Azamara inks exclusive retail partnership with Starboard Cruise Services

[Host Jazzbeau]

New article on Seatrade Cruise News:

Azamara inks exclusive retail partnership with Starboard Cruise Services

[marinaro44]

"Curated" and "bespoke" are the most overused words in the marketing vocabulary, and cause me to immediately tune out.

[Host Jazzbeau]

It looks to me like a good move.  The shipboard inventory will now reflect the destination of the cruise and feature local craft goods.  Starboard is part of LVMH Moët Hennessy luxury group, so I don't expect any bargains – but they should be able to deliver on these promises [which IMHO actually deserve the labels 'curated' and 'bespoke'].  It certainly distances Azamara from its mass-market corporate former owner.

[uktog]

Whilst I too hate the buzz words I kind of like the concept.  The $10 Chinese made tat used to frustrate when I had obc to spend. It’s not going to be cheap stuff but at least it’s going to be potentially more ethically sourced and relevant. 

[excitedofharpenden]

21 minutes ago, uktog said:

Whilst I too hate the buzz words I kind of like the concept.  The $10 Chinese made tat used to frustrate when I had obc to spend. It’s not going to be cheap stuff but at least it’s going to be potentially more ethically sourced and relevant. 

You mean I won't be able to go and get my $10 watch?😁  I hope they do get away from the cheap stuff on tables outside the shops, but people seem to like it and if it attracts the punters to maybe buy things inside I don't see it disappearing. 

 

It's on Quest now. Maybe Huntingdon can report whether they have seen it or not. 

 

Phil 

[Riocca]

Positive thing if the $10 tat is now gone, local crafts are usually interesting to look at but we stopped buying it years ago, still have boxes of it languishing in our loft.

Hopefully we will still be able to purchase toiletries and other essential items as that’s proved useful over the years.

[Host Jazzbeau]

6 hours ago, excitedofharpenden said:

You mean I won't be able to go and get my $10 watch?😁 

I'm sure you'll still be able to buy a $10 'Rolez' watch from that guy on the pier... 🤣

[Huntingdon1701]

9 hours ago, excitedofharpenden said:

You mean I won't be able to go and get my $10 watch?😁  I hope they do get away from the cheap stuff on tables outside the shops, but people seem to like it and if it attracts the punters to maybe buy things inside I don't see it disappearing. 

 

It's on Quest now. Maybe Huntingdon can report whether they have seen it or not. 

 

Phil 

 

Sounds interesting, but can't say I've yet spotted anything that might be connected. The stuff on display looked unremarkable and like the usual stuff you'd expect on a ship.

 

Will have a closer look tomorrow.

[Melissaghoti]

There was a Haris Cotton presentation listed in one of the Insiders Huntingdon has shown. That seems new. It’s a Greek brand of clothing, so it is local, but certainly neither ‘curated’ or ‘bespoke’. I’ve purchased plenty in Athens and the islands, so it’s also not something that’s difficult to find. I guess it’s convenient to have on board if it gets warmer than you anticipated when you packed.

   Melissa

[ChucktownSteve]

6 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

I'm sure you'll still be able to buy a $10 'Rolez' watch from that guy on the pier... 🤣

Is that a genuine "Rolez?

[Host Jazzbeau]

41 minutes ago, ChucktownSteve said:

Is that a genuine "Rolez?

It came with an 'oficial warrantie' 😉

[Twiga]

At Ephesus, Turkey:

 

[Huntingdon1701]

I had a quick look last night and there is an alcove that was dedicated to Greek products - pottery, carved wood, some jewellery and skincare products.

 

Wasn't a huge selection and prices felt high for me, based on the pottery shop we visited on one of the tours. That said, I am not the target audience for this. 

[excitedofharpenden]

On 9/2/2021 at 11:26 PM, Twiga said:

At Ephesus, Turkey:

 

Yes. I think I went in that shop. 😁

 

Phil 

[Marmaduke]

5 hours ago, Huntingdon1701 said:

I had a quick look last night and there is an alcove that was dedicated to Greek products - pottery, carved wood, some jewellery and skincare products.

 

Wasn't a huge selection and prices felt high for me, based on the pottery shop we visited on one of the tours. That said, I am not the target audience for this. 

This reminds me of a cruise around the Baltic with Princess about 25 years ago.  The on board shops were stocked with Russian Matryoshka Dolls priced at  over 100 $ US.  From the very start of the cruise they were being heavily promoted with flyers etc.  As soon as the shops opened on sailing away from St Petersburg there were near riots on board with people trying to get refunds on these dolls having discovered that a similar set of dolls could be bought for 1O$ US from the tourist vendors in St Petersburg.

 

The onboard dolls were probably of better quality but not 100 $ better!

[Huntingdon1701]

I remember something similar happening on Norwegian Getaway in 2017. I'm not persuaded that onboard shops are good value. 

[marinaro44]

40 minutes ago, Huntingdon1701 said:

I remember something similar happening on Norwegian Getaway in 2017. I'm not persuaded that onboard shops are good value. 

Not even if the stuff is "curated" or "bespoke?"🙃

[Huntingdon1701]

Especially not then, because you're paying the 'curator ' as well!

[mj_holiday]

From what I remember from cruising ( oh so long ago , my memory fails) there is never much of a selection of Azamara merchandise. I do like spending OBC on a sweater or shirt that “timidly “ has the ship name. 
It would be nice if Starboard made an effort to stock Azamara merchandise. 

[Riocca]

Have had only one experience of Starboard and that was on Celebrity, having a lot of OBC we purchased a Skagen watch onboard. About 6 months later we had a problem with the watch and contacted Celebrity to find out what to do they put us in touch with Starboard, who said we had to return the watch from the U.K.to them in Florida by registered post before they could do any thing.
Given the cost of the watch and the cost of the postage it hardly seemed worth it, so we contacted Celebrity again who agreed and refunded the cost of the watch.

 

Quality and range of the general merchandise and logo wear didn’t seem any better than that offered by Hardings, and over the years we’ve had good customer service from Hardings when we’ve had a problem. However as we don’t generally spend much in onboard shops unless we have OBC to burn I doubt it will make a great deal of difference to us.

[donaldsc]

On 9/2/2021 at 4:26 PM, Twiga said:

At Ephesus, Turkey:

 

 

Much better than "fake fake watches"

 

DON

[sofietucker]

Guys. Azamara's Journey stops in October in Crete at Agios Nikolaios, where we've never been. So we researched, found a beach excursion to an offshore island, Spinalonga, which features the "Tourist Exploitation Drinks Bar." I kid you not. We were so pumped to go there! But sadly have had to cancel that cruise. They fixed the signage on Google maps photos but weren't able to remove the 215 reviews rating it a 1.9 on that site... Here ya go, though: https://gr.revieweuro.com/crete/tourist-exploitation-drinks-bar-1074143