Products & services

MXP launches voice-enabled AI chatbot for iTV

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: Products & services Products & services; Published: 12 August 2025 12 August 2025

MXP presents a new milestone in digital cruise interaction: a multilingual, voice-enabled AI chatbot fully integrated into the MXP365 guest mobile/web solution.

MXP365 is cutting-edge, cloud-based web and mobile software delivering a rich end-to-end digital guest experience in a single system. With MXP365, guests can easily book tours, packages, wellness services, and dining, update preferences and allergens, complete check-in online, and access important information pre-cruise, on board, and post-cruise.

The AI-powered chatbot personalizes this experience through intuitive, voice-based interaction across all devices. It enables guests to ask questions, make bookings, or retrieve cruise-specific information using natural speech - without navigating complex menus or input fields.

Unlike static question-answer models, the MXP Chatbot understands context and natural phrasing, delivering responses based on live data drawn from a structured, cruise-specific knowledge base – ensuring consistency and accuracy.

Fully integrated into the MXP365 Guest App and the MXP Enterprise Platform, the voice-enabled chatbot benefits from the integrated MXP content management system and dynamic updates of the underlying data.

Key features:
– Up-to-Date Cruise-Specific Data – Cruise-specific data augmentation enables the AI engine to deliver accurate responses
– Make pre-cruise and onboard purchases – Increase sales using verbal interaction
– Multilingual Voice Communication – Natural communication for bookings, questions, and support
– iTV Integration – Talk to your TV to get answers and make bookings

"This new feature changes the way guests can interact pre-cruise and on board," says Aneta Ivanovska, Director Artificial Intelligence at MXP. "This cutting-edge solution adds tangible benefits to the guest experience."

MXP is the award-winning and innovative software partner for the global cruise industry, delivering the leading MXP Enterprise Platform designed specifically for cruise operations. With over 400 installations across more than 60 cruise brands, MXP has become the go-to solution for increasing revenue, enhancing the guest experience, and supporting end-to-end operations onboard and ashore.

Gasum provides bio-LNG for the first completely carbon neutral shipping route on the Baltic Sea run by Wasaline

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: Products & services Products & services; Published: 12 August 2025 12 August 2025

Nordic energy company Gasum and Finnish shipping company Wasaline have agreed that Gasum will provide only liquefied biogas (bio-LNG) to Wasaline’s vessel Aurora Botnia going forward. The vessel transports passengers and freight daily across the Baltic Sea between the port of Vaasa in Finland and the port of Umeå in Sweden.

This move to using only fossil free fuel is made possible by Wasaline’s agreement to generate FuelEU Maritime compliance for one of Europe's leading ferry companies Stena Line. Stena Line operates 40 vessels and 20 routes in Northern Europe and the Mediterranean Sea.

“We have constantly worked with the possibilities to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and environmental footprint, and we have seen the EU regulation as an opportunity for our traffic between Finland and Sweden. With this unique collaboration with Stena Line and Gasum, Wasaline can achieve carbon neutrality already now as a forerunner for the industry. This also means that all cargo and passengers travelling with Wasaline are carbon neutral with no additional charges”, says Peter Ståhlberg, Managing Director of Wasaline.

“We are very delighted that Wasaline has chosen Gasum to deliver them biogas for the daily operations of Aurora Botnia, and we are proud to facilitate this collaboration with Stena Line. Renewable biogas is one of the already available concrete solutions for reducing emissions in maritime transport. Our goal is to continuously increase biogas availability to our customers in the years ahead”, says Jacob Granqvist, Vice President, Maritime at Gasum.

Gasum’s waste-based bio-LNG is fully renewable

Gasum’s bio-LNG is is a fully renewable fuel with life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions that are, on average, 90% lower when compared with fossil fuel use. It is produced from waste such as biowaste, sewage sludge, manure and other industrial and agricultural side streams.

Gasum is dedicated to increasing the availability of bio-LNG in the maritime market as demand is set to increase along with tightening EU regulation and customer requirements. Gasum constantly grows its own biogas production volumes as well as establishes new long-term partnerships with certified producers throughout Europe.

Gasum can provide bio-LNG bunkering services to all shipping companies that have vessels running on liquefied natural gas, as LNG and bio-LNG are fully interchangeable. They can also be mixed at any ratio.

Gasum also provides a FuelEU Maritime pooling service that allows vessels owners to purchase reliable regulation compliance easily and cost effectively. This is achieved by running dedicated ships on Gasum’s bio-LNG to generate the needed amount of compliance for all vessels in the pool.

MXP introduces sophisticated Port Cost Management software

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: Products & services Products & services; Published: 15 July 2025 15 July 2025

MXP introduces new powerful functionality with its Port Cost Management software. Using actual itinerary data, sophisticated calculations can compute accurate costs even for complex scenarios. This takes maritime financial operations to the next level. The fully integrated MXP Enterprise Platform equips cruise lines with significant improvements in financial accuracy, enabling smarter budgeting, precise forecasting, and enhanced transparency in port-related financial planning.

