View from the top: Azamara Cruises CEO Dondra Ritzenthaler on the role of onboard retail

Introduction: What is retail’s commercial role in the cruise channel and how should it shape the guest experience? And what does best practice and next-level retailing look like to a cruiseline CEO?

At The Retail Days – a series of sessions at Seatrade Cruise Global in Miami last month devoted to onboard retailing – we put those questions and others to Dondra Ritzenthaler, Chief Executive at Azamara Cruises, a leading luxury boutique cruise line.

The conversation (with The Moodie Davitt Report President Dermot Davitt) kicked off two days of discussions about the future of cruise retailing, which attracted a strong audience from across the cruise ‘Trinity’ of cruise lines, concessionaires and brand owners. The full version will appear in The Moodie Davitt May Magazine, out next month.

The Moodie Davitt Report: What role does the retail channel of business play for Azamara, both in its contribution to revenue and as part of the guest experience?

Azamara Cruises CEO Dondra Ritzenthaler: Let me explain who we are at Azamara, which will also help explain what retail means to us. Across our four ships, which carry around 700 passengers each, we are the leader in destination immersion.

What does that mean? First of all, we are authentic. We don’t do the simple seven-day trips to Alaska or the Caribbean. If we are in Greece, then we need to offer things that are synonymous with the Greek culture and the Greek environment, telling stories that are relevant. That applies everywhere else we travel.

Our retail has to match that, meaning we can’t just put generic items for sale in our shops. Our retail strategy has to match the destination all around the world. It is not easy, because we don’t do the same things over and over, but it also becomes much more authentic and special.

That also adds complexity, so how do you balance the drive to be authentic and bespoke by destination with the imperative to be profitable in retail?

We are all in business to make money. We are focused on our revenue targets and we want partners who are invested in our success also.

But it cannot be just about money. It has to be about what the affluent customer really wants when they are onboard our ships, and when they visit the ports around the world.

We not only create experiences on shore that we take our guests to where they can immerse themselves, and where they can buy things, but onboard in our shops we will work with the local artisans too to really become a destination immersion provider.

What insights can you give us about guests’ appetite to engage with retail?

First, our audience is the Boomers and the Millennials, with some Gen Z as well today.

We are seeing the attraction of luxury goods continue, but we’re also seeing an appetite for health & wellness.

Plus we see a move to sustainable or responsible purchasing, so that means pre-loved goods that are high quality and allow people to feel better about themselves.

What do you think will engage and attract the future consumer as we strive every day to retain and build relevance?

We have to keep innovating. We are going to continue to focus on destination immersion programmes onboard so that we make it more authentic, which is what people crave.

We will also use AI more. That way we can partner with Starboard to make sure that we sell the right things in the right places.

I see a future featuring a hybrid of technology as well as in-person shopping. Nowadays you can click on a QR code and view your options, or find a variety of art on digital boards. That did not exist 20 years ago.

A wider question: How do you assess the performance and attraction of the luxury cruise market today, and Azamara’s place within this highly competitive space?

The consumer is getting very smart about exactly what they want. So we need to be effective in telling our story that we are all about the destination. We have to keep elevating our game as other cruise lines try to do the things we are doing.

We just launched our ‘Destination Immersion Elevated’ strategy. The pillars are around enhanced destination programmes, authentic local cuisine, onboard enrichment – which is where the retail really comes in – and expanded excursions.

For retail, destination events are crucial, where we bring people onboard to show what they do. In culinary, our chefs go local for their food sourcing and that helps us tell stories better.

Let’s touch on what’s happening today in terms of the economic climate, tariffs and the uncertainty that brings; how concerned are you about the picture for forward bookings short and longer term?

We are very fortunate that even when the tariff conversation started several weeks ago we saw only a very short blip. We then saw bookings come right back so it did not have a fundamental negative impact.

Our future business is also looking very strong. Every sign that you can look at shows how resilient cruising is.

Whether you are an investor or an owner of a business that works with us, we can point to past crises as events we have bounced back even more strongly from.

Finally, how would you like Azamara to be seen as a leader and innovator in the cruise and indeed the retail space?

What I want everybody to take away is that we are a brand that manages with our head and our heart. We take care of our employees and our crew, and that’s important to people.

We think about sustainability. We want to keep growing. We will continue to innovate our onboard product, as well as what we do on shore.

I want us to make advances in how we use AI and technology, while keeping it human and personal. I want us to be known for doing the things that help people such as our women-owned business partners. And I want us to be known as a brand that while continuing to grow, never changed who we are.

*More coverage of the Seatrade Cruise Global retail sessions will follow across our platforms.