The new Carnival Dream, debuting Sept. 21, will take seagoing technology to a new level with the introduction of the FunHub, a comprehensive shipboard intranet portal featuring the cruise industry’s first on-board social network, along with access to a wide variety of information on the ship’s services, facilities and daily activities.
Access to the FunHub will be available via 36 state-of-the-art stations located on decks three, four and five, including 12 within Ocean Plaza, Carnival Dream’s indoor/outdoor café and entertainment venue.
The FunHub locations will provide guests with free access to an informative ship-specific intranet portal, and an exclusive shipboard social network, both of which will be available on a 24/7 basis. Guests may also access the sites via their personal laptops or via 10-inch netbooks which are available for rent and can be used anywhere on board.
Carnival Dream’s on-board social network mirrors the experience one finds on other social networking sites. Guests can create a personal profile and use the application to meet and interact with others on board, send and receive private messages, create groups based on interests, and invite friends to attend shows or participate in on-board events. Guests can also create their own private or public discussion group, inviting others in their traveling party or friends they meet on board to participate.
Designed as a convenient resource for wide-ranging information specific to the Carnival Dream, the intranet portal details the ship’s on-board activities, including entertainment options, daily events and youth programs. Carnival Dream’s food and beverage offerings are showcased with sample menus, hours of operation and more. A filtering application is available to assist guests in planning their day.
The portal also includes weather updates for that day and the next port of call; the latest news and sports scores; biographies of key shipboard personnel; ship and cruise director announcements; fun, interactive polls; helpful three-dimensional ship maps, and a frequently asked questions section.
A year-long collaboration involving Carnival’s hotel operations, marketing, IT and guest experience departments, the Carnival Dream’s on-board social network and intranet portal are available on any guest computer or Wi-Fi enabled device free of charge.
Internet access to sites outside the FunHub also is available through all FunHub locations. Netbooks are available free of charge when purchasing a special Internet package on board.
Cell phone service, along with bow-to-stern wireless access where guests can check e-mail and surf the Web from any shipboard location, including their staterooms, will be available, as well.
To showcase its newest and largest ship, Carnival has created a new micro-site at carnival.com/dream with exclusive images, video, interviews and blogs highlighting the ship’s many on-board innovations and features.
The line’s largest ship, the 130,000-ton Carnival Dream is slated to debut Sept. 21, 2009, with the first of three 12-day Grand Mediterranean cruises operating round-trip from Rome (Civitavecchia), followed by a 16-day trans-Atlantic crossing from Rome (Civitavecchia) to New York Oct. 27 to Nov. 12.
From New York, Carnival Dream will operate two eight-day Bahamas/Florida cruises departing Nov. 15 and 23, then reposition to Port Canaveral, Fla., for a special one-time nine-day Caribbean cruise departing Dec. 3. Carnival Dream will then launch year-round seven-day service from Port Canaveral, Dec. 12, offering weeklong voyages to the eastern and western Caribbean.
