INTERNATIONAL. Starboard Cruise Services has partnered with boutique cruiseline Azamara to deliver retail experiences across its three-ship fleet. The partnership began on 28 August when Azamara Quest welcomed the first guests for a seven-night Mediterranean voyage from Greece.
The partners said they aim to create “a destination-tailored retail programme, offering experiential, cultural and artisanal touchpoints curated specifically for each travel journey of Azamara’s fleet of ships”. The independent cruise brand is dedicated to what it terms ‘destination immersion experiences’.
“Our well-travelled guests desire exclusive escapes and thoughtfully selected excursions inspired by local culture and traditions,” said Azamara President Carol Cabezas. “The retail experience should not be an exception, but rather an integrated layer to amplify meaningful memories across the cruise journey. Partnering with Starboard’s Luxury Division, we are in a greater position to reveal even more of the history, art, cuisine and local customs that make each destination rare and beautiful.”
Destination creators and cultural collections
The retail vision and experiences are designed to complement Azamara’s shoreside evening activities and overnight port stays. Guests can engage onboard and ashore with local artisans and craftsmen in their native studios and shops, seeing their work come to life, and will have exclusive access to local merchandise they can home.
Curated cultural collections – inviting travellers to ‘Explore Further’– will be reflective of and genuine to each destination, said the partners, with examples being one-of-a-kind Māori carvings while sailing New Zealand or handspun wool knitwear in Norway. Starboard is also bringing onboard limited time experiences, such as hand painted silks from Barcelona, and socially conscious items including Chilean-made infused glass art sourced from recycled windows and bottles.
Starboard President and CEO Lisa Bauer said: “We are thrilled to be working with Carol Cabezas and her team at Azamara on our common vision for the journey ahead during a very exciting restart of the industry. With our shared philosophies surrounding discovery, creativity, quality and craftsmanship, collaborating with Azamara will deliver a completely innovative and immersive approach to exploring destinations.
“Beyond luxury and opulence, today’s affluent travellers seek transformative, memorable and purposeful experiences – collecting priceless and authentic mementos that tell one’s personal tale of traversing by sea.”
Azamara is an upmarket cruiseline that specialises in destination-led experiences. It currently has a fleet of three mid-sized ships sailing to all continents, and a fourth ship scheduled to join the fleet in 2022.
