Carnival Cruise Line is expanding use of facial biometric technology throughout its summer season to speed up disembarkation processes in partnership with US Customs and Border Protection.
The process requires guests to take a photo at a kiosk with a camera. The system then uses the photo to compare the guest’s passport or visa photo to verify his or her identity. Taking seconds to complete the process, it achieves 98% verification accuracy.
Nine of Carnival’s US homeports, including Miami, Port Canaveral, Mobile, Galveston and Long Beach provide biometric technology, according to travelmole.com, and over three million Carnival guests have used the new service.
Carnival says use of the technology has speeded up disembarkation processes by 30%. “We’re doing everything we can to make the debarkation process as simple as possible for our guests,” said Carnival Cruise Line President, Christine Duffy.
Those US travellers and foreign nationals who prefer to check in using manual documentation and verification may bypass the facial biometric process.
