Cruise Retail Academy

Cruise Retail Academy: training and jobs for cruise ship retail

Cruise Retail Academy is a British recruitment, training and support company dedicated to the retail and onboard revenue sector of the cruise industry. It operates alongside its Academy Onboard careers platform and offers free membership to professionals working onboard, with access to training, news, blogs, job listings and networking. The academy is aimed at cruise professionals from all operators, positions and experience levels, both new and veteran, and claims to bring together more than 10,000 members.

The company presents itself as a connecting space for the sector and publishes the 'Academy Weekly' newsletter every week with news and views from cruise retail. According to its own account, it does not charge recruitment fees and most of the training it provides is free.

Areas of activity: recruitment, training and content

Cruise Retail Academy's activity is organised around three pillars: recruitment, training and content creation for the community. In the field of training, the platform includes an e-learning programme with a cruise retail diploma, a learning library, a brand academy, courses about the industry and a selection of the top ten courses. It also offers a podcast and introductory materials about the sector.

In recruitment, the company states that it focuses exclusively on retail, art, photo, spa, casino, future cruise and excursions positions. It claims to offer reach for vacancies with more than 16,000 monthly visits to its website and maintains a hub for freelancers. The Academy Onboard platform works as a job portal for those looking to join the sector.

Community and professional groups

The academy structures its community around several groups with different levels of access. These include Cruise Retail Careers (public, 2,909 members), Your Questions & Answers (public, 344 members), Sharing Shoppies Success (public, 1,644 members), Shops at Sea (public, 1,850 members) and a private group for freelancers (34 members). The company uses the term 'shoppies' to refer to onboard retail professionals.

Foundation and team

Cruise Retail Academy was founded in June 2024, although its inspiration dates back to the 2020 pandemic and the shutdown of the cruise industry, when many onboard retail professionals faced uncertainty and financial difficulties. The company is registered in the UK with number 15702613 and holds trade mark UK00004050730.

Adrian Pittaway is the founder and leader of the initiative. According to his presentation, he has decades of experience in senior management positions in maritime retail and operations, and his goal in creating the academy was to connect global talent with cruise lines. Robi Gaine is the recruitment director and head of people, with experience in recruitment, training and talent development in the cruise sector. The company links its work to compliance with MLC regulations and MCA-certified standards.

Content and resources for professionals

The academy's site publishes a blog with stories from industry professionals, such as accounts of transitioning from other careers to luxury retail onboard, experiences of employees on specific ships and analyses of the main cruise companies. It also offers a cruise industry database, a weekly newsletter and a free mobile app that brings together the academy's tools and information.

The platform includes an artificial intelligence chat called 'Academy AI Chat' to answer users' questions. The company claims to have received more than 500 reviews on Trustpilot, although in another section of the site it mentions more than 300, and presents graduate testimonials as part of its offering.