging approach helped create a cohesive set of goals, accelerating progress and maintaining momentum throughout the project.
CUSTOMER INSIGHT
We gained valuable insights from both internal teams and customers, identifying key areas for improvement such as the booking experience. For P&O, this focused on ease of use and fixing broken journeys, while for Cunard, it meant enriching the experience with touch features to inspire confidence in customers booking high-value, high-expectation holidays. Addressing pain points like selecting a cabin and alleviating fears of limited onboard activities were crucial.
A standout finding was the exceptional dedication of Carnival’s customer success team, who consistently delighted guests despite a fragmented online journey caused by disconnected technology.
RUNNING EXPERIMENTS
One of our hypotheses focused on the need for more efficient and personalised experiences. Research revealed that guests struggled to find unique and interesting on-board activities. They expressed a desire for tailored recommendations for destination, activities, excursions, dining, and entertainment, based on their preferences, the cruise itinerary, and their preferences.
Additionally, we helped the product teams re-evaluated Carnival’s product discovery approach. We introduced continuous discovery practices, regular customer feedback sessions, and dual-track discovery and delivery sprints.
HYPOTHESES
Based on our research, we hypothesised that offering personalised and tailored recommendations for excursions, dining, and entertainment, based on guests’ preferences, cruise itineraries, and past behaviours, would enhance their overall experience and increase their engagement with the unique and interesting onboard activities. This approach aims to build confidence and desire to book future cruises.
A key priority was enabling guests to visualise their cruise experience comprehensively. Guests needed to see realistic representations of onboard activities and excursions. This capability was crucial for securing interest and encouraging guests to plan their activities before and during the cruise.
Meeting this need also addressed secondary priorities, such as assessing different options, ensuring the offerings matched their interests, and sharing plans with travel companions for collaborative decision-making.
ELEVATED CRUISE EXPERIENCES
Clear and upfront information was also a vital guest need. Given that the planning process could span several months, it was essential to provide all necessary details upfront, such as availability, schedules, and pricing. This transparency reassured guests and streamlined the planning and booking processes.
We also focused on providing personalised assistance, simplifying the booking of excursions, and ensuring a frictionless on-board experience.
CONCLUSION
Our collaborative journey with Carnival Cruises has delivered substantial progress in developing their digital transformation roadmap. Today, Carnival’s product teams have embraced our customer-centric, evidence-based approach. We helped them build out the foundations of their design system and set them up to run regular customer feedback sessions. These practices have deepened their understanding of guests’ preferences and aspirations, building confidence in product decisions and driving progress.
Carnival Cruises is now well-positioned to translate diverse guest needs into a competitive product, executed through an evolving product roadmap. This iterative approach will enable them to validate new ideas and enhance the product’s feasibility and utility. Looking ahead, we’re excited about the initial launch of phase one this September.
