An agreement with Alipay will see Carnival Corporation offer the Chinese mobile payment option in Asia, kicking off on Costa Cruises in June.
With the roll-out on Costa Cruises, passengers will have the option to use their existing Alipay accounts as a payment method for cabin folios. All onboard spending – including shopping, activities, excursions, food and drinks – will be added to each guest’s cabin folio as the purchase is made, and cleared on a nightly basis via their Alipay account.
Costa Serena
Alipay will debut on Costa Serena in China before potentially expanding to additional ships in the Costa Asia fleet, including Costa Atlantica, Costa Victoria and Costa Fortuna in China, and Costa neoRomantica, which has been homeported in Japan since April this year.
Carnival’s Princess Cruises might also begin offering Alipay onboard the new Majestic Princess, which begins its first homeport season in Shanghai in July 2017 as the company’s first cruise ship tailor-made for the Chinese market.
Michael Thamm, group CEO, Costa Group and Carnival Asia, who oversees operations in China for Carnival Corporation, said: “As we continue to grow interest and demand for cruising within the larger vacation market in China, this is another example of being able to stay close to our guests – understanding their needs and tailoring our offerings to their preferences.
“Alipay is a leading payment service already used by (450 million) Chinese consumers, so we see this as a natural fit for us in China and a great opportunity to make onboard purchases even more convenient.”
Carnival Corporation has six ships based in China across its Costa and Princess brands, representing four million passenger cruise days and nearly half of the overall Chinese cruise market.
