Livestream Powers CruiseCritic.com’s Exciting Live Video Broadcast of Royal Caribbean’s Much-anticipated ‘Oasis of the Seas’

Posted by Derrick on November 28, 2009 under Video Streaming and Compression | Be the First to Comment

Thousands of visitors to the popular cruise and reviews site, Cruise Critic were able to get much-anticipated views of Royal Caribbean International’s sparkling new “Oasis of the Seas” as Cruise Critic editor-in-chief, Carolyn Spencer Brown conducted a live video tour from onboard the world’s largest cruise ship on Friday, Nov. 20, 2009.

With the ship due to host its first Caribbean cruise Dec. 1, Cruise Critic went live with an embedded video player on Cruisecritic.com in the afternoon after ABC-TV’s “Good Morning America” kicked off the day with a two-hour broadcast that presented an overview of the vessel.

Using Livestream’s unique Livepack mobile broadcast solution to produce excellent live video quality, the Cruise Critic team was able to tour the ship, giving viewers glimpses of several of the seven themed “neighborhoods” aboard the new ship, including Central Park, Boardwalk, Royal Promenade and the AquaTheater.

“Our members loved that we could offer a detailed insight into this amazing ship,” said Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor-in-chief of Cruise Critic. “This was our first ever live broadcast and Livestream made it very easy for us, providing excellent support and great service.”

“The Livestream Livepack allowed us to continue to broadcast live inside moving elevators within the ship, giving the audience an unprecedented view of the interior,” said John Schwartz, executive producer for Livestream.com.

During the broadcast, Cruise Critic members and the general public interacted live with the host, posting questions on Facebook and the Cruise Critic message boards. One viewer of the broadcast commented on Facebook: “Everything came to a standstill … had to watch… Thanks so much for taking the time to bring us closer to Oasis. 12/12 sailing for me. I simply cannot wait!”

Viewers got unique insights into the ship’s features during the broadcast from Royal Caribbean’s Lisa Bauer, senior vice president of Hotel Operations, and Ken Muskat, vice president of Sales, who were interviewed live by Cruise Critic.

The “Oasis of the Seas” video tour exemplified Livestream’s affordable turnkey mobile broadcasting package, with back-end support and cutting-edge creative vision, that allows media outlets and major corporations to harness the power of real-time interactive video streaming to engage potential new customers and strengthen relationships with existing customers.

“Live video is a vital element in the video mix offered by companies on the Internet today, and CruiseCritic.com has raised the bar for the travel industry by successfully executing this broadcast with Livestream,” said Max Haot, Livestream’s CEO.