CRUISE
Holland America Line | July 04, 2022
With pent-up demand and the U.S. Independence Day travel rush approaching, premium cruise line Holland America Line reported a surge in interest for Alaska cruising to the bucket list travel destination during June for the first time since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
"People are excited to travel again while reconnecting with family and friends in a meaningful way,We're seeing the pent-up demand leading to increased booking as guests realize cruising is a hassle-free way to enjoy unique destinations such as Alaska."
-Beth Bodensteiner, senior vice president and chief commercial officer for Holland America Line
Our summer travel inquiries and bookings show people are feeling safe to explore again, Alaska is one of my favorite places to visit in the summer. A preferred partner, like Holland America Line, helps us provide clients with convenient departures to and from our own back yard to this amazing place, without the added cost of airfare.Michelle Glass, vice president of travel for AAA Washington
"With the cost and recent challenges with air travel, we are seeing excitement and traction from guests within driving distance of our cruise homeports such as Seattle and Vancouver, We recently invested in local marketing near our homeports and we're already seeing that pay off."
-Kacy Cole, vice president of marketing and e-commerce for Holland America Line
Overall, Holland America Line continues to see a high level of interest in cruises that are only a short flight or drive away from guests' homes. On round-trip sailings from the United States, the cruise line visits 225 different ports in 91 different countries, serving more international destinations on cruises sailing round trip from a U.S. homeport than any other brand. The line's homeports in the United States include Seattle, San Diego, Boston, and Fort Lauderdale. In addition, Holland America Line operates more Alaska cruises from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, than any other cruise line.
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CRUISE
arrivia | March 01, 2022
Consumers are optimistic about their 2022 cruise travel plans. That's the overall sentiment from a recent survey conducted by arrivia, a leading travel loyalty and cruise booking technology platform that works with consumer-facing companies worldwide.
The company surveyed 1,453 Americans between November 3, 2021, and January 10, 2022, all of whom are members of a travel club or travel benefits program, about their attitudes and preferences around cruise travel. Initial responses were collected just a few weeks before the emergence of the COVID-19 Omicron variant, with responses also being recorded into January 2022 as it became the dominant strain worldwide.
The Ready to Board consumer cruise survey revealed that more than 80% of respondents have booked a cruise in the next two years or are planning or considering a cruise vacation. Of those consumers who have already booked a cruise, 37% aimed to travel in the spring, 22% in the summer and 31% in the fall.
While there was a slight shift in the data based on when the survey responses were recorded relative to the spread of Omicron, the number of respondents who had already booked or were actively planning a cruise consistent outweighed those who "might" book one or aren't considering booking by nearly 2 to 1.
Consumers, however, were very clear that they support cruise lines' efforts to make travel as safe as possible. Over 50% of respondents said they would want to see universal masking and vaccination on board and social distancing on cruise activities to feel comfortable cruising again.
Value is still a major factor in decision-making
Despite the pent-up travel demand accumulated over the past two years, 46% of consumers consider value for money the most important factor when booking a cruise — more than the double itineraries/destinations and COVID/safety protocols combined.
Better pricing and deals were also the second top reason (tied with travel restrictions) that travelers haven't booked a cruise in the past twelve months. The focus on value is illustrated by the sizeable percentage (18%) of respondents using loyalty or travel rewards points to defray some or all of the cost of a cruise.
"Points play an important role as travelers plan their journeys,Companies with loyalty or rewards programs should consider expanding their capabilities to include more of the travel booking and benefits options that consumers increasingly want, such as cruise travel."
-Jeff Zotara, arrivia Chief Marketing Officer.
Other findings from the survey:
Sixty-six percent of consumers are choosing luxury cruise travel over mega cruises or niche river cruises.
Travelers are choosing historically popular destinations with the desire for luxury cruise experiences. Almost half of the respondents who had booked or were planning to book a cruise had their eye on the Caribbean, with 17% zeroing in on the Bahamas as their next stop.
And they're not just testing the waters with three-day excursions; 54% said they were considering a six-to-nine-day cruise, while 11% said that ten days or more is the perfect trip length.
"It's no doubt that Omicron impacted some of the booking activity in the short-term," Zotara added. "But with the investment cruise lines have made in ensuring travelers' safety and in the new ships that promise to deliver even better experiences, more consumers will be setting sail over the next two years. We're excited to see the demand increasing and consumers' enthusiasm for cruise travel."
The consumer cruise survey, Ready to Board, is available for download here.
