Editorial

Anchors Aweigh! Elevate Your Cruise Experience with Vodia Maritime Communication Servers (VMCS)

Published on:

March 12, 2024

Set sail for unparalleled cruise experiences with the Vodia Maritime Communication Servers (VMCS). As cruise lines navigate the vast oceans, efficient and uninterrupted onboard communication is paramount. Our VMCS guarantees seamless connectivity at sea, offering advanced features like satellite internet access and robust data security. From personalized passenger communication to enhanced entertainment options, VMCS ensures that cruise lines can meet the demands of modern travelers while prioritizing safety and cybersecurity. Elevate your cruise experience with VMCS and embark on unforgettable journeys across the seas.

Vodia Maritime Communications Servers (VMCS) are the first choice of cruise lines worldwide. Cruise ships require efficient, uninterrupted onboard communication, and our VCMS ensures seamless, uninterrupted connectivity at sea. Our feature-rich servers provide satellite internet access and data safety and security, enabling personalized communication and passenger entertainment. Our VMCS is safe and secure, addressing cybersecurity issues and threats with the robustness of any terrestrial system. We’ve been a communications software pioneer and innovator for over a decade. Here’s why you should set sail with us!

Enhanced Passenger Communications for Smooth Sailing

The popularity of cruises is immense and growing. Almost 36 million people are expected to set sail in 2024, almost five million more than in 2023. Luxury cruises promise passengers dream destinations, exotic excursions, gourmet cuisine and the best in entertainment. These are the reasons most people choose cruises for their vacations. But even out on the open sea, drink in hand and feet up in a chaise longue, passengers expect seamless communication and high-speed internet. Our VMCS transforms the way passengers stay connected while on board and facilitates shipboard communication with passengers, keeping them informed about onboard activities, events, safety and onshore experiences.

A Communication Server for Floating Cities

Cruise ships have evolved into “floating cities.” In January 2024 Royal Caribbean International’s Icon of the Seas, the largest cruise ship ever built, left the Port of Miami, FL, on its first voyage. Icon of the Seas boasts seven swimming pools, six waterslides and a total of 20 decks. Built at a cost of $2 billion and about five times the size of the Titanic, the ship can host 7,600 passengers, more people than you’ll find in many small towns. Royal Caribbean International built Icon of the Seas to meet the ongoing surge in the worldwide demand for luxury cruises. 

With these floating cities sailing across the seas, efficient, robust, uninterrupted passenger communication is absolutely essential. Passengers expect the same quality communications available at luxury hotels while they sail. Our VMCS acts as the ship’s central nervous system, providing an integrated, secure network to connect crew, passengers and ship systems. It is simply the most reliable maritime communication system available.

Full Sail Connectivity

Once a challenge, high-speed internet is now a given in the cruise industry. Even out at sea passengers expect to keep up with their emails and social media accounts and access their preferred streaming services. Our VMCS makes it so everyone on board has uninterrupted, robust connectivity throughout the voyage: we leverage satellite-based internet access to ensure internet availability regardless of where a ship sails or docks. Our VMCS also enables incoming calls to be routed at a lower cost and ensures reasonable rates for outgoing calls. The convenience and cost-effectiveness we bring to the cruise industry means that crew and passenger communication is a competitive advantage – rather than a burdensome expense – for ships and cruise operators.   

Advanced Communication for Passenger Safety and Security

Passenger and crew safety is of paramount importance on every cruise ship, and everyone’s safety is dependent on impeccable onboard communication. Any emergency situation requires real-time communication between passengers and crew, to make sure everyone responds quickly and according to instructions. With dedicated onboard apps, passengers can seek assistance or report incidents or dangerous situations to crew members, both while sailing and while in port. Our VMCS gives cruise lines the functionality they need to ensure advanced communication for safety and security for all persons on board.

