Dreamlines Migration Project

The Client

Founded in 2012, Dreamlines (also, trade as Cruise1st and CruiseAway) is now the largest online cruise travel agency outside of the United States. With more than 250 ambitious cruise experts, the online cruise portal has offices and websites located in the most relevant cruise markets, such as Germany, the United Kingdom, Australia, and other countries around the world.

Dreamlines covers a wide range of markets and offers more than 30,000 cruises from every cruise line. In addition to providing cruises, the company also organises Dreamlines Packages, which are specially curated trips. These, along with a cruise, may include return flights, hotel accommodations, transfers, and tours.

Project Overview

Dreamlines had acquired Cruise1st and, while a relationship had been set up between the two domains, the systems remained separate, preventing collaboration across their infrastructures. A decision was made to merge the two systems (the ‘forests’) and migrate all the data from Cruise1st’s Microsoft tenant into Dreamlines’ environment. The primary challenge was completing this migration in a live environment with active users, ensuring that no data was lost or corrupted during the process. Additionally, at the time, Microsoft did not offer an all-in-one migration tool. Our solution was to break down the project into three phases to minimise disruption for both businesses: 1. Merge the two Active Directory forests 2. Migrate the Sharepoint data from Cruise1st’s Microsoft system to Dreamlines’ setup 3. Migrate the user data from Cruise1st’s Microsoft system to Dreamlines’ setup By structuring the project in these phases, we aimed to ensure a smooth transition with minimal impact on day-to-day operations for both companies.

Summary

The project was successfully completed through careful planning and execution. Cruise1st’s Active Directory forest is no longer in use, and their Microsoft 365 tenant is only kept for archiving purposes. Our developers applied their expertise in Microsoft 365, ensuring a seamless migration of users, mailboxes, Teams, OneDrive, and SharePoint, with precision and efficiency. By partnering with us, you ensure a seamless, optimised migration that is built for long-term performance, security, and scalability, while also offering your internal IT team the support they need to keep your business moving forward.

Our ability to support customers extends well beyond the UK, enabling us to assist clients like Dreamlines and their in-house IT teams wherever they are based.

Testimonial

“We at Dreamlines GmbH partnered with Impact IT Solutions Ltd for a complex task of merging two Microsoft 365 tenants. From the initial consultation to the final implementation, their team demonstrated exceptional professionalism, technical expertise, and a deep understanding of our unique business needs. The project was executed seamlessly, with minimal disruption to our day-to-day operations. They provided clear communication at every step, ensuring transparency and confidence throughout the process. Their attention to detail and proactive problem-solving approach ensured that all potential issues were addressed before they could escalate. We highly recommend Impact IT Solutions Ltd for any organization seeking reliable, efficient, and expert IT services.”

 

Ali Nejabati, DevOps & Infrastructure Team Lead, Dreamlines