Carnival Cruise Line and Effy unveil digital shopping experience

Guests will be able to use a digital kiosk to browse through an extensive selection of Effy rings. Once guests scan an image of their hand, the kiosk, through artificial reality technology, will allow them to try on the products virtually.

The concept will be rolled out to additional ships in the fleet shortly.

Carnival Firenze will feature the line’s 27th on-board Effy store, with the two brands recently completing a fleetwide expansion, including the installation of a larger store on Carnival Vista.

Luis Terife, vice-president of onboard guest commerce at Carnival, said: “Showcasing Effy’s timeless pieces in this way and leveraging technology creates a truly innovative and personal shopping experience for our guests. Our guests love Effy jewellery and this new virtual component gives them the ability to quickly visualise how several perfectly sized pieces will look in a fraction of the time it might take to try on multiple items throughout the store. The kiosk puts beautiful designs right at their fingertips.”

Bobby Hematian, president of Effy, said: “We are thrilled to launch our first digital kiosk on Carnival Firenze.  Our focus with this initiative was to create a fun interactive in-store experience that allows our customers to access products beyond the footprint of the store. We are grateful to Carnival for the continuous support in cruise retail innovation.”

The 5260-guest Carnival Firenze is the second ship to transfer to the Carnival fleet from sister line Costa Cruises, following Carnival Venezia.

Carnival Firenze will be christened in Long Beach, California on April 24, before embarking on its first sailing as part of the Carnival fleet the following day. The ship will sail year-round from Long Beach, offering three to seven-day Baja Mexico and Mexican Riviera itineraries.

Carnival recently named actor Jonathan Bennett as the ship’s godfather.