“The future of cruise is leveraging technology,” said Frank Pitsikalis, vice president of strategy at Agilysys, which provides enterprise-level software solutions to a number of cruise operators.

Doubling down on new solutions during the pandemic, the company has new code built form the ground up that can easily be deployed on just about any device in a shipboard environment without the need for traditional workstations.

The focus has  been on reducing lines aboard, embracing mobile devices for guests to order just about anything and make reservations, and streamlining hotel operations from a guest perspective.

COVID just accelerated the move to embracing mobile devices for ordering drinks, making reservations and more, said Pitsikalis, noting in many cases guests found it easier to order from their device instead of picking up the phone or finding a server.

“The ability to bring crew back has not been easy, and we are using technology to help solve that problem,” he continued. “The staff doesn’t have to have their head down taking an order, we can offload that to the guest and they feel better served … the staff is then more available and can be better hosts.”

Working across the hospitality sector, Pitsikalis said the cruise lines were future-looking customers and had their eyes on automating the guest experience and reducing any potential lines and offloading transactional elements of the experience.

With each guest arriving to the ship with what Pitsikalis said was a powerful computer in their pocket in the form of a modern cell phone, cruise lines can now tap into that and guests can experience a vacation in the way they want to consume it.

“The easier we make it for guests to take advantage of what the ship has to offer, the more they will spend and the more satisfied they will be with the overall experience.”