Share Information Seamlessly

Beyond luxury accommodation, delicious food and onboard entertainment, cruise ships offer diverse, ever-changing activities and itineraries to passengers. Our VMCS makes it so crew members can provide comprehensive information to passengers, including real-time information regarding activities and schedules, dining, entertainment and shore excursions. Passengers can use their mobile devices while on board to view digital daily calendars, review restaurant menus, schedule shore excursions and make other reservations, all via user-friendly interfaces. The Vodia VMCS gives cruise ships a complete suite of features to personalize communication with passengers on any endpoint, including via apps on their mobile devices and in-cabin tablets.  

Personalized Entertainment and Services

Outstanding entertainment, including casinos, concerts, shows and nightclubs, are one of the reasons people cruise, as are the many amenities available on board. The Vodia VMCS enhances passenger experiences by making it possible for them to schedule spa treatments, view entertainment schedules and reserve seats at shows, all from their smartphones or tablets. What’s more, the server’s data analytics enable personalized recommendations for activities, amenities, dining and excursions.

Cybersecurity and Onboard Privacy

Vodia is known for keeping user data secure. Our VMCS is the best choice for any cruise ship IT department looking to mitigate risk and protect the ship and its passengers from potential cybersecurity threats. Privacy and security features are core to our design-by-concept principles. We also provide professional services to support certifications as required.   

The Evolution of Cruise Communication

The cruise industry will continue to rely on best-in-class communication options to meet passenger needs and maintain onboard safety. The Vodia VMCS features integrated interfaces that give passengers and crew a cutting-edge, robust, connected user experience. We leverage our built-in integration framework for the seamless integration of top-tier applications such as AI and augmented cruise features. We continue to innovate and look toward the horizon, toward enhanced connectivity and augmented reality experiences, toward improved passenger experiences regardless of their chosen mobile devices. We continue to refine our VMCS to bring greater convenience, enhanced communication and immersive experiences to the cruise industry.

Make the Vodia VMCS Part of Your Voyage

Whatever a cruise ship requires, be it a modest river cruise vessel or something closer to the Icon of the Seas, our VMCS revolutionizes onboard passenger communication. Our server ensures ships are connected worldwide while ensuring crew and passenger safety, providing personalized content to passengers and streamlining activity and entertainment information for passengers to enhance their cruise experience. Put our VMCS at the helm for the most feature-rich communication solution available to the cruise industry:

Innovative Communication Applications

  • Alarm systems
  • Cabin tablets
  • Call Center solution
  • Crew Communication
  • Crew DECT mobile devices auto-provisioning
  • Device Management
  • IoT: Device health status reporting
  • Integration
  • Intercom
  • Maritime communication integration framework
  • Paging, message boxes
  • Passenger devices
  • Passenger Management System, e.g., Oracle (Fidelio)
  • Passenger service portal (WebRTC services)
  • Sea-land communication networks
  • Service request management

Passenger communication

  • Alarming
  • Call routing
  • Check-in and boarding, cabin device (tablets) provisioning
  • Communication service health status
  • Disembarkation, check-out
  • Event-based communication
  • Network Security/Administration
  • Personal device activation for onboard services
  • Personalized paging
  • Port management
  • Security monitoring
  • Service portal, message boxes
  • Service requests, call center management
  • VLAN support

Anywhere your ships sail on the seven seas, you need the Vodia Maritime Communication Server, the gold standard for onboard communication. With our VMCS, every trip is a bon voyage. Let us welcome you aboard – contact us today at sales@vodia.com or call us at +1 (617) 861-3490

About Vodia Networks, Inc.

Vodia Networks, Inc. is a pioneering provider of B2B Cloud Communications Solutions catering to enterprises, contact centers and service providers. Vodia's PBX software boasts an extensive suite of business telephony features for on-premise and cloud-based systems and operates seamlessly across Windows, Linux or Mac platforms. Fully compliant with SIP industry standards, the Vodia phone system integrates effortlessly with a wide range of SIP-based devices and trunking providers, granting ultimate freedom in telephony. Vodia’s multi-tenancy platforms are compatible with an unprecedented number of technologies, including desk phones, softphones and APIs, for myriad third-party software and CRM systems. Our mission is to empower our partners and end-users with the world's best cloud PBX and personalized support to ensure their success at every turn. Visit Vodia on LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube.

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