Luxury, vintage sales are rising on cruise ships

Lisa Bauer, president and CEO at Starboard Group, said she likes to say that retailers aboard cruise ships “sell everything from Pringles to Prada.” And despite a tenuous U.S. economic landscape, Bauer said the “special occasion” factor helps drive spending during trips. 

“While the macro environment definitely plays a role, I think it has less impact on the cruise industry in particular because people save for that and they want something to remember it,” she said. “The cruise industry got hit very, very hard [by Covid-19], but it is incredibly resilient. People love to cruise, so they come back again and again.”

The Duty-Free World Council, the industry association for the duty-free industry, this month released its 2025 report on the travel retail landscape, which showed a rise in impulsive shopping behavior and people seeing greater value in duty-free shopping. About 31% of travelers bought on impulse, compared to 28% the prior year. And 27% of shoppers said duty-free is a good value for the money, compared to 25% last year.

The DFWC report also showed that nearly two-thirds of travel shoppers look for products they’ve never bought before, as well as unique products. “This emphasizes that retailers must not only provide value but also a sense of discovery that cannot be found on the high street,” said a press release statement from Peter Mohn, CEO of M1nd-Set, the research agency that produced the study.

Reklaim, a luxury handbag and watch reseller, has eight airport shops in places like Lisbon, Geneva and Dubai. It’s also aiming to sell on 15-20 cruise ships by the second half of the year. Reklaim’s president, Gary Schoenfeld, said part of why the travel portion of the business continues to grow is that people have time to consider their purchase and engage with a salesperson. 

“When we’re home and working, we’re all attached to our phones and computers,” he said. “Vacation is more liberating, and it gives you time to think about what you want to do to enjoy it.”

Schoenfeld also said people tend to shop for special occasions during their travels, whether attending a wedding, a show or a fancy dinner. Many people take big international trips or cruises to celebrate milestones like birthdays or anniversaries, which dovetail as gifting opportunities for spouses and loved ones.

“People like the idea of having something special while they’re traveling,” he said. Like, ‘I’d really enjoy wearing that watch right now,’ or ‘having that handbag to use while traveling.’” 

Starboard’s sales data supports the idea that travel retail is thriving due to its alignment with a special occasion: Fine jewelry was the top-selling category in 2025, exceeding the year’s sales target by 19%. Lab-grown diamonds in particular have exploded in popularity, Bauer said. But the company also recently rolled out a pop-up natural diamond category on the Royal Caribbean’s Harmony of the Seas to experiment with driving more jewelry sales. 

Outside of the luxury category, cruise ship logo merchandise outperformed expectations in 2025, and the company is also doing more with personalization stations for embroidery and engraving on apparel and accessories. Starboard also launched ear-piercing stations last year.

But Bauer said the retail opportunity is still something of an afterthought to some brands. Non-cruisers tend to have the perception that the trips are for “the nearly dead, overfed or newlywed,” she said. 

To help overcome stereotypes, Bauer said she and her team will give tours on cruise ships to potential brand partners that may not be familiar with the industry. The goal, she said, is to show them how many demographics are part of the cruising market and drive home the shopping behaviors of what is essentially a captive audience of 13 million unique consumers.

Last year, the retailer brought in 65 new brands, Bauer said. It expanded fragrance offerings to include high-end brands like Montale, Mancera and Tom Ford. Other new brands included lifestyle brand Blue Stallion Farm, beauty hair-care company Briogeo and a Clarins boutique on board the Virgin Voyages’ Brilliant Lady. Existing brands can also use the cruise shops to debut limited editions or exclusives that resonate with guests looking for something special. Pop-ups for whiskey tastings, makeup applications, or other experiences like on-site tailoring or custom bag design are also becoming sales drivers, Bauer said. 

“While malls and retail stores on land are trying to drive foot traffic, I have 6,200 unique guests every week on some of my ships,” she said. “Unlike an airport where they’ve got minutes, I have hours and days with our guests to educate them.”