Virgin Voyages and Google Cloud introduced Rovey, an AI cruise planning assistant, at Google Cloud Next in Las Vegas. It’s part of Project Ruby, an effort to support travelers from browsing to booking.
Built with Google Cloud tools like Gemini and BigQuery, Rovey helps with key cruise decisions such as itinerary, timing, pricing, destinations and onboard experiences. It recommends options, answers questions and guides users through choosing voyages, excursions and activities, then booking.
Most travel AI tools return answers and reset. Rovey keeps track of what a traveler has already explored and adjusts its responses based on where they are in the planning process.
Andy Schwalb, Chief Technology Officer at Virgin Voyages, said, “The partnership with Google Cloud gave us both the infrastructure to answer Sailor questions at scale and the intelligence to make every answer feel like it is tailored for that specific traveler. What we built reflects a decade of thinking about how technology should serve the guest experience rather than be layered on top of it.”
Rovey was built with Google Cloud’s AI technology, while Virgin Voyages provided the data and travel expertise behind it. It’s designed to guide travelers through the booking process with context-based recommendations, not just answer questions.
Sam Sebastian, Vice President, North America Regions at Google Cloud, said, “We are excited to collaborate with Virgin Voyages and leverage Google Cloud’s leading AI technology to enhance the cruise booking process. 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.”
Billy Bohan Chinique, Vice President, Global Brand Marketing and AI Transformation at Virgin Voyages, added, “We have always built this brand from the inside out. Experience first. Everything else follows. Rovey is that philosophy applied to the one moment we could not previously reach at scale: the moment between a Sailor thinking “I wonder if…” and finally saying “I’m going.” Rovey lives in that space. And it sounds exactly like the brand it represents.”
Seven more features are planned as part of the project, each focused on different parts of the travel experience, from planning to the voyage itself. Rovey is the first, with additional updates rolling out on the same platform.
Rovey will launch soon on Virgin Voyages’ website.
