Virgin Voyages Has A New Crew Member to Help You Plan Your Whole Trip Before You Ever Come Aboard
Meet Rovey: the AI crew assistant that knows the difference between a Sea Terrace and a Brilliant Suite and makes planning feel like the start of something good.
Today at Google Cloud Next in Las Vegas, Virgin Voyages – the award-winning, kid-free cruise line – introduced Rovey, the brand’s first AI Crew assistant and AI-powered travel assistant.
Rovey will soon arrive on VirginVoyages.com to help Sailors navigate the complexity of cruise planning with personalized recommendations tailored to their travel style, pace and interests.
Rovey is the first expression of Project Ruby, Virgin Voyages’ AI platform co-developed with Google Cloud and designed to guide Sailors through the pre-voyage journey from inspiration to booking. It is a named Crew member with a specific job: to make the planning feel less like research and more like the beginning of something epic, which has always been the Virgin Voyages way.
Nathan Rosenberg, Chief Brand Experience, Marketing and Momentum Officer at Virgin Voyages said, “Richard always said, ‘be the reason someone smiles today’ and that comes to life in the quiet moments onboard. That means the shore excursion that caught a Sailor off guard, the ah-ha moment that happens in a morning meditation at dawn, the Crew member who remembered exactly how you take your coffee. Rovey brings that same energy to the part of the trip that happens before Sailors cross the gangway.”
Rovey is a named Crew member with a specific job: to be genuinely useful in the weeks and months before a voyage. It was built with Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform, Gemini models and BigQuery to enable Sailors exploring itineraries to get recommendations shaped around their travel style, pace and interests.
Those weighing Shore Things get curated suggestions — from cooking classes to adventurous hikes to catamaran sails — based on what they love doing on land. Travelers toying with cabin categories, dining options, or what to pack for an Alaska voyage in May get answers to all of it. Rovey remembers where they left off. It knows what they are still figuring out. It doesn’t make Sailors start from scratch with every interaction.
Billy Bohan Chinique, VP Global Brand Marketing and AI Transformation at Virgin Voyages said, “Virgin Voyages has always been a brand that knows what it means to make someone feel something. Planning a sailing with Rovey should feel the same way our Crew makes Sailors feel onboard. Not like research. Like being looked after by someone who genuinely gets it. It knows this ship, knows the brand, and we are already excited for them to experience it.”
As a result of Project Ruby, seven expressions are planned across the full Sailor journey from first discovery through the voyage itself. Rovey is the first.
“We are excited to collaborate with Virgin Voyages and leverage Google Cloud’s leading AI technology to enhance the cruise booking process,” said Sam Sebastian, VP, North America Regions, Google Cloud. “By powering Rovey with our AI tools, Virgin Voyages is able to mitigate booking friction, deliver personalized travel recommendations at scale, and build deeper, more valuable connections with Sailors.”
(Virgin Voyages Has A New Crew Member to Help You Plan Your Whole Trip Before You Ever Come Aboard)
