Costa Cruises’ Strategic Digital Transformation

Challenge

Costa Cruises, part of Carnival Corporation, is a leading global cruise line headquartered in Italy. With a fleet sailing across multiple regions, thousands of multinational crew members rotate regularly through ports worldwide to support operations. The company faced increasing difficulty in managing crew accommodation and transportation across its network of international ports, relying on local port agents to coordinate logistics and other services independently.

While local agents offered regional expertise, there was no central oversight on hotel negotiations, reservation or spend visibility from headquarters. As Costa’s global footprint expanded, the limitations and inefficiencies of this disconnected and manual approach became more pronounced, impacting not only internal processes but the overall crew experience and increasing compliance risks. Costa had a set of ecosystem partners that were integral to their crew operations and was looking for a partner that could work with their current setup. The objective was to work more efficiently, ensuring that processes, data and communications flowed seamlessly between operations, crew, suppliers and partners.

By leveraging existing relationships, the project could focus on unlocking efficiencies, improving transparency and enhancing governance without disrupting established workflows. This approach preserved continuity while delivering cost savings, crew satisfaction and duty of care improvements the company was targeting.

Key challenges included:

• Disconnected Processes
• Spend Control & Visibility
• Satisfaction & Duty of Care

Solution

Costa Cruises initiated a digital transformation, redefining roles and responsibilities in crew logistics to create more scalable, transparent, and governable processes through the implementation of the HRS Crew platform. The main strategies and most impactful results include:

• Having a centralized oversight with 100% online processes, dashboards providing real-time visibility into crew movements and logistics across all ports
• Cost optimization through supplier consolidation, leveraging global volume to negotiate better rates, achieving 15% savings in procurement and ensuring contractual compliance
• Implementing automation workflows with digitized processes from procurement to billing, reaching 90% of booking process automation, 99% of VCC acceptance and invoice correctness, eliminating errors, boosting efficiency and supporting transparency

A crucial part of the implementation is the integration with existing ecosystem partners to ensure seamless processes significantly reducing the burden on crew operations, local teams and improving crew satisfaction:• The integration with the crew scheduling system enabled automated accommodation and transportation bookings, fully synchronized with ship itinerary changes, crew schedule updates and unforeseen events.• The payment integration ensured compliance and reduced risks by issuing virtual credit card payments securely and in line with global policies• The finance reporting integration enabled the back office to collect and organize data end-to-end, ensuring consistent and transparent reporting

Crew operations and port agents reported significantlyfewer manual tasks and last-minute changes, allowing them to focus on exceptionhandling and on-the-ground logistics. Meanwhile, crew members felt appreciated with an improved communication,reliable stays and transportation services, allowing them to get ready forembarkation day and rest after disembarkation.Costa Cruises is setting a new service level within the Carnival Group fortheir crew members and crew operations. Following the successful implementation of the first 14 European destinations, all global ports will be included in the next roll-out phase.

Results

Costa Cruises achieved measurable improvements:
• 100% online processes
• 15% savings in procurement
• 90% booking process automation
• 99% VCC acceptance and invoice correctness

The company now has a fully connected and transparent crew logistics operation,with real-time visibility, synchronized workflows and automated processesacross all ports. The company benefits from stronger governance, consistentglobal standards, higher crew satisfaction and measurable cost savings.

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