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Why the drinks industry is sharpening its focus on cruise ships

04 October 2024 By Jessica Mason

Brands from across the alcoholic drinks sector are looking into new opportunities to target consumers onboard cruise ships to boost sales. Jessica Mason investigates.

The rising trend, which was discussed by drinks brand owners across categories, is set to see an influx of drinks products being touted to a captive audience of consumers considered to be a relatively untapped market.

The global cruise industry is additionally seeing a huge spike, giving rise to the sector being highly lucrative and an attractive proposition. Valued at US$7.4 billion in 2023, it is expected to reach US$22.6 billion by 2033, for a compound annual growth rate of 11.8% according to a report from Spherical Insights and Consulting.

Speaking exclusively to the drinks business at the TFWA World Exhibition & Conference in Cannes this week, Halewood International revealed it is showcasing its whole range this year in Cannes, but did hint that its gin brand Whitley Neill and spiced rum brand Dead Man’s Fingers were its key players for global travel retail.

Halewood International commercial director Eamon Prunty told db: “For travel retail, currently, we’ll focus on: Whitley Neill and Dead Man’s Fingers” and explained that travel retail is already “70-75% of our businesses” and yet via the sector it is “seeing other markets now open for us” and said that Halewood was “developing more with other retailers within Europe as well” and said that “on cruises we do a lot with Harding Retail”.

In a similar story, spirits company Ian Macleod also admitted it was eyeing the cruise sector. Ian Macleod marketing and business development manager Sarah Halley told db: that the cruise sector is one area that the business is “really focusing on at the moment”. Halley explained: “We see some real potential in the cruise sector, whether that be for the F&B side or the retail. We see a real opportunity and we [also] see an opportunity for luxury onboard these cruise ships with some amazing partners.”

According to Halley, the cruise sector is an attractive proposition for drinks brands because so many of them are not present there yet, so there are fewer competitors for what is essentially targeting an audience of people who want new experiences. Describing this, Halley explained: “The dwell time is through the roof. So we’re talking to them about listing luxury products and having some luxury events on board and getting some of our great people onboard to talk to customers and doing dinners and tastings and things like that.”

Echoing a similar line, beer giant Heineken also namechecked Royal Caribbean as a cruise business it was working closely alongside. Heineken global duty free manager, Niek Vonk told db: “We really can cater for all sorts of needs” and admitted that it was focused on “connecting” with its end consumer across core channels such as “cruise lines” and “ferries” to make the most of opportunities “where we really can showcase our products in those channels” and “work with dedicated teams” to “work very close to our end customers” such as “Royal Caribbean”.

Drinks brand owners have long been searching for new ways to reach audiences on cruise lines due to the fragmented media landscape, which takes consumer’s attention away from traditional advertising both at home and outdoor and television due to smartphones diminishing attention spans. As such, the captive market onboard cruises has become a hotbed of marketing activity and is still relatively untapped by the wine sector as well.

Other appealing factors making cruise ships appealing are that it is not a closed minded demographic that chooses to go cruising: instead it is the type of consumer that drinks companies want to reach—cash rich curious adventurers who want new experiences and to learn more about discerning brands and their origins.

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