From outdated CMS to personalized experience engine: AIDA Cruises modernized their digital core with Adobe and Comwrap Reply.

The Challenge

A future-ready website that drives bookings and delivers personalized guest experiences across every cruise phase.

A love brand that connects through every touchpoint

Taking a cruise is a dream come true for many. It offers a unique experience: days or even weeks at sea, fascinating destinations, a luxurious ambience, world-class entertainment, and fresh sea air.

A truly unforgettable experience! In fact, nearly one in five German consumers considered AIDA for their next cruise in 2024 (Consideration Score 17.9%), securing the brand the top spot in the "Top cruise lines Germany 2025" ranking.
This comes as no surprise. AIDA has established itself as a true "love brand" turning guests into true fans who also enjoy engaging with the brand in their everyday lives. Above all, they appreciate the special feeling on board and AIDA’s positioning as a vibrant world of experiences.

To convey this identity to new guests, AIDA relies on strong brand messaging that highlights the feeling of freedom at sea and the joy of shared experiences with family and friends. “Our primary goal is to offer our customers a seamless customer journey, that spans all touchpoints throughout the entire journey. We want to be a trusted advisor that understands their needs whenever they choose to engage with us,” says Ewig.

The Solution

From First Click to Onboard Welcome—Rebuilt for Conversion

Comwrap Reply led a full-scale redesign and replatforming effort. We mapped and rebuilt user journeys for every stage—from first-time visitor to returning guest. The replatforming began with the logged-in experience, starting with pre-cruise (MyAIDA), continuing through onboard services, and extending into post-cruise touchpoints. The public-facing site and the “Suchen & Buchen” booking flow followed.

This transactional core was rolled out gradually, starting with just 5% of traffic, closely monitored and iteratively optimized for performance and UX before scaling to 100%. We introduced a segmentation-first personalization model using five guest archetypes, fueling personalized offers, content, and decisioning across the journey. An AI-powered optimization loop continuously enriches profiles and sharpens targeting in real time.

Targeted imagery, measurable impact

At AIDA, a strong, consistent visual language is key. "Guests should always feel welcome — after all, it's a vacation,” says Ewig. “That's why we focused so heavily on harmonizing visuals to convey a good feeling." The effectiveness of this tailored approach is clearly demonstrated on AIDA's "Food and Drink" page. Content is tailored based on the audience — families see a different key visual than singles or couples, along with personalized suggestions for food and beverage options.

With just a few adjustments to the visual presentation, the team observed an increase in the time spent on the site of around 21%. "With just a few simple adjustments, we achieved an increase in user engagement. The number of pages visited during a session increased from 13 to 17 per visit," explains Sandra Heinzel, Head of Website Experience at AIDA Cruises. "By far the greatest success is reflected in visits to the mobile websites, where AIDA saw a 50% increase. In 2023, we were still at around 3 million mobile visits per month. Now we’re already at 6 million, with total visits to aida.de reaching between 8 and 10 million each month."

How we did it

The brand with the red kiss relies on an omnichannel strategy, with most customer journeys beginning with a subscribed newsletter. From there, guests typically proceed to the website, mobile app, a partner site, or a travel agency, where they complete their booking. This is where true personalization begins: guests can tailor their trip to their individual preferences — whether it's booking a wellness day, a shore excursion, or a poolside event.

AIDA’s transformation was powered by a composable Adobe Experience Cloud stack. Adobe Experience Manager (Sites & Assets) provided a robust foundation for scalable content delivery and asset governance. Adobe Target and Real-Time CDP enabled experience personalization through real-time segmentation and profile enrichment.

Adobe Journey Optimizer orchestrated touchpoints across channels and lifecycle stages, ensuring consistency and context-awareness. Adobe Analytics fed the data loop for ongoing optimization. We delivered the project with agile precision: 160 EPICs, over 6000 user stories, across 19 sprints with an average team size of 18. From architecture to UX, every layer was engineered for speed, modularity, and conversion impact. This was not a lift-and-shift—this was digital reinvention.

To determine even more precisely what customers want, AIDA relies on A/B testing with Adobe Target. Approximately 75% percent of website traffic in 2024 underwent A/B tests with Adobe Target. Tests of this type used to take more than two weeks; today marketing teams can implement a test and go live within hours. The results can then be used to personalize travel offers in real-time. For example, a customer who prefers vacations in warmer climates will receive a tailored promotion for a destination in the Mediterranean along with relevant flight offers from their home airport. "With Adobe Target, AIDA can test a significantly wider range of variables and hypotheses to achieve the most effective results, and deliver the highest level of personalization," says Heinzel.

AIDA Cruises

AIDA Cruises is Germany’s leading cruise brand and a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc, the world’s largest leisure travel company. With a fleet of modern ships known for innovation, sustainability, and service excellence, AIDA offers voyages to destinations around the globe—from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean, Northern Europe, Asia, and beyond. AIDA combines premium experiences with German hospitality, setting new standards for modern cruising. The company is headquartered in Rostock, Germany, and employs thousands of crew and staff dedicated to delivering unforgettable experiences at sea.