Key highlights

Formula-based costing
Users can now define dynamic cost formulas using combinations of predefined variables such as vessel characteristics, passenger and crew counts, as well as itinerary details.

Advanced tiering logic
Apply conditional pricing based on thresholds like ship size, seasonality, call frequency, or passenger tiers – ideal for modeling port tariffs with precision.

Access control & full audit trails
Enhance governance with user-specific access rights and comprehensive audit logging for all formula and tier updates – ensuring transparency and compliance.

Simulation & testing tools
Run simulations with actual itinerary data to verify outcomes before applying formulas, giving users confidence and clarity on calculated values.

Automated & on-demand recalculation
Refresh invoice calculations with the latest operational data – either manually or through scheduled jobs – keeping everything up-to-date and aligned with current figures.

Smarter port costing with MXP
MXP empowers cruise operators with precision, agility, and data-driven decision-making.

By automating calculations tied to real operational variables, it delivers:
– Better visibility into port spend
– Faster, more reliable cost processing
– Alignment with contractual and operational realities

Marella Cruises contracts V.Ships Leisure for ship management services

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: Products & services Products & services; Published: 30 July 2025 30 July 2025

V.Ships Leisure, part of V.Group, has been awarded a ship management contract by Marella Cruises, TUI UK&I’s ocean cruise line.

The five-year agreement will cover the full technical, crewing, digital and ESG management of all of Marella’s five cruise ships, with operations commencing towards the end of 2025. The first two vessels will come into management by the end of the year, with the other three joining in the first half of 2026.

As part of the new partnership, V.Ships Leisure will build upon its already strong UK presence by establishing a dedicated Marella Cruises fleet cell in the UK, operating from its Southampton office and supported by the wider V. network. The decision reflects V.’s commitment to providing Marella Cruises with local expertise backed by global scale, reach and experience.

V. will leverage its ShipSure platform to enable data-driven decision-making across fleet maintenance and operations, supporting more efficient and proactive management and giving Marella Cruises enhanced transparency to the operations.

Marella Cruises will benefit both from V.’s end-to-end management services and from V.ERDE, its dedicated decarbonisation and environmental compliance programme.

Adrian Hibbert, Cruise Operations Director at Marella Cruises, commented: “Throughout the tender process, we were hugely impressed by the calibre of the team at V.Ships Leisure and the depth of their industry expertise. We look forward to working together to deliver safe, reliable and sustainable operations across our fleet.”

Per Bjørnsen, CEO of V.Ships Leisure, said: “This contract is a clear endorsement of our talented team, commitment to ESG and our digital first approach. Above all, it’s testament to our track record and further reinforces our leadership in the cruise sector. We are extremely proud to be working with Marella Cruises and are looking forward to collaborating to achieve operational excellence.”

Heineken invests in cruise business with bar crew training program

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: Products & services Products & services; Published: 03 July 2025 03 July 2025

With consumer-focused quality a key component in its growth strategy, Heineken Global Duty Free is accelerating its draught beer training programme for cruise partners.

The Heineken Passion & Quality Training programme has been developed to address the dynamics of the on-board draught experience, where speed of service is a priority. Launched in the EU in 2023, the training programme has doubled year on year, with over 1000 crew members trained to date.

The expanded 2025 programme welcomes another 1500 bar personnel across training programmes in Europe and Mexico to complete the Heineken draught pouring quality ritual that epitomises the principles of former Heineken president, Freddy Heineken and his enduring legacy, “The only reason to order a second beer is the quality of the first.”

Led by the best draught masters from the Heineken Experience in Amsterdam, the training takes place in the onboard bars so that crew are in their natural working environment with familiar set-up and equipment. The on-shore programme includes Athens, Barcelona, Civitavecchia, Cozumel and Southampton and is part of the Heineken global quality commitment to ensure Heineken consumers enjoy the best possible experience in bars on land and at sea.

Christian Klimpke, Global Account Manager Cruises, Heineken Global Duty Free, commented: “Quality is at the heart of Heineken® wherever we operate, and crew engagement is fundamental to the success of our Cruise business. Our focus on quality extends beyond the beer to the people entrusted to fill the glass. The Cruise training programme has been highly successful, and is very popular with bar teams who become valued Heineken ambassadors. The training helps busy on-board bars to better meet the expectations of guests, driving results for our Cruise partners and Heineken, but also increasing guest satisfaction too.”

Participating cruise lines include Carnival, Celebrity, Costa, Holland America, MSC, Princess, P&O, and Royal Caribbean.

Already the second-biggest brewer globally and the market leader in Europe, the Heineken company has a presence in 190 markets worldwide with annual revenue in 2024 of €35.995 billion. It is now on a mission to become the top seller in the 2.2 million-hectolitre beer and cider category in GTR, drawing on its broad brand portfolio of beers, ciders and seltzers, including Heineken, Dos Equis, Amstel, Lagunitas and Birra Moretti, as well as consumer-focused data insights and inclusive Next Generation marketing campaigns.