How can cruise retailers position spirits – one of the top three core duty free categories—to appeal to passengers, when cruisers can neither drink their spirits purchases onboard or take them to their cabins until they disembark?
Starboard has evolved its spirits strategy to optimize space and stimulate sales by focusing on four key trends – premiumization, exclusivity, personalization, and destination – Director of Merchandising Karla Nedeski and Spirits Buyer Lindsey Mitchell tell TMI’s Lois Pasternak.
“For a long time it was all about value, but that was becoming much harder, especially with the expansion of discount stores like Total Wines,” says Mitchell. “So we are testing ways to use space differently and focusing on exclusive products.”
Whereas traditional travel retail exclusives may also be available in port destinations, Starboard has been expanding into more cruise line exclusives and even Starboard exclusives, says Mitchell.
“We also seek out lesser-known brands or products with limited port availability, so even when they are not exclusive to us, they still feel special to our passengers.”
Starboard’s partnership with Casa Maestri Tequila is a prime example. The partnership involved the launch of Invicta Tequila, developed in collaboration between Starboard and Invicta Watch Group and produced by Casa Maestri Distillery in Mexico. Starboard launched the premium tequila on 26 cruise ships in summer 2025. Not only was it a first-of-its-kind—and first-at-sea—collaboration between a watch brand and a tequila producer, but it was also the first time Starboard spearheaded the creation of a branded, premium spirit from concept to shelf.
“We’ve grown the Casa Maestri business about 10 times since the first year,” says Mitchell.
Starboard also carries the core Casa Maestri portfolio in their distinctive red, blue or black ceramic bottles, and most recently, exclusively launched their new Dubai-style pistachio chocolate flavor three months before any other retailer received it.
“Casa Maestri really resonates with our guests. It has a very Mexican heritage, and our guests feel like they’re getting a truly authentic gift versus a more Americanized product. It performs extremely well when the ships go to Mexico. Casa Maestri is not very widespread in the ports, making it even more attractive.
“We also emphasize full-scale activations, offering Casa Maestri tastings on every cruise ship that goes through North America and supporting them with marketing throughout the ships,” says Mitchell.
“Combining premiumization with authentic exclusivity is really driving travel retail spirit sales now. We are giving our guest a reason to purchase on board and the urgency to purchase now,” she says.
“The premiumization trend is extremely important, especially since people are consuming less spirits, but they are consuming better spirits,” adds Nedeski.
This trend has been especially effective with American whiskies and single barrel programs.
“Because single barrels come from one specific barrel rather than a blend, that exact liquid cannot be replicated. That exclusivity has produced strong results, plus we have been working to create compelling programs around these single barrels,” she says.
This past summer, Starboard partnered with Carnival Cruise Line and Diageo to introduce a limited-edition Bulleit Bourbon exclusively on 14 Carnival ships as part of their celebration of America’s 250th anniversary this year. The limited-edition Bulleit Bourbon was from a barrel that was personally selected by Christine Duffy, President of Carnival Cruise Line, and Lisa Bauer, President and CEO of Starboard.
“This created a unique story on board. Not only was the limited edition exclusive, but it had a connection back to the cruise line. It is selling double what a normal SKU would do on board, and on some ships, it’s selling three times more.”
Starboard also featured a single-barrel campaign with Jack Daniels for Royal Caribbean, that sold through in a couple of months, she said.
While some barrels are available across an entire cruise line, some of the Starboard campaigns are for a specific ship. One recent campaign launched individual barrels of Angel’s Envy bourbon across three Celebrity Cruise ships, Apex, Beyond, and Ascent.
Starboard specially labels every bottle that comes from a single barrel with the cruise line name or the ship name, explains Mitchell. The bottles from the Jack Daniel’s Royal Caribbean single barrel sported a metal neck hanger with the cruise line name, for example.
Ultra-Premiumization
Starboard enhanced the cruise premiumization aspect even further with the recent introduction of Sazerac’s exclusive Weller 18 Year Old onboard Celebrity Xcel. Guests on the ship were the only cruise travelers in the world to have access to this new release, which is the oldest age-stated whiskey in the Weller portfolio.
“We have been working very closely with Sazerac to create a special vendor partnership that will offer experiences that take advantage of the dwell time onboard. Weller in general is hard to find, and Weller 18 is extremely limited. But we secured a few cases for the Celebrity Xcel launch and partnered with the cruise line’s food and beverage team to offer it by the glass, creating a full 360-degree onboard experience.”
Starboard is experimenting with other ways in which travel retail can collaborate with cruise line F&B programs. In one, Royal Caribbean launched an immersive bar tasting event with Jack Daniel’s called Sound and Vision. Anyone who attends the tasting can visit the duty free shop, purchase one of the bottles featured in the tasting, and receive the glassware that they used during the tasting as a GWP.
Starboard is introducing even more very high-end spirits, including a limited-edition Weller Millennium launched on 10 ships in September, priced at more than $2,000; and the Johnnie Walker Vault Collection on eight ships, priced at about $2,500.
Currently, the most expensive bottle in the portfolio is a Macallan M in the $6,500 range. Next, Starboard is set to launch a $12,000 Eagle Rare 25 Year Old, and a $15,000 Eagle Rare 30 Year Old onboard Royal Caribbean’s Legend of the Seas when it returns from the Mediterranean.
“We haven’t offered anything in this price point before in liquor. We have guests onboard who purchase Birken bags for that same price so it’ll be interesting to see how that works with the spirits department,” comments Mitchell.
“There’s definitely an appetite on board for these high-end spirits. It goes with the fact that people are drinking better. They’re willing to splurge and celebrate while they’re on their cruise, and they want to be able to talk about this really amazing rare bottle they found on their vacation when they get back home,” adds Nedeski.
Personalization & Destination
For non-exclusive spirits, Starboard is turning to personalization to make the bottles feel more special and unique.
“Personalization also allows the guest to have an experience onboard,” says Mitchell, citing a partnership with Diageo for Don Julio tequila using personalized labels.
“The program increased sales about 100% for that brand on the ships that have this label,” she said.
Tying the spirits offer into the destination is another important trend that Starboard has tapped into.
“Our itinerary department does a really great job of bringing destinations to life and when we collaborated with them to put the destination liquors into that life-style assortment, we saw good lift on those brands. We featured a Mediterranean gin from Spain; Disaronno liqueur from Italy, Mermaid Gin from Wales, and Ouzo from Greece.”
In the U.S., Starboard has introduced Port to Pour, a tasting program held on the first night of a cruise that features spirits either from the home port or one of the ports along the voyage.
“For ships out of New York, we featured Widow Jane Bourbon, which introduced a unique, American whiskey. Some of our Florida ships featured Caribbean Moonshine Rum that’s locally made in Orlando, to impart a little hometown charm. Of course, we feature tequilas when the ship goes to Mexico and rums when it goes to the Caribbean,” says Mitchell,
Even as Starboard focuses its spirits on exclusivity, premiumization, personalization and destination, it is very careful not to offer a one-size-fits-all approach to its cruise ship partners.
The key to describing these programs is “intentional,” says Karla Nedeski. “Any activation, personalization or even exclusivity, must be meaningful to that cruise line and its business.”
