As Carnival Cruise Line continues to overhaul the shopping experience on their cruise ships, one of their vessels will be receiving a new duty free store in June while the ship is in dry dock.
The new store will be available on Carnival Spirit starting on June 25, 2018. Carnival Cruise Line has partnered with Heinemann Asia Pacific, a subsidiary of Gebr. Heinemann. The partnership will deliver an ideal mix of local and global brands such as Seafolly, Quay Australia, Swarovski, Swatch, Lacoste and Clinique to Carnival’s Australian guests.
The move into the Australian market by Heinemann Asia Pacific follows the success of an existing partnership between the two brands in the US with similar experiences onboard other Carnival cruise ships including Carnival Fantasy, Carnival Liberty and Carnival Ecstasy.
Heinemann has been a master concessionaire at Sydney Kingsford Smith International Airport since 2015, with the brand building a strong reputation with Australian travellers. Using consumer insights, Heinemann has carefully curated duty free offerings for the Aussie cruising market with a particular focus on cosmetics, liquor and local brands.
Carnival Spirit will undergo a two-week dry dock in Singapore and receive new family friendly entertainment features offering new spaces for kids and teens activities onboard, in addition to this new duty free experience. Once she returns to her home port of Sydney on 25 June, 2018 she will resume year-round departures from Australia.
William Butler, Carnival’s Vice President of Retail Services, gave the following statement about this new partnership: “We’re pleased to continue our excellent relationship with Gebr. Heinemann with this enhancement of the retail experience aboard Carnival Spirit following its extensive dry dock.
The retail experience at Carnival continues to evolve with sought-after brands and exciting new spaces and we’re delighted to work with Gebr. Heinemann in providing our guests with the widest variety of retail choices at sea.”
Carnival Cruise Line is the largest cruise line in the world with almost five million guests travelling every year. The cruise line has two ships deployed in Australia, including Carnival Spirit – currently the largest and newest cruise ship home ported year-round in Australia. Sister ship Carnival Legend will return to Australia in October 2018 following her Northern Hemisphere summer season cruising Alaska.
Carnival Splendor will join the Australian Carnival fleet in December 2019 and become the newest and largest ship home ported year-round in Australia. With 45 activities to enjoy each day, Carnival’s ships offer fun-loving families and couples fun, memorable holidays at great value.
That’s a lot of space for “another” store. Might make more money if it were used for a quiet bar.