MIAMI, Feb. 11, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK), the world's largest leisure travel company, today announced its revolutionary OceanMedallion™, the wearable device that powers the breakthrough guest experience platform behind MedallionClass™ vacations, has been named a 2019 Edison Awards finalist, recognizing and honoring the world's best in innovators and innovations. As a Smart Device finalist, the Medallion™ is ensured to be named a gold, silver or bronze winner when the annual awards are announced on April 4.
Originally unveiled at CES in January 2017 by Arnold Donald, CEO of Carnival Corporation, the Medallion™ device persistently connects a cruise guest's unique digital identity with an intelligent shipboard Experience Internet of Things (xIoT™) ecosystem to enhance guest-crew interactions and deliver a high level of service and personalized attention. The Medallion enables an elevated guest-centered vacation that includes hassle-free payment; turn-by-turn shipboard wayfinding; shipmate locator and personalized itineraries; frictionless embarkation; facilitates on-demand service; powers anywhere wagering and more.
"It's an incredible honor for the OceanMedallion to be named an Edison Award finalist on the anniversary of Edison's birthday and for Carnival Corporation to be recognized for excellence and leadership in innovation," said John Padgett, chief experience and innovation officer for Carnival Corporation. "Inventors like Thomas Edison have inspired us to dream big and fearlessly pursue and develop game-changing innovations that many view as impossible in an effort to elevate and transform the guest experience."
All nominations were reviewed by the Edison Awards Steering Committee and judged by a panel of more than 3,000 professionals from the fields of product development, design, engineering, science, marketing and education. Past winners include AT&T, Space X, Nike, Waze, Nest and Dyson.
The award is the fourth prestigious recognition Carnival Corporation's patented IoT innovations have received in the past four months. In November, CES recognized Carnival Corporation as a CES 2019 Innovations Award Honoree for OceanMedallion. In December, the company received a 2018 Gold New York Design Award for Digital IoT for its Ocean guest experience platform. And in January, IoT Breakthrough awarded the Medallion the 2019 IoT Wearables Innovation of the Year.
OceanMedallion and the company's xIoT guest experience platform currently are transforming vacations for all Princess Cruises guests sailing on its Caribbean Princess ship sailing the Caribbean, and for guests on Regal Princess starting February 17, 2019. Princess Cruises, the world's largest international premium cruise line and one of Carnival Corporation's nine cruise line brands, also announced the expansion of its Princess MedallionClass experience to three additional ships in 2019 – Royal Princess, Crown Princess and Sky Princess.
About Carnival Corporation & plc
Carnival Corporation & plc is the world's largest leisure travel company and among the most profitable and financially strong in the cruise and vacation industries, with a portfolio of nine of the world's leading cruise lines. With operations in North America, Australia, Europe and Asia, its portfolio features Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Seabourn, P&O Cruises (Australia), Costa Cruises, AIDA Cruises, P&O Cruises (UK) and Cunard.
Together, the corporation's cruise lines operate 105 ships with 242,000 lower berths visiting over 700 ports around the world, with 20 new ships scheduled to be delivered through 2025. Carnival Corporation & plc also operates Holland America Princess Alaska Tours, the leading tour company in Alaska and the Canadian Yukon. Traded on both the New York and London Stock Exchanges, Carnival Corporation & plc is the only group in the world to be included in both the S&P 500 and the FTSE 100 indices.
With a long history of innovation and providing guests with extraordinary vacation experiences, Carnival Corporation has received thousands of industry awards – including recognition by the Consumer Technology Association™ as a CES® 2019 Innovation Awards Honoree for OceanMedallion™. A revolutionary wearable device that contains a proprietary blend of communication technologies, OceanMedallion enables the world's first interactive guest experience platform transforming vacation travel on a large scale into a highly personalized level of customized service. The prestigious CES Innovation Awards honor outstanding design and engineering in consumer technology products.
Additional information can be found on www.carnival.com, www.princess.com, www.hollandamerica.com, www.seabourn.com, www.pocruises.com.au, www.costacruise.com, www.aida.de, www.pocruises.com, and www.cunard.com.
About The Edison Awards: Established in 1987, the Edison Awards is a program conducted by Edison Universe, anon-profit 501 (c)(3) organization dedicated to fostering future innovators. For more information about the Edison Awards, visit www.edisonawards.com
View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/carnival-corporations-oceanmedallion-named-2019-edison-awards-finalist-300793361.html
SOURCE Carnival Corporation & plc
Roger Frizzell, Carnival Corporation, rfrizzell@carnival.com, (305) 406-7862; Mike Flanagan, LDWW, mike@ldwwgroup.com, (727) 452-4538; Vicki Johnson, Carnival Corporation, vjohnson@carnival.com, (407) 340-9658
