Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises and Research In Motion today announced that the two cruise lines operated by Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. have selected BlackBerry(R) to help increase efficiency and enhance customer service through wireless connectivity. With 26 cruise ships operating in more than 200 destinations around the world, the corporation wanted a wireless solution that could improve productivity while accommodating its employees` frequent travel and increased reliance on e-mail.

“Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises are committed to leveraging innovative technology in order to improve our operations and provide superior customer service,” said the two lines` President and Chief Operating Officer, Jack Williams. “BlackBerry keeps me connected to the information I need and enables me to easily collaborate with my management team. I carry my BlackBerry 7230 everywhere. In fact, I`ll even be carrying it while running this year`s New York City Marathon. I`m running to raise funds for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and will be sending my sponsors an e-mail after every five miles to let them know how I`m doing.”
After researching a variety of wireless solutions, Royal Caribbean
International and Celebrity Cruises
chose to implement BlackBerry because of its ease of use, tight integration with existing corporate infrastructure and always-on, push-based access to e-mail. The IT department integrated BlackBerry Enterprise Server(TM) with IBM Lotus(R) Domino(TM) and distributed BlackBerry Wireless Handhelds(TM) to employees. With BlackBerry in place, users found significant improvements in productivity and responsiveness through wireless access to corporate information including Lotus Notes e-mail and e-mail attachments, internal and external Web sites and organiser information.
“Our employees are empowered by BlackBerry, as it enables them to access important e-mails, attachments, calendar updates and internal documents along with the ability to make phone calls,” said Gregory Martin, Technology Manager, Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises. “We are quickly seeing a favourable return on investment because of BlackBerry. When employees travel abroad, they no longer need to always carry a laptop and that provides direct cost savings. BlackBerry is also a powerful productivity tool that personally saves me 30 to 60 minutes per day.”
“We are pleased that Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises selected BlackBerry to meet its wireless data and voice needs,” said Mark Guibert, Vice President, Corporate Marketing at Research In Motion. “BlackBerry is a powerful solution that enables employees to be truly mobile with one device that integrates a mobile phone with unmatched wireless data connectivity.”
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