200 retail brands, 18 new to cruise, appear onboard P&O's Arvia

Scotch & Soda, Floral Street beauty and Tidal Rum are among the names new to cruise.

A stand-alone Swarovski Boutique will be the first of the brand’s latest Wonderlab designed outlets to launch at sea, reflecting its Octagon packaging in shape, and its pink colourway from the new Swarovski brand colours.

Swarovski Wonderlab

A new chocolate factory concept designed by Harding+ for P&O Cruises will allow passengers to purchase confectionary products and gifts, while Tudor, Breitling and Rado will for the first time appear among the fine watch companies presented by P&O Cruises.

Tudor, offering fine watches

Sustainable products

There will be an increased range and focus on more than 25 eco-friendly and sustainable premium brands on board Arvia, curated and selected to suit the line's passengers. A selection of pre-owned luxury handbags and accessories from labels such as Gucci, Chanel and Louis Vuitton can also be purchased.

Explained Harding+ CEO James Prescott, 'Wellness, technology, sustainable products and luxury items will all play a key part in our partnership with P&O Cruises on Excel class ships and borne from deep dive and ongoing understanding from our proprietary data of what it is that cruise guests want to buy…’

Pop ups and experiences

The retail shops appear in ‘The Avenue’ - a 900sq ft open space area where passengers can shop for fine jewelry, duty free, beauty, fashion, technology, and curated souvenirs.

As well as housing names like Pandora, Mulberry, Barbour, RayBan, Hugo Boss, Apple, Chanel and Cotswolds Distillery, Harding+ will bring a range of brand pop ups and guest experiences to the ship. Examples at launch were the ‘Floral Street Scent School’ at the beauty bar, and skincare brand FOREO pop up experiential bar in the Marketplace, demonstrating how its technology devices can elevate skincare.  

‘Our in house design team have worked with the P&O Cruises architects and design teams and demonstrate that cruise retail models, design builds, ranges and experiences now match or exceed the best of high street retail globally,’ asserted Prescott. 

‘Understanding the unique dwell time and guest attitude that doesn’t exist elsewhere, in mainstream or other travel retail channels, allows us to push boundaries and change expectations for guests every time they join a cruise.

‘One size doesn’t fit all when it comes to cracking the right approach for each ship, and with Arvia, The Avenue approach will be a stand out onboard retail destination.’

A 45 strong Harding+ team were on board to experience the launch of the ship. Among them, a luxury trading manager and watch and fine jewellery specialists plus individual brand specialists, with each person trained to high category specific standards delivered by brand partners such as Tag Heuer and Foreo.