theICEway in 2023: Awards, announcements & an amazing team

As the year nears its end, we’re feeling reflective. So much has happened over the past 340 days – has it really been that many since Jan 1st?! It has been another fantastic year for our ecosystem of companies. From attending events both large and small, to new additions and awards, theICEway in 2023 has been a good place to be. Here we look back on some key moments from the year and thank you to everyone who has helped make it all possible.

A Year Of Events, Including STC Global 2023 & Generation Stevenage

Just a few months into 2023, the team were preparing to descend upon the US for another edition of Seatrade Cruise Global. This time around, the year’s most eagerly anticipated cruise event was staged in Fort Lauderdale rather than in Miami. As we wrote in an April blog entitled, ‘STC Global 2023 in review‘, however, it was thankfully a case of “New Venue, Same Fantastic Vibe”. More than 80 cruise line brands from around the world were in attendance and a packed conference programme provided hours of insightful content. We were delighted to participate in sessions including:

In May, we were lucky enough to be invited along to Generation Stevenage 2023 at Knebworth Barns. This annual event was organised by HOP (Hertfordshire Opportunities Programme) and featured 65 exhibitors on the day. The event was attended by nearly 1,000 Hertfordshire students aged 14-16, plus theICEway’s Freddy Loft, Service Delivery Manager, and Thomas Esson, First Line Engineer. Read Freddy’s excellent blog, ‘Generation Stevenage 2023: theICEway’s first visit‘, to learn more about their experience.

New Additions (A Small Selection)

2023 Also saw the release of our brand new Tech Talks podcast, created alongside the great people at Seatrade Cruise. Hosted by our very own Ian Richardson, each series 1 episode has a focus on tech and innovation in cruise. The podcast was created to provide a platform to some of the creative minds behind solutions designed to improve the industry. Use the link above to access all 6 episodes:

This year also saw theICEway become a Disability Confident Committed employer. This brilliant scheme demonstrates our positive approach to employing disabled people. We’re more than happy and proud to offer interviews, work experience and trials for the disabled. In fact, another event not mentioned above was October’s Disability Inclusive Job Fair Welwyn Garden City 2023. This one was attended by Freddy again, with his colleague Robert Richardson joining him. The pair had an amazing experience, which you can read about in ‘A Hertfordshire IT Company at the Disability Inclusive Job Fair 2023‘.

In October, Cruise Saudi announced to the World that they had enlisted several tech companies to help them develop Saudi Arabia’s first cruise line. theICEway is thrilled to be a key part of this exciting collaboration, which represents a hugely ambitious technology project. Read more about this in our blog, ‘theICEway and Cruise Saudi‘.

Awards

theICEway in 2023 was the proud recipient of nominations at both the Wave and Travolution awards. Being listed in any category at such prestigious ceremonies is always a huge honour. Imagine then how we all felt when we were nominated for technological innovation! One of our core company values, we are always striving to innovate and so these accolades were very welcome indeed. Then, in November, we went a step further by winning at the Wave Awards for ‘Best Technology Innovation’.

We proudly sent a team to the Wave Awards comprising of Co-Founders Ian Richardson and Conor Byrne. Joining them were Business Development and Product Manager David Tibbles, and Head of Technology Projects Bertie Trevis. The win was for our tzChromar® IT solution for cruise, a unique product that is set for further expansion in 2024. For more on this, read ‘The Wave Awards 2023: A celebration of cruise & travel‘.

An AMAZING Team

It goes without saying that this year, not to mention the others before it, could not have been possible without our people. And yet say it we must, for they truly do provide the company with the most amazing backbone. For further proof of that, as if it were needed, you can read about another event from this year: ‘theICEway Summer Party 2023 (our people truly are the best)‘.

We must end by saying a huge ‘thank you’ to our people both here in the UK and based around the World. theICEway in 2023 remains very much a local company with a global reach, and this has been achieved because of all of you. A massive thank you also goes out to our many partners, suppliers, clients and blog readers. Your support means everything to us!