For more information about the survey or to speak with Jeff Zotara, Chief Marketing Officer of arrivia, please contact Vanessa Horwell at vhorwell@thinkinkpr.com.
About arrivia
Arrivia is a travel technology company that provides travel loyalty, booking and marketing solutions to consumer-facing companies that want to deliver exceptional value to their customers, uncover new revenue streams and drive growth through exciting travel rewards and member benefits. The company's Travel Privileges platform opens up the world of travel for companies like American Express, USAA and Marriott Vacations Worldwide by offering their customers more value through exclusive pricing and encouraging discovery with relevant and personalized options that inspire travel and consumer loyalty. To learn more about how arrivia helps companies drive growth, incentivize sales, boost affinity and reward high-value customers, visit www.arrivia.com.
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CRUISE
Ultra Cruise | January 10, 2022
GM announced this week that its next-generation hands-free driver assist system, Ultra Cruise, will be powered by a scalable compute architecture featuring system-on-chips developed by American semiconductor company Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. GM will be the first company to use the Qualcomm Technologies' Snapdragon Ride™ Platform for advanced driver assistance technology, which features an industry leading 5-nanometer Snapdragon™ SA8540P SoC and SA9000P artificial intelligence accelerator.
Ultra Cruise’s compute, which is about the size of two laptops stacked together, will be available in 2023 on vehicles including the ultra-luxury, fully-electric Cadillac CELESTIQ. With high performance sensor interfaces and memory bandwidth, it will, in combination with GM's homegrown Ultra Cruise software stack, be key to helping Ultra Cruise achieve an unmatched combination of capability, reliability, predictability and robust door-to-door hands-free driving in 95 percent of all driving scenarios.
"Despite its relatively small size, Ultra Cruise's compute will have the processing capability of several hundred personal computers,It will take qualities that have distinguished GM's advanced driver assist systems since 2017 to the next level with door-to-door hands-free driving."
-Ken Morris, GM vice president of Electric, Autonomous and Fuel Cell Vehicle Programs.
The Ultra Cruise compute will help power GM-developed ADAS software and features, including perception, planning, localization and mapping. These Ultra Cruise capabilities were developed in-house at GM engineering facilities in Israel, the United States, Ireland and Canada. To ensure a robust and predictable system with minimal latency, GM integrated Ultra Cruise's software on an optimal hardware design, overlaying cameras, radar and lidar. This low-level, sensor fusion, which provides excellent detection and classification of data, and Ultra Cruise's software stack are proprietary to GM, not available on the automotive aftermarket.
The Ultra Cruise compute is comprised of two Snapdragon SA8540P SoCs and one SA9000P AI accelerator to deliver key low-latency control functions on 16-core CPUs and high-performance AI compute of more than 300 Tera Operations Per Second for camera, radar and lidar processing. The Snapdragon SoCs are designed with 5 nm process technology, enabling superior performance and power efficiency. The Snapdragon SA8540P SoCs will provide the necessary bandwidth for Ultra Cruise's sensing, perception, planning, localization, mapping and driver monitoring.
"We are very proud of our collaboration with General Motors on one of the industry's first uses of our Snapdragon SoCs in an automated driving system,Ultra Cruise powered by Snapdragon Ride on Cadillac vehicles will be an experiential and technological leap forward for the industry."
-Nakul Duggal, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. senior vice president and GM, Automotive.
Along with Snapdragon Ride SoCs, which are designed to meet automotive system safety standards with multiple redundancies built in, the compute includes an Infineon Aurix TC397 processor for system safety integrity. The Aurix TC397 is categorized ASIL-D – the highest Automotive Safety Integrity Level.
GM minimized complexity within the compute, opting for an air-cooled instead of liquid-cooled system that avoids heavy and inefficient thermal cooling lines throughout the vehicle, made possible by Snapdragon Ride's high-performance, high-efficiency design.
Ultra Cruise's compute will also have the capability to evolve over time by leveraging Snapdragon Ride's SoCs performance and high-speed interfaces for future expansion, as well as over-the-air software updates enabled through the Ultifi software platform and GM's Vehicle Intelligence Platform electrical architecture.
About General Motors (NYSE:GM)
It is a global company focused on advancing an all-electric future that is inclusive and accessible to all. At the heart of this strategy is the Ultium battery platform, which will power everything from mass-market to high-performance vehicles. General Motors, its subsidiaries and its joint venture entities sell vehicles under the Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Cadillac, Baojun and Wuling brands. More information on the company and its subsidiaries, including OnStar, a global leader in vehicle safety and security services, can be found at https://www.gm.com.
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