The cruise SPMS,
reimagined.
AI-native. Voice-first. Microservices from day one. Open source.
Built on the NT Connect Holdings stack — Quanta, ConnectOne, CallCraft, Heimdall.
Three things that make Nautilus different
The cruise SPMS market has three serious players. None of them ship these.
AI as fabric, not bolt-on
Nautilus runs on NATS JetStream with Quanta's agent contract layered on top. AI capabilities plug into the bus as agents — any domain event reachable from any agent via subscription.
Recommendations, anomaly detection, voice intents, sentiment scoring aren't bolt-ons. They're agents on the fabric.
Voice-first, end to end
ConnectOne carries the call. CallCraft AI joins as an agent. Cabin SIP + paired mobile + iTV all on one extension.
Crew get role-based voice + push-to-talk + chat (Cunard Queen Anne replaced their DECT fleet with this pattern). Guest-to-guest video, telehealth video, AI Notes on every call, omnichannel federation across SMS / Viber / Telegram / iMessage / WhatsApp.
AGPL open source — and audited
Every line is AGPL-3.0. Tier-A primitives get specialist crypto audits before public release.
$250–400k committed across three audit phases. Least Authority + Trail of Bits on the shortlist. Audit reports ship with the libraries. Optional commercial license for closed-source rights.
Why incumbents fall short
Honest comparison. The differences are categorical, not incremental.
| Capability | Oracle SPMS | MXP | Otalio | Nautilus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Architecture | Monolith (Windows, ~1995) | Cloud-capable, modular | Microservices | Microservices, event-first, AI-native |
| Open source | No | No | No | AGPL-3.0 + commercial |
| AI voice native | No | Add-on | No | Yes (CallCraft) |
| Content safety | No | Limited | No | Heimdall — 12 plugins, 4 audience tiers, CSAM, grooming |
| Cloud PBX | Limited | Limited | Limited | Full ConnectOne, maritime-extended |
| Cabin TV first-class | Add-on | Yes | No | Yes — same PWA as everything else |
| Live signage sync to F&B / activities | No | Limited | No | Yes — event-driven via the bus |
| Multi-tenant from day one | No | No | Limited | Yes — region-pinned, brand-isolated |
| Offline-first | Partial | Good | Good | First-class — replay + onboard CNPG + onboard Heimdall |
| Vendor lock-in | High (MICROS, Oracle DB) | Medium | Low | None — adapter-first, open-spec, commodity hardware |
16 domains, one platform
Each is an independently deployable microservice with its own data store. No shared schemas. No god-database.
Identity & Guest Profile
Universal guest record + relationship graph + voyage journal
Reservation & Check-in
CRS integration, online + pier-offline check-in, board card
Onboard Accounts & Billing
Real-time folio, multi-currency, vendor-agnostic payments
Point of Sale
Browser PWA, offline queue, KDS, voice ordering
Gangway & Access Control
Embark / disembark, offline mode, SOLAS / ENOAD
Safety & Muster
Mobile mustering, fully offline, AI-guided emergency
Dining & Restaurant
Reservations, allergens, recipes, signage live-feed
Shore Excursions & Activities
Catalog, AI recommendations, voice booking, vendor mgmt
Spa & Wellness
Resource-aware booking, wellness profile
Crew, HR & Payroll
Maritime payroll, ILO, STCW, eLearning, crew app
Materials & Supply Chain
Real-time inventory, AI demand forecasting, EOQ
Fleet Management & HQ
Live KPIs, central config push, regulatory dashboards
Quanta AI Services
Concierge, recommendations, voice, anomaly detection
Unified Communications
Full ConnectOne PBX, CrewApp + GuestApp, omnichannel
Mobile, Cabin TV & Signage
One PWA on phone / kiosk / iTV / signage
Telehealth & Location Intelligence
Telehealth video, BLE wearables, occupancy heatmaps
Featured: ship-PBX integration spec
Every vessel arrives with a PBX. Nautilus does not require you to replace it on day one.
The ship-PBX Tier-C interface spec (Creative Commons BY 4.0, with Apache 2.0 conformance harness) defines how a legacy PBX — Avaya, Mitel, Cisco, Alcatel, Asterisk, FreeSWITCH — connects to the Nautilus bus for call events, PA/GA, E911, recordings, and commands. Retrofit-first.
First of several Tier-C specs being published under the same model — Heimdall content-safety API, CallCraft agent contract, ConnectOne signaling, Quanta keys-service protocol, and iTV/GRMS adapter contract are next.
# Subjects (Tier-C: ship-PBX → Nautilus bus)
ship.pbx.<tenant>.<vessel>.call.started
ship.pbx.<tenant>.<vessel>.call.ended
ship.pbx.<tenant>.<vessel>.recording.posted
ship.pbx.<tenant>.<vessel>.pa.tier
ship.pbx.<tenant>.<vessel>.e911.fired
ship.pbx.<tenant>.<vessel>.cmd.placeCall
ship.pbx.<tenant>.<vessel>.cmd.transfer
# JWT capabilities
{
"tenant": "<tenant-id>",
"vessel": "<imo>",
"caps": ["call.read", "pa.tier", "e911.fire"]
}
# License
- Spec text: CC BY 4.0
- Conformance: Apache 2.0Open the way Signal did it: published primitives, audited crypto libraries, conformance harnesses, no SDK lock-in.
How NT Connect helps
Run Nautilus yourself, AGPL, free forever — or have NT Connect run it for you.
Implementation & installation
Per-vessel deployment engineering, hardware procurement, network commissioning, first-vessel go-live.
Integration services
CRS adapters (Versonix Seaware first), legacy PBX retrofit, iTV head-end migration, signage retrofit, payment processor onboarding, cabin GRMS.
Hosted / managed services
Managed Quanta bus, ConnectOne PBX, CallCraft AI-voice, Heimdall (per-region), signsync CMS, CloudNativePG.
Compliance assistance
Per-tenant DPIA at onboarding, jurisdictional retention, NCMEC / IWF / BKA / eSafety reporting wiring.
24/7 support tiers
Bronze / Silver / Gold / Platinum with response SLAs. Onboard incident response for safety-critical paths at Platinum.
Hardware partnerships
Smart displays, BLE wearables + gateways, IPTV content, telehealth networks, SIP endpoints, gangway scanners.
Built on the NT Connect Holdings stack — real deployments behind the platform