For travel advisors and clients interested in the behind-the-scenes workings of cruise travel — particularly, shore excursion operations — a new collaboration between Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Limited (NCLH) and Shoretime may offer interesting intel.
We sat down with Pierre Kleinhans, CEO of software company Tactivion and founder of Shoretime (a shore excursions management platform), about a new partnership with Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, the parent company of Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises.
How did the partnership with Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings come to be?
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings was evaluating solutions in search of a way to streamline shore excursion procurement and management. The company wanted to simplify the management of excursions, while enhancing and customizing experiences for guests. NCLH issued a request for proposal (RFP) and Brenock Technology, LLC introduced Shoretime LLC to the cruise line.
The Shoretime cloud-based solution demonstrated the ability to create and source unique excursions, leverage data from the tours to improve decision-making and planning for NCLH and strengthen relationships with other cruise excursion and tour operators.
NCLH will go live with Shoretime, a first-of-its-kind excursion management interface in April. In addition, Brenock’s port-cost-management tool, Integrated Management System, will go live in the second quarter of 2024.
From a traveler’s perspective, what does the platform provide to cruise passengers?
Shoretime is designed to fulfill the current demands of guests and anticipate changing or evolving preferences.
From a client perspective, the platform will revolutionize tour management by adding flexibility, customization and visibility into the creation and management process. Its capabilities allow cruise lines to automate tour creation and bid sourcing from tour operators. In one easy-to-access portal, Shoretime streamlines interactions with tour operators and content management across excursion options. As a cloud-based marketplace, the platform will expand the types of excursions cruise lines can offer to customers.
Additionally, Shoretime's powerful inventory management will ensure more access to excursions by largely eliminating waitlists. This feature is based on the Shore Excursion management module that NCLH is deploying.
Shoretime also provides onboard reservations and a shore excursion guest app that cruise passengers will significantly benefit from, with enhanced visibility and real-time updates. NCLH is currently not yet deploying the onboard module of Shoretime; however, it will be available for cruise lines to integrate.
Can frequent cruisers expect any exciting new shore excursions that they haven’t experienced before?
Yes, because the tour library will include not only currently contracted tours but also new tour ideas submitted by cruise line product teams and tour operators, product design and implementation are greatly improved by Shoretime. This will stimulate tour innovation and tour discovery.
Also, the overall shore excursion management will facilitate tour product evolution and improvement in a seamless manner.
How will this aid travel advisors in selling tours to their clients? Is there a commission available to them?
Shoretime will work with its cruise line customers in the future to advance guest access to tours via travel advisors. Each cruise line we partner with will have the ability to determine whether commission is available.
Are you planning to work with any other cruise lines in the near future?
Yes, Shoretime is available for other cruise lines. We are excited about the momentum we are driving and believe Shoretime is positioned to become the go-to resource for cruise lines and cruise tour operators worldwide.
We’re aiming to have Shoretime as the central hub for a comprehensive global library of existing and prospective shore excursions. We designed Shoretime to offer a wide array of currently contracted tours and innovative tour concepts, catering to the diverse needs of the growing international cruise industry.
