Passenger interiors: it’s all about the customer

Improving passenger comfort while going above and beyond guests’ expectations has become a core mantra for recent newbuild and retrofit projects in the passenger shipping sector.

And this ’focus on the customer’ ideal is, increasingly, a key driver for the passenger ship interiors industry, too.

Take P&O Ferries’ brand-new ferry P&O Pioneer as an example. The vessel is setting new standards not just by way of its headline hybrid propulsion, but also in its interior design. The customer experience on board is elevated, with the vessel offering the largest duty-free shopping of any P&O ferry, more entertainment options for kids, and a plush, private Club Lounge that caters, exclusively, to customer comfort. And the largest-ever dedicated space for freight drivers on the Dover-Calais route, with a separate dining area, lounge and showers, means that P&O has not forgotten one of its cornerstone clienteles.

This overarching theme of customer comfort is reflected in retrofits, too. Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic’s National Geographic Explorer has not only redesigned a series of suites, but importantly added amenities, which will enhance the onboard experience. Each updated suite now features a state-of-the-art command centre for technology and tools, and there are exclusive packages available across the Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic fleet, allowing guests staying in eligible cabin categories to have access to an array of amenities and perks.

And finally, adding weight to the trend, Oceania Cruises has unveiled its first Allura-class cruise ship with the goal of ‘redefining luxury’.  Studio DADO was the main architect, and the design group’s co-founder Yohandel Ruiz tells Passenger Ship Interior & Refurbishment Review that spaces have been created with the guest as the centre of an equation that sees even empty areas around furniture and in corridors designed and built to extend an ethos of welcome and comfort to travellers.